Development of an Amperometric Hydrogen Peroxide Biosensor based on the Immobilization of Horseradish Peroxidase onto Nickel Ferrite Nanoparticle-Chitosan Composite

Nano-Micro Letters - Nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) nanoparticles have been dispersed in chitosan solution in order to fabricate nanocomposite films. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) has been immobilized...     

Multiscale modeling of biomedical, biological, and behavioral systems (Part 1)

Mathematical and computational modeling provide a natural infrastructure for systematically bringing together the wealth of data and knowledge obtained from biological, physiological, and clinical research. Furthermore, the power of this infrastructure is the ability for the model to simulate pathophysiology and predict how, when, and in whom diseases will develop. Historically, the majority of models in biology and physiology are created to understand a particular process or phenomenon by putting together known biological constructs, using modeling to fill in the gaps of the unknown, creating new hypotheses, and redesigning the models based on experimental outcomes and measures. These models are often used to supplement research efforts focused on specific biological questions and domain areas to provide new insights in understanding data.     

Efficiency of Seismic Isolation for Seismic Retrofitting of Heavy Substructured Bridges

In this paper, the efficiency of seismic isolation for seismic retrofitting of bridges with light superstructures and heavy substructures in the state of Illinois is studied. For this purpose, a representative bridge was selected by Illinois Department of Transportation. A detailed structural model of the bridge capable of simulating the nonlinear behavior of its components and soil–bridge interaction effects was first constructed. Iterative multimode response spectrum analysis (IMMRSA) of the bridge were conducted to assess its seismic vulnerability. The results from IMMRSA were also verified with nonlinear time history analyses. It was found that the bearings and substructures of the bridge need to be retrofitted. A conventional retrofitting technique was then adopted for the bridge and the cost of retrofit was estimated. Next, the existing bearings were replaced with seismic isolation bearings (SIB) and the seismic analysis was repeated. It was found that SIB effectively mitigated the seismic forces and eliminated the need for retrofitting of the substructures. The cost of retrofitting using SIB was then calculated and found to be only 30% of the conventional retrofitting cost.     

The effects of different materials as dough improvers for organic whole wheat bread

In this research, the effects of different materials such as defatted Cephalaria syriaca flour (0.5%), rosehip (2.5%), vital gluten (2.5%) and malt flour (2%), and their combinations on the quality of organic whole wheat flour were investigated. The highest maximum resistance value was obtained in the treatment containing 0.5% cephalaria and 2.5% rosehip. The addition of malt flour and vital gluten significantly increased the extensibility value. Although rosehip, cephalaria and vital gluten generally increased the dough energy, malt flour decreased the dough energy when compared to the control. The combination of 0.5% cephalaria and 2.5% rosehip significantly decreased the adhesion and stringiness of dough. Data showed that dough rheological characteristics of organic whole wheat flour could be improved with the addition of different materials such as malt flour, cephalaria, rosehip and vital gluten.     

Optimization of growth medium for the production of α‐amylase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens using response surface methodology

The optimization of nutrient levels for the production of α‐amylase by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens was carried out using response surface methodology (RSM) based on the 2³ factorial central composite design (CCD). This procedure limited the number of actual experiments performed while allowing for possible interactions between three components. RSM was adopted to derive a statistical model for the effect of starch, peptone and yeast extract (YE) on α‐amylase production. The P‐value of the coefficient for linear effects of starch and YE concentration was <0.0001, suggesting that this was the principal experimental variable, having the greatest effect on the production of α‐amylase. The optimal combinations of media constituents for maximum α‐amylase production were determined as 12.61 g L^?1 starch, 2.83 g L^?1 peptone and 1.25 g L^?1 YE. The optimization of the medium resulted not only in a 34% higher enzyme activity than unoptimized medium but also in a reduced amount of the required medium constituents. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Adaptive design for reference velocity recovery in motion coordination

We study a coordination problem where the objective is to steer a group of agents to a formation that translates with a prescribed reference velocity. Unlike existing designs which assume that the reference velocity information is available to each agent, we consider the situation where this information is available only to a leader. We then develop an adaptive design with which the other agents reconstruct the reference velocity and recover the desired formation. This design relies only on relative distance information with respect to neighbouring agents and, thus, can be implemented in a decentralized fashion.     

The effect of high hydrostatic pressure processing on the extraction,retention and stability of anthocyanins and flavonols contents of berry fruits and berry juices

Anthocyanins and flavonols are types of phenolic compounds. Previous researches showed that phenolic compounds are relevant to the quality of plant‐derived foods and beverages. Any food‐processing technologies, which can preserve phenolic compounds after processing, should be taken into account for increasing the food quality. High hydrostatic pressure processing (HHPP) is a novel nonthermal process. There are some researches about the effect of HHPP on total phenolic content, total monomeric anthocyanins, kaempferol, myricetin and quercetin contents of berry fruits and berry juices in the literature. These studies showed that HHPP could possibly have a success potential in increasing the extraction, retention and stability of anthocyanins and flavonols contents of berry fruits and berry juices by preserving phenolic compounds after food processing. The aim of this review is to put forward how high hydrostatic pressure processing affects extraction, retention and stability of anthocyanins and flavonols of berry fruits and juices.     

Photovoltaic properties of polymer based organic solar cells adapted for non-transparent substrates

This paper explains a semi-transparent photovoltaic device structure using polymer based materials for light harvesting. Poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl):[6,6]-phenyl C₆₁ butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) and poly(2-methoxy-5-(3′,7′-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (MDMO-PPV:PCBM) as photoactive nano-layers were utilized and semi-transparent cells were compared with reference cells. Photoelectrical properties of developed devices were investigated. Also influencing factors of power conversion efficiency of devices were determined and possible application areas including solar harvesting textiles were discussed.