Propolis to Curb Lifestyle Related Disorders: An Overview

The natural products are gaining immense importance in the domain of nutrition to prevent various maladies and improve the quality of life. Among these, natural exudates are of significant worth as these biochemical compounds are released by various living entities having pharmacological properties for utilization in various drug developments. These natural exudates are the promising source for the discovery of new medications. Numerous bioactive moieties collected by honeybees from exudates and buds of particular trees and plants, considered to be utilized as defensive barrier with special reference to propolis. It generally contains numerous biochemical components, i.e., polyphenols, steroids, terpenoids, and amino acids. They also contain isoferulic acid, sinapinic acid, caffeic acid, and chrysin responsible for antibacterial perspectives. With special attention to propolis, it has been utilized in folk medicines due to several of its therapeutic activities, i.e., antioxidant, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and anticancer properties. In this context, it is extensively used in foodstuffs and beverages to improve health related disorders like inflammation, diabetes, heart disease, protects injured gums, and cancer insurgence. Moreover, it has been used to curtail stomatology, gastroenterology, skin lesions, and otorhinolaryngologic and respiration diseases.     

Hybrid simulated annealing with memory: an evolution-based diversification approach

This study presents an efficient metaheuristic approach for combinatorial optimisation and scheduling problems. The hybrid algorithm proposed in this paper integrates different features of several well-known heuristics. The core component of the proposed algorithm is a simulated annealing module. This component utilises three types of memories, one long-term memory and two short-term memories. The main characteristics of the proposed metaheuristic are the use of positive (reinforcement) and negative (inhibitory) memories as well as an evolution-based diversification approach. Job shop scheduling is selected to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Given the benchmark problem, an extended version of the proposed method is also developed and presented. The extended version has two distinct features, specifically designed for the job shop scheduling problem, that enhance the performance of the search. The first feature is a local search that partially explores alternative solutions on a critical path of any current solution. The second feature is a mechanism to resolve possible deadlocks that may occur during the search as a result of shortage in acceptable solutions. For the case of job shop scheduling, the computational results and comparison with other techniques demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed methods in the majority of cases.     

Synthesis of mesoporous silica (SBA-16) nanoparticles using silica extracted from stem cane ash and its application in electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol

In this work, a new catalyst based on modified mesoporous silica SBA-16 is proposed and used for electrochemical oxidation of methanol. Mesoporous silica SBA-16 nanoparticles are synthesized hydrothermally under the acidic medium using SiO₂/F127/BuOH/HCl/H₂O gel. Pure SiO₂ powder is prepared from inexpensive and environmentally friendly silica source of stem cane ash (SCA). The synthesized SBA-16 is characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electronic microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brumauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and FT-IR techniques. The synthesized SBA-16 is modified with Ni(II) by dispersion in a 0.1 M nickel chloride solution. A modified carbon paste electrode (CPE) is prepared by mixing of NiSBA-16 to carbon paste (NiSBA-16CPE). The electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol was studied on modified electrode by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. From cyclic voltammetry, it is observed that the oxidation current is extremely increased by using NiSBA-16CPE compared to the nonmodified CPE. The incorporation of Ni²⁺ into SBA-16 channels provides the active sites for catalysis of methanol oxidation. Also, the rate constant for the catalytic reaction (k) of methanol is obtained.     

Measurement of large negative reactivity of an accelerator-driven system in the Kyoto University Critical Assembly

Large negative reactivity of a subcritical system driven by a pulsed 14 MeV neutron source has been measured in the Kyoto University Critical Assembly. The subcriticality of the accelerator-driven system (ADS) ranged in effective multiplication factor roughly from 0.98 to 0.92, which corresponded to an operational range of an actual ADS proposed by Japan Atomic Energy Agency. As the measurement technique, pulsed neutron method, power spectral analysis for pulsed neutron source, accelerator-beam trip method were employed. From neutron count decay data obtained by the pulsed neutron experiment, not only the prompt-neutron decay constant of fundamental mode but also a higher spatial mode could be derived. The subcriticality was also determined from the fundamental decay constant. The measured cross-power spectral density consisted of a familiar correlated reactor-noise component and many uncorrelated delta-function-like peaks at the integral multiple of pulse repetition frequency. The fundamental prompt-neutron decay constant, i.e., the subcriticality determined from the latter uncorrelated peaks was consistent with that obtained by the above pulsed neutron experiment. However, the magnitude of the former correlated component was reduced with an increase in the subcriticality and eventually this component became almost white at deeply subcritical state ranging in the multiplication factor under 0.95. Consequently, the determination of the decay constant from the correlated component was impossible under such a subcritical state. As data analysis method for the beam trip experiment, both the conventional integral count method and the least-squares inverse kinetics method (LSIKM) were employed. The LSIKM analysis led to the consistent subcriticality with that obtained by the pulsed neutron experiment, while the integral count method significantly underestimated the subcriticality. This underestimation originated from a residual background count, which was maintained after the beam trip. The LSIKM was mostly not influenced by such a slight count rate.     

Structure and thermal properties of La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ-SDC carbonate composite cathodes for intermediate- to low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells

The structure and thermal properties of La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3−δ-SDC carbonate (LSCF-SDC carbonate) composite cathodes were investigated with respect to the calcination temperatures and the weight content of the samarium-doped ceria (SDC) carbonate electrolyte. The composite cathode powder has been prepared from La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3−δ and SDC carbonate powders using the high-energy ball milling technique in air at room temperature. Different powder mixtures at 30 wt%, 40 wt% and 50 wt% of SDC carbonate were calcined at 750-900 °C. The findings indicated that the structure and thermal properties of the composite cathodes were responsive to the calcination temperature and the content of SDC carbonate. The absence of any new phases as confirmed via XRD analysis demonstrated the excellent compatibility between the cathode and electrolyte materials. The particle size of the composite cathode powder was ∼0.3-0.9 μm having a surface area of 4-15 m² g⁻¹. SEM investigation revealed the presence of large particles in the resultant powders resulting from the increased calcination temperature. The composite cathode containing 50 wt% SDC carbonate was found to exhibit the best thermal expansion compatibility with the electrolyte.     

Optimal design of real‐size building structures using quantum‐behaved developed swarm optimizer

In this paper, the quantum‐behaved developed swarm optimizer is proposed for optimal design of real‐size building structures in which the quantum computing is introduced into the standard developed swarm optimizer. In this method, the position‐updating process for the search agents is conducted by simultaneous utilization of the so far best position of all particles, center of mass of all particles, so far best position of each particle, and the mean best position of all particles in which the first two of these aspects satisfy the exploration phase of the algorithm, whereas the other two are utilized for improving the exploitation phase of the proposed method. In order to evaluate the capability of the proposed method in dealing with difficult optimization problems, three real‐size building structures are considered, namely, a 10‐story building with 1,026 structural members, a 20‐story building with 3,860 members, and a 60‐story building with 8,272 members. The overall performance of the proposed quantum‐behaved developed swarm optimizer is compared with that of the standard developed swarm optimizer and other approaches. The obtained results proved that the proposed method is capable of providing better results for the considered examples than are the other algorithms.     

Influence of Solvent Polarity and Conditions on Extraction of Antioxidant,Flavonoids and Phenolic Content from A verrhoa bilimbi

This paper presents the influence of solvent polarity and extraction conditions on the extraction of total flavonoid, total phenolic and antioxidants from Averrhoa bilimbi. The experiment was performed using a different solvent at different extraction conditions, including extraction time （15-240 min）, temperature （30-70 ℃） and agitation speed （50-300 rpm）. Results showed that yields of extraction varies with solvent polarity. Extraction using 50% aqueous methanol gives the highest antioxidant activity and flavonoid content. The highest total flavonoid content （193.3 μg quercetin equivalent/g dry weight）, total phenolic content （717.8 μg gallic acid equivalent/g dry weight） and antioxidant activity （77%） was achieved using 50% methanol, at 70 ℃ and agitation speed of 300 rpm. This work may be useful for obtaining higher bioactive compounds during the extraction process of A. bilimbi.     

Electrochemical and microstructural characteristics of nanoperovskite oxides Ba0.2Sr0.8Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ (BSCF) for solid oxide fuel cells

Nanoperovskite oxides, Ba_0.2Sr_0.8Co_0.8Fe_0.2O_3?δ (BSCF), were synthesized via the co-precipitation method using Ba, Sr, Co, and Fe nitrates as precursors. Next, half cells were fabricated by painting BSCF thin film on Sm_0.2Ce_0.8O_x (samarium doped ceria, SDC) electrolyte pellets. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements were carried out on the BSCF powders and pellets obtained after sintering at 900 °C. Investigations revealed that single-phase perovskites with cubic structure was obtained in this study. The impedance spectra for BSCF/SDC/BSCF cells were measured to obtain the interfacial area specific resistances (ASR) at several operating temperatures. The lowest values of ASR were found to be 0.19 Ω cm², 0.14 Ω cm² 0.10 cm², 0.09 Ω cm² and 0.07 Ω cm² at operating temperatures of 600 °C, 650 °C, 700 °C, 750 °C and 800 °C, respectively. The highest conductivity was found for cells sintered at 900 °C with an electrical conductivity of 153 S cm^?1 in air at operating temperature of 700 °C.     

Genetic Polymorphisms in the APOA1 Gene and their Relationship with Serum HDL Cholesterol Levels

Low high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) is a known risk factor of coronary artery disease. Apolipoprotein A1 (APOA1) is the most abundant component of HDL-C. This study aimed at identifying sequence variations (rare and common) in the APOA1 gene and its association with serum HDL-C levels. This study was conducted from April 2012 to February 2013 on 79 Tehranians (participants of Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study) with extremely low HDL-C (within the 5th percentile) and 63 individuals with extremely high HDL-C (within the 95th percentile) levels. After DNA amplification by PCR, DNA sequencing of all three exons and 700 bps of promoter region of the APOA1 gene was performed. Sequence results were analyzed and interpreted using the appropriate software and variants were identified. After sequencing 42 common and rare variants were identified, 11 of which were known variants and the others had been unreported so far. Of the exonic variants, 11 were missense, 6 were synonymous and 1 was nonsense. There was a significant association between serum HDL-C and variant of rs2070665 as well as variants Chr.11:116707788, Chr.11:116708059, Chr.11:116708036, Chr.11:116707729, rs201148448, Chr.11:116707018, Chr.11:116707801, Chr.11:116708530, Chr.11:116708088, rs121912724 and Chr.11:116706966 (p < 0.001). Variants Chr.11:116707018, rs121912724 and 2070665 were independent predictors of the HDL-C level (p < 0.001). SNP Chr.11:116707018 was the strongest predictor of the HDL-C level (OR 7.527, p < 0.001). This study identified 42 variants in APOA1 gene, 31 of which were new variants. Three variants of rs2070665, rs121912724 and Chr.11:116707018 could predict the HDL-C level independently. Variant rs2070665 was protective against low-HDL-C levels while variants rs121912724 and Chr.11:116707018 were risk factors for that in our population.