A Comprehensive Review on Chemotaxonomic and Phytochemical Aspects of Homoisoflavonoids,as Rare Flavonoid Derivatives

Homoisoflavonoids (3-benzylidene-4-chromanones) are considered as an infrequent flavonoid class, possessing multi-beneficial bioactivities. The present study gives an overview on phytochemical aspects of homoisoflavonoids, including utilized plant species, parts, extracts, and separation techniques. Overall, these compounds have mainly been isolated and identified from bulbs and rhizomes of the plants belonging to Asparagaceae and Fabaceae families, particularly the genera of Ophiopogon, Dracaena, Scilla, Polygonatum, and Caesalpinia.     

Violence detection in videos using interest frame extraction and 3D convolutional neural network

Multimedia Tools and Applications - With the rapid development of detecting violent behaviors in surveillance cameras, requests on systems that automatically recognize violent events are expanded....     

A charge sharing–based switching scheme for SAR ADCs

This paper presents an energy-efficient switching scheme for successive approximation register (SAR) analogue-to-digital converter (ADC). The proposed scheme employs charge recycling method to keep the capacitor arrays free of transitional energy between bit generations except reset phase. In comparison with the conventional switching scheme, the proposed one achieves 100% transitional energy saving without considering reset phase. In addition, configuration of a 10-bit SAR ADC shows that the proposed switching scheme reduces the capacitor area by 25% compared with the conventional switching scheme.     

Effect of fortification with asparagus powder on the qualitative properties of processed cheese

The qualitative properties of processed cheese (PC) fortified with different levels of asparagus powder (AP) (0.5%, 1% and 1.5% wt/wt) were evaluated during storage. AP decreased the pH and lipolysis indexes and increased the phenolic content, antioxidant activity and proteolysis of the processed cheeses. AP made the structure of the cheese more elastic, increased the rigidity and decreased the spreadability compared with the control sample, which corresponded to the results obtained using dynamic oscillatory rheometry. The results showed that AP as a rich source of bioactive components could be used for the fortification of processed cheeses.     

K-ras gene mutations: an unfavorable prognostic marker in stage I lung adenocarcinoma

Activation of K-ras gene by point mutations, a common finding in lung adenocarcinomas, has been suggested to decrease patient survival. We investigated 109 lung adenocarcinomas, mostly small, peripheral, stage I tumours (81/109) for presence of K-ras gene mutations at codons 12 and 13. Mutations were detected by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of specific sequences amplified by polymerase chain reaction from DNA extracted from archival pathological material. Thirty-three of 109 (30.3%) tumours showed mutations at codon 12 (28/33, 84.8%) or 13 (5/33, 15.2%) of the gene. Mutations and type of nucleotide substitutions were differently distributed among cytological subtypes, being more prevalent among less differentiated (G2 and G3) tumours and among bronchial than bronchiolo-alveolar type adenocarcinomas. Survival analysis showed an adverse effect of K-ras mutation on survival, restricted to stage I tumours. Median survival for 81 stage I patients was 30 months for non-mutated tumours versus 20 months for mutated tumours (p = 0.016). Multivariate analysis showed that age of patient (p = 0.001) and K-ras mutation status (p = 0.04) were the only independent factors influencing survival significantly. These data strengthen the hypothesis that K-ras gene mutations may be useful in identifying a subgroup of patients with poor outcome.     

Thermal accommodation coefficient of gases on controlled solid surfaces: Argon-tungsten system

The knowledge of the thermal accommodation coefficient for gases on well-controlled surfaces as a function of temperature is imperative to understanding the mechanism of interphase heat transfer on the microscopic level. With this goal in view, a heat transfer column instrument is designed, fabricated, assembled, and tested for the specific case a argon—tungsten system. With 99.9999%, pure argon, six sets of data are taken in the rarefied gas region in the maximum temperature range of 500–1500 K. Four sets of these measurements are in the temperature-jump region and are analyzed by the constant-power method to compute the thermal accommodation coefficient of argon on a controlled tungsten surface. The other two sets are taken under free-molecular flow conditions and are interpreted in accordance with the man-free-path kinetic theory for the low-pressure regime. These data are compared and discussed in the context of reported data in the literature and interpreted in the light of the surface condition and finish of the tungsten wire.Nomenclature A area of the solid surface - C _j constants in Eq. (3); j=0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 - E _i incident energy flux - E _r reflected energy flux - E _s reflected energy flux when the interaction between the gas and the solid atoms is complete - g temperature-jump distance - L half-length of the metal wire - M molecular weight of the gas - P gas pressure - Q _H total thermal energy conducted by the gas per unit time from the hot surface - Q_KT total thermal energy conducted by the gas per unit time if the striking gas molecules were to attain thermal equilibrium with the hot surface - R molar gas constant - r radial coordinate - r _f radius of the hot wire - S sticking coefficient - S_o initial sticking coefficient - T temperature - T _e linearly extrapolated gas temperature on the hot-wire surface - T _g temperature of the impinging gas molecules - T _H temperature of the hot surface - T _i temperature of the incident gas stream - T _r temperature of the gas molecules receding after collision with the solid surface - T _s temperature of the solid surface Greek Symbols thermal accommodation coefficient for the gas—solid surface - resistivity of the metal wire - gas coverage on the solid surface For an explanation of symbols, see Nomenclature.     

Theoretical and experimental analyses of rheological,compatibility and mechanical properties of PVMQ/XNBR-g GMA/XNBR/GO ternary hybrid nanocomposites

Iranian Polymer Journal - Effects of graphene oxide (GO) on various properties of rubber hybrid nanocomposites based on PVMQ/XNBR-g-GMA/XNBR (phenyl-vinyl-methyl-polysiloxane/carboxylated nitrile...     

A study on the mechanical strength of Fe2O3/Cr2O3/CuO catalyst for high temperature water gas shift reaction

Journal of Porous Materials - The present study aims to investigate the effects of iron (hydr)oxide phases formed during precipitation and the addition of different binders on the mechanical and...     

Carbon nanotube based miniaturized electron gun and column assembly

We report on the application of silicon micromachining for the fabrication of miniaturized electron gun (MEG) assembly using vertically aligned carbon nanotubes. The proposed MEG consists of two main parts of electron gun and the accelerating column. While the electron gun consists of carbon nanotubes grown on a silicon substrate acting as an electron emission source, the accelerating column is made of micromachined silicon wafers with 5 μm thick membranes operating as objective lenses. These two wafers are placed together and sealed using a three-dimensional packaging technique. The simulation and experimental results show the evolution of a narrow electron beam by applying a proper voltage to the anodes and objective lens. The diverging and focusing of the beam can be controlled by applying the proper voltage on electrostatic lenses. This structure could be suitable for low energy SEM devices and surface physics applications.     

Natural killer or T-lymphocyte cells: Which is the best immune therapeutic agent for cancer? An optimal control approach

Therapeutic vaccines are being developed as a promising new approach to treatment for cancer patients. There are still many unanswered questions about which kind of therapeutic vaccines are the best for the cancer treatments? In this paper we consider a mathematical model, in the form of a system of ordinary differential equations (ODE), this system is an example from a class of mathematical models for immunotherapy of the tumor that were derived from a biologically validated model by Lisette G. de Pillis. The problem how to schedule a variable amount of which vaccines to achieve a maximum reduction in the primary cancer volume is consider as an optimal control problem and it is shown that optimal control is quadratic with 0 denoting a trajectory corresponding to no treatment and 1 a trajectory with treatment at maximum dose along that all therapeutics are being exhausted. The ODE system dynamics characterized by locating equilibrium points and stability properties are determined by using appropriate Lyapunov functions. Especially we attend a parametric sensitivity analysis, which indicates the dependency of the optimal solution with respect to disturbances in model parameters.