Innovative açaí (Euterpe oleracea,Mart., Arecaceae) functional frozen dessert exhibits high probiotic viability throughout shelf-life and supplementation with inulin improves sensory acceptance

Acceptance and the probiotic viability of an innovative non-dairy frozen açaí (Euterpe oleracea, Mart.) dessert supplemented and not supplemented with inulin during a shelf-life of 84 days at ?18°C were investigated. Desserts containing and not containing probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus La-5 and Bifidobacterium animalis Bb-12 and inulin were produced, resulting in 4 mixes of frozen açaí: control (M1), pro (M2), pre (M3), and synbiotic (M4). Sensory acceptability scores and probiotic counts were obtained during 84 days of storage. Inulin, a key factor for product approval, significantly (p<0.05) increased overall product acceptance of both M3 and M4, compared with M1. La-5 viability was above 7 log CFU/g for both pro and synbiotic desserts. Bb-12 counts were above 6 log CFU/g only for M4. All frozen açaí desserts were suitable for probiotic delivery and were accepted by consumers. Addition of inulin is recommended both for increasing acceptance and for the synbiotic potential.     

Integrating anti-swing controller with px4 autopilot for quadrotor with suspended load

Multi-rotor flying vehicles (MRFVs) are increasingly becoming the preferred means of transportation in various civilian and military applications, such as mine detection, reconnaissance missions, agriculture, and load transfer to areas inaccessible to ground vehicles. In these applications, the payload is suspended underneath the vehicle and subjected to large oscillations because of external disturbances or the vehicle’s acceleration. This study proposes an anti-swing controller (ASC) based on time-delayed feedback of the load swing angles to be implemented in MRFVs with suspended load and operated by a PX4 autopilot. The PX4 autopilot is now widely used in commercial drones. The implementation of the proposed ASC does not require any modifications to the original PX4 firmware because it adds additional displacements to the original trajectories of MRFVs. The effectiveness of the ASC is evaluated by simulating a quadrotor as an example of MRFVs with different flight conditions.

     

Treatment of Algerian crude oil using REB09305 OS demulsifier

Algerian crude oil was submitted to a treatment procedure using REB09305 OS demulsifier. Temperature, time of contact with charge and centrifugation speed were studied. Separation of water from crude oil was observed with a demulsification ratio of 100% in ambient temperature for 20?ppm demulsifier dose, 1200?rpm and 45?min of centrifugation time. The results obtained in this study showed that REB09305 OS demulsifier can be considered a promising product for the treatment of industrial crude oil and the removal of water from it.     

Kinetic modeling and experimental study on the combustion,performance and emission characteristics of a PCCI engine fueled with ethanol-diesel blends

The combustion process in the Premixed Charge Compression Ignition (PCCI) engine is basically restricted by the in cylinder charged mixture components. Also, the homogeneity of the charged mixture is determining the quality and process of the chemical reaction during the first stage of combustion which establish the auto-ignition process. In the present work, the engine experimental setup is equipped with a new suggested modification on the original fuel system device in order to produce a perfect commixture of diesel/ethanol at different blends ratio with the charged air. The obtained laboratory results are used to validate the simulation's data of the PCCI engine ignition. The prediction is performed using a detailed kinetic reaction mechanism. The simulation study has been achieved to predict the auto-ignition timing and the combustion characteristics of the PCCI engine fueled with different blends of ethanol and diesel at different volume percentage. The obtained results show that the premixed ratio of the ethanol in the ethanol/diesel fuel blends can be used to control the auto-ignition timing and the combustion characteristics at different engine air/fuel ratios. Also, the main pathway of this work is to establish the influence of the engine operating parameters which including the premixed ratio, fuel–air equivalence ratio on the engine performance, combustion and emission characteristics of the PCCI engine. These effects are studied and traced through the simulation result data of the in-cylinder pressure, temperature, and gas phase heat release at different a premixed ratio of ethanol-diesel fuels blends of 0, 10, 20, 30,40 and 50% (by volume).     

Clinical significance of renal biopsies showing concurrent acute rejection and tacrolimus-associated tubular vacuolization

OBJECTIVE: To examine the expression of the c-kit receptor and its ligand, stem cell factor, and their possible relation with apoptosis in infertile men. DESIGN: Prospective laboratory study. SETTING: Urology laboratory in a university hospital. PATIENT(S): Men undergoing testicular biopsy during an investigation of subfertility. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Expression of the c-kit receptor protein, stem cell factor, and apoptosis in the testes. RESULT(S): The c-kit receptor was strongly present in Leydig cells and type A spermatogonia of normal testes, with decreased staining in Leydig cells and type A spermatogonia of testes with maturational arrest, and staining in only Leydig cells of Sertoli cell-only specimens. Stem cell factor was demonstrated in Leydig cells and Sertoli cells in all specimens. Western blotting demonstrated the 150-kd c-kit protein in the normal testes and the testes with maturational arrest, but not in the testes with the Sertoli cell-only pattern. Stem cell factor was expressed in all specimens, with a protein size of 45 kd. Increased apoptosis was demonstrated in type A spermatogonia and spermatocytes of tissue with maturational arrest compared with normal testicular tissue. CONCLUSION(S): C-kit receptor expression is decreased in subfertile testicular tissue compared with normal testicular tissue. Stem cell factor expression is present in Leydig cells and Sertoli cells. Increased apoptosis is seen in tissue with maturational arrest compared with normal tissue.     

A review of pressure transient analysis in reservoirs with natural fractures,vugs and/or caves

A review of the pressure transient analysis of flow in reservoirs having natural fractures,vugs and/or caves is presented to provide an insight into how much kn...     

An efficient hash-based authenticated key agreement scheme for multi-server architecture resilient to key compromise impersonation

During the past decade, rapid advances in wireless communication technologies have made it possible for users to access desired services using hand-held devices. Service providers have hosted multiple servers to ensure seamless online services to end-users. To ensure the security of this online communication, researchers have proposed several multi-server authentication schemes incorporating various cryptographic primitives. Due to the low power and computational capacities of mobile devices, the hash-based multi-server authenticated key agreement schemes with offline Registration Server (RS) are the most efficient choice. Recently, Kumar-Om presented such a scheme and proved its security against all renowned attacks. However, we find that their scheme bears an incorrect login phase, and is unsafe to the trace attack, the Session-Specific Temporary Information Attack (SSTIA), and the Key Compromise Impersonation Attack (KCIA). In fact, all of the existing multi-server authentication schemes (hash-based with offline RS) do not withstand KCIA. To deal with this situation, we propose an improved hash-based multi-server authentication scheme (with offline RS). We analyze the security of the proposed scheme under the random oracle model and use the ‘‘Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications’’ (AVISPA) tool. The comparative analysis of communication overhead and computational complexity metrics shows the efficiency of the proposed scheme.     

β-Caryophyllene Induces Apoptosis and Inhibits Angiogenesis in Colorectal Cancer Models

Beta-Caryophyllene (BCP), a naturally occurring sesquiterpene abundantly found in cloves, hops, and cannabis, is the active candidate of a relatively new group of vascular-inhibiting compounds that aim to block existing tumor blood vessels. Previously, we have reported the anti-cancer properties of BCP by utilizing a series of in-vitro anti-tumor-related assays using human colorectal carcinoma cells. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of BCP on in-vitro, ex-vivo, and in-vivo models of anti-angiogenic assays and evaluate its anti-cancer activity in xenograft tumor (both ectopic and orthotopic) mice models of human colorectal cancer. Computational structural analysis and an apoptosis antibody array were also performed to understand the molecular players underlying this effect. BCP exhibited strong anti-angiogenic activity by blocking the migration of endothelial cells, tube-like network formation, suppression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion from human umbilical vein endothelial cells and sprouting of rat aorta microvessels. BCP has a probable binding at Site#0 on the surface of VEGFR2. Moreover, BCP significantly deformed the vascularization architecture compared to the negative control in a chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane assay. BCP showed a remarkable reduction in tumor size and fluorescence molecular tomography signal intensity in all the mice treated with BCP, in a dose-dependent relationship, in ectopic and orthotopic tumor xenograft models, respectively. The histological analysis of the tumor from BCP-treated mice revealed a clear reduction of the density of vascularization. In addition, BCP induced apoptosis through downregulation of HSP60, HTRA, survivin, and XIAP, along with the upregulation of p21 expressions. These results suggest that BCP acts at multiple stages of angiogenesis and could be used as a promising therapeutic candidate to halt the growth of colorectal tumor cells.