Consensus-based data replication protocol for distributed cloud

The Journal of Supercomputing - Data availability ensures efficient data accessibility by the readers anytime and from anywhere. It can be addressed by creating multiple copies of each data file...     

Performance Tuning and Reliability Analysis of the Electrostatically Configured Nanotube Tunnel FET with Impact of Interface Trap Charges

Silicon - This paper examines, an electrostatically configured Nano-Tube Tunnel Field-Effect Transistor (ED-NTTFET). During the fabrication process, different charges such as fixed charge, oxide...     

Design of Dual-Gate P-type IMOS Based Industrial Purpose Pressure Sensor

Silicon - In this treatise, we have proposed a Single Material Gate–Dual Gate Impact Ionization Metal Oxide Semiconductor (SMG DG-IMOS) based Pressure Sensor. The pressure sensor has the most...     

Agent societies and social networks for ubiquitous computing

In ubiquitous computing environments, providing appropriate services and information to users at the right place in the right way is challenging for many reasons: different user interests, heterogeneous devices and services, dynamic networks, information overload, or differing privacy levels, for example. Agent technology is a paradigm expected to play an increasing role in complex computing environments, and due to the increasing popularity of social networking services, we expect to see the convergence of agent and social web technologies. The goal of this theme issue is to bring together state-of-the-art research contributions that examine the convergence of agent technologies and social networks for ubiquitous computing.     

A series of novel double perovskite oxides NaMTi<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>6</Subscript> (M = Eu,Sm, and Gd): preparation,characterization and photocatalytic studies under visible and solarlight irradiation

The photocatalytic activity of sol–gel synthesized double perovskite type oxides NaEuTi₂O₆(NETO), NaSmTi₂O₆ (NSTO), and NaGdTi₂O₆ (NGTO) powders on degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye was demonstrated for the first time under visible light as well as sunlight irradiation. The obtained samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV–Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy equipped with X-ray energy-dispersion spectrometry. All the three samples have shown photocatalytic activity for degradation of MB under sunlight and visible light irradiation and their photocatalytic activity followed the order of NGTO > NETO > NSTO. The superior activity of NGTO is ascribed to the higher amount of hydroxyl radicals generated in the photocatalytic reaction.     

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering nanosensors for <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vivo</Emphasis> detection of nucleic acid targets in a large animal model

Although nanotechnology has led to important advances in in vitro diagnostics, the development of nanosensors for in vivo detection remains very challenging. Here, we demonstrated the proof-of-principle of in vivo detection of nucleic acid targets using a promising type of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanosensor implanted in the skin of a large animal model (pig). The in vivo nanosensor used in this study involves the “inverse molecular sentinel” detection scheme using plasmonics-active nanostars, which have tunable absorption bands in the near infrared region of the “tissue optical window”, rendering them efficient as an optical sensing platform for in vivo optical detection. Ex vivo measurements were also performed using human skin grafts to demonstrate the detection of SERS nanosensors through tissue. In this study, a new core–shell nanorattle probe with Raman reporters trapped between the core and shell was utilized as an internal standard system for self-calibration. These results illustrate the usefulness and translational potential of the SERS nanosensor for in vivo biosensing.

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Geometric Representation of Graphs in Low Dimension Using Axis Parallel Boxes

An axis-parallel k-dimensional box is a Cartesian product R ₁×R ₂×???×R _k where R _i (for 1≤i≤k) is a closed interval of the form [a _i ,b _i ] on the real line. For a graph G, its boxicity box?(G) is the minimum dimension k, such that G is representable as the intersection graph of (axis-parallel) boxes in k-dimensional space. The concept of boxicity finds applications in various areas such as ecology, operations research etc. A number of NP-hard problems are either polynomial time solvable or have much better approximation ratio on low boxicity graphs. For example, the max-clique problem is polynomial time solvable on bounded boxicity graphs and the maximum independent set problem for boxicity d graphs, given a box representation, has a $\lfloor 1+\frac{1}{c}\log n\rfloor^{d-1}An axis-parallel k-dimensional box is a Cartesian product R ₁×R ₂×⋅⋅⋅×R _k where R _i (for 1≤i≤k) is a closed interval of the form [a _i ,b _i ] on the real line. For a graph G, its boxicity box (G) is the minimum dimension k, such that G is representable as the intersection graph of (axis-parallel) boxes in k-dimensional space. The concept of boxicity finds applications in various areas such as ecology, operations research etc. A number of NP-hard problems are either polynomial time solvable or have much better approximation ratio on low boxicity graphs. For example, the max-clique problem is polynomial time solvable on bounded boxicity graphs and the maximum independent set problem for boxicity d graphs, given a box representation, has a ?1+\frac1clogn?^d-1\lfloor 1+\frac{1}{c}\log n\rfloor^{d-1} approximation ratio for any constant c≥1 when d≥2. In most cases, the first step usually is computing a low dimensional box representation of the given graph. Deciding whether the boxicity of a graph is at most 2 itself is NP-hard.     

Antioxidant and Antibacterial Effects of Potential Probiotics Isolated from Korean Fermented Foods

A total of sixteen bacterial strains were isolated and identified from the fourteen types of Korean fermented foods that were evaluated for their in vitro probiotic potentials. The results showed the highest survivability for Bacillus sp. compared to Lactobacillus sp. in simulated gastric pH, and it was found to be maximum for B. inaquosorum KNUAS016 (8.25 ± 0.08 log10 CFU/mL) and minimum for L. sakei KNUAS019 (0.8 ± 0.02 log10 CFU/mL) at 3 h of incubation. Furthermore, B. inaquosorum KNUAS016 and L. brevis KNUAS017 also had the highest survival rates of 6.86 ± 0.02 and 5.37 ± 0.01 log10 CFU/mL, respectively, in a simulated intestinal fluid condition at 4 h of incubation. The percentage of autoaggregation at 6 h for L. sakei KNUAS019 (66.55 ± 0.33%), B. tequilensis KNUAS015 (64.56 ± 0.14%), and B. inaquosorum KNUAS016 (61.63 ± 0.19%) was >60%, whereas it was lower for L. brevis KNUAS017 (29.98 ± 0.09%). Additionally, B. subtilis KNUAS003 showed higher coaggregation at 63.84 ± 0.19% while B. proteolyticus KNUAS001 found at 30.02 ± 0.33%. Among them, Lactobacillus sp. showed the best non-hemolytic activity. The highest DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity was observed in L. sakei KNUAS019 (58.25% and 71.88%). The cell-free supernatant of Lactobacillus sp. considerably inhibited pathogenic growth, while the cell-free supernatant of Bacillus sp. was moderately inhibited when incubated for 24 h. However, the overall results found that B. subtilis KNUAS003, B. proteolyticus KNUAS012, L. brevis KNUAS017, L. graminis KNUAS018, and L. sakei KNUAS019 were recognized as potential probiotics through different functional and toxicity assessments.     

Hydrogen Peroxide and Calcium Chloride Added to Irrigation Water as a Strategy to Reduce Bacterial Populations and Improve Quality of Fresh Mushrooms

The quality and value of fresh mushrooms are often diminished by the presence of high bacterial populations that cause a brown, blotchy appearance. The objective of the present research was to evaluate the addition of hydrogen peroxide and/or calcium chloride to irrigation water as a means to reduce total bacterial populations on fresh mushrooms. Crops were grown using commercial mushroom growing practices except for the addition of 0.75% hydrogen peroxide and/or 0.3% calcium chloride irrigation water added to the crop starting 11 d after the casing layer was applied on top of mushroom compost. Irrigation water without the added treatments acted as the control. Mushrooms were aseptically sampled from the production beds for enumerating bacterial counts. Total aerobic bacterial populations were determined by standard microbiological plating procedures. Mushroom whiteness (L‐value) and color (delta E) after harvest and postharvest storage were measured using a Minolta chromameter. Harvested mushrooms were separated by treatment and weighed to record yield. Mushrooms irrigated with water (control) had 7.3 log colony‐forming units (CFU) of aerobic bacterial populations per gram of fresh mushroom tissue. Compared with the control, irrigation with 0.75% hydrogen peroxide and 0.3% calcium chloride reduced the bacterial populations on fresh mushrooms by 87% (6.4 log CFU/g). Irrigation with hydrogen peroxide and calcium chloride significantly enhanced mushroom whiteness after harvest as well as after 6 d of postharvest storage at 12 °C. The irrigation treatments did not have a significant effect on crop yields; hence, the addition of hydrogen peroxide and calcium chloride to irrigation water was demonstrated to have good potential as a practical strategy to reduce bacterial populations and to improve the quality of fresh mushrooms.