Molecular solutions for minimum and exact cover problems in the tile assembly model

The tile assembly model is a novel biological computing model where information is encoded in DNA tiles. It is an efficient way to solve NP-complete problems due to its scalability and parallelism. In this paper, we apply the tile assembly model to solve the minimum and exact set cover problems, which are well-known NP-complete problems. To solve the minimum set cover problem, we design a MinSetCover system composed of three parts, i.e., the seed configuration subsystem, the nondeterministic choice subsystem, and the detection subsystem. Moreover, we improve the MinSetCover system and propose a MinExactSetCover system for solving the problem of exact cover by 3-sets. Finally we analyze the computation complexity and perform a simulation experiment to verify the effectiveness and correctness of the proposed systems.     

Fingerprint recognition using mel-frequency cepstral coefficients

This paper presents a new fingerprint recognition method based on mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs). In this method, cepstral features are extracted from a group of fingerprint images, which are transformed first to 1-D signals by lexicographic ordering. MFCCs and polynomial shape coefficients are extracted from these 1-D signals or their transforms to generate a database of features, which can be used to train a neural network. The fingerprint recognition can be performed by extracting features from any new fingerprint image with the same method used in the training phase. These features are tested with the neural network. The different domains are tested and compared for efficient feature extraction from the lexicographically ordered 1-D signals. Experimental results show the success of the proposed cepstral method for fingerprint recognition at low as well as high signal to noise ratios (SNRs). Results also show that the discrete cosine transform (DCT) is the most appropriate domain for feature extraction.     

Three‐dimensional trajectory of electrospun polymer solution jet using digital holographic microscopy

The three‐dimensional trajectories of polymer solution jets during the electrospinning of polymer nanofibers were experimentally investigated. Test conditions included water solutions of polyethylene oxide (PEO) with concentrations typical of those producing beaded nanofibers, driving voltages ranging from 5 kV to 15 kV to generate a single polymer jet and injection pressures ranging from 0 kPa to 55 kPa. The present holographic imaging setup resolved the spatial growth of the bending instabilities, which is beneficial for validating numerical models. The results also showed the bead formation on the polymer fiber in‐flight. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:1765–1773, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Chemical quality and sensory attributes of marinated Pacific saury (Cololabis saira) during vacuum-packaged storage at 4 °C

This study was carried out to evaluate the chemical changes and sensory attributes of Pacific saury (Cololabis saira), brined (12% NaCl brine solution) or marinated (12% NaCl + 2% acetic acid; or 12% NaCl + 3% acetic acid solutions) followed by vacuum-packaging and storage at 4 °C for 90 days. The chemical analysis revealed a significant reduction in the pH value, total volatile bases nitrogen (TVBN), and trimethylamine (TMA) contents in marinated versus brined fillets. Lipid oxidation, as indicated by the 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA) values, was significantly delayed in marinated fillets in comparison with the brined fillets. The growth rate of psychrotrophic bacteria was significantly (P < 0.05) reduced in marinated versus brined fillets. No significant differences were detected for the sensory attributes between the two marinating conditions although the overall acceptability was significantly higher in marinated versus brined fish. Both conditions of the marinating process resulted in an extension of the shelf life of the product to more than 90 days versus only 60 days for the control brined fillets. The study concluded that marination of Pacific saury can delay the undesirable chemical changes, retard lipid oxidation, improve the sensory attributes and extend the shelf life of the product during refrigerated storage.     

Fatigue Crack Tip Plasticity for Inclined Cracks

The evaluation of the crack tip deformation is essential to the estimation of crack growth under either static or cyclic loading. A 3-D elastic–plastic finite element analysis was developed to simulate the crack tip deformation along mixed mode inclined edge cracks in a steel plate subjected to either monotonic or cyclic loading at selected R-ratios. In this paper, two types of crack configurations were investigated: inclined cracks with equal inclined lengths (EICL) and inclined cracks with equal horizontal projection length (ECHP). The development of the monotonic (Δm) and cyclic (Δc) crack tip plastically zones and the monotonic (CTOD) and cyclic (ΔCTOD) crack tip opening displacements were traced to find the effect of the crack inclination angle, which significantly affected the size and shape of the crack tip plastic zone. The finite element results compared well with the analytical results based on modified Dugdale’s model. It was observed that Mode II has a significant effect on the plastic zone in the case of equal inclined crack length (EICL), i.e., Mode II increases as the crack angle decreases. Also, it is interesting to note that for the EICL case, the magnitude of Δc is delayed to appear with decreasing the inclination angle, for example, for θ?=?90° the cyclic plastic zone appeared at Δσ?=?103.32 MPa, while for θ?=?45° the cyclic plastic zone appeared at Δσ?=?132.84 MPa. Whereas, the variation of monotonic and cyclic plastic zone size in the equal crack horizontal projection (ECHP) case is not affected by the crack inclination angle. Furthermore, it was observed that the static crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) and the cyclic (ΔCTOD) are independent of the crack inclination angle in case of ECHP, due to such cracks take into consideration the effect of inclination angle through its length.     

Some biochemical aspects of the enzymic transformation of cortisol with Bacillus cereus

The role of a variety of compounds including organic acids, vitamins, growth promoting substances, purines and pyrimidines in the bioconversion of cortisol with Bacillus cereus was investigated. The transformation of cortisol to prednisolone and pregn-4-en-11beta, 17alpha,20beta, 21-tetrol-3-one was affected by these compounds in different manners. The enzymatic delta1-dehydrogenation reaction was greatly induced with fumarate, menadione, and xanthine treatments. However, the enzymic reduction of the 20-carbonyl to the 20beta-ol was specifically stimulated with fumarate, nicotinic acid amide, and uracil treatments.