Ferromagnetic nano model study for the peristaltic flow in a plumb duct with permeable walls

Microsystem Technologies - The purpose of the present enquiry is to analyse the mechanics of an incompressible fluid, with water as base fluid, through a radially symmetric plumb duct with...     

A fog-based security framework for intelligent traffic light control system

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The world is facing many problems including that of traffic congestion. To highlight the issue of traffic congestion worldwide specially in urban areas and to...     

Antimicrobial residues survey by LC-MS in food-producing animals in Lebanon

ABSTRACT

The treatment of animals with antimicrobial products may lead to the contamination of edible tissues by their residues, which may represent a risk to human health. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the level of antimicrobial residues in food-producing animals (chicken, beef, and milk) in Lebanon. A total of 310 samples were collected and analysed using an LC-MS/MS for the determination of 48 compounds belonging to different families in order to map their compliance according to the European Commission decision 2002/657/EC. Results show that 60% of the analysed samples were not contaminated by any residue, while 12% presented a concentration higher than the MRLs for tetracyclines, sulphonamides, quinolones, and macrolides. Results revealed that chicken were the most contaminated by antimicrobial residues, when compared to beef and milk. The obtained results demonstrate the uncontrolled use of antimicrobials in some Lebanese farms and claim for better management of livestock.     

Wireless transmission of HD video using H.264 compression over UWB channel

With the technological advancement, entertainment has become revolutionized and the high-definition (HD) video has become an integral feature of our modern amusement system. The demand for wireless transmission of HD video is rapidly rising for its ubiquitous nature, easy installation and relocation. Such wireless transmissions of HD video streams require very high bandwidth. The ultra-wideband (UWB) offers a large bandwidth, and short-range high-speed data transmission at low cost and low power consumption. In this paper, we present the feasibility study to transmit HD video wirelessly using H.264/AVC compression over the UWB communication channel. Simulations are carried out by controlling key H.264/AVC encoder parameters such as, in-loop deblocking filter, group of pictures, and quantization parameter. Based on the analysis, an optimum setting of these parameters is proposed for different bandwidth requirements, as well as acceptable video quality. The bandwidth achieved is restricted between 1.5 and 20?Mbps with a minimum reconstruction quality of 34?dB. The HD bit stream is then transmitted over the UWB communication channel and the demonstration shows that the overall encoder performance is satisfactory with the transmission bit-error-rate (BER) in the range of 10^?5?C10^?8.     

Cervid Prion Protein Polymorphisms: Role in Chronic Wasting Disease Pathogenesis

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease found in both free-ranging and farmed cervids. Susceptibility of these animals to CWD is governed by various exogenous and endogenous factors. Past studies have demonstrated that polymorphisms within the prion protein (PrP) sequence itself affect an animal’s susceptibility to CWD. PrP polymorphisms can modulate CWD pathogenesis in two ways: the ability of the endogenous prion protein (PrP^C) to convert into infectious prions (PrP^Sc) or it can give rise to novel prion strains. In vivo studies in susceptible cervids, complemented by studies in transgenic mice expressing the corresponding cervid PrP sequence, show that each polymorphism has distinct effects on both PrP^C and PrP^Sc. It is not entirely clear how these polymorphisms are responsible for these effects, but in vitro studies suggest they play a role in modifying PrP epitopes crucial for PrP^C to PrP^Sc conversion and determining PrP^C stability. PrP polymorphisms are unique to one or two cervid species and most confer a certain degree of reduced susceptibility to CWD. However, to date, there are no reports of polymorphic cervid PrP alleles providing absolute resistance to CWD. Studies on polymorphisms have focused on those found in CWD-endemic areas, with the hope that understanding the role of an animal’s genetics in CWD can help to predict, contain, or prevent transmission of CWD.     

2-Hydroxy-1, 4-napthoquinone solubilization,thermodynamics and adsorption kinetics with surfactant

2-Hydroxy-1,4-napthoquinone(lawsone) natural red-orange dye was extracted from fresh henna(Lawsonia inermis) leaves in an alkaline media.The lawsone-surfactant solubilization constants(K_(LS))were calculated for the first time by using cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide(CTAB) and anionic sodium dodecyl sulphate(SDS).The standard free energy,concentration of solubilized lawsone and number of lawsone molecules solubilized into micelles were calculated and discussed.Surface excess,minimum surface area per molecule,surface pressure,free energy(adsorption and aggregation) and equilibrium constants of different states were determined from tensiometry.Different metal ions(Ag~+,Co~(2+),Cu~(2+),Ni~(2+),Fe~(3+),Zn~(2+) and Al~(3+)) were used to determine the complex forming ability with lawsone.Out of these,Ag~+ ions have strong binding capacity with lawsone.The adsorption of lawsone on the surface of glass with silver ions in presence of CTAB was also observed at pH 9.0.The pseudo-first, secondorder kinetic equation,intraparticles diffusion and Elovich models were used to determine the kinetics of lawsone adsorption onto the surface of glass and a probable mechanism has been discussed.Lawsone adsorption followed second-order kinetic equation(k_2=0.019 g·mg~(-1)·min~(-1)).     

A Novel DUF569 Gene Is a Positive Regulator of the Drought Stress Response in Arabidopsis

In the last two decades, global environmental change has increased abiotic stress on plants and severely affected crops. For example, drought stress is a serious abiotic stress that rapidly and substantially alters the morphological, physiological, and molecular responses of plants. In Arabidopsis, several drought-responsive genes have been identified; however, the underlying molecular mechanism of drought tolerance in plants remains largely unclear. Here, we report that the “domain of unknown function” novel gene DUF569 (AT1G69890) positively regulates drought stress in Arabidopsis. The Arabidopsis loss-of-function mutant atduf569 showed significant sensitivity to drought stress, i.e., severe wilting at the rosette-leaf stage after water was withheld for 3 days. Importantly, the mutant plant did not recover after rewatering, unlike wild-type (WT) plants. In addition, atduf569 plants showed significantly lower abscisic acid accumulation under optimal and drought-stress conditions, as well as significantly higher electrolyte leakage when compared with WT Col-0 plants. Spectrophotometric analyses also indicated a significantly lower accumulation of polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, and chlorophylls in atduf569 mutant plants. Overall, our results suggest that novel DUF569 is a positive regulator of the response to drought in Arabidopsis.     

Modeling and solving mixed-model assembly line balancing problem with setups. Part I: A mixed integer linear programming model

This paper is the first one of the two papers entitled “modeling and solving mixed-model assembly line balancing problem with setups”, which has the aim of developing the mathematical programming formulation of the problem and solving it with a hybrid meta-heuristic approach. In this current part, a mixed-integer linear mathematical programming (MILP) model for mixed-model assembly line balancing problem with setups is developed. The proposed MILP model considers some particular features of the real world problems such as parallel workstations, zoning constraints, and sequence dependent setup times between tasks, which is an actual framework in assembly line balancing problems. The main endeavor of Part-I is to formulate the sequence dependent setup times between tasks in type-I mixed-model assembly line balancing problem. The proposed model considers the setups between the tasks of the same model and the setups because of the model switches in any workstation. The capability of our MILP is tested through a set of computational experiments. Part-II tackles the problem with a multiple colony hybrid bees algorithm. A set of computational experiments is also carried out for the proposed approach in Part-II.     

Antibody purification by concanavalin A affinity chromatography

Concanavalin A (Con A) immobilized poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) beads in a spherical form (100–150 μm in diameter) were used for the affinity chromatography purification of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) from aqueous solutions and human plasma. PHEMA adsorbents were prepared by suspension polymerization. Bioligand Con A was then immobilized by covalent binding onto PHEMA beads. The maximum IgG adsorption on the PHEMA/Con A beads was observed at pH 6.0. The nonspecific IgG adsorption onto the plain PHEMA adsorbents was very low (ca. 0.17 mg/g). Higher adsorption values (up to 54.3 mg/g) were obtained when the PHEMA/Con A beads were used from aqueous solutions. A higher adsorption capacity was observed for human plasma (up to 69.4 mg/g) with a purity of 82.5%. The adsorption capacities of other blood proteins were 2.0 mg/g for fibrinogen and 4.2 mg/g for albumin. The total protein adsorption was determined to be 76.0 mg/g. IgG molecules could be repeatedly adsorbed and desorbed with the PHEMA/Con A beads without noticeable loss in the IgG adsorption capacity. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 97: 1202–1208, 2005