Glyconanoparticle-DNA interactions: an atomic force microscopy study.

Glyconanoparticles which present carbohydrate and amino groups motifs at their surface were produced. These particles were highly stable and soluble in aqueous solutions. The presence of the carbohydrate groups also allowed the inclusion of more strongly binding groups, without affecting solubility. The binding of a model DNA, plasmid by these nanoparticles was studied by atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and gel electrophoresis. Significant differences between the nanoparticles based on their affinities for the DNA were found, with implications for their potential use as nonviral gene delivery agents.     

A Heuristic Approach to the Discovery of Macro-Operators

This paper describes a heuristic approach to the discovery of useful macro-operators (macros) in problem solving. The approach has been implemented in a program, MACLEARN, that has three parts: macro-proposer, static filter, and dynamic filter. Learning occurs during problem solving, so that performance improves in the course of a single problem trial. Primitive operators and macros are both represented within a uniform representational framework that is closed under composition. This means that new macros can be defined in terms of others, which leads to a definitional hierarchy. The representation also supports the transfer of macros to related problems. MACLEARN is embedded in a supporting system that carries out best-first search. Experiments in macro learning were conducted for two classes of problems: peg solitaire (generalized Hi-Q puzzle), and tile sliding (generalized Fifteen puzzle). The results indicate that MACLEARN'S filtering heuristics all improve search performance, sometimes dramatically. When the system was given practice on simpler training problems, it learned a set of macros that led to successful solutions of several much harder problems.     

Effect of operating conditions in removal of arsenic from water by nanofiltration membrane

The removal of arsenic from synthetic waters and surface water by nanofiltration (NF) membrane was investigated. In synthetic solutions, arsenic rejection experiments included variation of arsenic retentate concentration, transmembrane pressure, crossflow velocity and temperature. Arsenic rejection increased with arsenic retentate concentration. Arsenic was removed 93-99% from synthetic feed waters containing between 100 and 382 μg/L as V, resulting in permeate arsenic concentrations of about 5 μg/L. Under studied conditions, arsenic rejection was independent of transmembrane pressure, crossflow velocity and temperature. In surface water, the mean rejection of As V was 95% while the rejection of sulfate was 97%. The co-occurrence of dissolved inorganics does not significantly influence arsenic rejection. The mean concentration of As in collected permeated was 8 μg/L. The mean rejection of TDS, total hardness and conductivity were 75, 88 and 75% respectively.     

A limit set stabilization by means of the Port Hamiltonian system approach

A solution to the stabilization problem of a compact set by means of the Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity‐Based Control methodology, for an affine nonlinear system, was introduced. To this end, we expressed the closed‐loop system as a Port Hamiltonian system, having the property of almost all their trajectories asymptotically converge to a convenient limit set, except for a set of measure zero. It was carried out by solving a partial differential equation (PDE) or single matching condition, which allows the desired energy level or limit set E to be shaped explicitly. The control strategy was tested using the magnetic beam balance system and the pendulum actuated by a direct current motor (DC‐motor), having obtained satisfactory results. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Water–energy–food nexus in a transboundary context: the Euphrates–Tigris river basin as a case study

The interlinkage between water, energy and food security and its transboundary relevance is becoming increasingly important. The paper analyses the evolution of transboundary water resources management in the Euphrates–Tigris basin with specific reference to interlinkages between water, food and energy policies at national and transboundary levels, and it explores how the policy shifts at the highest decision-making level have served to produce synergies for cooperation among the riparians or vice versa.     

Influence of partial replacement of NaCl with KCl on lipid fraction of dry fermented sausages inoculated with a mixture of Lactobacillus plantarum and Staphylococcus carnosus

The effect of partial replacement of NaCl (3% NaCl) with KCl (1.5% NaCl and 1% KCl) on the lipid fraction of dry fermented sausages inoculated with Lactobacillus plantarum and Staphylococcus carnosus as starter culture was analysed. The reduction in salt concentration did not affect the Micrococcaceae count. A positive effect on the intensity of lipolytic activity was observed as a consequence of the decrease in salt level. There was no decrease in the oxidative processes. The higher amounts of volatile fatty acids found suggest that the tested modification enhances some of their mechanisms of synthesis.     

Biogenic amines in Spanish beers: differences among breweries

Ten biogenic amines in Spanish beers were studied using HPLC. Agmatine, tyramine and putrescine were the prevailing amines, while histamine,-phenylethylamine, tryptamine, cadaverine, spermine and spermidine were detected at relatively low levels (in general <2 mg/l). On the basis of the wide range of levels observed for tyramine (from 1.90 to 31.55 mg/l), the consumption of beer requires restriction in patients receiving monoamine oxidase inhibitor drugs. Biogenic amine levels in beers of the same type from the same company and from different companies were monitored every month over 1 year. Agmatine and putrescine levels showed minimal fluctuations in beers from the same company as well as from different breweries. Raw materials and brewing conditions would not affect the levels of those amines. However, tyramine levels were subject to wide fluctuations in beers produced by particular breweries irrespective of whether they were produced by the same company. Relatively high levels of tyramine were specific to some breweries.     

SENFIS: a Sensor Node File System for increasing the scalability and reliability of Wireless Sensor Networks applications

In the last years the Wireless Sensor Networks’ (WSN) technology has been increasingly employed in various application domains. The extensive use of WSN posed new challenges in terms of both scalability and reliability. This paper proposes Sensor Node File System (SENFIS), a novel file system for sensor nodes, which addresses both scalability and reliability concerns. SENFIS can be mainly used in two broad scenarios. First, it can transparently be employed as a permanent storage for distributed TinyDB queries, in order to increase the reliability and scalability. Second, it can be directly used by a WSN application for permanent storage of data on the WSN nodes. The experimental section shows that SENFIS implementation makes an efficient use of resources in terms of energy consumption, memory footprint, flash wear levelling, while achieving execution times similarly with existing WSN file systems.     

Probability of graphs with large spectral gap by multicanonical Monte Carlo

Graphs with large spectral gap are important in various fields such as biology, sociology and computer science. In designing such graphs, an important question is how the probability of graphs with large spectral gap behaves. A method based on multicanonical Monte Carlo is introduced to quantify the behavior of this probability, which enables us to calculate extreme tails of the distribution. The proposed method is successfully applied to random 3-regular graphs and large deviation probability is estimated.     

Physico-chemical properties of glycyrrhizic acid in aqueous media. I. Surface-active properties and formation of molecular aggregates (author''s transl)

As shown in 138 embryos and fetuses in the 40-285 mm crown-rump length range, carpal and carpal-metacarpal "fusions" arise from incomplete separation of the cartilaginous precursors rather than from failure of initiation, thus accounting for the "fusions" seen in postnatal radiographs and the grooves that are evident enough in adult fusions. Radiographs selected from over 20,000 apparently normal individuals provide postnatal counterparts for the prenatal examples shown in histological sections.