Physiological and Nutraceutical Perspectives of Fructan

Functional and nutraceutical foods have captured the global market owing to trends and perceptions of consumers on the natural products and diet-health linkages. Health promoting potential of such foods has been attributed to the presence of essential bioactive moieties. Wheat, being staple food in many parts of the world, gained substantial attention of researchers particularly for the extraction of various functional components. Among these, fructan oligosaccharides in nature bestow quality of baked products and provide protection against various physiological disorders. Addition of fructan in various baked products enhances softness and color, especially in bread, and also imparts textural improvement. Moreover, fructans boost mineral absorption, hypocholesterolemic, and hypoglycemic perspectives, bifidogenic nature and controlling cancer insurgence. The benefits allied with fructan are mainly dose and time dependent. In this context, its industrial applications for vulnerable groups are increasing worldwide.     

Is it possible to predict limb viability in complex Gustilo IIIB and IIIC tibial fractures? A comparison of two predictive indices

The patient with severe lower limb trauma presents a management dilemma; whether to amputate primarily or to attempt limb salvage. In recent years, many predictive indices have been published which purport to identify limbs which are non-viable. We retrospectively applied two recently described indices, the Mangled Extremity Severity Score (MESS) and the Limb Salvage Index (LSI), to 54 limbs in 50 patients with either Gustilo IIIB or IIIC complex tibial fractures. There were 22 amputations (40.7 per cent) in the series. The mean MESS score in the limb salvage group was 3.8 (range 2-10), and the mean MESS score in the amputation group was 7.7 (range 4-13) (P < 0.0001). The mean LSI score in the limb salvage group was 3.6 (range 3-8), and the mean LSI score in the amputation group was 6.9 (P < 0.01). However, in the group with MESS scores > 7 (which recommends amputation), there were three limbs which were salvaged with acceptable functional outcome. Similarly, in those with LSI scores > 6 (which recommends amputation), there were seven limbs successfully salvaged. A MESS > 7 offered a greater relative risk of amputation (9.2) than a LSI score > 6 (5.3). We found both indices of use in predicting limb salvage and functional outcome. However, neither is sufficiently accurate to be considered absolutely reliable in clinical practice.     

Effect of thermal storage on the performance of greenhouse

In this communication, thermal model of a greenhouse has been developed by incorporating the effect of water wall in the north side. Various temperatures, namely plant, water wall and room temperatures as a function of climatic and design parameters have been obtained by solving coupled single-order differential equation using Runge–Kutta method. Numerical methods have been carried out for a typical day of winter for Delhi condition. It has been observed that there is significant effect in the plant, room air and water temperatures due to change in fraction of solar radiation incident on north wall (F_n) and heat capacity of water wall. Experimental validation of the proposed model for a greenhouse with brick north wall has also been carried out. It has been observed that there is a fair agreement between experimental and theoretical values. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Kinetic modeling of pyrolysis of three Iranian waste oils in a micro-fluidized bed

Different approaches have been used to convert the waste materials into a clean syngas or other chemicals such as methanol. Among them, pyrolysis is a good candidate to produce the synthesis gas and volatile matters for industrial and refinery applications. In this work, we studied the kinetic and chemical behavior of three Iranian waste oils through a kinetic model and an experimental study. The experiments carried out in a micro-FB reactor, which is a good option for low emissions. Results showed that the reaction temperature and reaction rate are two of the most important factors for maximum conversion level of fuel. Results also showed an optimum value for reaction rate. The modeling results validated against the experimental measurements and found to be in good agreements.     

Bimetallic dies with direct metal-deposited steel on Moldmax for high-pressure die casting application

In high-pressure die casting, cooling time greatly affects the total cycle time. As thermal conductivity is the main governing factor, a higher thermal conductive die material allows faster extraction of heat from the casting, thus resulting in shorter cycle time and higher productivity. This paper presents a novel approach to replace a conventional steel die by a bimetallic die made of Moldmax copper alloy coated with a protective layer of steel using laser cladding technology, direct metal deposition on the cavity surface for high-pressure die casting of aluminum alloys. Study includes the investigation of suitable steel layer thickness on Moldmax substrate in terms of porosity, hardness, presence of copper content, and copper particle. Results obtained from the scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectroscopy display a metallurgicallly sound and fully dense steel layer on copper alloy. Results of finite element heat transfer analysis also show that bimetallic die offers superior thermal performance compared with monolithic steel die.     

Glass transition kinetics and optical band gap in Se85−xSb15Snx (x = 10, 11, 12.5, and 13) chalcogenide glasses

Se_85−xSb₁₅Sn_x (10 ≤ x ≤ 13) chalcogenide glasses were prepared by melt quenching technique. The glass transition temperature T_g of the samples was recorded at different heating rates using differential scanning calorimeter DSC. From the heating rate dependence of T_g, the activation energy for thermal relaxation E_t was calculated using Moynihan model and Kissinger equation. It is found that T_g increases with Sn content due to enhancement of both the degree of cross-linking parameter D_cl and the mean bond energy of the average cross-linking per atom 〈E_cl〉. The observed increase in D_cl and 〈E_cl〉 is attributed to the formation of SnSe_4/2 structural units of energies higher than that of Se–Se and Se–Sb bond energies. The decreasing trend of E_t with the addition of Sn is an indication of improving thermal stability as it is also evident from the values of the temperature difference T_c − T_g. Correlation of T_g values with the physical parameters of the studied glasses (for instance, the average coordination number 〈Z〉, the average heat of atomization (H_s), the overall mean bond energy 〈E〉, and the optical band gap (E_g)) reveals that T_g increases linearly with 〈Z〉, H_s, and 〈E〉 but the behavior with E_g is opposite.     

PAPR reduction in mobile WiMAX: a novel DST precoding based random interleaved OFDMA uplink system

Mobile WiMAX is a 3rd generation broadband wireless technology that enables the convergence of mobile and fixed broadband networks through a wide area radio-access. Since January 2007, the IEEE 802.16 working group has been developing a new amendment the IEEE 802.16 standard i.e. IEEE 802.16 m as an advanced air interface to meet the requirements of ITU-R/IMT-Advanced for 4G systems. The mobile WiMAX air interface adopts orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) as multiple access technique for its uplink and downlink to improve signal performance affected by multipath distortion. All OFDMA based networks, including mobile WiMAX, experience the problem of high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). This paper presents a discrete-sine-transform precoding technique based random-interleaved OFDMA (RI-OFDMA) uplink system for PAPR reduction in mobile WiMAX. The PAPR of proposed system is analyzed with root-raised-cosine pulse shaping filter to keep out of band radiation low and to fulfill the spectrum mask requirements. Simulation results show that, the proposed system has low PAPR compared to the Hadamard transform precoded RI-OFDMA uplink systems and the conventional RI-OFDMA uplink systems.     

Simultaneous measurements of thermal conductivity and diffusivity of Se80Te20-xInx (x = 2, 4, 6 and 10) chalcogenide glasses at room temperature

Measurements of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of twin pellets of Se₈₀Te_20-xIn_x (x = 2, 4, 6 and 10) glasses, prepared under a load of 5 tons were carried out at room temperature using transient plane source (TPS) technique. The measured values of both thermal conductivity and diffusivity were used to determine the specific heat per unit volume of the said materials in the composition range of investigation. Results indicated that both the values of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity increased with the addition of indium at the cost of tellurium whereas the specific heat remained almost constant. This compositional dependence behaviour of the thermal conductivity and diffusivity has been explained in terms of the iono-covalent type of bond which In makes with Se as it is incorporated in the Se-Te glass.     

Complete nucleotide sequence of the Plasmodium vivax 6 kb element

A small survey confirms that epidural infusions are often prepared by clinicians and solutions may be changed each day because of fears of microbiological contamination. We have assessed the microbiological safety of six mixtures of diamorphine (0.01-1.0%) and bupivacaine (0.1-0.5%) representing the spectrum of clinically useful concentrations for use as extradural infusions. The solutions were studied for antibacterial activity against common contaminants of fluids: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis and a coagulase negative Staphylococcus sp. A saline control was included. Challenge experiments used an inoculum of approximately 5.0 x 10(6) cfu/ml. Mixtures were incubated at 30 degrees C for up to 7 days. Viable counts of all organisms decreased with time for all the formulations tested. Formulations containing 0.5% bupivacaine were rapidly bactericidal, and increasing diamorphine concentrations increased this effect. Formulations with 0.5% bupivacaine had more activity than those with 0.1% bupivacaine. Mixtures of diamorphine and bupivacaine in concentrations used clinically have bactericidal activity against commonly encountered skin organisms. The common practice of changing every day epidural infusions containing these drugs is unnecessary.     

Influence of subchronic exposure to lindane on humoral immunity in mice

Lindane suppressed both primary and secondary antibody responses to sheep red blood cell (SRBC) in albino mice, the effects being more pronounced on the secondary than the primary response. However, a longer duration of pesticide exposure induced similar degrees of immunosuppression on both responses. The sequential study of plaque forming cells (PFC) kinetics revealed that suppression of plaque formation not only occurred at peak days but also on pre and post peak days, and there was no delay in peak antibody formation. Moreover, reduction in the primary PFC was not associated with decrease in the antibody response to SRBC. The results indicate that lindane suppresses both primary and secondary humoral immune responses in a time and dose dependent manner, and suggest a threshold susceptibility to exposure.