Development of defined mixed-culture fungal fermentation starter granulate for controlled production of rice wine

As a first step in the development of defined fungal starter granules for controlled winemaking from purple glutinous rice, the interaction of moulds and yeasts isolated from Vietnamese rice wine starters and the effect of some representative oriental herbs on the growth of moulds and yeasts were examined. Amylomyces rouxii and Saccharomyces cerevisae were shown to be compatible in mixed cultures, and the herbs “Tieu Hoi” (Fennel: Foeniculum vulgare Miller) and “Dinh Huong” (Clove: Syzygium aromaticum L.) which are used as supplementary ingredients by some local starter producers, were observed to stimulate the mould and yeast growth. Based on traditional starter manufacturing methods and modified on the basis of optimization experiments, a laboratory-scale manufacturing process for defined mixed-culture starter granules was established. In accordance with the national standard method, the wine produced with new experimental starter granules was found to have superior flavour and overall acceptability, compared with local commercial rice wines.

Industrial relevance

One of the major problems faced by commercial brewers of rice wine in Vietnam, is the variable quality and performance of the traditional starter tablets that are commonly used. The relevance of the present paper is that a stable, granulated starter has been developed, containing a defined mixture of mould and yeast cultures. This has proven to be shelf stable for more than 3 months, producing a very well accepted quality of wine.     

A Dantzig‐Wolfe Decomposition‐Based Heuristic for Off‐line Capacity Calibration of Dynamic Traffic Assignment

Abstract: One of the critical elements in considering any real‐time traffic management strategy requires assessing network traffic dynamics. Traffic is inherently dynamic, since it features congestion patterns that evolve over time and queues that form and dissipate over a planning horizon. Dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) is therefore gaining wider acceptance among agencies and practitioners as a more realistic representation of traffic phenomena than static traffic assignment. Though it is imperative to calibrate the DTA model such that it can accurately reproduce field observations and avoid erroneous flow predictions when evaluating traffic management strategies, DTA calibration is an onerous task due to the large number of variables that can be modified and the intensive computational resources required. To compliment other research on behavioral and trip table issues, this work focuses on DTA capacity calibration and presents an efficient Dantzig‐Wolfe decomposition‐based heuristic that decomposes the problem into a restricted master problem and a series of pricing problems. The restricted master problem is a capacity manipulation problem, which can be solved by a linear programming solver. The pricing problem is the user optimal DTA which can be optimally solved by an existing combinatorial algorithm. In addition, the proposed set of dual variable approximation techniques is one of a very limited number of approaches that can be used to estimate network‐wide dual information in facilitating algorithmic designs while maintaining scalability. Two networks of various sizes are empirically tested to demonstrate the efficiency and efficacy of the proposed heuristic. Based on the results, the proposed heuristic can calibrate the network capacity and match the counts within a 1% optimality gap.     

Diosmin induces cell apoptosis through protein phosphatase 2A activation in HA22T human hepatocellular carcinoma cells and blocks tumour growth in xenografted nude mice

This study investigated the diosmin effect on HA22T human hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro and in an invivo mouse xenograft model. HA22T cells were treated with different concentrations of diosmin and analysed with Western blot analysis, TUNEL, JC-1 staining and siRNA transfection assays. Additionally, the HA22T-implanted xenograft nude mice model was applied to confirm the cellular effects. Diosmin induced apoptosis, up-regulated death receptor apoptotic pathway markers as well as mitochondrial proteins. Pro-survival Bcl-2 family proteins were inhibited and the pro-apoptotic ones were increased. Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) siRNA or okadaic acid reversed the diosmin effects, confirming the role of PP2A in diosmin-induced HA22T apoptosis. The HA22T-implanted nude mice model revealed that diosmin inhibited tumour cell proliferation and enhanced tumour cell apoptosis. All our experimental evidence indicates that diosmin significantly promotes HA22T apoptosis and reduces tumour sizes in xenograft nude mice via PP2A in a dose-dependent manner.     

Ventricular pressure slope and bileaflet mechanical heart valve closure

The maximum left ventricular pressure slope (dP/dt) value has been used by several investigators as the criterion for studying mitral valve closure. In this article, the relationship between the ventricular pressure slope (dP/dt) and the leaflet closing behavior of bileaflet mechanical heart valves (BMV) is investigated. Two current BMVs, the St. Jude Medical 29 mm and CarboMedics 29 mm, installed in the mitral position of a mock circulatory pulsatile flow loop were used as the study model. Under simulated physiologic pressures and flow conditions, the experiment was conducted at 70, 90, and 120 beats/min with corresponding flow rates of 5.0, 6.0, and 7.5 liters/min, respectively. A laser sweeping technique was used to monitor the leaflet closing motion within the last 3 degrees excursion at valve closure. A modified dual beam laser sweeping technique system was used to register the difference of leaflet/housing impact time between the two BMV closing leaflets in asynchronous closure. Common BMV asynchronous closures were found in both BMVs at all three heart rates tested. The second closing leaflet was found to always close at higher velocity than the first. Simultaneous measurements of the ventricular pressure (Pv) and the leaflet closing time showed that Pv exhibited three stage characteristics. In the first stage, Pv gradually increased as the ventricle was filled. A sudden rise of Pv occurred immediately after closing of the first leaflet. The maximum dp/dt occurred in the third stage after closure of both BMV leaflets. The BMV closing behavior and the corresponding Pv pattern were found to depend strongly upon valve type and heart rate. The time averaged ventricular pressure slope (dp/dt) values at 70, 90, and 120 beats/min were about 40, 70, and 150 mmHg/sec for the St. Jude Medical valve and 40, 105, and 205 for the CarboMedics valve during the first closing stage. The maximum dp/dt values were 2670, 4350, and 5000 mmHg/sec for the St. Jude Medical valve and 1210, 2530, and 3210 mmHg/sec for the CarboMedics valve at the three heart rates tested, respectively. The study showed that the left ventricular pressure patterns (dP/dt) at valve closure were the result of valve operation under given driving conditions. The dp/dtmax cannot be used as the criterion for studying BMV closure.     

Intracellular delivery of a cytolytic T-lymphocyte epitope peptide by pertussis toxin to major histocompatibility complex class I without involvement of the cytosolic class I antigen processing pathway

A CD8(+) cytolytic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response to antigen-presenting cells generally requires intracellular delivery or synthesis of antigens in order to access the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I processing and presentation pathway. To test the ability of pertussis toxin (PT) to deliver peptides to the class I pathway for CTL recognition, we constructed fusions of CTL epitope peptides with a genetically detoxified derivative of PT (PT9K/129G). Two sites on the A (S1) subunit of PT9K/129G tolerated the insertion of peptides, allowing efficient assembly and secretion of the holotoxin fusion by Bordetella pertussis. Target cells incubated with these fusion proteins were specifically lysed by CTLs in vitro, and this activity was shown to be MHC class I restricted. The activity was inhibited by brefeldin A, suggesting a dependence on intracellular trafficking events, but was not inhibited by the proteasome inhibitors lactacystin and N-acetyl-L-leucyl-L-leucyl-L-norleucinal (LLnL). Furthermore, the activity was present in mutant antigen-presenting cells lacking the transporter associated with antigen processing, which transports peptides from the cytosol to the endoplasmic reticulum for association with MHC class I molecules. PT may therefore bypass the proteasome-dependent cytosolic pathway for antigen presentation and deliver epitopes to class I molecules via an alternative route.     

Cobalt-Doped Cryptomelane: Surface-Tailored Oxygen Defects and Efficiently Catalytic Ozonation of p-Nitrophenol

Topics in Catalysis - Cobalt-doped cryptomelane material with different dopant amounts was prepared by a simple co-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction patterns and scanning electron microscope...     

Producing asphaltene fibres from bitumen-derived asphaltenes for carbon fibre development: Part one–Electrospinning

Bitumen-derived asphaltenes are rich in carbon but of low value and contain other elements such as nitrogen, sulphur, oxygen, vanadium, and nickel. Their use as a feedstock for producing carbon fibre (CF) is largely under-investigated. In this study, electrospinning was used to create asphaltene fibres (AFs), which is a pre-carbon fibre material, from asphaltenes. Various operational parameters were investigated in order to improve the spinning abilities, such as the concentration of asphaltenes in toluene, pumping rate, voltage, and distance between the tip of the needle to the collector. Results indicated that asphaltenes concentrations had the greatest effect on the quality of the produced AFs, with the range of asphaltenes concentrations from 45 to 50 wt.% being suitable for producing the AFs, while voltage, pumping rate, and tip distance had less of an effect on electrospun AF production.     

Adaptive neural network hierarchical sliding mode control for six degrees of freedom overhead crane

This paper presents an effective control method for three-dimensional (3D) overhead cranes with six degrees of freedom (DOF). Two payload swings and an axial payload oscillation should be minimized besides driving the bridge, trolley, and hoisting drum to bring the payload to the desired position in space. First, a novel 3D-6DOF crane model is developed, where the sixth degree of freedom is axial cargo oscillation that has never been considered in previous studies. A controller is then designed using the hierarchical sliding mode control method. Moreover, a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is used to approximate the system's unknown dynamic model accurately. According to the Lyapunov principle, a control law and an updated law for the neural network's weight matrices are designed to ensure the stability of the closed-loop system. Simulation results on Matlab software show the proposed approach's effectiveness, such as smaller swing, minor axial oscillation, and precise position as desired.     

Analyzing the occurrence of foaming in batch fermentation processes using multiway partial least square approaches

This article presents an application of multiway partial least squares (MPLS) methods to develop interpretative correlation models to monitor the foaming occurrence and improve batch fermentation. We choose the exhaust differential pressure as a quality variable to quantify the foaming occurrence and consider three-dimensional datasets of different batches, process variables, and measurements. We integrate batch-wise unfolding (BWU) and observation-wise unfolding (OWU) of plant datasets with standard, dynamic, and kernel PLS methods. We find that dynamic PLS (DPLS) with OWU and time-lagged quality variables to be the most efficient, accurate, and easy to implement. The BWU approach is useful for analyzing the differences between batches and identifying abnormalities and outliers, while the OWU quantifies the variation within a given batch. With OWU, the DPLS method with one unit of time lag in the quality variable is the most effective, accurate, and easy to implement. With both BWU and OWU, we identify the quantitative effects of process variables on the quality variable and providence guidance to improve fermentation performance.