Influence of ammonia and lysine supplementation on yeast growth and fermentation with respect to gluten-free type brewing using unmalted sorghum grain

Because gluten-free type brewing with unmalted sorghum does not provide adequate nitrogen for complete fermentation, wort supplementation with ammonia (as diammonium phosphate, DAP) or lysine on yeast performance was investigated. By Phenotype Microarray, under aerobic conditions, greater yeast growth was indicated with DAP than lysine both as a single source and combined with sorghum wort amino acids. With sorghum fermentation, both DAP and lysine improved maltose and maltotriose uptake. However, DAP supplementation also maintained yeast numbers (24.0–21.3 × 10⁶ cells mL⁻¹), whereas there was a decline with lysine supplementation. Lysine supplementation also resulted in adverse effects on yeast cell morphology. Neither DAP nor lysine supplementation resulted in evident genetic change to the yeast, but the change in substrate from barley malt wort to unmalted sorghum wort slightly altered the yeast genetically. Therefore, ammonia as DAP has potential as a nitrogen supplement for improving yeast fermentation performance in sorghum gluten-free brewing.     

A Bayesian belief network analysis of factors influencing wildfire occurrence in Swaziland

The impacts of wildfires on ecosystems and the factors contributing to their occurrence are increasingly receiving global attention. Advances in satellite remote sensing and information technology provide an opportunity to study these complex interrelationships. A Bayesian belief network (BBN) model was developed from a set of 12 biotic, abiotic and human variables to determine factors that influence wildfire activity in Swaziland using wildfire data from the Terra and Aqua satellites' Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for the period 2001–2007. These were geospatially integrated in the geographic information system (GIS) software ArcView and input into the software Netica for BBN analyses. Land cover, elevation, and climate (mean annual rainfall and mean annual temperature) were found to be strong predictors of wildfire occurrence, while aspect had the least influence on the wildfire occurrence. The model had a high predictive accuracy with an error rate of 9.62%, and an area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.961. The study demonstrates how domain or field knowledge and limited empirical and GIS data can be combined within a BBN model to assist in determining key fire management interventions and lays the foundation for the future development of advanced and dynamic models.     

Real-time wavelength reuse based on Bragg trans-reflection for dynamic reference frequency and data transfer in Datacom

ABSTRACT

We experimentally demonstrate the first VCSEL-based all-optical wavelength reuse technique with reconfigurable fibre Bragg grating add and drop multiplexer. EDFA gain saturation and Bragg trans-reflection effect on a single FBG are respectively, adopted for full-duplex reference frequency and data transfer. A 1550 nm energy-efficient VCSEL is modulated with 1.7?GHz clock signal and transferred downstream over 26.6?km fibre OLT attain a phase noise stability of ?54.01 dBc/Hz at 10?kHz offset frequency. A saturated EDFA is exploited to optically reduce the peak-to-peak voltage of the incoming downstream RF, allowing for wavelength reuse with 10?Gbps upstream data. A 1.57 dB transmission penalty is incurred over the transmission fibre. An all-passive OADM is developed exploiting Bragg trans-reflection at 1549.45?nm. The reflected wavelength is routed over another 24.7?km fibre network attaining an extinction ratio of 6.1?dB and a SNR of 5.8?dB. This work provides an all-optical technique for routing and spectral management in flexible networks.     

A review of the photovoltaic industry and its development in Africa

This article presents an overview of the commercialisation experiences of photovoltaics and draws some conclusion from the past and applies them to the future. In particular, the development for this industry in Africa is examined to identify the areas of strength and potential as well as the necessary infrastructure—for production, distribution and installation in order to support its growth. The question of capital requirement versus the efficiency of photovoltaics is highlighted and the reliabilty factor is analysed. As a result of examining the past, three issues seem crucial for the future development of photovoltaics, especially in Africa: (1) technology development; (2) education; (3) finance. These issues are addressed and their interdependence and impact on the use of photovoltaics are explored. The success stories of several photovoltaic companies in Africa, in spite of their problems, can be a source of optimism for the future contribution of this industry to the improved quality of life and economic growth as well as the employment opportunities on this continent. Finally, a method of co-operation between research in photovoltaics at the universities and local industry is proposed as part of the Research and Development (R&D) infrastructure necessary for the technical support of this field.     

Electrical/electronic effects of titanium and iron impurities in EFG and FZ solar cell silicon: SPV/EBIC analysis

In this paper results on surface photovoltage (SPV) and electron beam induced conductivity (EBIC) studies of edge-defined film-fed growth (EFG) and floating zone (FZ) silicon solar cell materials (both p-type) are presented. A systematic comparison based on minority carrier diffusion length and carrier recombination is made between: (i) samples contaminated with Ti and/or Fe, (ii) samples gettered by phosphorous diffusion, and (iii) as-received samples. Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements, together with the iron-boron (FeB) pairing kinetics [1] have successfully been used to detect the presence of Fe in the samples. Even though this process is effective in revealing Fe impurities in p-type FZ silicon it is evidently not suitable for Fe identification in p-type EFG silicon. Ti, like Fe, is found to be a prominent lifetime-limiting metallic impurity in both EFG and FZ silicon. Phosphorous diffusion is proven to be an effective external gettering technique for fast-diffusing impurities such as Fe, but not for Ti.     

CBAC4C: conflict-based VM isolation control for cloud computing

For businesses to benefit from the many opportunities of cloud computing, they must first address a number of security challenges, such as the potential leakage of confidential data to unintended third parties. An inter-VM (where VM is virtual machine) attack, also known as cross-VM attack, is one threat through which cloud-hosted confidential data could be leaked to unintended third parties. An inter-VM attack exploits vulnerabilities between co-resident guest VMs that share the same cloud infrastructure. In an attempt to stop such an attack, this paper uses the principles of logical analysis to model a solution that provides physical separation of VMs belonging to conflicting tenants based on their levels of conflict. The derived mathematical model is founded on scientific principles and implemented using four conflict-aware VM placement algorithms. The resultant algorithms consider a tenant's risk appetite and cost implications. The model offers guidance to VM placement and is validated using a proof of concept. A cloud simulation tool was used to test and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the model. The findings reflect that the introduction of the proposed model introduced a time lag in the time it took to place VM instances. On top of this, it was also discovered that the number and size of the VM instances has an effect on the VM placement performance. The findings further illustrate that the conflict tolerance level of a VM has a direct impact on the time it took to place.     

Application of a Bayesian network for land-cover classification from a Landsat 7 ETM+ image

This article describes the use of a Bayesian network (BN) for the classification of land cover from satellite imagery in northern Swaziland. The main objective of this work was to apply and evaluate the efficacy of a BN for land-cover classification using gap-filled and terrain-corrected Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) imagery acquired on 15 May 2007. The posterior probabilities (parameters) were estimated using the expectation-maximization (EM) and conjugate gradient descent (CGD) algorithms. A comparison of the results obtained from the algorithms indicates similar and excellent overall classification accuracies of 93.01%, and kappa coefficient values of 0.9143. The main result obtained in this study is that both algorithms considered here provide relatively similar and accurate solutions for the classification of the multispectral image although the EM algorithm is marginally competitive relative to CGD algorithm when measured in terms of the Brier score and the logarithmic loss.     

HIV-Associated Cancer Biomarkers: A Requirement for Early Diagnosis

Globally, HIV/AIDS and cancer are increasingly public health problems and continue to exist as comorbidities. The sub-Saharan African region has the largest number of HIV infections. Malignancies previously associated with HIV/AIDS, also known as the AIDS-defining cancers (ADCs) have been documented to decrease, while the non-AIDS defining cancer (NADCs) are on the rise. On the other hand, cancer is a highly heterogeneous disease and precision oncology as the most effective cancer therapy is gaining attraction. Among HIV-infected individuals, the increased risk for developing cancer is due to the immune system of the patient being suppressed, frequent coinfection with oncogenic viruses and an increase in risky behavior such as poor lifestyle. The core of personalised medicine for cancer depends on the discovery and the development of biomarkers. Biomarkers are specific and highly sensitive markers that reveal information that aid in leading to the diagnosis, prognosis and therapy of the disease. This review focuses mainly on the risk assessment, diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic role of various cancer biomarkers in HIV-positive patients. A careful selection of sensitive and specific HIV-associated cancer biomarkers is required to identify patients at most risk of tumour development, thus improving the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease.     

Adaptation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 to acid in traditional and commercial goat milk amasi

Acid resistance of Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains UT 10 and UT 15 were determined in traditional Amasi fermented for 3 days at ambient temperature (ca 30 °C) and commercial Amasi fermented at 30 °C for 24 h and stored at 7 °C for 2 days. Escherichia coli O157:H7 counts in commercial Amasi were detected at 2.7 log₁₀ cfu/ml after 3 days while those in traditional Amasi could not be detected after the same period. There was no significant difference (p ? 0.05) in the survival of acid adapted (AA) and non-adapted (NA) E. coli O157:H7 in traditional Amasi, while in commercial Amasi, the NA strain survived significantly (p ? 0.05) better than its AA counterpart. Regardless of prior adaptation to acid, E. coli O157:H7 can survive during fermentation and storage of fermented goat milk Amasi. Also, the fermentation time, pH and storage temperature affects the survival of E. coli O157:H7 in the fermented milk.     

Advances in green synthesis of selenium nanoparticles and their application in food packaging

The past decade has seen nanotechnology progressively being adopted by the food industry. Its wide application in food packaging has redefined conservative food packaging with active and intelligent packaging. Nanomaterials do not only influence food quality and safety but also offer health-related benefits. Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) have been preferred in recent years because of their high biological activity. However, they are generally synthesised using physicochemical methods which are associated with toxicity. In the past decade, efforts have been directed towards advancement of green synthesis of SeNPs to minimise hazardous by-products. The antioxidant and biocidal effects of SeNPs are generally investigated by direct contact between the oxidisable matter and/or test organisms. Lately, there is focus on the effect SeNPs incorporated into packaging films. This paper will review developments on SeNPs synthesised via plant extracts from the year 2010 to present and their potential application in active food packaging.