Screening of Possible In Vitro Neuroprotective,Skin Care,Antihyperglycemic, and Antioxidative Effects of Anchusa undulata L. subsp. hybrida (Ten.) Coutinho from Turkey and Its Fatty Acid Profile

The aim of this work was to determine antioxidant capacities, neuroprotective, skin care, antidiabetic effects, and fatty acid composition of Anchusa undulata subsp. hybrida. The antioxidant activity was screened by four different test systems including total antioxidant, antiradical, reducing power, and metal chelating activities. Neuroprotective potential was determined by anticholinesterase inhibitor assay. Tyrosinase inhibitory activity was tested to detect skin care effect. Antidiabetic effects were evaluated with α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory assays. Inhibitory activities on acetycholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase, tyrosinase, α-amylase, and α-glucosidase enzymes were observed as 2.238 and 1.239 μmol GALAEs/g, 0.339 mmol KAEs/g, 0.193, and 0.219 mmol ACEs/g extract, respectively. Amount of total phenolics and flavonoids were found as 80.34 μg GAEs/mg and 25.09 μg QEs/mg in the extract, respectively. Twenty-three fatty acids were found in the aerial parts, being oleic acid (24.30 g/100 g of total fatty acids) the most abundant, followed by linoleic (21.19 g/100 g of total fatty acids) and palmitic acids (17.50 g/100 g of total fatty acids).     

A novel method for measuring dynamic contact angles of fibers with spindle-knots

The determination of the dynamic contact angle is of significant interest for the characterization of the wettability of technical fibers and textiles in diverse fields of science and technology. There exist traditional methods for dynamic contact angle measurements of flat surfaces and of fibers with a uniform cross-sectional shape along the fiber. So far, however, no method has been reported which is suitable for structured fibers, particularly for spindle-knotted structured fibers of varying cross-sections. This article describes a new method for measuring the dynamic contact angle for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) spindle-knotted structured fibers. The method is an outcome of integrating the results obtained from experiments (applying force tensiometry) and a proposed theoretical model describing such fibers. The reliability and conformity of the results are shown by comparing the measured dynamic contacts angle of PDMS as spindle-knot and as a flat surface. This method may pave the road for better wettability analysis of various structured fibers. It also allows to measure the local receding and advancing contact angles for macroscopic/microscopic structured fibers (especially when they are not accessible as flat surfaces) against the various test liquids.     

Intuitionistic fuzzy soft modules

Molodtsov (1999) initiated the concept of soft sets in [1]. Maji et al. (2003) defined some operations on soft sets in [22]. Akta? and Ça?man (2007) generalized soft sets by defining the concept of soft groups in [16]. After them, Sun et al. (2008) gave soft modules in [21]. In this paper, the concept of an intuitionistic fuzzy soft module is introduced and some operations on intuitionistic fuzzy soft sets are given. Finally, some of its basic properties are studied.     

A reversible data hiding scheme based on graph neighbourhood degree

Abstract

The perceptibility and capacity are two vital criteria of data hiding scheme. Concerning these criteria, data hiding algorithm used images as cover object based on the graph theory is proposed in this study. Images are quantised according to determined range and then quantised images are divided into n × n sized blocks. Each block is accepted as a graph and vertexes which have the same quantisation value are accepted as neighbours. Neighbourhood degrees of vertexes are calculated and indices of vertexes that have a neighbourhood degree over the threshold value are stored in the codebook. Pixel values indicated by these indices in the codebook are used for data hiding process. In this algorithm, there is no need for edge extraction because of hiding data to pixels containing vertexes having high neighbourhood degrees. The proposed method is compared with similar methods in literature in terms of the perceptibility and capacity. More successful results are provided than the others.     

Chemical stability of KNbO3, NaNbO3, and K0.5Na0.5NbO3 in aqueous medium

In recent years, potassium sodium niobate (K_0.5Na_0.5NbO₃, KNN) has become popular and promising among perovskite lead‐free piezoceramic systems. In this study, the chemical stability of KNN powders in aqueous medium was investigated as a function of pH, time, and powder surface area. To better understand the dissolution behavior of the complex KNN stoichiometry, subconstituents such as potassium niobate (KNbO₃, KN) and sodium niobate (NaNbO₃, NN) were investigated separately first. Results showed that all of the cations in the structure underwent dissolution in different values. Indicating that KNN undergoes incongruent dissolution in aqueous medium, the dissolution of A site cations was higher at lower pH while the dissolution of B site cations increased at higher initial pH. The order of released cation concentrations (C_A1 = K > C_{A2 = Na} > C_B = Nb) fits with inverse relationship of cation field strength (FS) order, B = Nb⁵⁺_FS > A₂ = Na⁺_FS>A₁ = K⁺_FS, at pH 4, 7 and 10 for NN, KN, and KNN. Calculated diffuse layer thickness from the ICP data confirmed to outer amorphous layer in TEM image. Also, the ratio of normalized cation concentration versus surface area of powders showed that incongruent dissolution kinetic was driven by the diffusion step.     

The impact of applying natural clinoptilolite (zeolite) on the chemical,sensory and microbiological changes of vacuum packed sardine fillets

Different doses (1% and 5%) of natural zeolite were applied to determine quality changes in vacuum packaged sardine fillets during 19 days at 4 ± 1 °C. Zeolite had an effect to improve sensory quality of sardine especially for removing off‐odour. The acceptable shelf life of vacuum packaged sardine was 8 days for control and 12 days for groups treated with 1% and 5% zeolite. The zeolite application resulted in significant reduction in total volatile basic nitrogen values, except for group treated with 5% zeolite at 15 days. Although the effect of zeolite depended on dose and specific storage days, application of zeolite had no effect on free fatty acid analysis. The use of zeolite significantly reduced ammonia and biogenic amine accumulation, especially for histamine and tyramine. The result of the study showed that the efficacy of zeolite as natural antimicrobials was high and lower dose of zeolite has to be applied to get maximum preservation effect.     

Experimental Investigation of Aluminum Alloy and Steel Core Buckling Restrained Braces (BRBs)

International Journal of Steel Structures - Buckling restrained braces (BRBs) display balanced hysteretic behavior under reversed cyclic tension and compression forces and dissipate a significant...