Classification of heart rate data using artificial neural network and fuzzy equivalence relation

The electrocardiogram is a representative signal containing information about the condition of the heart. The shape and size of the P-QRS-T wave, the time intervals between its various peaks, etc. may contain useful information about the nature of disease afflicting the heart. However, these subtle details cannot be directly monitored by the human observer. Besides, since bio-signals are highly subjective, the symptoms may appear at random in the time scale. Therefore, the signal parameters, extracted and analysed using computers, are highly useful in diagnostics. This paper deals with the classification of certain diseases using artificial neural network (ANN) and fuzzy equivalence relations. The heart rate variability is used as the base signal from which certain parameters are extracted and presented to the ANN for classification. The same data is also used for fuzzy equivalence classifier. The feedforward architecture ANN classifier is seen to be correct in about 85% of the test cases, and the fuzzy classifier yields correct classification in over 90% of the cases.     

Truncated O-Glycan-Bearing MUC16 Enhances Pancreatic Cancer Cells Aggressiveness via α4β1 Integrin Complexes and FAK Signaling

Elevated levels of Mucin-16 (MUC16) in conjunction with a high expression of truncated O-glycans is implicated in playing crucial roles in the malignancy of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, the mechanisms by which such aberrant glycoforms present on MUC16 itself promote an increased disease burden in PDAC are yet to be elucidated. This study demonstrates that the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genetic deletion of MUC16 in PDAC cells decreases tumor cell migration. We found that MUC16 enhances tumor malignancy by activating the integrin-linked kinase and focal adhesion kinase (ILK/FAK)-signaling axis. These findings are especially noteworthy in truncated O-glycan (Tn and STn antigen)-expressing PDAC cells. Activation of these oncogenic-signaling pathways resulted in part from interactions between MUC16 and integrin complexes (α4β1), which showed a stronger association with aberrant glycoforms of MUC16. Using a monoclonal antibody to functionally hinder MUC16 significantly reduced the migratory cascades in our model. Together, these findings suggest that truncated O-glycan containing MUC16 exacerbates malignancy in PDAC by activating FAK signaling through specific interactions with α4 and β1 integrin complexes on cancer cell membranes. Targeting these aberrant glycoforms of MUC16 can aid in the development of a novel platform to study and treat metastatic pancreatic cancer.     

Design and development of a machine vision system using artificial neural network-based algorithm for automated coal characterization

Coal is heterogeneous in nature,and thus the characterization of coal is essential before its use for a specific purpose.Thus,the current study aims to develop ...     

A study of external mass transfer effect on biodegradation of phenol using low‐density polyethylene immobilized Bacillus flexus GS1 IIT (BHU) in a packed bed bioreactor

The impact of external mass transport on the biodegradation rate of phenol in a packed bed bioreactor (PBBR) was studied. A potential bacterial species, Bacillus flexus GS1 IIT (BHU), was isolated from the petroleum‐contaminated soil. Low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) immobilized with the B. flexus GS1 IIT (BHU) was used as packing material in the PBBR. The PBBR was operated by varying the inlet feed flow rate from 4 to 10 mL/min, and the corresponding degradation rate coefficients were found to be in the range of 0.119–0.157 L/g h. In addition, the highest removal rate of phenol was obtained to be 1.305 mg/g h at an inlet feed rate of 10 mL/min. The external mass transfer was studied using the model . A new empirical correlation for the biodegradation of phenol in the PBBR was developed after the evaluation at various values of K and n.     

Experimental analysis and development of correlations for gas holdup in high pressure slurry co-current bubble columns

The effect of liquid and gas velocities, solid concentrations, and operating pressure has been studied experimentally in a 15 cm diameter air-water-glass beads bubble column. The superficial gas and liquid velocities varied from 1.0 to 40.00 cm/s and 0 to 16.04 cm/s, respectively, while the solid loading varied from 1 to 9%. The gas holdup in the column was reduced sharply as we switched from batch to co-current mode of operation. At low gas velocity, the effect of liquid velocity was insignificant; while at high gas velocity, increasing liquid velocity decreased the gas holdup. Drift flux approach was applied to quantify the combined effect of liquid and gas velocities over gas holdup. For co-current three phase flows, the gas holdup decreased with increase in solid loading for all pressures. But for batch operations, when solid loading was 5% or more, settling started leading to higher gas holdup. Increasing pressure from atmospheric conditions increased the gas holdup significantly, flattening asymptotically.     

Changes in Pigments and Volatiles of Saffron ( Crocus sativusL) During Processing and Storage

Significant variations were observed in the concentration of pigments (10·0–17·0%, moisture-free basis) and flavour components during different post-harvest processing conditions of saffron (stigmas ex Crocus sativus L). The crocin pigments concentration was highest (15–17%) in the saffron samples dried between 35°C and 50°C either in a solar dryer or in an oven dryer and this also resulted in considerable reduction of normal drying time. Under these conditions the main flavouring component, safranal, was at its peak value of 60% in the oil in almost all the samples except the vacuum oven dried samples which interestingly contained 4-β-hydroxysafranal in major amounts. Studies indicated that 4-β-hydroxysafranal may be an intermediate in the formation of safranal. It was observed that prolonged storage affected the pigments and flavour concentration to a great extent, but proper packaging and storage with 5% moisture in the saffron reduced the deterioration, thereby increasing the shelflife of the product.     

Partial least squares analysis of near-infrared hyperspectral images for beef tenderness prediction

Tenderness is a primary determinant of consumer satisfaction of beef steaks. The objective of this study was to implement and test near-infrared (NIR) hyperspectral imaging to forecast 14-day aged, cooked beef tenderness from the hyperspectral images of fresh ribeye steaks (n = 319) acquired at 3–5 day post-mortem. A pushbroom hyperspectral imaging system (wavelength range: 900–1700 nm) with a diffuse-flood lighting system was developed. After imaging, steaks were vacuum-packaged and aged until 14 days postmortem. After aging, the samples were cooked and slice shear force (SSF) values were collected as a tenderness reference. After reflectance calibration, a Region-of-Interest (ROI) of 150 × 300 pixels at the center of longissimus muscle was selected. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was carried out on each ROI image to reduce the dimension along the spectral axis. Gray-level textural co-occurrence matrix analysis with two quantization levels (64 and 256) was conducted on the PLSR bands to extract second-order statistical textural features. These features were then used in a canonical discriminant model to predict three beef tenderness categories, namely tender (SSF ≤ 205.80 N), intermediate (205.80 N < SSF < 254.80 N), and tough (SSF ≥ 254.80 N). The model with a quantization level of 256 performed better than the one with a quantization level of 64. This model correctly classified 242 out of 314 samples with an overall accuracy of 77.0%. Fat, protein, and water absorption bands were identified between 900 and 1700 nm. Our results show that NIR hyperspectral imaging holds promise as an instrument for forecasting beef tenderness.     

Loop‐Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP): A Rapid and Sensitive Tool for Quality Assessment of Meat Products

Loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a novel method that amplifies target nucleic acids under isothermal conditions. It is a rapid, specific, and sensitive method, which does not require costly thermal cyclers for the detection of nucleic acids. Thus, it is suitable for on‐site detection assays under low‐resource settings. It can also be integrated on compact lab‐on‐a‐chip devices for the development of micro‐total analysis systems. This review discusses LAMP‐based methods, as well as LAMP‐based centrifugal, microfluidic, and other fluid‐handling devices, which have been developed for the assessment of meat quality parameters that are related to the presence or absence of nucleic acids, for example, animal species identification and microbiological quality. Advances in improving the rapidity, specificity, and sensitivity of LAMP techniques for the assessment of these meat quality parameters are also discussed in this review.     

Hydrogen production by reforming of liquid hydrocarbons in a membrane reactor for portable power generation—Experimental studies

One of the most promising technologies for lightweight, compact, portable power generation is proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. PEM fuel cells, however, require a source of pure hydrogen. Steam reforming of hydrocarbons in an integrated membrane reactor has potential to provide pure hydrogen in a compact system. Continuous separation of product hydrogen from the reforming gas mixture is expected to increase the yield of hydrogen significantly as predicted by model simulations. In the laboratory-scale experimental studies reported here steam reforming of liquid hydrocarbon fuels, butane, methanol and Clearlite^® was conducted to produce pure hydrogen in a single step membrane reformer using commercially available Pd–Ag foil membranes and reforming/WGS catalysts. All of the experimental results demonstrated increase in hydrocarbon conversion due to hydrogen separation when compared with the hydrocarbon conversion without any hydrogen separation. Increase in hydrogen recovery was also shown to result in corresponding increase in hydrocarbon conversion in these studies demonstrating the basic concept. The experiments also provided insight into the effect of individual variables such as pressure, temperature, gas space velocity, and steam to carbon ratio. Steam reforming of butane was found to be limited by reaction kinetics for the experimental conditions used: catalysts used, average gas space velocity, and the reactor characteristics of surface area to volume ratio. Steam reforming of methanol in the presence of only WGS catalyst on the other hand indicated that the membrane reactor performance was limited by membrane permeation, especially at lower temperatures and lower feed pressures due to slower reconstitution of CO and H₂ into methane thus maintaining high hydrogen partial pressures in the reacting gas mixture. The limited amount of data collected with steam reforming of Clearlite^® indicated very good match between theoretical predictions and experimental results indicating that the underlying assumption of the simple model of conversion of hydrocarbons to CO and H₂ followed by equilibrium reconstitution to methane appears to be reasonable one.     

Studies on slag deposit formation in pulverized coal combustors. 1. Results on the wetting and adherence of synthetic coal ash drops on steel

As part of a study of slag deposit formation in pulverized-coal-fired boilers, apparent contact angles and adhesion strengths of molten mineral drops contacted with cooler oxidized steel substrates have been investigated. High-speed photography indicated that freezing of the interface between the molten drop and metal surface occurred in milliseconds. Adherence occurred between an oxide film on the metal and the drop, adherence was weak on stainless steels, and particles of oxide film were broken away from the substrate when the drops were sheared off. Higher substrate temperatures gave increased adhesion, with a larger area of strong interaction between the oxide and the drop interface and less area of weak interaction. Addition of compounds to lower the liquidus temperature of the drop gave increased adherence. Pyrite drops were converted to mainly pyrrhotite on melting and showed a high degree of wetting and adherence to the oxidized steel even at low temperatures.