Probiotic properties of folate producing Streptococcus thermophilus strains

This study aimed at assessing the probiotic potential of two high folate producing Streptococcus thermophilus strains (RD102 and RD104) isolated from Indian fermented milk products by both in vitro and in vivo tests. These strains were able to survive at pH 2.5 and 2% bile with a good bile salt hydrolase activity, cell surface hydrophobicity and sensitivity to most of the clinically important antibiotics. On evaluation for gastrointestinal transit tolerance these showed a viable count of 5 log cfu mL^?1 and 7 log cfu mL^?1, respectively in simulated gastrointestinal juice of pH 2.0 and 2% bile. During the in vivo feeding trial in mice the strains showed a viable count of about 7 log cfu g^?1 faeces and 6 log cfu g^?1 of large intestine, respectively. These strains were hence observed to possess favorable strain specific probiotic properties and have the potential to be a source of novel probiotics.     

Synthesis of submicron size hollow carbon spheres by a chemical reduction — solvothermal method using carbon tetrachloride as carbon source

A simple, rapid and energy efficient approach based on copper mediated chemical reduction — solvothermal method was employed to prepare submicron size hollow carbon spheres (SHCS) using carbon tetrachloride as carbon source. The obtained SHCS were characterized by means of various physico-chemical techniques like nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements at 77 K, XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX and FT-Raman techniques. Thus characterized samples displayed macroporous nature of carbon with carbon and chloride contents of about 73% and 12% on atomic basis respectively. The presence of chloride content may open new avenues for surface modifications of SHCS in the area of catalysis and separation science.     

Processing of advanced Al/SiC particulate metal matrix composites under intensive shearing – A novel Rheo-process

Particulate metal matrix composites (PMMCs) have attracted interest for application in numerous fields. The current processing methods often produce agglomerated particles in the ductile matrix and as a result these composites exhibit extremely low ductility. The key idea to solve the current problem is to adopt a novel Rheo-process allowing the application of sufficient shear stress (τ) on particulate clusters embedded in liquid metal to overcome the average cohesive force or the tensile strength of the cluster. In this study, cast A356/SiC_p composites were produced using a conventional stir casting technique and a novel Rheo-process. The microstructure and properties were evaluated. The adopted Rheo-process significantly improved the distribution of the reinforcement in the matrix. A good combination of improved ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and tensile elongation (ε) is obtained.     

Adsorption of Cu, Cd, and Ni on goethite in the presence of natural groundwater ligands

The adsorption of copper, cadmium, and nickel on goethite was examined in natural groundwater samples from an infiltration site of the river Glatt at Glattfelden (Switzerland). Unfractionated dissolved organic matter was used at its natural concentrations. Metal concentrations were close to environmental conditions. Cu, Cd, and Ni presented the typical pH adsorption edge of cations. The major influence on metal adsorption was due to a strong organic ligand L(I), which inhibited adsorption of Cu, Cd, and Ni in the alkaline pH region. Complexation of Cu, Cd, and Ni by the natural organic ligands was described with a model defining a minimum number of discrete ligands: a strong ligand L(I) at low concentration and additional weaker ligands with higher concentrations. The adsorption of Cu, Cd, and Ni on the goethite surface in the presence of the natural organic ligands was adequately described by considering only surface complexation and complexation in solution by organic ligands. No ternary complexes had to be invoked in the model. The major effect was complexation by the strongest ligand, whereas interactions with other cations and anions had only a minor influence. Competition reactions between Cu and Ni for complexation with the same strong ligand L(I) were observed.     

Forthcoming Contributions

Table of Contents

Forthcoming Contributions     

Error resilient video over multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS)

With available data rates for mobile devices constantly increasing, services such as video broadcast and multicast are becoming feasible. A new standard called Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (MBMS) is being developed by 3GPP to enable new class of spectrum-efficient multimedia services. Multicast services are expected to serve a diverse user base with varying connectivity and capabilities. We analyze the problem of video error resilience in MBMS services that is critical to maintain consistent quality for end users. The existing error resilience techniques for IP multicasting are not applicable in the MBMS environment. In this paper, we present error resilience techniques that are applicable within the context of the MBMS standard. We propose an Intra Block Refresh method for MBMS services and the results show improved performance. We develop a methodology that can be applied to adapting traditional error resilience tools for the MBMS environment.     

A formal methods approach to medical device review

With software playing an increasingly important role in medical devices, regulatory agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration need effective means for assuring that this software is safe and reliable. The FDA has been striving for a more rigorous engineering-based review strategy to provide this assurance. The use of mathematics-based techniques in the development of software might help accomplish this. However, the lack of standard architectures for medical device software and integrated engineering-tool support for software analysis make a science-based software review process more difficult. The research presented here applies formal modeling methods and static analysis techniques to improve the review process. Regulation of medical device software encompasses reviews of device designs (premarket review) and device performance (postmarket surveillance). The FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health performs the premarket review on a device to evaluate its safety and effectiveness. As part of this process, the agency reviews software development life-cycle artifacts for appropriate quality-assurance attributes, which tend to reveal little about the device software integrity.     

Differential sensitivity of Desi (small‐seeded) and Kabuli (large‐seeded) chickpea genotypes to water stress during seed filling: effects on accumulation of seed reserves and yield

Water stress during the reproductive phase, especially during seed development, is considered detrimental for chickpea yield. In the present study, the relative sensitivity of Desi and Kabuli chickpea types to water stress during seed filling was assessed in terms of effects on quantitative and qualitative aspects of seed yield. Leaves of both types experienced stress injury (evaluated as electrolyte leakage) to the same extent and possessed almost similar values of water potential at the end of 14 days of water stress. The stressed plants of Kabuli type lost more chlorophyll and had less photosynthesis than Desi type. At maturity, Desi type showed more diminution of vegetative dry matter due to stress over control than Kabuli type. On the other hand, Kabuli type showed a proportionally greater reduction in seed weight per plant, average seed weight, average seed size, number of pods (single‐ and double‐seeded) and harvest index. The stressed seeds of Kabuli type showed 48 and 46% reduction over control in starch and protein content compared with 25 and 40%, respectively in Desi type. The accumulation of soluble sugars was relatively greater due to stress in Kabuli (47%) than Desi type (23%). Fat and fiber content declined by 39 and 35% over control in Desi seeds because of stress whereas Kabuli type showed 46 and 67% decreases, respectively. Protein fractions, namely albumins, globulins, glutelins and prolamins, decreased in stressed seeds of Kabuli by 32, 40, 16 and 15% over control relative to 40, 48, 30 and 28%, respectively, in Kabuli type. The activities of sucrose synthase, invertase and soluble starch synthase were inhibited to a higher extent in Kabuli seeds than Desi seeds under stress. Kabuli seeds showed significantly more reduction in the accumulation of amino acids such as phenylalanine + tyrosine, tryptophan, valine, alanine and histidine and minerals (Ca, P, Fe) due to stress compared with Desi type. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

FIRE: a fault-independent combinational redundancy identificationalgorithm

FIRE is a novel Fault-Independent algorithm for combinational REdundancy identification. The algorithm is based on a simple concept that a fault which requires a conflict as a necessary condition for its detection is undetectable and hence redundant. FIRE does not use the backtracking-based exhaustive search performed by fault-oriented automatic test generation algorithms, and identifies redundant faults without any search. Our results on benchmark and real circuits indicate that we find a large number of redundancies (about 80% of the combinational redundancies in benchmark circuits), much faster than a test-generation-based approach for redundancy identification. However, FIRE is not guaranteed to identify all redundancies in a circuit