An indirect approach for egg weight sorting using image processing

An indirect approach for egg weight sorting, using image processing, is proposed in the paper. The eggs are sorted in four classes by weight. Regression analysis is used for approximation of relationship between egg weight and egg geometric parameters—perimeter, area, major and minor axis, shape index and shape factor. The values of the geometric parameters, collected by image processing and the one, collected by traditional method, are compared for each egg sample, using percent differences between data. The experimental results show that the most significant parameter for egg weight indirect measurement is the egg area, with correlation coefficient 0.989. The mathematical model for the relationship between weight and area of the egg is defined with coefficient of determination 0.978. The classification accuracy is achieved within the eggs test sample sorting. The total classification error is 2.5% for test set and 12.5% for training set.     

The specific chemical profile of Mediterranean propolis from Malta

Seventeen Maltese propolis samples were studied by GC–MS after silylation. They exhibited the typical Mediterranean chemical profile, rich in diterpene compounds (18–92% of TIC, GC–MS): 32 individual diterpenes were identified; 22 of them were present in each specimen. The other abundant compound group was that of sugars and sugar derivatives. In some samples, however, another compound group was observed (0–12% of TIC, GC–MS); the corresponding mass spectra were consistent with mono- and sesquiterpenyl esters of substituted benzoic acids. Two new propolis constituents of this group, daucane diterpene esters of hydroxybenzoic acids, were isolated. Their origin is suggested to be Ferula communis, as they are taxonomic markers for this species. All propolis samples were active against Staphylococcus aureus but only those with high concentrations of terpenyl esters showed antifungal activity against Candida albicans. The present results confirm that Mediterranean propolis is a valuable natural product with potential to improve human health.     

Effect of vacuum‐packaging on the changes of Russian sturgeon muscle lipids during frozen storage

The changes in fatty acid composition, non‐polar (triglycerols) and polar lipids (phospholipids), total free fatty acids and total cholesterol of Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) were studied during 360 days of storage at ?18°C. It was established that total neutral lipids and phospholipids content decreased and total free fatty acids concentration increased significantly during the frozen storage. Lower non‐polar and polar lipids content and higher free fatty acids concentration of vacuum‐packaged samples in comparison with air‐packaged samples were found. The changes in total cholesterol concentration and phospholipid classes of frozen stored sturgeon were not influenced by the frozen storage period and the type of packaging. It was established that the sturgeon polar lipids consisted mainly of phosphatidylcholine – 54.98 ± 0.85%, phosphatidylethanolamine – 28.42 ± 0.61%, and phosphatidylserine – 8.64 ± 0.45%. The increase of the total free fatty acids concentration was associated with the free n ? 3 PUFA accumulation as a result of hydrolysis of non‐polar and polar lipids. During the frozen storage DHA percentage of non‐polar lipids and phospholipids decreased approximately 3 and 1.75%, respectively. After 360 days of storage at ?18°C the n ? 3/n ? 6 PUFA ratio of total lipids decreased 4.9%.     

Chemical vapor deposition and electrical characterization of sub-10 nm diameter InSb nanowires and field-effect transistors

Synthesis of InSb nanowires using a chemical vapor deposition technique, as a function of growth temperature and time, was investigated. High aspect ratio InSb nanowires, having a diameter of about 5–10 nm, were grown at 400 °C for 1 h on InSb (1 1 1) substrate onto which 60 nm Au particle was used as a metal catalyst. The synthesized InSb nanowires had zinc blend single crystal structure without any stacking faults, and they were covered with a thin (∼1 nm thick) amorphous layer. Electrical characterization of InSb nanowires was conducted utilizing a back-gated SNWFET. Device characterization demonstrated that NWs were n-type and exhibited a high I_on/I_off ratio of 10⁶ and device resistance of 250 kΩ.     

Synthesis and studies of phosphorus-containing polyurethane foams based on tetrakis(hydroxymethyl) phosphonium chloride derivatives

A phosphorus- and nitrogen-containing polyl is prepared by condensing tetrakis(hydroxymethyl)phosphonium chloride with diethanol amine in aqueous medium. The newly synthesized polyol-bis(hydroxymethyl)-N, N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)aminomethylphosphine oxide (AMPO) is used in the preparation of rigid polyurethane foams with a various phosphorus content. With the view to comparing their properties, polyurethane foams are also prepared on the basis of the commercially available flame retardant diethyl-N, N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)aminomethylphosphonate (Fyrol 6). The flammability, thermal stability, and thermoechanical properties of the polyurethane foams obtained are studied. A certain difference in the behavior of the two modified polyurethane foams is observed. The polyurethane foams with AMPO exhibit a slight increase in the resistance to combustion (oxygen index) and a noticeable improvement in the thermal and mechanical properties. These differences probably arise as a result of structural and functional differences between the two types of phosphorus-containing flame retardants.     

Reactive compatibilizer precursors for LDPE/PA6 blends. III: ethylene-glycidylmethacrylate copolymer

The effectiveness of a commercial ethylene-glycidylmethacrylate copolymer (Lotader GMA AX 8840) as a compatibilizer precursor (CP) for blends of low density polyethylene (LDPE) with polyamide-6 (PA) has been evaluated by an investigation of the thermal properties and the morphology of binary (LDPE/CP and PA/CP) and ternary (LDPE/PA/CP) blends, as well as by solvent fractionation experiments. It has been demonstrated that the epoxy groups of the CP react quite easily, during melt blending, with both the amine and the carboxyl end groups of PA to give CP-g-PA copolymers, which, depending on the relative amounts of PA and CP, may be partially cross-linked. The composition of the graft copolymers has been approximately determined by gravimetric and calorimetric measurements. The compatibilizing efficiency of the CP employed in this work has been found to be comparable to that of the ethylene-acrylic acid copolymers, and lower than that of a maleic anhydride-functionalized polyethylene, which had been used in previous works.     

A Negotiation Scheme for Access Rights Establishment in Autonomic Communication

Autonomic computing and communication has become a new paradigm for dynamic service integration and resource sharing in today's ambient networks. Devices and systems need to dynamically collaborate and federate with little known or even unknown parties in order to perform everyday tasks. Those devices and systems act as independent nodes that autonomously manage and enforce their own security policies. Thus in autonomic pervasive communications clients may not know a priori what access rights they need in order to execute a service nor service providers know a priori what credentials and privacy requirements clients have so that they can take appropriate access decisions. To solve this problem we propose a negotiation scheme that protects security and privacy interests with respect to information disclosure while still providing effective access control to services. The scheme proposes a negotiation protocol that allows entities in a network to mutually establish sufficient access rights needed to grant a service.

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Polybenzimidazole‐graft‐polyvinylphosphonic acid—proton conducting fuel cell membranes

A new method for the preparation of polybenzimidazole (PBI)‐based membranes, containing high concentrations of immobilized phosphonic acid groups, has been developed. The procedure used is carried out in two steps: (1) Synthesis of modified PBIs, containing 1,2‐dihydroxypropyl groups and preparation of films there from; (2) Introduction of vinylphosphonic acid (VPA) and initiator (cerium ammonium nitrate) in the film, subsequent grafting of VPA from the active sites of the PBI backbone. Membranes with different length of the grafted polyvinylphosphonic acid chains were prepared. The molar ratio grafted VPA units per PBI repeating unit reaches 7.8. Proton conductivity was measured at 120°C and relative humidity (RH) 20–100%. For the membrane with highest concentration of phosphonic acid groups the proton conductivity was 35 mS cm^?1 at 100% RH and 8 mS cm^?1 at 20% RH. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

In Silico Identification of Multi-Target Ligands as Promising Hit Compounds for Neurodegenerative Diseases Drug Development

The conventional treatment of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) is based on the “one molecule—one target” paradigm. To combat the multifactorial nature of NDDs, the focus is now shifted toward the development of small-molecule-based compounds that can modulate more than one protein target, known as “multi-target-directed ligands” (MTDLs), while having low affinity for proteins that are irrelevant for the therapy. The in silico approaches have demonstrated a potential to be a suitable tool for the identification of MTDLs as promising drug candidates with reduction in cost and time for research and development. In this study more than 650,000 compounds were screened by a series of in silico approaches to identify drug-like compounds with predicted activity simultaneously towards three important proteins in the NDDs symptomatic treatment: acetylcholinesterase (AChE), histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2), and monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B). The compounds with affinities below 5.0 µM for all studied targets were additionally filtered to remove known non-specifically binding or unstable compounds. The selected four hits underwent subsequent refinement through in silico blood-brain barrier penetration estimation, safety evaluation, and molecular dynamics simulations resulting in two hit compounds that constitute a rational basis for further development of multi-target active compounds against NDDs.