Preliminary Characterization of Novel Extra-cellular Lipase from Penicillium crustosum Under Solid-State Fermentation and its Potential Application for Triglycerides Hydrolysis

Current studies about lipase production involve the use of agro-industrial residues and newly isolated microorganisms aimed at increasing economic attractiveness of the process. Based on these aspects, the main objective of this work is to perform the partial characterization of enzymatic extracts produced by a newly isolated Penicillium crustosum in solid-state fermentation. Lipase extract presented optimal temperature and pH of 37?°C and 9?C10, respectively. The concentrated enzymatic extract showed more stability at 25?°C and pH?7. The enzymes kept 100% of their enzymatic activity until 60?days of storage at 4 and ?10?°C. The stability under calcium salts indicated that the hydrolytic activity presented decay with the increase of calcium concentration. The specificity under several substrates indicated good enzyme activities in triglycerides from C4 to C18.     

Minding the geotechnical data gap: appraisal of the variability of key soil parameters for slope stability modelling in Saint Lucia

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - Identification of failure thresholds and critical uncertainties associated with slope stability often requires the specification of...     

A software process for the construction of predictable on‐board embedded real‐time systems

The rise of the ‘cheaper, faster, better’ mission paradigm increasingly challenges the industrial development of satellite systems. The novel paradigm will have a profound impact on the production of the real‐time software embedded on board new‐generation systems. This paper contends that a large proportion of the ensuing demands can be satisfied by an iterative and incremental development model revolving around two evolutionary enhancements to the present engineering approach, namely (1) static real‐time analysis as a key ingredient of the software verification process, and (2) an architectural paradigm centred on fixed priority preemptive scheduling. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Response of buried pipes to missile impact

This paper presents the methodology and results of the analyses carried out to determine an effective layout and the dynamic response of safety related cooling water pipes, buried in backfill, for the Alto Lazio Nuclear Power Plant in Italy, subjected to missile impact loading at the backfill surface. The pipes are composed of a steel plate encased in two layers of high-quality reinforced concrete.The methodology comprises three steps. The first step is the definition of the ‘free-field’ dynamic response of the backfill soil, not considering the presence of the pipes, through a dynamic finite element direct integration analysis utilizing an axisymmetric model.The second step is the pipe—soil interaction analysis, which is conducted by utilizing the soil displacement and stress time-histories obtained in the previous steps. Soil stress time-histories, combined with the geostatic and other operational stresses (such as those due to temperature and pressure), are used to obtain the actions in the pipe walls due to ring type deformation.For the third step, the analysis of the beam type response, a lumped parameter model is developed which accounts for the soil stiffness, the pipe characteristics and the position of the pipe with respect to the impact area.In addition, the effect of the presence of large concrete structures, such as tunnels, between the ground surface and the pipe is evaluated.The results of the structural analyses lead to defining the required steel thickness and also allow the choice of appropriate embedment depth and layout of redundant lines. The final results of the analysis is not only the strength verification of the pipe section, but also the definition of an effective layout of the lines in terms of position, depth, steel thickness and joint design.     

Engineering software reuse for on‐board embedded real‐time systems

The dimensions of concern to ambitious reuse initiatives largely exceed the provision of desired functionalities. A domain‐specific blend of functional, technical and quality considerations determines the reuse potential of software reuse assets. In a recent project we realized considerable reuse dividends from coupling the definition of a reference software architecture and of an associated set of standard interfaces with the selection of a powerful computational model equipped with reuse‐geared enabling technology. In this paper we present our engineering approach to the project and show how it earned us a good balance between the preservation of predictability and scalability and the maximization of the reuse objective. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Systematic Study on Extraction of Lipase Obtained by Solid-State Fermentation of Soybean Meal by a Newly Isolated Strain of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Penicillium</Emphasis> sp

This work aimed to assess the effect of some variables on the lipase extraction from the fermented medium in order to establish the experimental conditions that maximize the yield of the enzyme obtained from solid-state fermentation of soybean meal and a newly isolated strain of Penicillium sp. The experimental design technique was used to investigate the effect of relevant variables on lipase activity. The factors investigated were solvent pH (5.5–8.5), stirring rate (50–150 rpm), temperature (25–49 °C) and solid/liquid ratio (1:20–5:20). The effect of time of contact was evaluated in a kinetic study. Higher lipase activities in the extraction study were obtained using phosphate buffer 100 mM pH 8.5, at 25 °C, 150 rpm, and solid/liquid ratio of 1:20. Extraction studies showed that maximum activity (186 U/g) was obtained in 15 min of extraction.     

Isolation and Screening of Lipase-Producing Fungi with Hydrolytic Activity

Lipases are enzymes that can be secreted by several microorganisms, making interesting the biodiversity exploration for searching new microorganisms able to produce these enzymes. Many agro-industrial residues can be used as potential substrates for production of enzymes. The main objective of this work was the isolation and screening of microorganisms with potential to produce lipases. Among 24 fungi, five were selected as good lipase producers using tributyrin on agar plates and solid state fermentation of soybean bran. Two of them were isolated from soil samples, another two from soybean bran, and one from dairy products. These fungi were identified by microcultivation technique as from Penicillium and Aspergillus genera. Through random amplified polymorphic DNA technique, the most promising strains could be genetically discriminated, selecting two fungi as good lipase producers but genetically different. One isolated from soybean bran could hydrolyze efficiently triglycerides with fatty acids with different chain length. Another isolated from dairy products was only effective to hydrolyze triglycerides with long-chain fatty acids. Two distinct groups could be verified by means of this technique, comprising the most productive strains and the lowest or nonproductive ones in terms of hydrolytic activity.     

On the Dynamic Semantics and the Timing Behavior of Ravenscar Kernels

Mature research advances in scheduling theory show that carefully-crafted concurrent computational models permit static analysis of real-time behavior. This evidence enables designers to consider using suitable forms of explicit concurrency to model the inherent concurrency of real-time systems. The Ravenscar Profile, a specifically tailored subset of the Ada 95 tasking model, defines a compact and efficient concurrent computational model, especially suited for the development of high integrity, high efficiency real-time systems.Ravenscar runtimes can be implemented by small, efficient, reliable and certifiable kernels. At least two such implementations already exist and are being industrially deployed. The simplicity and intrinsic determinism of Ravenscar kernels facilitate the definition of metrics that cater for very accurate characterization of the dynamic behavior of the runtime and of the execution time of its primitives. Accurate runtime metrics enable forms of response time analysis that minimize the pessimism in the prediction of the runtime influence on the application. This is especially useful for concurrent systems that exhibit significant dependency on runtime support services. This paper recalls the motivations of the Ravenscar Profile, outlines the definition of it and formulates a precise characterisation of the associated runtime metrics.     

Ground movements due to deep excavations in Shanghai: Design charts

Recent research has clarified the sequence of ground deformation mechanisms that manifest themselves when excavations are made in soft ground. Furthermore, a new framework to describe the deformability of clays in the working stress range has been devised using a large database of previously published soil tests. This paper aims to capitalize on these advances, by analyzing an expanded database of ground movements associated with braced excavations in Shanghai. It is shown that conventional design charts fail to take account either of the characteristics of soil deformability or the relevant deformation mechanisms, and therefore introduce significant scatter. A new method of presentation is found which provides a set of design charts that clarify the influence of soil deformability, wall stiffness, and the geometry of the excavation in relation to the depth of soft ground.