Effect of amino acid,pH and mineral salts on glass transition and flow behaviour of soy protein concentrate

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of proline, mineral salts (NaCl and Na₂SO₄) and pH combined with moisture content on the glass transition temperature (T_g) and flow‐starting temperature (T_f) of soy protein concentrate (SPC). Initial screening of the variables based on fractional factorial design showed insignificant effect of NaCl on T_g and T_f. The design was extended to a face‐centred central composite design (CCD) excluding NaCl and data evaluated by use of response surface methodology. The established model for T_g (R² = 0.824) shows significant negative first‐order effects of moisture, proline and Na₂SO₄, and a positive interaction effect of moisture and Na₂SO₄. The T_f model (R² = 0.937) shows significant negative first‐order effects of moisture and proline, a positive first‐order and negative square effect of pH, and a negative interaction effect of moisture and proline. The main effect on T_g and T_f was 2.2 and 1.3 times higher, respectively, for moisture compared to proline. The study confirms that proline (or other free amino acids) can replace moisture as protein plasticiser in the extrusion process. Minor effects can also be obtained by reduction in pH.     

New Trends in the Modeling of Diseases Through Computational Techniques

The computational techniques are a set of novel problem-solving methodologies that have attracted wider attention for their excellent performance. The handling strategies of real-world problems are artificial neural networks (ANN), evolutionary computing (EC), and many more. An estimated fifty thousand to ninety thousand new leishmaniasis cases occur annually, with only 25% to 45% reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). It remains one of the top parasitic diseases with outbreak and mortality potential. In 2020, more than ninety percent of new cases reported to World Health Organization (WHO) occurred in ten countries: Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Eritrea, India, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Yemen. The transmission of visceral leishmaniasis is studied dynamically and numerically. The study included positivity, boundedness, equilibria, reproduction number, and local stability of the model in the dynamical analysis. Some detailed methods like Runge Kutta and Euler depend on time steps and violate the physical relevance of the disease. They produce negative and unbounded results, so in disease dynamics, such developments have no biological significance; in other words, these results are meaningless. But the implicit nonstandard finite difference method does not depend on time step, positive, bounded, dynamic and consistent. All the computational techniques and their results were compared using computer simulations.     

Evaluating the effect of waste glass granules on the fresh,mechanical properties and shear bond strength of sustainable cement mortar

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - The amount of waste material has increased with the development of the standard of life, and with an increase in the population, for that waste...     

On Computer Implementation for Comparison of Inverse Numerical Schemes for Non-Linear Equations

In this research article, we interrogate two new modifications in inverse Weierstrass iterative method for estimating all roots of non-linear equation simultaneously. These modifications enables us to accelerate the convergence order of inverse Weierstrass method from 2 to 3. Convergence analysis proves that the orders of convergence of the two newly constructed inverse methods are 3. Using computer algebra system Mathematica, we find the lower bound of the convergence order and verify it theoretically. Dynamical planes of the inverse simultaneous methods and classical iterative methods are generated using MATLAB (R2011b), to present the global convergence properties of inverse simultaneous iterative methods as compared to classical methods. Some non-linear models are taken from Physics, Chemistry and engineering to demonstrate the performance and efficiency of the newly constructed methods. Computational CPU time, and residual graphs of the methods are provided to present the dominance behavior of our newly constructed methods as compared to existing inverse and classical simultaneous iterative methods in the literature.     

Characterization,antibacterial and in vitro compatibility of zinc–silver doped hydroxyapatite nanoparticles prepared through microwave synthesis

We investigated the possibility of enhancing hydroxyapatite (HA) bioactivity by co-substituting it with zinc and silver. Zn–Ag–HA nanoparticles were synthesized by using the microwave-assisted wet precipitation process, and their phase purity, elemental composition, morphology, and particle size were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). FTIR, XRD, and EDX results showed the characteristic peaks of the Zn–Ag–HA structure, while SEM results demonstrated that the nanoparticles were of spherical shape with a particle size of 70–102 nm. Antibacterial tests of the nanoparticles revealed their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. By using simulated body fluid (SBF), an apatite layer formation was observed at 28 days. In vitro cell adhesion assay confirmed the cell attachment of normal human osteoblast (NHOst) cells to the disc surface. MTT [(3(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay indicated that the cells were viable, and the cells proliferated faster on the disks than on the control surface due to the presence of metal ions. In conclusion, the novel Zn–Ag–HA nanoparticles were found to be compatible with in vitro experiments and having potential antibacterial properties. Therefore these nanoparticles could be a promising candidate for future biomedical applications.     

Synthesis,micellization and cytotoxic studies of ester-functionalized imidazolium gemini surfactants

The fatty acid-based imidazolium gemini surfactants containing hydroxy-substituted spacers were synthesized and characterized by different spectral techniques. The micellization behavior of product compounds was studied by determining their critical micelle concentration (cmc) values from steady state fluorescence and conductivity measurements. The thermodynamic parameters of micellization of synthesized gemini surfactants confirmed that the micelle formation is a thermodynamically favorable, endothermic and an entropy driven phenomenon. The surfactants were further analyzed for their cytotoxic nature by treating them upon human embryonic kidney cell (HEK-293) line and were found to be significantly low cytotoxic. The interesting features like low cmc values, non-cytotoxic and eco-friendly nature of the gemini surfactants may offer new and more efficient substitutes to the conventional drug delivery systems. Thus the gemini surfactants may serve as promising candidates in the biomedical and pharmaceutical fields.     

Optimality of Solution with Numerical Investigation for Coronavirus Epidemic Model

The novel coronavirus disease, coined as COVID-19, is a murderous and infectious disease initiated from Wuhan, China. This killer disease has taken a large number of lives around the world and its dynamics could not be controlled so far. In this article, the spatio-temporal compartmental epidemic model of the novel disease with advection and diffusion process is projected and analyzed. To counteract these types of diseases or restrict their spread, mankind depends upon mathematical modeling and medicine to reduce, alleviate, and anticipate the behavior of disease dynamics. The existence and uniqueness of the solution for the proposed system are investigated. Also, the solution to the considered system is made possible in a well-known functions space. For this purpose, a Banach space of function is chosen and the solutions are optimized in the closed and convex subset of the space. The essential explicit estimates for the solutions are investigated for the associated auxiliary data. The numerical solution and its analysis are the crux of this study. Moreover, the consistency, stability, and positivity are the indispensable and core properties of the compartmental models that a numerical design must possess. To this end, a nonstandard finite difference numerical scheme is developed to find the numerical solutions which preserve the structural properties of the continuous system. The M-matrix theory is applied to prove the positivity of the design. The results for the consistency and stability of the design are also presented in this study. The plausibility of the projected scheme is indicated by an appropriate example. Computer simulations are also exhibited to conclude the results.     

Dynamical Behavior and Sensitivity Analysis of a Delayed Coronavirus Epidemic Model

Mathematical delay modelling has a significant role in the different disciplines such as behavioural, social, physical, biological engineering, and bio-mathematical sciences. The present work describes mathematical formulation for the transmission mechanism of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Due to the unavailability of vaccines for the coronavirus worldwide, delay factors such as social distance, quarantine, travel restrictions, extended holidays, hospitalization, and isolation have contributed to controlling the coronavirus epidemic. We have analysed the reproduction number and its sensitivity to parameters. If,     

The electron beam gun with thermionic hairpin-like cathode for welding and surface modifications

An axial thermionic electron beam emitter assembly with a special geometry of the cathode along with particular spacing of the electrodes has been used to produce a stable, sharp and high power density image at an acceleration voltage of 10 kV only. A hairpin-like tungsten wire, with diameter of 0.7 mm having semi-spherical emitting area at the crown with an angle of 45 degree at the vertex was used as a cathode. A direct heating method was used to heat the cathode. The emission current of the gun is in accordance with the Langmuir relation. An electromagnetic coil was used for focusing the beam at the target. A two dimensional programmable movement was applied to control the work site in the x-y direction. Focusing of the beam has been achieved up to 1 mm in diameter at an acceleration voltage of 10 kV.Thermionic efficiency of the gun is 4 mA W⁻¹ and the power density measured is ∼10⁵ W cm⁻².The gun was used for welding and surface modification of different materials including refractory metals.     

Expressing embedded systems configurations at high abstraction levels with UML MARTE profile: Advantages,limitations and alternatives

Embedded systems have become an essential aspect of our professional and personal lives. From avionics, transport and telecommunication systems to general commercial appliances such as smart phones, high definition TVs and gaming consoles; it is difficult to find a domain where these systems have not made their mark. Moreover, Systems-on-Chips (SoCs) which are considered as an integral solution for designing embedded systems, offer advantages such as run-time reconfiguration that can change system configurations during execution, depending upon Quality-of-Service (QoS) criteria such as performance and energy levels. This article deals with aspects related to modeling of these configurations, useful for describing various states of an embedded system, from both structural and operational viewpoints. Our proposal adapts a high abstraction level approach based on the principles of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) and takes into account the UML MARTE profile for modeling of real-time and embedded systems. Elevating the design abstraction levels help to increase design productivity and achieve execution platform independence, among other advantages. The article details the current proposition of configurations in MARTE via some examples, and points out the advantages as well as some limitations, mainly concerning the semantic aspects of the defined concepts. Finally, we report our experiences on the modeling of an alternate notion of configurations and execution modes within the MARTE compliant Gaspard2 SoC Co-Design framework that has been successful for the design as well as implementation of FPGA based SoCs.