Abstract: In order to characterize the soy protein hydrolysate obtained in this study, gel chromatography on Sephadex G-25 was used to perform the separation of the peptide mixture and electrophoresis in SDS-polyacrylamide gel has been employed. Protein hydrolysate gave high antioxidant activities, but didn't give any antimicrobial activities. The antioxidant activities of protein hydrolysate was in the same trend of peptide content which gave high antioxidant activities and high peptide content between fractions 15 to 50. With increasing peptide concentrations, the scavenging effect on DPPH radical increased until about 70%, thereafter reaching a plateau. In compare to different concentrations of BHA, which exhibited higher activity (90%), soybean protein hydrolysate exhibited high antioxidant activities (70%) at a concentration of 1.45 mg/ml at fraction 25. Electrophoresis analysis indicated that, low- MW hydrolysate fractions (F1) appeared, on average, to have higher DPPH scavenging activities than high-MW fractions. These results revealed that soybean peptides probably contain substances that were proton donors and could react with free radicals to convert them to stable diamagnetic molecules.
Abstract: Suppose KY and KX are large sets of observed and
reference signals, respectively, each containing N signals. Is it possible to construct a filter F : KY → KX that requires a priori
information only on few signals, p N, from KX but performs better than the known filters based on a priori information on every
reference signal from KX? It is shown that the positive answer is
achievable under quite unrestrictive assumptions. The device behind
the proposed method is based on a special extension of the piecewise
linear interpolation technique to the case of random signal sets. The proposed technique provides a single filter to process any signal from
the arbitrarily large signal set. The filter is determined in terms of pseudo-inverse matrices so that it always exists.
Abstract: The paper describes a self supervised parallel self organizing neural network (PSONN) architecture for true color image segmentation. The proposed architecture is a parallel extension of the standard single self organizing neural network architecture (SONN) and comprises an input (source) layer of image information, three single self organizing neural network architectures for segmentation of the different primary color components in a color image scene and one final output (sink) layer for fusion of the segmented color component images. Responses to the different shades of color components are induced in each of the three single network architectures (meant for component level processing) by applying a multilevel version of the characteristic activation function, which maps the input color information into different shades of color components, thereby yielding a processed component color image segmented on the basis of the different shades of component colors. The number of target classes in the segmented image corresponds to the number of levels in the multilevel activation function. Since the multilevel version of the activation function exhibits several subnormal responses to the input color image scene information, the system errors of the three component network architectures are computed from some subnormal linear index of fuzziness of the component color image scenes at the individual level. Several multilevel activation functions are employed for segmentation of the input color image scene using the proposed network architecture. Results of the application of the multilevel activation functions to the PSONN architecture are reported on three real life true color images. The results are substantiated empirically with the correlation coefficients between the segmented images and the original images.
Abstract: Candida spp. are common and aggressive pathogens. Because of the growing resistance of Candida spp. to current antifungals, novel targets, found in Candida spp. but not in humans or other flora, have to be identified. The alternative oxidase (AOX) is one such possibility. This enzyme is insensitive to cyanide, but is sensitive to compounds such as salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM), disulfiram and n-alkyl gallates. The growth each of six Candida spp. was inhibited significantly by ~13 mM SHAM or 2 mM cyanide, albeit to differing extents. In C. dubliniensis, C. krusei and C. tropicalis the rate of O2 uptake was inhibited by 18-36% by 25 mM SHAM, but this had little or no effect on C. glabrata, C. guilliermondii or C. parapsilosis. Although SHAM substantially inhibited the growth of Candida spp., it is unlikely that the inhibition of AOX was the cause. Salicylhydroxamic acid is used therapeutically in the treatment of urinary tract infections and urolithiasis, but it also has some potential in the treatment of Candida spp. infection.
Abstract: A synchronous network-on-chip using wormhole packet switching
and supporting guaranteed-completion best-effort with low-priority (LP)
and high-priority (HP) wormhole packet delivery service is presented in
this paper. Both our proposed LP and HP message services deliver a good
quality of service in term of lossless packet completion and in-order message
data delivery. However, the LP message service does not guarantee minimal
completion bound. The HP packets will absolutely use 100% bandwidth of
their reserved links if the HP packets are injected from the source node with
maximum injection. Hence, the service are suitable for small size messages
(less than hundred bytes). Otherwise the other HP and LP messages, which
require also the links, will experience relatively high latency depending on the
size of the HP message. The LP packets are routed using a minimal adaptive
routing, while the HP packets are routed using a non-minimal adaptive routing
algorithm. Therefore, an additional 3-bit field, identifying the packet type,
is introduced in their packet headers to classify and to determine the type
of service committed to the packet. Our NoC prototypes have been also
synthesized using a 180-nm CMOS standard-cell technology to evaluate the
cost of implementing the combination of both services.
Abstract: In this study, we examined gender differences in: (1) a
flexible remembering task, that asked for episodic memory decisions
at an item-specific versus category-based level, and (2) the retrieval
specificity of autobiographical memory during free recall.
Differences favouring women were found on both measures.
Furthermore, a significant association was observed, across gender
groups, between level of specificity in the autobiographical memory
interview and sensitivity to gist on the flexible remembering task.
These results suggest that similar cognitive processes may partially
contribute to both the ability for specific autobiographical recall and
the capacity for inhibition of gist-information on the flexible
remembering task.
Abstract: This work aims to reduce the read power consumption
as well as to enhance the stability of the SRAM cell during the read
operation. A new 10-transisor cell is proposed with a new read
scheme to minimize the power consumption within the memory core.
It has separate read and write ports, thus cell read stability is
significantly improved. A 16Kb SRAM macro operating at 1V
supply voltage is demonstrated in 65 nm CMOS process. Its read
power consumption is reduced to 24% of the conventional design.
The new cell also has lower leakage current due to its special bit-line
pre-charge scheme. As a result, it is suitable for low-power mobile
applications where power supply is restricted by the battery.
Abstract: A high precision temperature insensitive current and voltage reference generator is presented. It is specifically developed for temperature compensated oscillator. The circuit, designed using MXIC 0.5um CMOS technology, has an operating voltage that ranges from 2.6V to 5V and generates a voltage of 1.21V and a current of 6.38 ӴA. It exhibits a variation of ±0.3nA for the current reference and a stable output for voltage reference as the temperature is varied from 0°C to 70°C. The power supply rejection ratio obtained without any filtering capacitor at 100Hz and 10MHz is -30dB and -12dB respectively.
Abstract: Based on the field investigation and long term remote
sensing data, the dynamics of the alpine wetland in the river basin and
their response to climate change were studied. Results showed the
alpine wetlands accounted for 3.73% of total basin in 2010. Lake and
river appeared an increasing trend in the past 30 years, with an
increase of 34.36 % and 24.57%. However, swamp exhibited a
tendency of decreasing with 233.74 km2. Annual average temperature,
maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation in the
river basin all exhibited an increasing trend, whereas relative humidity
exhibited a decreasing trend. Ice and snow melting are main reasons of
lake and river area enhancement and swamp area descend. There
existed 91.78%-97.86% of reduced swamp converted into lakes on the
basis of remote sensing image interpretation. China-s government
policy of implementing development in the river basin is the major
driving force of artificial wetland growth.
Abstract: Horizontal wells are proven to be better producers
because they can be extended for a long distance in the pay zone.
Engineers have the technical means to forecast the well productivity
for a given horizontal length. However, experiences have shown that
the actual production rate is often significantly less than that of
forecasted. It is a difficult task, if not impossible to identify the real
reason why a horizontal well is not producing what was forecasted.
Often the source of problem lies in the drilling of horizontal section
such as permeability reduction in the pay zone due to mud invasion
or snaky well patterns created during drilling. Although drillers aim
to drill a constant inclination hole in the pay zone, the more frequent
outcome is a sinusoidal wellbore trajectory. The two factors, which
play an important role in wellbore tortuosity, are the inclination and
side force at bit. A constant inclination horizontal well can only be
drilled if the bit face is maintained perpendicular to longitudinal axis
of bottom hole assembly (BHA) while keeping the side force nil at
the bit. This approach assumes that there exists no formation force at
bit. Hence, an appropriate BHA can be designed if bit side force and
bit tilt are determined accurately. The Artificial Neural Network
(ANN) is superior to existing analytical techniques. In this study, the
neural networks have been employed as a general approximation tool
for estimation of the bit side forces. A number of samples are
analyzed with ANN for parameters of bit side force and the results
are compared with exact analysis. Back Propagation Neural network
(BPN) is used to approximation of bit side forces. Resultant low
relative error value of the test indicates the usability of the BPN in
this area.
Abstract: In the present study, an attempt was made to examine
the potential of aerobic mixed culture for decolourization of Remazol Black B dye in batch reactors. The effect of pH, temperature, inoculum, initial concentration of dye and initial concentration of
glucose was studied with an aim to determine the optimal conditions
required for maximum decolourization and degradation. The culture
exhibited maximum decolourization ability at pH between 7-8 and at
30°C. A 10% (v/v) inoculum and 1% (w/v) glucose concentration
were found to be the optimum for decolourization. A maximum of
98% decolourization was observed at 25 ppm initial concentration of
dye after 18 hours of incubation period. At higher dye concentration
of 300 ppm, the removal in colour was found to be 75% in 48 hours of incubation period. The results show that the enriched mixed culture from activated sludge has good potential in removal of Remazol Black B dye from wastewater under aerobic conditions.
Abstract: Plasma plume will be produced and arrive at spacecraft when the electric thruster operates on orbit. It-s important to characterize the thruster plasma parameters because the plume has significant effects or hazards on spacecraft sub-systems and parts. Through the ground test data of the desired parameters, the major characteristics of the thruster plume will be achieved. Also it is very important for optimizing design of Ion thruster. Retarding Potential Analyzer (RPA) is an effective instrument for plasma ion energy per unit charge distribution measurement. Special RPA should be designed according to certain plume plasma parameters range and feature. In this paper, major principles usable for good RPA design are discussed carefully. Conform to these principles, a four-grid planar electrostatic energy analyzer RPA was designed to avoid false data, and details were discussed including construction, materials, aperture diameter and so on. At the same time, it was designed more suitable for credible and long-duration measurements in the laboratory. In the end, RPA measurement results in the laboratory were given and discussed.
Abstract: Two group of kids (“Safflower cake" and “Control") were fed ad libitum with pelleted total mixed rations. After a 7-days adaptation period, the diet of the “Safflower cake" group were supplemented with 20% of safflower cake. The kids were slaughtered at 96 days of age. Dietary safflower cake did not affect the growth traits of kids. In addition, kids fed experimental diet showed a lower feed intake and consequently a better feed conversion ratio in comparison to the “Control" group. The use of safflower decreased the level of SFA and increased the level of MUFA in kid meat. The level of PUFA was higher in lipid extracted from animals feeding “Control“ diet even if the UFA level was lower. Furthermore, lipid extracted from animals feeding control diet contained more ω6 fatty acids in comparison to kids feeding experimental diet while the opposite trend was observed for the level of ω3 fatty acids. The ω6 to ω3 ratio was significantly affected by diet and in particular this ratio decreased in meat of kids fed experimental diet. Our results indicate that intramuscular fatty acid composition of kid meat can be improved from a human health perspective by inclusion of safflower cake in the diet.
Abstract: An experiment was conducted under controlled
conditions to study the effect of water extract of leaves, shoots and
roots of either Sisymbrium irio L. =SISIR and or Descurainia
sophia (L.) Schur =DESSO on the germination and primary growth
of barley. A split-split plot experiment in CRD with three
replications was used. The main plots were the type of weed: i.e.
SISIR and DESSO and the sub-plots were type of organ: i.e. leaf,
stem and root and, the sub-sub plots were concentration of the
water extract of each organ of the weeds: i.e. 0, 2, 4 and 8 % w/v.
The results showed that the SISIR water extracts had a greater
inhibitory effects on the germination and primary growth of barley
than those of DESSO water extracts. The water extracts of the
leaves of both weeds had the greatest inhibitory effects on the
germination and primary growth of barley, compared to those of
stems and roots. Increasing the concentration of water extracts of
leaves, stems and roots of both weeds up to 8 % caused the greatest
inhibitory effects to barley and reduced the germination rate and
primary growth of it linearly.
Abstract: This paper discusses the development of wireless
structure control of an induction motor scalar drives. This was
realised up on the wireless WiFi networks. This strategy of control is
ensured by the use of Wireless ad hoc networks and a virtual network
interface based on VNC which is used to make possible to take the
remote control of a PC connected on a wireless Ethernet network.
Verification of the proposed strategy of control is provided by
experimental realistic tests on scalar controlled induction motor
drives. The experimental results of the implementations with their
analysis are detailed.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to exhibit some properties of
local topologies of an IVS. Also, we Introduce ISG structure as an
interesting structure of semigroups in IVSs.
Abstract: In this paper, we present the 2006 survey study origin destination and price that we carried out during 2006 fall in the area in the Moroccan region of Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer. The survey concerns the people-s characteristics, their displacements behavior and the price that they will be able to pay for a tramway ticket. The main objective is to study a set of relative features to the households and to their displacement's habits and to their choices among public and privet transport modes. A comparison between this survey results and that of the 1996's is made. A pricing scheme is also given according to the tram capacity. (The Rabat-Salé tramway is under construction right now and it will be operational beginning 2010).
Abstract: The economic and stable operation was affected
seriously by coal quality disturbance for power plants. Based on model
analysis, influence of the disturbance can be considered as gain change
of control system. Power capability coefficient of coal was
constructed to inhibit it. Accuracy of the coefficient was verified by
operating data. Then coal quality disturbance free system based on
gain scheduling was designed for coordinated control system.
Simulation showed that, the strategy improved control quality
obviously, and inhibited the coal quality disturbance.
Abstract: The objective of this contribution is to study the
performances in terms of bit error rate, of space-time code algorithms
applied to MIMO communication in tunnels. Indeed, the channel
characteristics in a tunnel are quite different than those of urban or
indoor environment, due to the guiding effect of the tunnel.
Therefore, MIMO channel matrices have been measured in a straight
tunnel, in a frequency band around 3GHz. Correlation between array
elements and properties of the MIMO matrices are first studied as a
function of the distance between the transmitter and the receiver.
Then, owing to a software tool simulating the link, predicted values
of bit error rate are given for VLAST, OSTBC and QSTBC
algorithms applied to a MIMO configuration with 2 or 4 array
elements. Results are interpreted from the analysis of the channel
properties.
Abstract: Platinum oxide nanoparticles were prepared by a
simple hydrothermal route and chemical reduction using
carbohydrates (Fructose and sucrose) as the reducing and
stabilizing agents. The crystallite size of these nanoparticles was
evaluated from X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy
(AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and was
found to be 10 nm as shown in figure 1, which is the
demonstration of EM bright field and transmission electron
microscopy. The effect of carbohydrates on the morphology of the
nanoparticles was studied using TEM (Figure 1). The
nanoparticles (100 μg/ml) were administered to the Pseudomonas
Stutzeri and Lactobacillus cultures and the incubation was done at
35 oC for 24 hours. The nanocomposites exhibited interesting
inhibitory as well as bactericidal activity against P. Stutzeri and
and Lactobacillus species. Incorporation of nanoparticles also
increased the thermal stability of the carbohydrates.