A Hybrid Analytic Model for the Effective Prediction of Different Stages in Chronic Kidney Ailments

Wireless Personal Communications - Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a gradual loss of kidney function over the period of time and it is irrevocable once functionality reaches the critical state....     

One step from nanofiber to functional hybrid structure: Pd doped ZnO/SnO2 heterojunction nanofibers with hexagonal ZnO columns for enhanced low-temperature hydrogen gas sensing

In this paper, a novel hybrid structure of Pd doped ZnO/SnO₂ heterojunction nanofibers with hexagonal ZnO columns was one step synthesized from electrospun precursor nanofibers. Due to the synergistic effect of hexagonal ZnO, SnO₂ and Pd, the structure exhibited excellent hydrogen (H₂) gas sensing properties. At low-temperature of 120 °C, the response (R_a/R_g) to 100 ppm H₂ gas exceeded 160, the response/recovery time was only 20 s and 6 s respectively and the limit of detection was only 0.5 ppm. Meanwhile, it also had good selectivity for H₂ gas and excellent linearity. In addition, the materials were characterized by XRD, FESEM, HRTEM, XPS, and the synthesis mechanism and gas sensing mechanism were proposed.     

Mammogram pectoral muscle removal and classification using histo-sigmoid based ROI clustering and SDNN

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Mammograms are the images used by radiologists to diagnose breast cancer. Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women. The early detection of breast...     

Changes in the content and antioxidative activity of β-carotene and its metabolite vitamin A during gastrointestinal digestion and absorption and optimisation of HPLC-based detection

The β-Carotene (BC), an important precursor of vitamin A (VA), possesses antioxidant activity but is fat-soluble and has low bioavailability. In previous in-vitro assays evaluating antioxidant and 2,2′-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH) free radical scavenging, both BC and VA showed a strong ability to scavenge radicals and protected cells from oxidative stress. Here, we used artificially simulated gastrointestinal digestion and Caco-2 cell absorption models to evaluate the bioavailability of the BC during gastrointestinal digestion and absorption using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. We observed high absorptive and transfer rates of BC and detected retinol metabolites (Vitamin A). Therefore, BC can be detected in the acidic gastrointestinal environment using HPLC. Optimised method provided better separation of BC and VA in the column, improving the accuracy of the test results.     

Formation of acrylamide in microwave-roasted sorghum and associated dietary risk

The effect of microwave roasting parameters (300, 450 and 600 W; 5, 10 and 15 min) on acrylamide content in sorghum grain was determined using High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)-photo diode array (PDA) detector coupled with C-18 column. Samples roasted at 300 and 450 W did not possess acrylamide, whereas 600 W (15 min) favoured formation of 2740.19 µg/kg of acrylamide, levels far exceeding the defined European Union (EU) limits. The chronic daily intake (CDI) for acrylamide through consumption of such grain flour was 3.25–9.5-fold higher to Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) defined high exposure limits. The margin of exposure (MOE) values ranged from 4.3 to 12.76 and from 11.07 to 32.27 for neoplastic and neurological effects, respectively, demonstrating high exposure and serious health concerns associated with dietary intake of this toxicant. This study assesses the risk for the Indian population and highlights the importance of optimising process parameters for food product to minimise such exposure risks.     

α-Glucosidase, α-amylase inhibition kinetics,in vitro gastro-intestinal digestion,and apoptosis inducing abilities of Ficus microcarpa L. f. and Ficus racemosa L. fruit polysaccharides

Food Science and Biotechnology - A rich source of nutrients, figs have a number of clinically validated benefits. This study aimed to evaluate the in vitro simulated gastrointestinal digestion, and...     

Finite-time adaptive fuzzy control for a class of output constrained nonlinear systems with dead-zone

The article investigates the finite-time adaptive fuzzy control for a class of nonlinear systems with output constraint and input dead-zone. First, by skillfully combining the barrier Lyapunov function, backstepping design method, and finite-time control theory, a novel adaptive state-feedback tracking controller is constructed, and the output constraint of the nonlinear system is not violated. Second, the fuzzy logic system is used to approximate unknown function in the nonlinear system. Third, the finite-time command filter is introduced to avoid the problem of “complexity explosion” caused by repeated differentiations of the virtual control signal in conventional backstepping control schemes. Meanwhile, a new saturation function is added in the compensating signal for filter error to improve control accuracy. Finally, based on Lyapunov stability analysis, all the signals of the closed-loop are proved to be semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded, and the tracking error converges to a small neighborhood region of the origin in a finite time. A simulation example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness for the proposed control scheme.     

Theoretical investigation of intrinsic point defects and the oxygen migration behavior in rare earth hafnates

In this work, the composition-dependent point defect types and formation energies of RE₂Hf₂O₇ (RE = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu and Gd) as well as the oxygen diffusion behavior are systematically investigated by first-principles calculations. The possible defect reactions and dominant defect complexes under stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric conditions are revealed. It is found that O Frenkel pairs are the predominant defect in stoichiometric pyrochlore hafnates. Hf-RE cation anti-site defects, accompanied by RE vacancies and/or oxygen interstitials, are stable in the non-stoichiometric case of HfO₂ excess. On the other hand, RE-Hf anti-site defects together with oxygen vacancies and/or RE interstitials are preferable in the case of RE₂O₃ excess. The energy barriers for the migration along the V_O48f - V_O48f pathway of pyrochlore hafnates were calculated to be between 0.81 eV and 0.89 eV. Based on these results, a defect engineering strategy is proposed and the pyrochlore hafnates investigated here are predicted to exhibit potential oxygen ionic conductivity.