Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Compositional, morphological, and physicochemical properties of starches from red adzuki bean, chickpea, faba bean, and baiyue bean grown in China

Abstract Starches of four legume varieties grown in China were evaluated for composition, granule structure, turbidity, swelling power, solubility, and thermal and pasting properties. The similar granule shapes, surface fissures, polarized crosses, inner structure characteristics, and granule sizes could be observed among all legume varieties through a variety of microscopy techniques such as light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Amylose contents were in the range of 30.61%–33.55%. All of the starch varieties showed C‐type X‐ray pattern, but exhibited different relative crystallinity percentage. Significant differences were observed among starch varieties in swelling power, solubility, and light transmittance. Thermal analysis and pasting profile of legume starches showed that all the varieties’ differences are probably due to variation in amylose content. The thermal and pasting parameters of starches were evaluated using differential scanning calorimeter and Rapid Visco‐Analyser, respectively, and significant differences were observed in individual pasting and thermal parameters. The present study can be used for identifying differences between legume varieties for starch structural and physicochemical characteristics and could provide guidance to possible industries for their end use.
Synthesis, Physico-chemical and Antimicrobial Studies on Metal (II) Complexes with Schiff Base Derived from Salicylaldehyde and 2,4-Dinitrophenylhydrazine

Schiff base derived from salicylaldehyde and 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine was synthesized. Its Mn(II) and Fe(II) complexes (MnL2 and FeL2) were synthesized by refluxing the metal (II) chlorides with the Schiff base. All the compounds were characterized by melting point/decomposition temperature, solubility, molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility infrared analysis and UV - visible spectrophotometry. The composition of the complexes has been found to be 1:2 (Metal-Ligand) ratio. The complexes have low molar conductance values 6.39 -6.59 ohm-1 cm2 mol-1 indicating non-electrolytes. The Schiff base and its metal (II) complexes were screened for antibacterial activity against five bacterial isolates Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aureginosa and Staphylococcus aureus and three fungal isolates Fusarium solani, Aspergillus fumigates and Candida Albicans using good method. The results revealed that the complexes showed higher activity against the microorganisms compared to the Schiff base.
Genotoxicity Evaluation of Landfill Solid Waste Leachates from a Waste Dumpsite in Lagos State, Nigeria using the Allium cepa Assay

Introduction: The management of municipal landfill’s leachate is considered one of the most significant environmental issues. Potential mutagenic and genotoxic effects of solid waste leachates (SWL) were investigated using the Allium cepa root meristematic cells assay technique. Methods: In Allium root growth inhibition test, experimental onion bulbs were cultivated in various concentrations of the SWL and distilled water was used as a negative control. The root tips from the treated bulb were processed by orcein squash technique after 72 h. The mean lengths of root bundles were obtained and effective concentration (EC) values calculated. Some of the physicochemical properties of the WL were also determined. The A. cepa assay was carried out at concentrations of 0.05, 0.1, 2.0, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100% of the WL. Results: There was a statistically different (p < 0.05), concentration-dependent inhibition of onion root growth and mitotic index, and induction of chromosomal aberrations in the onion test. The results of the physicochemical analysis revealed that the concentrations of some parameters were above the maximum permissible limit set by the world health organization (WHO) and could partly be correlated with the toxicity of wastewater. Conclusion: The result revealed that the landfill leachates pose a risk to human health and the environment in general. Hence, ecotoxicity/genotoxicity assays would be useful in leachate risk assessment when coupled with physicochemical analysis.
Effect of deposition parameters on crystalline of CVD diamond

Abstract CVD diamond films were prepared on the cemented carbide substrate by hot filament chemical vapor deposition method. The diamond coatings were observed with SEM and Raman spectroscopy. The results show that the increase of vaccum pressure greatly promotes the continuous increase of grain size, and the impurity content of diamond is decreasing with the increase of vaccum pressure. With the increase of the CH4 concentration, the grain size of diamond decreases continuously and the composition of non-diamond carbon increases, but when the CH4 is more than 3% the grain size does not change obviously. The substrate temperature has a certain influence on the structure and grain size of NCD. The multilayer NCD/MCD coated cutting tool was prepared by controlling the deposition parameters.
Reducing Suitani Figs Losses Dyring Markeeting by Thymol and Chitosan Dipping Dipping

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of chitosan and thymol postharvest dipping on maintaining fruit quality attributes of Sultani figs. Ripe fig fruits gently picked manually and treated with 0.3 or 0.6 mM thymol and 2.5 or 5 g/L chitosan in addition to water treatment then stored at 0°C and 85-90 % RH. A Samples of stored fruits were taken every week to estimate determine fruit quality and storability. The results of the study showed that chitosan treatments significantly reduced fruit weight loss and shriveling percent up to three weeks as compared with the untreated fruit. Thymol and chitosan treatments decreases the percentage of decay incidence and quantitative losses after one, two or three weeks of cold storage plus two days at room temperature especially at the high concentration. All treatments caused a decrease in the percentage of quantitative losses after two or three weeks of storage as compared to control and 0.3 mM thymol. Chitosan significantly maintained fruit firmness, SSC, total and non-reducing sugars up to 3 weeks. In addition, thymol and chitosan treatments had higher phenolic content than control after 1 or two weeks.
Computational Biomechanics for Medicine III

We propose a new nonlinear image registration model which is based on nonlinear elastic regularization and unbiased registration. The nonlinear elastic and the unbiased regularization terms are simplified using the change of variables by introducing an unknown that approximates the Jacobian matrix of the displacement field. This reduces the minimization to involve linear differential equations. In contrast to recently proposed unbiased fluid registration method, the new model is written in a unified variational form and is minimized using gradient descent. As a result, the new unbiased nonlinear elasticity model is computationally more efficient and easier to implement than the unbiased fluid registration. The unbiased large-deformation nonlinear elasticity method was tested using volumetric serial magnetic resonance images and shown to have some advantages for medical imaging applications.
Impact characteristics of sugar beet root during postharvest storage

*Corresponding author e-mail: krzysztof.golacki@up.lublin. pl A b s t r a c t. The effects of time of sugar beet root storage on the parameters determined by impact testing were studied. The 9 mm diameter and 20 mm high cylindrical samples were cut crosswise and lengthwise along the root axis. The impact velocity was 1 m s and the change in the response force over time was observed at both ends of the sample. The measurements were made directly after harvesting and after 24, 48, 96 and 120 h of storage at room temperature. Failure stress and strain, impact energy, absorbed energy, Young’s modulus and shock wave speed were determined in the sample tissue from the change in the response force at both ends of the sample. A drop of 40% in the average values of the energy required to damage the samples was observed during 120 h of storage. A similar dependence was found for the energy absorbed by the sample as evidenced by the greater susceptibility of the roots to impact loads. The experiment confirms the importance of critical stress criterion for cylindrical samples of sugar beet. The velocities of shock wave propagation obtained from the samples during impact were in the range of 220 – 384 m s and were not correlated with the other experimental parameters. K e y w o r d s: sugar beet root, impact energy, absorbed energy, storage time
Progress in the use of electrospun nanofiber electrodes for solid oxide fuel cells: a review

Abstract The application of one-dimensional nanofibers in the fabrication of an electrode greatly improves the performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) due to its advantages on electron transfer and mass transport. Various mixed ionic-electronic conducting materials with perovskites and Ruddlesden-Popper-type metal oxide structures are successfully electrospun into nanofibers in recent years mostly in solvent solution and some in melt forms, which are used as anode and cathode electrodes for SOFCs. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the structure, electrochemical performance, and development of anode and cathode nanofiber electrodes including processing, structure, and property characterization. The focuses are first on the precursor, applied voltage, and polymer in the material electrospinning process, the performance of the fiber, potential limitation and drawbacks, and factors affecting fiber morphology, and sintering temperature for impurity-free fibers. Information on relevant methodologies for cell fabrication and stability issues, polarization resistances, area specific resistance, conductivity, and power densities are summarized in the paper, and technology limitations, research challenges, and future trends are also discussed. The concluded information benefits improvement of the material properties and optimization of microstructure of the electrodes for SOFCs.
Chemical Exploration with Virtual Reality in Organic Teaching Laboratories

While virtual reality (VR) is emerging as an interactive tool for chemical education, its application and assessment for chemical education are still limited. Thus, an educational VR activity based on interactive molecular dynamics in virtual reality (iMD-VR), which allows for real-time, immersive interactions with a dynamic molecular world, was now designed and executed to demonstrate chemical concepts and engage students in exploring molecular structures, motions, and interactions. There were 70 students in the first semester of an introductory organic chemistry course asked to complete an example task to pull a methane molecule through a carbon nanotube with iMD-VR software originally designed for research purposes by Glowacki and co-workers. Our assessments of this activity have shown valuable motivational impacts and measurable learning gains. The VR activity can be further tailored to many different levels by varying the topics and tasks, with affordable hardware and software.
The ameliorating effects of honey on some biochemical parameters on rats exposed to cyanide

In this study, the ameliorating effect of honey on some biochemical parameters on rats exposed to cyanide (CN) was studied. Significant decreases in urea, creatinine and transaminases (AST and ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity were observed in all the groups treated with honey after exposure to cyanide when compared with the untreated group administered cyanide only. In addition, there was no significant difference in these parameters in the honey treated group when compared with the group given sodium thiosulphate (a known cyanide antidote) after exposure to cyanide. A significant decrease was also indicated in the superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and catalase activities in the liver and kidney of rats treated with honey when compared with the untreated group. A significant decrease in LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels and a significant increase (p<0.05) in HDL-cholesterol were observed in the honey treated rats when compared with the untreated group. The overall results indicate that honey acts as a good antidote to cyanide poisoning and is able to ameliorate the biochemical effects caused by exposing rats to cyanide.
Polysaccharides in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Applications

In line with the current focus on a sustainable economy, polysaccharides have received a special attention due to the diversity of their resources, non-toxicity, biodegradability, and biocompatibility; they are also renewable sources being capable of chemical modifications. In this order, the book provides a comprehensive overview of researches regarding the use of polysaccharides in the medicinal and pharmaceutical field. The first chapter, Configurations, Structures and Morphologies of Cellulose presents an overview regarding the structure, morphology, sources and physicochemical properties of cellulose. A particular importance is given to micro- and nanostructured cellulose materials, due to their applicability as additives for pharmaceutical formulations, as biocompatible hydrogels or as scaffold materials in tissue engineering. In Chapter 2, Hemicelluloses in Pharmacy and Medicine, a structuring of the sources and the chemical structure of hemicelluloses together with the most interesting applications are presented. The most important properties of hemicelluloses including the controllable biological activity, biodegradability and their ability to form hydrogels are also included in this chapter. The current applications concerning the fungal exopolysaccharides are summarised in Chapter 3, Fungal Exopolysaccharides. Their unique properties of some bioactive fungal exopolysaccharides as immunomodulators, antitumor agents, and effective agents in the treatment of microbial infections and in lowering blood pressure or cholesterol in humans are presented in this chapter. These properties are correlated with their structure, and they depend on the microorganisms which synthesised them and the conditions of production. The heteropolysaccharides, which are complex compounds made up from different sugar monomers, .
The Studying the processing of food dye from beet juice

The manuscript describes a new method of red beet processing and the technology of manufacturing food colorant from the juice concentrate, which is natural, safe and useful analogue to existing expensive offers on the market of similar goods that have chemical origin not useful for regular consumption. Nowadays in order to give to food products a colour, close to natural coloring of fruits and vegetables, expensive synthetic dyes are used, which might have cancer-inducing effect when being accumulated by human organism. Therefore improving the technology for producing food grade dye from red beet juice is remarkably important task. Currently, there is a problem for vegetable processors – pectin substances complicate the process, like the illumination of juice and negatively affect its storage capacity. The article below reveals and substantiates the necessity of using a natural carbon-containing adsorbent shungite for the purification of beet juice from pectin substances. On the basis of the study, the authors suggest a more cost-effective way of producing a food dye from juice concentrate, which allows avoiding usage of expensive enzyme processing additives.
Treatment of Secondary Effluents Using Fly-Ash Based Microfiltration Membrane

粉煤灰基微滤膜是一种新型的廉价陶瓷膜，本文将其用于生活污水的三级处理。 考察了跨膜压差和膜面流速等对渗透通量的影响，利用孔堵模型对膜污染过程进行了污染机理分析。 膜过滤出水达到了生活杂用水的标准。 发现膜污染的机理主要是滤饼层过滤机理。 Fly-ash based microfiltration membrane is a new kind of low cost ceramic membrane. It was used to treat the secondary effluents. The effects of transmembrane pressure and cross flow velocity on the permeation flux were inves-tigated. The membrane fouling mechanism was analyzed based on the pore blocking model. The product water met the requirements of Miscellaneous Domestic Water Quality Standard. It was found that the membrane fouling originated from cake filtration.
Visual Saliency Predicts Fixations in Low Clutter Web Pages

Previous research has shown a computational model of visual saliency can predict where people fixate in cluttered web pages (Masciocchi & Still, 2013). Over time, web site designers are moving towards simpler, less cluttered webpages to improve aesthetics and to make searches more efficient. Even with simpler interfaces, determining a saliency ranking among interface elements is a difficult task. Also, it is unclear whether the traditionally employed saliency model (Itti, Koch, & Niebur, 1998) can be applied to simpler interfaces. To examine the model’s ability to predict fixations in simple web pages we compared a distribution of observed fixations to a conservative measure of chance performance (a shuffled distribution). Simplicity was determined by using two visual clutter models (Rosenholz, Li, & Nakano, 2007). We found under free-viewing conditions that the saliency model was able to predict fixations within less cluttered web pages.
In vivo multimodal fibre-probe spectroscopy for glioblastoma detection in mouse model

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumour in adults. Patient survival rates are strongly dependent on the successfully resection of the tumour. In this framework, multimodal optical spectroscopy could provide a fast and label-free tool for improving tumour detection and guiding the removal of diseased tissue. In this study, we used an optical fibre-probe system combining multiple spectroscopic techniques for in vivo examination of normal and GBM tissues in mouse brain. Specifically, the probe – based on a fibre-bundle with optical fibres of various size and properties – allowed performing spectroscopic measurements based on fluorescence, Raman, and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy though two optical windows implanted on the head of each animal. Two visible laser diodes were used for fluorescence spectroscopy, a laser diode emitting in the NIR was used for Raman spectroscopy, and a fibre-coupled halogen lamp for diffuse reflectance. All spectral recordings were done when the animals were anesthetized; optical inspection required less than 4 minutes for each animal. The recorded data were analysed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for obtaining an automated classification of the examined tissues based on the intrinsic spectral information provided by Raman and reflectance spectroscopy. The presented method demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity in discriminating GBM from normal brain. Furthermore, we found that the multimodal approach is crucial for improving diagnostic capabilities beyond what can be achieved from individual techniques.
The role of intracellular Ca2+ in cigarette smoke-induced CFTR internalisation

i Acknowledgments . iii List of Figures . ix List of Tables . xiv List of Abbreviations . xv Chapter 1.0 Introduction . 1 1.1 Anatomy of the airways . 1 1.2 The airway surface liquid . 2 1.3 Ion transport in the airway . 4 1.4 CFTR . 7 1.4. 1 CFTR structure and function . 7 1.4. 2 Biogenesis and trafficking of CFTR . 9 1.4. 3 Regulation of CFTR channel activity by phosphorylation . 12 1.5 Diseases in the airway due to defective CFTR . 15 1.5. 1 Cystic Fibrosis . 15 1.5. 2 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease . 16 1.6 The effect of cigarette smoke on CFTR . 17 1.7 Calcium signalling . 19 1.7. 1 Ca signalling in airway epithelia . 21 1.8 Aims . 23 Chapter 2.0 Methods . 24 2.1 Reagents . 24 2.2 Cell culture . 25 2.3 Transfection . 26 2.4 Cigarette smoke exposure . 27
Kinetic study of biosorption of arsenic from soil using microorganisms

This work studied the kinetics of biosorption of arsenic (As) from polluted soils using two bacteria [Proteus mirabilis (P. mirabilis) and Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis)]. The bacteria obtained from the soils were cultured and utilized to treat the arsenic polluted soils through the process of batch biosorption experiment. The experimental data were fitted with four kinetic models (Pseudo-first order, pseuodo-second order, Elovich and the intra-particle diffusion); and judgement on models performance was made using the values of the models’ coefficient of determination (R2 ). The four models tested were adequate for describing the biosorption kinetics but the leading performance of the intraparticle diffusion model with R2 of 0.991 for sorption by P. mirabilis and 0.972 for sorption by B. subtilis proved the diffusion process to be the rate-limiting step. This indicated that the systems were transport controlled. Keywords: Arsenic, contaminated soils, biosorption, sorption kinetics, microorganisms.
Effect of crop residue incorporation in maize on nutrient status their uptake and yield in acid soil of Ranchi

The experiment was conducted in kharif 2016 on hybrid maize comprising five treatments with and without incorporation of crop residues along with chemical fertilizers, viz. NPK (250:120:120 kg/ha), N0PK (0:120:120 kg/ha), NP0K (250:0:120 kg/ha), NPK0 (250:120:0 kg/ha) and SSNM (200 kg N: 90 kg P2O5: 100 kg K2O /ha) to study the effect of crop residue incorporation in hybrid maize on nutrient status. Results showed among the different treatments ample dose of fertilizers application gave highest yield 87.69 and 83.63 q/ha in with and without crop residues incorporated plots. Minimum yield obtained in the N omitted plots (16.98 and 16.00 q/ha with and without incorporation of crop residues). The highest available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur status was found 224.40, 117.81, 236.36 and 117.69 kg/ha and the lowest 219.81, 110.34, 208.73 and 112.70 kg/ha when crop residue was incorporated and without incorporation of crop residue respectively. The significantly (P<0.05) higher levels of available phosphorus of residue treated plots was found due to phosphorus released from the decomposition of crop residues.Maximum nutrient uptake (N – 278.74 & 265.89, P – 45.77 & 43.69, K – 112.8 & 109.15 kg/ha) was obtained when ample dose of nutrients were applied and minimum (N – 48.34 & 45.39, P – 7.29 & 6.82, K – 27.35 & 26.07 kg/ha) uptake was observed in the treatments where N was omitted. Whenever uptake was compared with incorporation of crop residues and without incorporation of crop residues, total uptake of nutrients were more in crop residues incorporated plots than without incorporation of crop residues. Total nutrients uptake (N, P, K) of all treatments were higher with incorporation of crop residue. However maximum response of crop residue (N 10.52%, P 11.25% & K 8.37%) were found in the K omitted plots.
Choline-Based Ionic Liquids as Media for the Growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Ionic liquids (ILs) have garnered great attention as alternative solvents in many biological reactions and applications. However, its unknown toxicity is in line with the challenges to use it for biological applications. In this study, three choline based Ionic Liquids—choline saccharinate (CS), choline dihydrogen phosphate (CDHP), and choline tryptophanate (CT) were assessed for their suitability on the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The ILs were incorporated into the growth media of S. cerevisiae (defined as synthetic media) to access its potential as a substitute to conventional media. The compatibility of the synthetic media was evaluated based on the toxicity (EC50), growth curve, and glucose profile. The results showed that the incorporation of CDHP and CS did promote the growth of S. cerevisiae with a rapid glucose consumption rate. The growth of S. cerevisiae with the media composition of yeast extract, peptone, and CS showed improvement of 13%. We believe that these observations have implications in the biocompatibility studies of ILs to microorganisms.