Enhancing spatial and temporal utilities in differentially private moving objects database release

International Journal of Information Security - The pervasive use of mobile technologies and GPS-equipped vehicles has resulted in a large number of moving objects databases. Privacy protection is...     

Application of thermal ultrasound-assisted liquid–liquid micro-extraction coupled with HPLC-UV for rapid determination of synthetic phenolic antioxidants in edible oils

A simple, fast, and reliable liquid–liquid micro-extraction (LLME) method assisted by thermal ultrasound approach was developed for simultaneous determination of synthetic phenolic antioxidants (SPAs) in edible oils by high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with ultraviolet detector (HPLC-UV). The synthetic antioxidants were propyl gallate (PG), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), and butylated hydroxyltoluene (BHT). The best extraction conditions were observed were methanol/acetonitrile (1:1, v/v) as the solvent, ultrasound at 4 min, and a temperature of 40°C. The linearity of the calibration curves for the optimum conditions were R² > 0.989 for all of the SPAs in a range from 1–200 μg ml⁻¹. Relative standard deviation (RSD %) for five analysis was in range of 2.83% to 4.21%. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were obtained in range of 0.012–0.06 and 0.04–0.2 μg g⁻¹, respectively. With regard to recovery, a range of 91%–116% was calculated for the spiked edible oils.     

Determination of stability constants of mercury(II) by garlic organosulfur ligands with differential pulse voltammetry

Journal of Applied Electrochemistry - In this work, interactions of mercury with di allyl disulfide (DADS), dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), and diallyl sulfide (DAS) were studied by differential pulse...     

MC-MLAS: Multi-channel Minimum Latency Aggregation Scheduling in Wireless Sensor Networks

Data aggregation is a key, yet time-consuming functionality in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Multi-channel design is a promising technique to alleviate interference as a primary reason for long latency of TDMA aggregation scheduling. Indeed, it provides more potential of parallel transmissions over different frequency channels, thus minimizing time latency. In this paper, we focus on designing a multi-channel minimum latency aggregation scheduling protocol, named MC-MLAS, using a new joint approach for tree construction, channel assignment, and transmission scheduling. To our best knowledge, this is the first work in the literature which combines orthogonal channels and partially overlapping channels to consider the total latency involved in data aggregation. Extensive simulations verify the superiority of MC-MLAS in WSNs.     

Embedding linear arrays of the maximum length in O-shaped meshes

The Journal of Supercomputing - Embedding an interconnection network into another network is one of the important problems in parallel processing. In this paper, we study embedding of linear arrays...     

Co‐condensation synthesis of well‐defined mesoporous silica nanoparticles: effect of surface chemical modification on plasmid DNA condensation and transfection

Chemically modified mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are of interest due to their chemical and thermal stability with adjustable morphology and porosity; therefore, it was aimed to develop and compare the MCM‐41 MSNs functionalised with imidazole groups (MCM‐41‐Im) to unmodified (MCM‐41‐OH) and primary amine functionalised (MCM‐41‐NH₂) MSNs for experimental gene delivery. The results show efficient transfection of the complexes of the plasmid and either MCM‐41‐NH₂ or MCM‐41‐Im. Furthermore, following transfection of HeLa cells using MCM‐41‐Im, an enhanced GFP expression was achieved consistent with the noticeable DNase1 protection and endosomal escape properties of MCM‐41‐Im using carboxyfluorescein tracer.Inspec keywords: condensation, mesoporous materials, silicon compounds, nanoparticles, DNA, surface chemistry, porosity, gene therapy, cellular biophysics, biomedical materials, nanomedicine, nanofabrication, molecular biophysics, biochemistryOther keywords: co‐condensation synthesis, surface chemical modification, plasmid DNA condensation, plasmid DNA transfection, chemical modified mesoporous silica nanoparticles, chemical stability, thermal stability, adjustable morphology, porosity, MCM‐41 MSN functionalisation, imidazole groups, MCM‐41‐OH, primary amine functionalised MSN, gene delivery, HeLa cell transfection, GFP expression, DNase1 protection, endosomal escape properties, carboxyfluorescein tracer, SiO₂      

Evaluation of antifungal effect of iron‐oxide nanoparticles against different Candida species

Iron‐oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) have been widely favoured due to their biodegradable, low cytotoxic effects and having reactive surface which can be altered with biocompatible coatings. Considering various medical applications of IONPs, the authors were encouraged to study whether IONPs could be effective against fungal infections caused by Candida species. In this study, IONPs were characterised by scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer. The goal of this study was to evaluate the antifungal activity of IONPs against different Candida spp. compared with fluconazole (FLC). IONPs were spherical with the size of 30–40 nm. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) values of IONPs ranged from 62.5 to 500 µg/ml and 500 to 1000 μg/ml, respectively. The MIC and MFC of FLC were in range of 16–128 μg/ml and 64–512 μg/ml, respectively. The growth inhibition value indicated that Candida tropicalis, Candida albicans and Candida glabrata spp. were most susceptible to IONPs. The finding showed that the IONPs possessed antifungal potential against pathogenic Candida spp. and could inhibit the growth of all the tested Candida spp. Further studies, both in vitro and in vivo (including susceptibility, toxicity, Probability of kill (PK) and efficacy studies) are needed to determine whether IONPs are suitable for medicinal purposes.Inspec keywords: iron compounds, nanoparticles, nanomedicine, biomedical materials, microorganisms, cellular biophysics, toxicology, drugs, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectraOther keywords: antifungal effect, iron‐oxide nanoparticles, Candida species, biodegradable effects, cytotoxic effects, reactive surface, biocompatible coatings, medical applications, IONP, fungal infections, Candidiasis, immunocompromised hosts, antifungal drugs, resistant organisms, antifungal properties, side effects, chemical drugs, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer, antifungal activity, disc diffusion, broth microdilution, minimal inhibitory concentration, minimum fungicidal concentration, Candida tropicalis, Candida Albicans, Candida glabrata, antifungal potential, Fe₃ O₄      

Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system multi-objective optimization using the genetic algorithm/singular value decomposition method for modelling the discharge coefficient in rectangular sharp-crested side weirs

In the present article, the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is employed to model the discharge coefficient in rectangular sharp-crested side weirs. The genetic algorithm (GA) is used for the optimum selection of membership functions, while the singular value decomposition (SVD) method helps in computing the linear parameters of the ANFIS results section (GA/SVD-ANFIS). The effect of each dimensionless parameter on discharge coefficient prediction is examined in five different models to conduct sensitivity analysis by applying the above-mentioned dimensionless parameters. Two different sets of experimental data are utilized to examine the models and obtain the best model. The study results indicate that the model designed through GA/SVD-ANFIS predicts the discharge coefficient with a good level of accuracy (mean absolute percentage error?=?3.362 and root mean square error?=?0.027). Moreover, comparing this method with existing equations and the multi-layer perceptron–artificial neural network (MLP-ANN) indicates that the GA/SVD-ANFIS method has superior performance in simulating the discharge coefficient of side weirs.     

Surface characterization and biological properties of regular dentin,demineralized dentin,and deproteinized dentin

Bone autografts are often used for reconstruction of bone defects; however, due to the limitations of autografts, researchers have been in search of bone substitutes. Dentin is of particular interest for this purpose due to high similarity to bone. This in vitro study sought to assess the surface characteristics and biological properties of dentin samples prepared with different treatments. This study was conducted on regular (RD), demineralized (DemD), and deproteinized (DepD) dentin samples. X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used for surface characterization. Samples were immersed in simulated body fluid, and their bioactivity was evaluated under a scanning electron microscope. The methyl thiazol tetrazolium assay, scanning electron microscope analysis and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction were performed, respectively to assess viability/proliferation, adhesion/morphology and osteoblast differentiation of cultured human dental pulp stem cells on dentin powders. Of the three dentin samples, DepD showed the highest and RD showed the lowest rate of formation and deposition of hydroxyapatite crystals. Although, the difference in superficial apatite was not significant among samples, functional groups on the surface, however, were more distinct on DepD. At four weeks, hydroxyapatite deposits were noted as needle-shaped accumulations on DemD sample and numerous hexagonal HA deposit masses were seen, covering the surface of DepD. The methyl thiazol tetrazolium, scanning electron microscope, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses during the 10-day cell culture on dentin powders showed the highest cell adhesion and viability and rapid differentiation in DepD. Based on the parameters evaluated in this in vitro study, DepD showed high rate of formation/deposition of hydroxyapatite crystals and adhesion/viability/osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells, which may support its osteoinductive/osteoconductive potential for bone regeneration.