Docking Studies on Binding Modes between the CatechoI-O-Methyltransferase and Catechol Derivatives for Antiparkinson Drug

Inhibition of the enzyme COMT （catechol-O-methyltransferase） is an important approach in the treatment of Parkinson＇s disease. A series of potent catechols for COMT may give insight to develop new ways of antiparkinson drug. COMT inhibitors represent a new class of antiparkinson drugs, when they are coadministered with levodopa. Our goal of research is to study the inhibition of catechol-O-methyltransferase by molecular modeling methods. Different molecular modeling tools are used to perform this work （molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics and molecular docking （molegro virtnaldocker））. The results obtained from this work, into which the inhibition of catechol-O-methyltransferase by molecular modeling methods was elucidated, allow us to conclude that different catechols presents a more optimised inhibition of catechol-O-methyltransferase. The results suggest reducing the severity of Parkinson＇s disease.     

Respiratory parameters of onion bulbs (Allium cepa) during storage. Effects of ionising radiation and temperature

The O₂ and CO₂ respiration rates of untreated and irradiated onion bulbs (Allium cepa) at 0.15 and 0.30 kGy were measured at 4, 10 and 20 °C. The O₂ respiration rate increased for 24 h after treatment from 0.19 mmole kg⁻¹ h⁻¹ at 20 °C for control samples up to 0.26 and 0.39 mmole kg⁻¹ h⁻¹ for 0.15 and 0.3 kGy irradiated onions respectively. Respiratory quotient (RQ) increased with temperature. The Q₁₀ of the respiration of the control samples (1.61) was lower than that of any other plant tissue, but it increased with storage duration and irradiation dose. The respiration rate of control onions increased steadily over 25 weeks of storage at 4 °C, while that of the irradiated samples decreased during the same period after a peak observed after irradiation treatment. The apparent K_m for the Menten–Michaelis equation was determined on a new respirometer and averaged 1.6 kPa at 10 °C and 6.3 kPa at 20 °C. However, at this higher temperature (20 °C) apparent K_m varied with O₂ partial pressure, proving that the respiration of onion bulbs does not follow a Menten–Michaelis‐like process. The Fermentative Index (FI) of onions was measured under anoxic conditions as CO₂ production rates in mmole kg⁻¹ h⁻¹ at 4, 10 and 20 °C. © 2000 Society of Chemical Industry     

Ferroelectric Phase Transition,Interfaces Quality,and Stress Evolution of TiOx/BaxSr1−xTiO3 Structures

Ba(Sr,Ti)O₃ material presents a remarkable property that lies in the possibility to change the permittivity by applying a dc electric field, i.e., BST is a tunable material. That makes BST a very interesting material for the development of reconfigurable devices in microelectronics. In this study, we focus our work on Ba(Sr,Ti)O₃ with Ba/Sr = 30/70, the films are deposited by radio‐frequency magnetron sputtering on Al₂O₃ (0001). A buffer layer of TiO_x is used to control the film orientation. The influence of this buffer layer on the dielectric properties, the interfaces quality with respect to the film thickness, and the temperature is analyzed. An increase of 30% of the relative permittivity was measured and a tunability of 50% was attained at 300 KV/cm. The dielectric measurements on BST/TiO_x as a function of the temperature show a shift of the Curie temperature (T_c = ?40°C) in comparison to BST without TiO_x layer (T_c = ?80°C). We demonstrate that the Curie temperature does not correspond to the maximum permittivity. The important stress measured on the films (930 MPa) could explain this behavior.     

End-to-end bandwidth allocation scheme for voice traffic support over MANETs

Multimedia and real-time applications require bandwidth guarantees, which can be achieved by resource reservation. However, bandwidth reservation in ad-hoc networks is a very challenging task due to the instability of radio channels, node mobility and lack of coordination between mobile nodes. Most proposed reservation protocols focus on point-to-point reservations, and only a few work has been done to propose an efficient end-to-end reservation scheme. In this paper, we propose a reservation scheme called End-to-end reservation scheme for voice and data traffic support (EERV). The basic component of our protocol is a handshake mechanism which has the role to establish point-to-point reservations, and to ensure consistency of reservations between neighbor nodes. Both data and voice sources are allowed to establish reservations with priority given to voice sources. This reservation scheme is extended to support the reservation and release of resources along a path in cooperation with the routing layer. Our reservation scheme is based on DSR, a well-known reactive routing protocol. Mobility of nodes and node failure cause frequent reservation breakages resulting in significant performance degradation. In order to resolve this issue we propose a reservation loss detection and reservation recovery mechanisms. We achieved intensive simulations to evaluate the performance of our protocol. Simulation results show the effectiveness of this protocol.     

A location-based fog computing optimization of energy management in smart buildings: DEVS modeling and design of connected objects

Nowadays, smart buildings rely on Internet of things (IoT) technology derived from the cloud and fog computing paradigms to coordinate and collaborate between connected objects. Fog is characterized by low latency with a wider spread and geographically distributed nodes to support mobility, real-time interaction, and location-based services. To provide optimum quality of user life in modern buildings, we rely on a holistic Framework, designed in a way that decreases latency and improves energy saving and services efficiency with different capabilities. Discrete EVent system Specification (DEVS) is a formalism used to describe simulation models in a modular way. In this work, the sub-models of connected objects in the building are accurately and independently designed, and after installing them together, we easily get an integrated model which is subject to the fog computing Framework. Simulation results show that this new approach significantly, improves energy efficiency of buildings and reduces latency. Additionally, with DEVS, we can easily add or remove sub-models to or from the overall model, allowing us to continually improve our designs.     

HMDCS-UV: A concept study of Hybrid Monitoring,Detection and Cleaning System for Unmanned Vehicles

This paper proposes a modular system of precision agriculture to automate sprayers, optimizing the application of pesticides through a robotic system based on computer vision and individual nozzle on/off control. The system uses low-cost equipment such as Arduino boards, solenoid valves, pressure and flow sensors, smartphone, webcam, and Raspberry Pi. The motivation is to reduce the amount of pesticides applied in crops, not just for potential savings for the farmers, but also for environment protection issues, as well as for food safety. The system can be used in any crop planted in rows such as onion, soybean, corn, beans, and rice. The results show that our system can detect lines in plantations and can be used to retrofit conventional boom sprayers, so it is an important step to develop a kit capable of upgrade a conventional sprayer to a fully autonomous robotic sprayer even at affordable cost in the context of small and medium size farms.

     

Service for consistency management of replicas in data grid

Today, grid technology has evolved to the point where it is no longer a theory but a proven practice. It represents a viable direction for corporations to explore grid computing as an answer to their business needs within tight financial constraints. In general, grids enable the efficient sharing and management of computing resources for the purpose of performing large complex tasks. Data grid provides the data management features to enable data access, synchronization, and distribution of a grid. The main aim here is to ensure a efficient access and quality data, to improve the availability, and be able to continue delivering acceptable services. In such systems, these advantages are not yielded by means others than replication mechanisms. The effective use the replication technique involves several problems, in relation with the problem of the coherence maintenance of replicas. Our contribution consists new service for the consistency management in the data grid. This service combines between pessimistic and optimistic approaches, taking into account benefits of both approaches, to find a compromise between performance and quality. In addition, our service has been extended by a mechanism placement of replicas based on economics model.