Transfusion management of an IgA deficient patient with anti-IgA and incidental correction of IgA deficiency after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

In serology, lack of specificity can generally be attributed to cross-reactions between different pathogens with antigens bearing similar epitopes. During seroepidemiologic surveys of contagious agalactia of sheep caused by Mycoplasma agalactiae infection, numerous sera were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A few sera reacted with various antigens coated on plates, including the well with no antigen. This reactivity was not due to cross-reactions as initially suspected, and these multipositive sera were designated false-positive sera. Elimination of this false positivity was not possible by using covalent ELISA plates or different rabbit anti-sheep IgG conjugates. Only conjugates using monoclonal antibodies or protein G were efficient in elimination of false positivities without reducing the true specific positive titers. No false-positive sera have been observed since the implementation of protein G conjugates in the serologic diagnosis of contagious agalactia by ELISA for the past 2 years.     

Intermediate Annotationless Dynamical Object-Index-Based Query in Large Image Archives with Holographic Representation

This paper presents a new parallel and distributed associative network-based technique for content-based image retrieval (CBIR) with dynamic indices. Unlike any prior artificial associative networks (AAM), this new associative search network has the unique ability to explicitly focus on any subset of pixels in the image. It can also provide a feedback meta-quantity on the quality of outgoing information. The network is founded on a bi-modal representation of information elements which in addition to basic information also includes meta-states. Its computational model has been derived from optical holography. These unique capabilities coupled with usual advantages of associative computing (adaptability, efficiency, ability to cope with imprecision, parallel and distributed mode of computation) now for the first time make it possible to realize a CBIR technique based on associative computing. This new CBIR strategy provides an inquirer greater flexibility to independently and dynamically construct object-indices without depending on the fixed, predefined ad hoc indices used by traditional CBIR approaches. The paper presents the mechanism, architecture, and performance of an image archival and retrieval system realized with this new network.     

A group theoretic construction of highly nonlinear substitution box and its applications in image encryption

Substitution box is the most significant component of block cipher. The property of nonlinearity is of great importance for the design of secure substitution boxes. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new methods for the production of substitution boxes with a high non-linearity score. In this paper, we have introduced a novel group theoretic method to construct a robust S-box with non-linearity score 113.75 greater than that of AES S-box. The performance of generated S-box is found to be excellent, when examined through various other well-known algebraic criteria such as strict avalanche criterion, bit independence criterion, differential uniformity and linear approximation probability. The suitability of proposed S-box is tested for image encryption applications through different statistical analyses. We got very encouraging outcomes from all these examinations which certify that the generated S-box meets all the criteria needed to be reliable for secure communication and image encryption.

     

Data-Oriented Scheduling with Dynamic-Clustering Fault-Tolerant Technique for Scientific Workflows in Clouds

Programming and Computer Software - Cloud computing is one of the most prominent parallel and distributed computing paradigm. It is used for providing solution to a huge number of scientific and...     

High-performance flexible supercapacitors based on C/Na<Subscript>2</Subscript>Ti<Subscript>5</Subscript>O<Subscript>11</Subscript> nanocomposite electrode materials

A new solution method to synthesize Na₂Ti₅O₁₁ with titanium powder is presented, and the C/Na₂Ti₅O₁₁ nanocomposite with high specific surface area and tunnel structure as the electrode material has excellent electrochemical performance. The single electrode composed of the C/Na₂Ti₅O₁₁ nanocomposite based on carbon fiber fabric (CFF) has the highest area capacitance of 1066 mF cm^?2 at a current density of 2 mA cm^?2, which is superior to other titanates and Na-ion materials for supercapacitors (SCs). By scan-rate dependence cyclic voltammetry analysis, the capacity value shows both capacitive and faradaic intercalation processes, and the intercalation process contributed 81.7% of the total charge storage at the scan rate of 5 mV s^?1. The flexible symmetric solid-state SCs (C/Na₂Ti₅O₁₁/CFF//C/Na₂Ti₅O₁₁/CFF) based on different C/Na₂Ti₅O₁₁ mass were fabricated, and 7 mg SCs show the best supercapacitive characteristics with an area capacitance of 309 mF cm^?2 and a specific capacitance of 441 F g^?1, it has a maximum energy density of 22 Wh kg^?1 and power density of 1286 W kg^?1. As for practical application, three SCs in series can power 100 green light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to light up for 18 min, which is much longer than our previous work by Wang et al. lighting 100 LEDs for 8 min. Thus, the C/Na₂Ti₅O₁₁ nanocomposite has promising potential application in energy storage devices.     

Gesture image segmentation with Otsu’s method based on noise adaptive angle threshold

By analyzing the essence and deficiency of the improved Otsu’s method, this paper proposes a noise adaptive angle threshold based Otsu’s method for gesture image segmentation. It first designs a two-dimensional histogram of gray value-neighborhood truncated gray mean to avoid the interference of extreme noise by discarding the extremes of the neighborhood. Then, the probability that the pixel is noise is calculated according to the actual situation, adaptive filtering is implemented to enhance the algorithm’s universal applicability. It finally converts the threshold space to an angle space from 0° to 90°, and the threshold search range is compressed to improve its efficiency. As the gesture is close to the background and the boundary is blurred, this paper combines the global and local Otsu’s method to segment the gesture images based on the angle space. On the one hand, it uses the global Otsu’s method to obtain the global threshold t₁. On the other hand, it uses the local Otsu’s method to obtain the local threshold t₂, and segments gesture images based on t₂. Experimental results show that the proposed method is effective and can accurately segment gesture images with different noises.

     

Kinetics of zirconium ions adsorption on activated charcoal from aqueous solutions

The batch kinetics of adsorption of the zirconium ions from aqueous solutions on activated charcoal has been investigated over a wide range of concentration of zirconium ions (1.0–5.0 g/l) and temperatures (10–50°C). The adsorption process of zirconium ions proceeds via two stages; the first stage is rather fast, followed by a much slower one. The Bangham equation was used to study the kinetics of the zirconium ions' adsorption on activated charcoal. It is observed that the diffusion of zirconium ions into the pores of the activated charcoal controls the kinetics of the adsorption process. Moreover, zirconium ion adsorption obeys the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms in the concentration range studied. The adsorption equilibrium constant (k_c) values for zirconium ions adsorption on activated charcoal have also been calculated at different temperatures. Various thermodynamic quantities, ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS were computed from k_c values. The results showed that the adsorption of zirconium ions on activated charcoal is an endothermic process.     

Studies on Minor Seed Oils VII

Seeds of seven species, representing different plant families, have been analyzed for oil and the fatty acid composition of the oils was determined by gas-liquid chromatography. In all the species, the oil content exceeded 10% except Mecaranga peltata and Cubeba officinalis seeds. Fully matured Garcinia cambogia seeds had very high (～50%) oil content.     

ROS mediated destruction of cell membrane,growth and biofilms of human bacterial pathogens by stable metallic AgNPs functionalized from bell pepper extract and quercetin

Yellow pepper extract and quercetin (QDH) were used for YPE-AgNPs and Q-AgNPs fabrication. The AgNPs were thoroughly characterized using standard physico-chemical techniques and were found monodispersed, pleomorphic and had variable shape and size with a lattice fringe of 0.23?nm. YPE-AgNPs and Q-AgNPs revealed a characteristic SPR band at 438?nm and 431?nm. The XRD crystal size of YPE-AgNPs and Q-AgNPs was 10.16 and 12.20?nm while TEM analysis showed a size range of 5–40 and 1–25?nm. Bio-fabricated AgNPs remained stable for at least four weeks as the SPR did not deviate with time. FTIR data revealed functionalization of AgNPs by organics of reaction mixture. AgNPs had robust antibacterial and antibiofilm activity against ESβL(+) Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and methicillin sensitive and resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Staining of isolates with fluorescent probes displayed the increased production of ROS and membrane permeability. AgNPs hampered EPS production, endorsed DNA leakage, and generated superoxide radicals. Time and concentration dependent experiments demonstrated a consistent decrease in bacterial growth. Structural changes viz. irregular margins, distortion, depressions/indentations and shrinkage of cells were obvious under SEM. AgNPs due to strong antibacterial activity could be exploited as a supplement with antibacterial drugs to control resilient human infections.