Fungal xylanases‐mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles for catalytic and biomedical applications

Green synthesis of nanoparticles has fuelled the use of biomaterials to synthesise a variety of metallic nanoparticles. The current study investigates the use of xylanases of Aspergillus niger L3 (NEA) and Trichoderma longibrachiatum L2 (TEA) to synthesise silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Characterisation of AgNPs was carried out using UV–Vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and transmission electron microscopy, while their effectiveness as antimicrobial, antioxidant, catalytic, anticoagulant, and thrombolytic agents were determined. The colloidal AgNPs was brownish with surface plasmon resonance at 402.5 and 410 nm for NEA‐AgNPs and TEA‐AgNPs, respectively; while FTIR indicated that protein molecules were responsible for the capping and stabilisation of the nanoparticles. The spherical nanoparticles had size of 15.21–77.49 nm. The nanoparticles significantly inhibited the growth of tested bacteria (63.20–88.10%) and fungi (82.20–86.10%), and also scavenged DPPH (37.48–79.42%) and hydrogen peroxide (20.50–96.50%). In addition, the AgNPs degraded malachite green (78.97%) and methylene blue (25.30%). Furthermore, the AgNPs displayed excellent anticoagulant and thrombolytic activities using human blood. This study has demonstrated the potential of xylanases to synthesise AgNPs which is to the best of our knowledge the first record of such. The present study underscores the relevance of xylanases in nanobiotechnology.Inspec keywords: visible spectra, catalysis, ultraviolet spectra, silver, microorganisms, antibacterial activity, transmission electron microscopy, surface plasmon resonance, nanoparticles, nanofabrication, colloids, blood, Fourier transform infrared spectra, particle sizeOther keywords: Ag, fungal xylanases‐mediated synthesis, silver nanoparticles, catalytic applications, biomedical applications, green synthesis, metallic nanoparticles, Trichoderma longibrachiatum L2, transmission electron microscopy, antimicrobial agents, antioxidant agents, catalytic agents, thrombolytic agents, surface plasmon resonance, spherical nanoparticles, FTIR spectra, anticoagulant agents, colloidal nanoparticles, biomaterials, Aspergillus niger L3, UV‐vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, protein molecules, DPPH, hydrogen peroxide, malachite green, methylene blue, human blood, nanobiotechnology     

A novel medical image compression using Ripplet transform

In spite of great advancements in multimedia data storage and communication technologies, compression of medical data remains challenging. This paper presents a novel compression method for the compression of medical images. The proposed method uses Ripplet transform to represent singularities along arbitrarily shaped curves and Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees encoder to encode the significant coefficients. The main objective of the proposed method is to provide high quality compressed images by representing images at different scales and directions and to achieve high compression ratio. Experimental results obtained on a set of medical images demonstrate that besides providing multiresolution and high directionality, the proposed method attains high Peak Signal to Noise Ratio and significant compression ratio as compared with conventional and state-of-art compression methods.     

Community Participation in Urban Planning: the Case of Managing Green Spaces in Kumasi,Ghana

The entrenched position now taken by participatory planning in urban planning practice has made the call for community participation in the planning process now higher than ever. Community participation has been well-acknowledged to give local people a voice in planning decisions. This paper assessed the level of participation by local people in the management of urban green spaces. Using a case study research approach, Kumasi city, once the garden city of Africa was selected as the study area. The Kumasi city authorities, and residents including opinion leaders, and officials of allied bodies on green spaces constituted the study’s target population. A blend of qualitative research techniques such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussion, and personal observation was employed whilst theoretical sampling technique was adopted. It was found out that the participation of the local people in the management of green space was low. The local people were neither consulted nor informed on green space projects (parks and gardens) by the city authorities. They were also not empowered to self-facilitate initiatives on green spaces and passively involved in final decisions on green spaces. To correct the situation, it is recommended that features of the communicative planning theory such as dialogue, consensus building, and facilitative leadership should be given attention in the urban planning system of Kumasi especially on green space projects.     

Optic nerve signals in a neuromorphic chip II: Testing and results

Seeking to match the brain's computational efficiency, we draw inspiration from its neural circuits. To model the four main output (ganglion) cell types found in the retina, we morphed outer and inner retina circuits into a 96 x 60-photoreceptor, 3.5 x 3.3 mm2, 0.35 microm-CMOS chip. Our retinomorphic chip produces spike trains for 3600 ganglion cells (GCs), and consumes 62.7 mW at 45 spikes/s/GC. This chip, which is the first silicon retina to successfully model inner retina circuitry, approaches the spatial density of the retina. We present experimental measurements showing that the chip's subthreshold current-mode circuits realize luminance adaptation, bandpass spatiotemporal filtering, temporal adaptation and contrast gain control. The four different GC outputs produced by our chip encode light onset or offset in a sustained or transient fashion, producing a quadrature-like representation. The retinomorphic chip's circuit design is described in a companion paper [Zaghloul and Boahen (2004)].     

A two-step feature selection method for monitoring tool wear and its application to the coroning process

Coroning is a complex and multi-directional gear finishing process involving metal removal of gear teeth surface, and condition monitoring has not been applied to this process. In order to capture the progress of wear, an acoustic emission (AE) sensor is used, but the large data size of AE requires extensive dimension reduction and feature selection. The conventional method of averaging to reduce the data size may have the risk of losing information as higher frequencies are filtered off. A two-step feature selection method is implemented using class mean scatter criterion and modified relevance/redundancy analysis. This method results in feature dimension reduction and enhances classification performance. It involves first ranking candidate features by calculating their separability. Features which are correlated are then combined to reduce dimensions without averaging. Application of this two-step feature selection technique enables coroning tool wear to be monitored with a classification rate of 98.3 % compared to 94.1 % using conventional feature selection.     

Assessment of greywater reuse as a potential mitigation measure for water shortages and sanitation problems in senior high schools

The study assessed water shortages and its effects on sanitation in Senior High Schools using structured questionnaires involving water availability, water use pattern and perception of greywater reuse. Additionally, an observation of the sanitation situation was done to validate the responses. The study found that water availability was an issue as this caused students to use more than an hour round trip to access water resulting in poor sanitation and hygiene practices. Meanwhile, an average greywater generation rate of 14.5 L per person per day, is always disposed of despite its potential reuse. Greywater reuse was accepted by respondents as 59% proposed reusing it if available for non‐potable applications (94%) such as toilet cleaning and flushing. This is because, there is a significant association between cleanliness of the toilet facilities and usage (P < 0.05). Respondents who declined greywater reuse cited health risks (58%), uncomfortable feeling (37%) and cultural issue (5%).     

Discovery and Mechanism of Type III Secretion System Inhibitors

The Type III Secretion System (TTSS) is indispensable for virulence of many Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Yersinia spp., Vibrio spp., Chlamydia spp., Shigella spp., Pseudomonas spp., Xanthomonas spp., and Auromonas spp. Such pathogenic bacteria are responsible for diseases such as plague, shigellosis, chlamydia, cholera, pneumonia, and gastroenteritis. This review offers insights into the known inhibitors of the TTSS, their discovery, and their mode of action.     

Emerging bio-ethanol projects in Nigeria: Their opportunities and challenges

Despite being a major petroleum producing and exporting country, Nigeria has for a long time imported refined petroleum products for domestic consumption. The country has recently made an entrance into the bio-energy sector by seeding the market with imported ethanol until enough capability exists for the domestic production of ethanol. The Nigerian Biofuel Policy was released in 2007 calling for the domestic production of bio-ethanol to meet the national demand of 5.14 billion litres/year. Some investors have responded by investing over $3.86 billion for the construction of 19 ethanol bio-refineries, 10,000 units of mini-refineries and feedstock plantations for the production of over 2.66 billion litres of fuel grade ethanol per annum. Also, another 14 new projects are in the offing. Of the 20 pioneer projects, 4 are at the conception phase, 8 are in the planning phase, and 7 are under construction with only 1 operational. The potential benefits of the emerging bio-ethanol projects include investment in the economy, employment, energy security and boost rural infrastructure, while the major challenge is land take (859,561 ha). This is the first time an attempt is been made to document the emerging bio-ethanol projects in Nigeria.     

Polypropylene/carbon nanotube nanocomposite fibers: Process–morphology–property relationships

This study is focused on aligning carbon nanotubes in polypropylene matrix by melt spinning. Two different weight percentages (0.5% and 1.0%) of nanotubes were used for the synthesis of the nanocomposite fibers. The effect of the nanotubes on the crystallization and mechanical behavior of polypropylene as well as the effect of draw ratio on the nanocomposite morphology and properties is also discussed. Correlation of fiber morphology and nanotube alignment was done using differential scanning calorimetry, wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. Significant improvement in tensile modulus and tensile strength were observed, which is characteristic of a highly aligned nanotube system. A substantial vincrease in the onset of decomposition was observed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 3844–3850, 2007