Effect of Thermal Treatment on Meat Proteins with Special Reference to Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines (HAAs)

Meat is one of the most imperative protein sources available with respect to its production and consumption. It is the richest source of some valuable nutrients like proteins, essential amino acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals like iron, zinc, and selenium. Thermal treatment produces conformational changes in protein structure as well as flavor, texture, and appearance, and chemical properties of the ingredients are also changed. Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs), potent mutagens/carcinogens, are formed during the cooking of meat at high temperature. The review paper highlights the effects of various cooking methods, i.e., pan-frying, deep-frying, charcoal grilling, and roasting, on the formation of HAAs. The levels of HAAs produced in cooked meats vary depending upon the cooking method, time of cooking, and the type of meat being cooked. Metabolic behavior of HAAs is very unique, they interfere in the activity of many enzymes, modify the metabolic pathways, and lead to the adduct formation of DNA. The application of black pepper and several other spices during processing may reduce the formation of these (HAAs) mutagenic compounds.     

CONSCOM: An OO Construction Scheduling and Change Management System

In a companion paper, an object-oriented (OO) information model was presented for construction scheduling, cost optimization, and change order management (CONSCOM), based on the creation of a domain-specific development framework. The framework architecture is developed using generic software design elements, called patterns, which provide effective low-level solutions for creating, organizing, and maintaining objects. The OO model has been implemented in a prototype software system for management of construction projects, called CONSCOM, using the Microsoft Foundation Class library in Visual C++. CONSCOM is particularly suitable for highway construction change order management. It can be used by the owner as an intelligent decision support system in schedule reviews, progress monitoring, and cost-time trade-off analysis for change order approval. The OO information model for construction scheduling cost management can be integrated into a concurrent engineering model for the architecture, engineering, and construction industry.     

High throughput sequencing of the bacterial composition and dynamic succession in Daqu for Chinese sesame flavour liquor

Sesame flavour liquor is a traditional Chinese distilled spirit with fruity, sweaty, roasted sesame and floral aromas. High temperature Daqu production is one of the key processes in the formation of sesame flavour liquor. The composition and changes in the microbial community during the making of Daqu have a significant impact on the quality of Daqu liquor. In this study, microbial diversity based on high throughput sequencing technology was used to reveal the bacterial community structure and succession law in the four critical stages of high temperature Daqu production. The results show that Firmicutes had a significant advantage (76.7%-98.2%) in the four stages as Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria reached peak values in the first and second periods, and decreased in the later periods. At the genus level, Kroppenstedtia, Lactobacillus, Weissella, Lentibacillus, Bacillus and Saccharopolyspora were detected as the main bacterial groups in the high temperature Daqu of Chinese sesame flavour liquor. The abundance of Lactobacillus and Weissella was greater than that of other microbes in the Daqu entry period. During the first Daqu flipping, the number of bacterial genera reached a peak in the production process. Then, the bacterial diversity continued to decrease until the last period, while Kroppenstedtia, Saccharopolyspora and Lentibacillus adapted to the high temperature environment and accumulated during the second Daqu flipping and the Daqu exit. This research used high throughput sequencing technology to reveal, for the first time, the bacterial composition and dynamic succession in high temperature Daqu production of Chinese sesame flavour liquor. This work will contribute to a deeper understanding of the correlation between the formation of flavour substances in sesame flavour liquor and the microorganisms used in its production. © 2019 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling     

System Level Design as Applied to CMU Wearable Computers

The paper describes a system level design approach to the wearable computers project at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). The project is an unique example of a cross-disciplinary effort, drawing students from mechanical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, computer science, and industrial design. Over the last six and half years that the course has been taught, teams of undergraduate and graduate students have designed and fabricated sixteen new generations of wearable computers, using an evolving artifact-specific, multidisciplinary design methodology. The complexity of their architectures has increased by a factor of over 200, and the complexity of the application has also increased significantly. We introduce a metric to compare wearable computers and show that their performances have increased by several orders of magnitude. A system-level approach to power/performance optimization is going to be a crucial catalyst for making wearable computers an everyday tool for the general public.     

Host-Assisted Delivery of a Model Drug to Genomic DNA: Key Information from Ultrafast Spectroscopy and in silico Study

Drug delivery to a target without adverse effects is one of the major criteria for clinical use. Herein, we have made an attempt to explore the delivery efficacy of SDS surfactant in a monomer and micellar stage during the delivery of the model drug, Toluidine Blue (TB) from the micellar cavity to DNA. Molecular recognition of pre-micellar SDS encapsulated TB with DNA occurs at a rate constant of k₁ ∼652 s⁻¹. However, no significant release of encapsulated TB at micellar concentration was observed within the experimental time frame. This originated from the higher binding affinity of TB towards the nano-cavity of SDS at micellar concentration which does not allow the delivery of TB from the nano-cavity of SDS micelles to DNA. Thus, molecular recognition controls the extent of DNA recognition by TB which in turn modulates the rate of delivery of TB from SDS in a concentration-dependent manner.     

Hybrid Androgen Receptor Inhibitors Outperform Enzalutamide and EPI-001 in in vitro Models of Prostate Cancer Drug Resistance

Androgen receptor targeted therapies for prostate cancer have serious limitations in advanced stages of the disease. While resistance to the FDA-approved enzalutamide is extensively documented, novel therapies based on epichlorohydrin scaffolds (EPI) are currently in clinical trials, but display suboptimal pharmacokinetics. Herein, we report the synthesis and biological characterisation of a novel class of compounds designed through covalently linking enzalutamide and EPI-001 through various triazole based linkers. The compounds display an 18 to 53 fold improvement in the cell killing potency towards C4-2b prostate cancer (PCa) cells compared to the gold standards of therapy, enzalutamide and EPI-001. The most promising compounds were proven to exhibit their toxicity exclusively through androgen receptor (AR) mediated pathways. This work sets the basis for the first class of hybrid AR inhibitors which successfully combine two drug moieties – EPI-001 and enzalutamide – into the same molecule.     

Mesoporous Zn–Ti Mixed Oxide Nanostructure: A New Bifunctional Catalyst for Partial Oxidation and Bezylation Reactions

Here, we report a facile synthesis of porous zinc-titanium oxide based mixed oxide nanoparticles having Zn/Ti molar ratio 1:2 based on evaporation-induced sol–gel route using Pluronic triblock copolymer P123 as a template. Use of volatile ethanolic media during the evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method facilitates the formation of Zn–Ti mixed oxide heterostructure. Powder XRD data reveals that the composite material displayed ZnTiO₃/TiO₂ phases. Morphology, composition, porosity, nanostructure and thermal stability have been systematically investigated using small angle powder XRD, FE SEM-EDS, TEM, N₂ sorption, FT IR and TG-DTA techniques. The observed BET surface area of Zn–Ti mixed oxide was 231 m² g^?1 with a typical mesopore diameter (~?5 nm) mostly arising from interparticle void space. The Zn–Ti mixed oxide catalyst showed bifunctional activity for Friedel–Craft benzylation of aromatics using benzyl chloride as well as partial oxidation of olefins under mild reaction conditions using dilute aqueous H₂O₂ as oxidant.

Graphical Abstract

Zn–Ti based porous nanoparticles synthesized using Pluronic P123 copolymer surfactant via EISA method has shown a very high surface area of 231 m² g^?1 and a significant bifunctional role for liquid phase oxidation and benzylation reaction.

     

Post-disaster damage classification based on deep multi-view image fusion

This study aims to facilitate a more reliable automated postdisaster assessment of damaged buildings based on the use of multiple view imagery. Toward this, a Multi-View Convolutional Neural Network (MV-CNN) architecture is proposed, which combines the information from different views of a damaged building, resulting in 3-D aggregation of the 2-D damage features from each view. This spatial 3-D context damage information will result in more accurate and reliable damage quantification in the affected buildings. For validation, the presented model is trained and tested on a real-world visual data set of expert-labeled buildings following Hurricane Harvey. The developed model demonstrates an accuracy of 65% in predicting the exact damage states of buildings, and around 81% considering ±1 class deviation from ground-truth, based on a five-level damage scale. Value of information (VOI) analysis reveals that the hybrid models, which consider at least one aerial and ground view, perform better.     

磁流变弹性体的性能研究

以天然橡胶为基体制备磁流变弹性体（MRE），研究MRE的Payne效应及磁感应强度和磁流变效应。电子显微镜分析得出，对于羰基铁粉质量分数最大（81.67%）的MRE，羰基铁粉分布密集，出现羰基铁粉团聚现象。流变仪测试结果表明：随着羰基铁粉质量分数的增大，MRE的Payne效应和磁流变效应增强；随着应变的增大，MRE的储能模量减小，损耗因子增大。