Abstract: Bacterial cellulose, a biopolysaccharide, is produced by the bacterium, Gluconacetobacter xylinus. Static batch fermentation for bacterial cellulose production was studied in sucrose and date syrup solutions (Bx. 10%) at 28 °C using G. xylinus (PTCC, 1734). Results showed that the maximum yields of bacterial cellulose (BC) were 4.35 and 1.69 g/l00 ml for date syrup and sucrose medium after 336 hours fermentation period, respectively. Comparison of FTIR spectrum of cellulose with BC indicated appropriate coincidence which proved that the component produced by G. xylinus was cellulose. Determination of the area under X-ray diffractometry patterns demonstrated that the crystallinity amount of cellulose (83.61%) was more than that for the BC (60.73%). The scanning electron microscopy imaging of BC and cellulose were carried out in two magnifications of 1 and 6K. Results showed that the diameter ratio of BC to cellulose was approximately 1/30 which indicated more delicacy of BC fibers relative to cellulose.
Abstract: This paper proposes the novel model order
formulation scheme to design a discrete PID controller for higher
order linear time invariant discrete systems. Modified PSO (MPSO)
based model order formulation technique has used to obtain the
successful formulated second order system. PID controller is tuned to
meet the desired performance specification by using pole-zero
cancellation and proposed design procedures. Proposed PID
controller is attached with both higher order system and formulated
second order system. System specifications are tabulated and closed
loop response is observed for stabilization process. The proposed
method is illustrated through numerical examples from literature.
Abstract: Rainbow trout homogametic males, (XX or YY sex genotype), can be obtained, respectively, through masculinisation of genetic females or induced androgenesis. Aim of this study was to compare reproductive potential of neo-males (XX) and super-males (YY) with heterogametic males (XY). We measured spermatozoa motility parameters, sperm concentration, osmolality and characterized protein profiles in samples of stripped and testicular sperm obtained from XY and YY males, and testicular sperm of XX males. The motile spermatozoa, as measured by both subjective method and CASA, showed no differences between testicular sperm of XX males and stripped sperm of XY and YY males whereas testicular sperm of XY and YY males had significantly lower sperm motility. Result of protein densitometry showed similarities in protein profile between seminal plasma of XY and YY males and testicular fluids of XX males. Testis of XX males showed specific histological structures of cysts consists hypertrophied Sertoli cells.
Abstract: In this paper, we proposed the direct method for converting
Finite-Impulse Response (FIR) filter with low nonzero tap
into Infinite-Impulse Response (IIR) filter using the pre-determined
table. The prony method is used by ghost cancellator which is IIR
approximation to FIR filter which is better performance than IIR and
have much larger calculation difference. The direct method for many
ghost combination with low nonzero tap of NTSC(National Television
System Committee) TV signal in Korea is described. The proposed
method is illustrated with an example.
Abstract: Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR)
approach for discovering novel more active Calanone derivative as
anti-leukemia compound has been conducted. There are 6
experimental activities of Calanone compounds against leukemia cell
L1210 that are used as material of the research. Calculation of
theoretical predictors (independent variables) was performed by
AM1 semiempirical method. The QSAR equation is determined by
Principle Component Regression (PCR) analysis, with Log IC50 as
dependent variable and the independent variables are atomic net
charges, dipole moment (μ), and coefficient partition of noctanol/
water (Log P). Three novel Calanone derivatives that
obtained by this research have higher activity against leukemia cell
L1210 than pure Calanone.
Abstract: The minimal condition for symmetry breaking in morphogenesis of cellular population was investigated using cellular automata based on reaction-diffusion dynamics. In particular, the study looked for the possibility of the emergence of branching structures due to mechanical interactions. The model used two types of cells an external gradient. The results showed that the external gradient influenced movement of cell type-I, also revealed that clusters formed by cells type-II worked as barrier to movement of cells type-I.
Abstract: In this paper, we evaluate the performance of the
Hybrid-MIMO Receiver Scheme (HMRS) in Cognitive Radio
network (CR-network). We investigate the efficiency of the proposed
scheme which the energy level and user number of primary user are
varied according to the characteristic of CR-network. HMRS can
allow users to transmit either Space-Time Block Code (STBC) or
Spatial-Multiplexing (SM) streams simultaneously by using
Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) and Maximum Likelihood
Detection (MLD). From simulation, the results indicate that the
interference level effects to the performance of HMRS. Moreover,
the exact closed-form capacity of the proposed scheme is derived and
compared with STBC scheme.
Abstract: Factoring Boolean functions is one of the basic operations in algorithmic logic synthesis. A novel algebraic factorization heuristic for single-output combinatorial logic functions is presented in this paper and is developed based on the set theory paradigm. The impact of factoring is analyzed mainly from a low power design perspective for standard cell based digital designs in this paper. The physical implementation of a number of MCNC/IWLS combinational benchmark functions and sub-functions are compared before and after factoring, based on a simple technology mapping procedure utilizing only standard gate primitives (readily available as standard cells in a technology library) and not cells corresponding to optimized complex logic. The power results were obtained at the gate-level by means of an industry-standard power analysis tool from Synopsys, targeting a 130nm (0.13μm) UMC CMOS library, for the typical case. The wire-loads were inserted automatically and the simulations were performed with maximum input activity. The gate-level simulations demonstrate the advantage of the proposed factoring technique in comparison with other existing methods from a low power perspective, for arbitrary examples. Though the benchmarks experimentation reports mixed results, the mean savings in total power and dynamic power for the factored solution over a non-factored solution were 6.11% and 5.85% respectively. In terms of leakage power, the average savings for the factored forms was significant to the tune of 23.48%. The factored solution is expected to better its non-factored counterpart in terms of the power-delay product as it is well-known that factoring, in general, yields a delay-efficient multi-level solution.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a robust disease detection
method, called adaptive orientation code matching (Adaptive OCM),
which is developed from a robust image registration algorithm:
orientation code matching (OCM), to achieve continuous and
site-specific detection of changes in plant disease. We use two-stage
framework for realizing our research purpose; in the first stage,
adaptive OCM was employed which could not only realize the
continuous and site-specific observation of disease development, but
also shows its excellent robustness for non-rigid plant object searching
in scene illumination, translation, small rotation and occlusion changes
and then in the second stage, a machine learning method of support
vector machine (SVM) based on a feature of two dimensional (2D)
xy-color histogram is further utilized for pixel-wise disease
classification and quantification. The indoor experiment results
demonstrate the feasibility and potential of our proposed algorithm,
which could be implemented in real field situation for better
observation of plant disease development.
Abstract: This paper discusses the utilization of marine biomass as an energy resource in Japan. A marine biomass energy system in Japan was proposed consisting of seaweed cultivation (Laminaria japonica) at offshore marine farms, biogas production via methane fermentation of the seaweeds, and fuel cell power generation driven by the generated biogas. We estimated energy output, energy supply potential, and CO2 mitigation in Japan on the basis of the proposed system. As a result, annual energy production was estimated to be 1.02-109 kWh/yr at nine available sites. Total CO2 mitigation was estimated to be 1.04-106 tonnes per annum at the nine sites. However, the CO2 emission for the construction of relevant facilities is not taken into account in this paper. The estimated CO2 mitigation is equivalent to about 0.9% of the required CO2 mitigation for Japan per annum under the Kyoto Protocol framework.
Abstract: Agricultural residue such as oil palm fronds (OPF) is
cheap, widespread and available throughout the year. Hemicelluloses
extracted from OPF can be hydrolyzed to their monomers and used in
production of xylooligosaccharides (XOs). The objective of the
present study was to optimize the enzymatic hydrolysis process of
OPF hemicellulose by varying pH, temperature, enzyme and substrate
concentration for production of XOs. Hemicelluloses was extracted
from OPF by using 3 M potassium hydroxide (KOH) at temperature of
40°C for 4 hrs and stirred at 400 rpm. The hemicellulose was then
hydrolyzed using Trichoderma longibrachiatum xylanase at different
pH, temperature, enzyme and substrate concentration. XOs were
characterized based on reducing sugar determination. The optimum
conditions to produced XOs from OPF hemicellulose was obtained at
pH 4.6, temperature of 40°C , enzyme concentration of 2 U/mL and
2% substrate concentration. The results established the suitability of
oil palm fronds as raw material for production of XOs.
Abstract: Nuclear matrix protein 22 (NMP22) is a FDA approved
biomarker for bladder cancer. The objective of this study is to develop
a simple NMP22 immumosensor (NMP22-IMS) for accurate
measurement of NMP22. The NMP22-IMS was constructed with
NMP22 antibody immobilized on screen-printed carbon electrodes.
The construction procedures and antibody immobilization are simple.
Results showed that the NMP22-IMS has an excellent (r2³0.95)
response range (20 – 100 ng/mL). In conclusion, a simple and reliable
NMP22-IMS was developed, capable of precisely determining urine
NMP22 level.
Abstract: The objectives were to identify cyanide-degrading
bacteria and study cyanide removal efficiency. Agrobacterium
tumefaciens SUTS 1 was isolated. This is a new strain of
microorganisms for cyanide degradation. The maximum growth rate
of SUTS 1 obtained 4.7 × 108 CFU/ml within 4 days. The cyanide
removal efficiency was studied at 25, 50, and 150 mg/L cyanide. The
residual cyanide, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH, and cell counts were
analyzed. At 25 and 50 mg/L cyanide, SUTS 1 obtained similar
removal efficiency approximately 87.50%. At 150 mg/L cyanide,
SUTS 1 enhanced the cyanide removal efficiency up to 97.90%. Cell
counts of SUTS 1 increased when the cyanide concentration was set
at lower. The ammonia increased when the removal efficiency
increased. The nitrate increased when the ammonia decreased but the
nitrite did not detect in all experiments. pH values also increased
when the cyanide concentrations were set at higher.
Abstract: The nanosized polymeric micelles release the drug
due to acoustic cavitation, which is enhanced in dual frequency
ultrasonic fields. In this study, adult female Balb/C mice were
transplanted with spontaneous breast adenocarcinoma tumors and
were injected with a dose of 1.3 mg/kg doxorubicin in one of three
forms: free doxorubicin, micellar doxorubicin without sonication and
micellar doxorubicin with sonication. To increase cavitation yield,
the tumor region was sonicated with low level dual frequency of 3
MHz and 28 kHz. The animals were sacrificed 24 h after injection,
and their tumor, heart, spleen, liver, kidneys and plasma were
separated and homogenized. The drug content in their tumor, heart,
spleen, liver, kidneys and plasma was determined using tissue
fluorimetry. The results show that in the group that received micellar
doxorubicin with sonication, the drug concentration in the tumor
tissue was nine and three times higher than in the free doxorubicin
group and the micellar doxorubicin without sonication group,
respectively. In the micellar doxorubicin with sonication group, the
drug concentration in other tissues was lower than other groups
(p
Abstract: Wireless location is to determine the mobile station (MS) location in a wireless cellular communications system. When fewer base stations (BSs) may be available for location purposes or the measurements with large errors in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) environments, it is necessary to integrate all available heterogeneous measurements to achieve high location accuracy. This paper illustrates a hybrid proposed schemes that combine time of arrival (TOA) at three BSs and angle of arrival (AOA) information at the serving BS to give a location estimate of the MS. The proposed schemes mitigate the NLOS effect simply by the weighted sum of the intersections between three TOA circles and the AOA line without requiring a priori information about the NLOS error. Simulation results show that the proposed methods can achieve better accuracy when compare with Taylor series algorithm (TSA) and the hybrid lines of position algorithm (HLOP).
Abstract: It is observed that the Weighted least-square (WLS)
technique, including the modifications, results in equiripple error
curve. The resultant error as a percent of the ideal value is highly
non-uniformly distributed over the range of frequencies for which the
differentiator is designed. The present paper proposes a modification
to the technique so that the optimization procedure results in lower
maximum relative error compared to the ideal values. Simulation
results for first order as well as higher order differentiators are given
to illustrate the excellent performance of the proposed method.
Abstract: Pattern recognition and image recognition methods are commonly developed and tested using testbeds, which contain known responses to a query set. Until now, testbeds available for image analysis and content-based image retrieval (CBIR) have been scarce and small-scale. Here we present the one million images CEA-List Image Collection (CLIC) testbed that we have produced, and report on our use of this testbed to evaluate image analysis merging techniques. This testbed will soon be made publicly available through the EU MUSCLE Network of Excellence.
Abstract: The purpose of this work is measurement of the
system presampling MTF of a variable resolution x-ray (VRX) CT
scanner. In this paper, we used the parameters of an actual VRX CT
scanner for simulation and study of effect of different focal spot sizes
on system presampling MTF by Monte Carlo method (GATE
simulation software). Focal spot size of 0.6 mm limited the spatial
resolution of the system to 5.5 cy/mm at incident angles of below 17º
for cell#1. By focal spot size of 0.3 mm the spatial resolution
increased up to 11 cy/mm and the limiting effect of focal spot size
appeared at incident angles of below 9º. The focal spot size of 0.3
mm could improve the spatial resolution to some extent but because
of magnification non-uniformity, there is a 10 cy/mm difference
between spatial resolution of cell#1 and cell#256. The focal spot size
of 0.1 mm acted as an ideal point source for this system. The spatial
resolution increased to more than 35 cy/mm and at all incident angles
the spatial resolution was a function of incident angle. By the way
focal spot size of 0.1 mm minimized the effect of magnification nonuniformity.
Abstract: Dispersions of casein micelles (CM) were studied at a
constant protein concentration of 5 wt % in high NaCl environment
ranging from 0% to 12% by Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and
Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). The rehydration profiles obtained
were interpreted in term of wetting, swelling and dispersion stages by
using a turbidity method. Two behaviours were observed depending
on the salt concentration. The first behaviour (low salt concentration)
presents a typical rehydration profile with a significant change
between 3 and 6% NaCl indicating quick wetting, swelling and long
dispersion stage. On the opposite, the dispersion stage of the second
behaviour (high salt concentration) was significantly shortened
indicating a strong modification of the protein backbone. A salt
increase result to a destabilization of the micelle and the formation of
mini-micelles more or less aggregated indicating an average micelles
size ranging from 100 to 200 nm. For the first time, the estimations
of secondary structural elements (irregular, ß-sheet, α-helix and turn)
by the Amide III assignments were correlated with results from
Amide I.
Abstract: We develop new nonlinear methods of
immunofluorescence analysis for a sensitive technology of
respiratory burst reaction of DNA fluorescence due to oxidative
activity in the peripheral blood neutrophils. Histograms in flow
cytometry experiments represent a fluorescence flashes frequency as
functions of fluorescence intensity. We used the Shannon-Weaver
index for definition of neutrophils- biodiversity and Hurst index for
definition of fractal-s correlations in immunofluorescence for
different donors, as the basic quantitative criteria for medical
diagnostics of health status. We analyze frequencies of flashes,
information, Shannon entropies and their fractals in
immunofluorescence networks due to reduction of histogram range.
We found the number of simplest universal correlations for
biodiversity, information and Hurst index in diagnostics and
classification of pathologies for wide spectra of diseases. In addition
is determined the clear criterion of a common immunity and human
health status in a form of yes/no answers type. These answers based
on peculiarities of information in immunofluorescence networks and
biodiversity of neutrophils. Experimental data analysis has shown the
existence of homeostasis for information entropy in oxidative activity
of DNA in neutrophil nuclei for all donors.