Improvement in prediction of antigenic epitopes using stacked generalisation: an ensemble approach

The major intent of peptide vaccine designs, immunodiagnosis and antibody productions is to accurately identify linear B‐cell epitopes. The determination of epitopes through experimental analysis is highly expensive. Therefore, it is desirable to develop a reliable model with significant improvement in prediction models. In this study, a hybrid model has been designed by using stacked generalisation ensemble technique for prediction of linear B‐cell epitopes. The goal of using stacked generalisation ensemble approach is to refine predictions of base classifiers and to get rid of the worse predictions. In this study, six machine learning models are fused to predict variable length epitopes (6–49 mers). The proposed ensemble model achieves 76.6% accuracy and average accuracy of repeated 10‐fold cross‐validation is 73.14%. The trained ensemble model has been tested on the benchmark dataset and compared with existing sequential B‐cell epitope prediction techniques including APCpred, ABCpred, BCpred and AAPBCPred.Inspec keywords: generalisation (artificial intelligence), support vector machines, cellular biophysics, pattern classification, proteins, learning (artificial intelligence), bioinformaticsOther keywords: antigenic epitopes, stacked generalisation, peptide vaccine designs, immunodiagnosis, antibody productions, linear B‐cell epitopes, generalisation ensemble technique, generalisation ensemble approach, machine learning models, base classifiers     

Battery energy storage technology for power systems—An overview

The penetration of renewable sources (particularly wind power) in to the power system network has been increasing in the recent years. As a result of this, there have been serious concerns over reliable and satisfactory operation of the power systems. One of the solutions being proposed to improve the reliability and performance of these systems is to integrate energy storage devices into the power system network. Further, in the present deregulated markets these storage devices could also be used to increase the profit margins of wind farm owners and even provide arbitrage. This paper discusses the present status of battery energy storage technology and methods of assessing their economic viability and impact on power system operation. Further, a discussion on the role of battery storage systems of electric hybrid vehicles in power system storage technologies had been made. Finally, the paper suggests a likely future outlook for the battery technologies and the electric hybrid vehicles in the context of power system applications.     

Structure,photocatalytic and antibacterial activity study of Meso porous Ni and S co-doped TiO_2 nano material under visible light irradiation

Undoped and Ni–S co-doped mesoporous TiO_2 nano materials were synthesized by using sol–gel method.The characteristic features of as prepared catalyst samples were investigated using various advanced spectroscopic and analytical techniques. The characterization results of the samples revealed that all the samples exhibited anatase phase(XRD), decreasing band gap(2.68 eV)(UV–Vis-DRS), small particle size(9.2 nm)(TEM), high surface area(142.156 m~2·g~(-1))(BET), particles with spherical shape and smooth morphology(SEM); there is a frequency shift observed for co-doped sample(FT-IR) and the elemental composition electronic states and position of the doped elements(Ni and S) in the TiO_2 lattice analyzed by XPS and EDX. These results supported the photocatalytic degradation of Bismarck Brown Red(BBR)achieved with in 110 min and also exhibited the antibacterial activity on Staphylococcus aureus(MTCC-3160), Pseudomonas fluorescence(MTCC-1688) under visible light irradiation.     

Biodegradation of cassava starch factory residue using a combination of cellulases, xylanases and hemicellulases

Cassava starch factory residue (CSFR), a low cost solid byproduct of the cassava starch industry, having around 60% unextracted starch and 15% cellulose is a potential candidate for bioethanol production. As the economic feasibility depends on complete degradation of the polysaccharides to fermentable glucose, the comparative hydrolytic potential of four enzymes such as Multifect^® XL, Optimash™ XL, Optimash™ BG and Accellerase™1000 was studied. Whilst the former three enzymes exerted maximum activity at pH 5.0 and 60 °C, Accellerase had optimum activity at pH 4.5 and 60 °C. The enzyme cocktail, Multifect XL-Optimash XL-Accellerase (5, 15 and 20 g enzyme protein kg⁻¹ CSFR respectively) was more effective than sequential process with the same enzyme loading. Hydrothermal treatment (HT) of CSFR for 30 min at 100 °C enhanced the susceptibility to enzymatic cleavage as compared to HT for 45 and 60 min as well as autoclaving or microwave exposure. Optimash BG was the most effective on HT CSFR and approximately 704.8 g glucose was released kg⁻¹ CSFR. The high yield of glucose indicates the potential use of hydrothermally treated CSFR as a cheap substrate for ethanol production.     

Al2O3-ZrO2 mixed oxide composite incorporated aluminium rich zinc coatings for high wear resistance

Corrosion resistance and wear resistance are the two important parameters for high performance of zinc galvanic coating. In the present work, the improvement of these two characteristics was achieved by the incorporation of Al₂O₃-ZrO₂ mixed oxide composite in the coating. Al₂O₃-ZrO₂ mixed oxide composite was synthesized from ZrOCl₂·8H₂O. Aluminium rich zinc coatings with high sliding wear resistance was developed from a galvanic bath containing the mixed oxide. Based on the performance of the coating during physicochemical and electrochemical characterization, the concentration of mixed oxide composite in the bath was optimized as 0.50 wt% Al₂O₃-0.50 wt% ZrO₂. While rich in Al-metal content in the coating caused high corrosion resistance, the incorporation of the mixed oxide improved structural characteristics of the coating resulting in high wear resistance also. The coating was nonporous in nature and even the interior layers had high stability. The coatings have potential scope for high industrial utility.     

1,3-Benzodioxole-Modified Noscapine Analogues: Synthesis,Antiproliferative Activity,and Tubulin-Bound Structure

Since the revelation of noscapine's weak anti-mitotic activity, extensive research has been conducted over the past two decades, with the goal of discovering noscapine derivatives with improved potency. To date, noscapine has been explored at the 1, 7, 6′, and 9′-positions, though the 1,3-benzodioxole motif in the noscapine scaffold that remains unexplored. The present investigation describes the design, synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of noscapine analogues consisting of modifications to the 1,3-benzodioxole moiety. This includes expansion of the dioxolane ring and inclusion of metabolically robust deuterium and fluorine atoms. Favourable structural modifications were subsequently incorporated into multi-functionalised noscapine derivatives that also possessed modifications previously shown to promote anti-proliferative activity in the 1-, 6′- and 9′-positions. Our research efforts afforded the deuterated noscapine derivative 14 e and the dioxino-containing analogue 20 as potent cytotoxic agents with EC₅₀ values of 1.50 and 0.73 μM, respectively, against breast cancer (MCF-7) cells. Compound 20 also exhibited EC₅₀ values of <2 μM against melanoma, non-small cell lung carcinoma, and cancers of the brain, kidney and breast in an NCI screen. Furthermore, compounds 14 e and 20 inhibit tubulin polymerisation and are not vulnerable to the overexpression of resistance conferring P-gp efflux pumps in drug-resistant breast cancer cells (NCI^ADR/RES). We also conducted X-ray crystallography studies that yielded the high-resolution structure of 14 e bound to tubulin. Our structural analysis revealed the key interactions between this noscapinoid and tubulin and will assist with the future design of noscapine derivatives with improved properties.     

Structure,morphology and I–V characteristics of thermally evaporated LaAlO3 nanostructured thin films

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - Nanostructured perovskite LaAlO3 thin films with thickness of 50&nbsp;nm, 100&nbsp;nm, and 150&nbsp;nm were prepared using...     

Surface‐Reactive Patchy Nanoparticles and Nanodiscs Prepared by Tandem Nanoprecipitation and Internal Phase Separation

Nanoparticles with structural or chemical anisotropy are promising materials in domains as diverse as cellular delivery, photonic materials, or interfacial engineering. The surface chemistry may play a major role in some of these contexts. Introducing reactivity into such polymeric nanomaterials is thus of great potential, yet is still a concept in its infancy. In the current contribution, a simple nanoprecipitation technique leads to nanoparticles with diameters as low as 150 nm and well‐defined reactive surface patches of less than 30 nm in width, as well as surface‐reactive flat, disc‐like nanoparticles with corresponding dimensions, via an additional crosslinking/delamination sequence. To this aim, chemically doped block copolymers (BCPs) are employed. Control over morphology is attained by tuning preparation conditions, such as polymer concentration, solvent mixture composition, and blending with non‐functional BCP. Surface reactivity is demonstrated using a modular ligation method for the site‐selective immobilization of thiol molecules. The current approach constitutes a straightforward methodology requiring minimal engineering to produce nanoparticles with confined surface reactivity and/or shape anisotropy.     

Modeling and evaluation on removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous systems using fixed bed column

Removal of hexavalent chromium by xanthated chitosan was investigated in a packed bed up-flow column. The experiments were conducted to study the effect of important design parameters such as bed height and flow rate. At a bed height of 20 cm and flow rate of 5 mL min(-1), the metal-uptake capacity of xanthated chitosan and plain chitosan flakes for hexavalent chromium was found to be 202.5 and 130.12 mg g(-1) respectively. The bed depth service time (BDST) model was used to analyze the experimental data. The computed sorption capacity per unit bed volume (N(0)) was 4.6 ± 0.3 and 78.3 ± 2.9 g L(-1) for plain and xanthated flakes respectively at 10% breakthrough concentration. The rate constant (K(a)) was recorded as 0.0507 and 0.0194 L mg(-1)h(-1) for plain and xanthated chitosan respectively. In flow rate experiments, the results confirmed that the metal uptake capacity and the metal removal efficiency of plain and xanthated chitosan decreased with increasing flow rate. The Thomas model was used to fit the column sorption data at different flow rates and model constants were evaluated. The column was successfully applied for the removal of hexavalent chromium from electroplating wastewater. Five hundred bed volumes of electroplating wastewater were treated in column experiments using this adsorbent, reducing the concentrations of hexavalent chromium from 10 mg L(-1) to 0.1 mg L(-1).