Microbial conversion of androst‐1,4‐dien‐3,17‐dione by Mucor racemosus to hydroxysteroid‐1,4‐dien‐3‐one derivatives

BACKGROUND: A large number of bacterial, fungal and microalgal species are able to bio‐transform steroid compounds. Among them, fungi from the Mucor genus have been shown to mediate hydroxylation, oxidation, and desaturation by the double bond formation and epoxidation of various steroid substances. Mucor racemocus has not been studied for its ability to modify androst‐1,4‐dien‐3,17‐dione, a pharmaceutically important steroid precursor. RESULTS: The filamentous fungus M. racemosus was applied for bioconversion of androst‐1,4‐dien‐3,17‐dione (ADD, I ) in a 5‐day fermentation. Microbial metabolites were purified chromatographically and identified on the basis of their spectral data as 17β‐hydroxyandrost‐1,4‐dien‐3‐one ( II ), 14α‐hydroxyandrost‐1,4‐dien‐3,17‐dione ( III ), 15α‐hydroxyandrost‐1,4‐dien‐3,17‐dione ( IV ), 15α,17β‐dihydroxyandrost‐1,4‐dien‐3‐one ( V ), 14α,17β‐dihydroxyandrost‐1,4‐dien‐3‐one ( VI ), and 6β,17β‐dihydroxyandrost‐1,4‐dien‐3‐one ( VII ). CONCLUSION: Observed modifications included hydroxylation at C‐6β, C‐14α, C‐15α positions and 17‐carbonyl reduction. The best fermentation conditions for production of hydroxysteroid‐1,4‐dien‐3‐one derivatives were found to be 25 °C at 150 rpm for 5 days with a substrate concentration of 0.5 g L^?1. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Extension of winding function theory for nonuniform air gap in electric machinery

This paper extends the winding function theory for nonuniform air gap in rotating electric machinery. It shows that the winding function differs from that used in the symmetrical case, although several papers employ the uniform air-gap winding function to study electric motor performance under fault conditions. The extended theory will be particularly helpful in the study of squirrel-cage induction motors with a nonuniform air gap such as that caused by eccentricity of the rotor and stator.     

Rheological properties of blends of linear and long‐chain branched polypropylenes

Blends of a long‐chain branched polypropylene (LCB‐PP) and a linear polypropylene (L‐PP) were prepared using a twin‐screw extruder. Linear viscoelastic properties such as complex viscosity, storage modulus, and weighted relaxation spectrum were determined as functions of LCB‐PP content. Shear data obtained from commercial rheometers as well as from a slit‐die rheometer were used to verify the Cox‐Merz relation for the neat components as well as for a blend. Elongational properties were obtained using a Sentmanat Extensional Rheometer (SER) unit mounted on an Advanced Rheometric Expansion System (ARES) rheometer and the converging die. A significant strain hardening was observed for the neat LCB‐PP as well as for all the blends, but the strain hardening decreased with increasing strain rate. The apparent steady elongational viscosity values evaluated using the converging die were observed to be comparable at high deformation rates to those obtained from the SER unit, but the differences increased as the strain rate decreased. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2010. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Consideration effect of uncertainty in power system reliability indices using radial basis function network and fuzzy logic theory

Reliability assessment of composite power systems is a critical and important part of power investigations especially in the market-driven environments. Therefore, the reliability indices as criteria for the comparison of the reliability of the power systems should be evaluated precisely and carefully. Because of the nonlinear behavior of the systems as the effect of different parameters like weather conditions, load pattern changes and some others, reliability indices always contain much uncertainty. In this paper a neuro-fuzzy based method is proposed to reduce the degree of the uncertainty in the reliability indices and therefore to evaluate the reliability of the composite power systems precisely. Fuzzy logic theory makes it possible to make use of the human experts knowledge in the reliability evaluations. Also by the use of RBFNN and its powerful characteristic to learn any nonlinear mapping between two states it would be possible to evaluate the reliability indices for every short time interval needed so that reliability evaluation in real time would be achievable and feasible.In this paper the RBFNN is trained by the training patterns that are achieved by the use of fuzzy logic theory, then the results are examined on a standard Reliability Test System (RTS-96).     

Polyaniline-supported acid as an efficient and reusable catalyst for a one-pot synthesis of β-acetamido ketones via a four-component condensation reaction

Polyaniline-supported acid salts such as polyaniline-hydrochloride, polyaniline-sulfate and polyaniline-nitrate were prepared by oxidation of aniline using ammonium persulfate as oxidizing agents. Polyaniline salts were used as catalyst for the preparation of β-acetamido ketones. Polyaniline-sulfate salt was found to be the best catalyst for the preparation of β-acetamido ketones. Present methodology offers several advantages, such as cheaper process, easy synthesis of stable catalyst, simple work-up procedure, and excellent activity with less amount of catalyst and in addition, the catalyst can be easily recovered after completion of the reaction and reusable without affecting its activity.     

Investigation and Simulation of a Two-Channel Drop Filter with Tunable Double Optical Resonators

In this paper, a photonic crystal (PhC) two-channel drop filter based on two 2×2 & 2×3 ring resonators is proposed. This structure is made of Germanium rods in an air background at a two-dimensional (2D) square lattice. Refractive index is chosen in a way in which that device can be easily fabricated. The photonic crystal two-channel drop filter is composed using a horizontal waveguide and two ring resonators, which are placed symmetrically about the horizontal axis. These ring resonators operate as energy coupling and capture the electromagnetic energy propagated in bus waveguide at their resonance frequencies. The filter characteristics are calculated using 2D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) and plane wave expansion (PWE) methods. We show a two-channel drop filter with two resonators, based on studied basic structures and achieving optimal modes for channel drop filters with one resonator. We have done this through choosing the proper radii for all rods of lattice, setting radii of coupling rods, lattice constant, and studying basic structures having different refractive indexes. Finally, we show 84 % and 100 % dropping efficiencies can be achieved at D and C ports in the communication window and 100 % in direct port. The size of this device is 14.56 μm (length)×11.96 μm (width). This small size makes it possible to use the device in multiplexer applications in future communication systems and in all-optical integrated circuits.     

Magnetic Properties of Mechanically Alloyed Cobalt-Zinc Ferrite Nanoparticles

In this work, the physical and the magnetic properties of cobalt-zinc ferrite nanoparticles, synthesized via high-energy ball milling (HEBM), were examined. X-Ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FeSEM), and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) were used to study changes of the powder structure and morphology analyses. Hysteresis and permeability measurement were carried out using a BH hysteresisgraph system and an impedance analyzer, respectively. The results suggested improved magnetic properties of Co_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄ with increasing sintering temperature from 950 °C up to 1200 °C. However, the variations of the magnetic responses were consistent with the varying volume concentration of the ferrite composites. Unlike the highly crystalline pure ferrite which showed magnetic resonance within the measured frequency, the crystallineamorphous composites showed no visible resonance peak. This proved that the resonance peak shifted to higher frequency as a result of the single domain spin behavior in the absence of domain walls movement.     

Spatially resolved laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy in methane-air diffusion flames

A new setup for spatially resolved laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (SR-LIBS) is used for the first time to analyze methane-air diffusion flames. Using this configuration, background continuum emission is reduced, signal-to-background noise ratio is increased up to eight times, and spatial resolution is enhanced. The local equivalence ratio is also quantitatively estimated and the width of the secondary combustion region at a specified height above the burner is determined for two different methane flow rates. Furthermore, the threshold energy for spark formation is measured for regions inside and outside the flame. The results show that threshold energy is larger at the secondary combustion region, near the border of the flame, than inside the flame.     

IoT-Enabled Autonomous System Collaboration for Disaster-Area Management

Timely investigating post-disaster situations to locate survivors and secure hazardous sources is critical, but also very challenging and risky. Despite first responders putting their lives at risk in saving others, human-physical limits cause delays in response time, resulting in fatality and property damage. In this paper, we proposed and implemented a framework intended for creating collaboration between heterogeneous unmanned vehicles and first responders to make search and rescue operations safer and faster. The framework consists of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), a cloud-based remote control station (RCS). A light-weight message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT) based communication is adopted for facilitating collaboration between autonomous systems. To effectively work under unfavorable disaster conditions, antenna tracker is developed as a tool to extend network coverage to distant areas, and mobile charging points for the UAVs are also implemented. The proposed framework’s performance is evaluated in terms of end-to-end delay and analyzed using architectural analysis and design language (AADL). Experimental measurements and simulation results show that the adopted communication protocol performs more efficiently than other conventional communication protocols, and the implemented UAV control mechanisms are functioning properly. Several scenarios are implemented to validate the overall effectiveness of the proposed framework and demonstrate possible use cases.