bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Structure-Based Design, Synthesis and Bioactivity of a New Anti-TNFα Cyclopeptide
Authors: Idress Mohannad , Milne Bruce F. , Thompson Gary S. , Trembleau Laurent , Jaspars Marcel , Houssen Wael E.
Published: February 2020

As opposed to small molecules, macrocyclic peptides possess a large surface area and are recognised as promising candidates to selectively treat diseases by disrupting specific protein–protein interactions (PPIs). Due to the difficulty in predicting cyclopeptide conformations in solution, the de novo design of bioactive cyclopeptides remains significantly challenging. In this study, we used the combination of conformational analyses and molecular docking studies to design a new cyclopeptide inhibitor of the interaction between the human tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and its receptor TNFR-1. This interaction is a key in mediating the inflammatory response to tissue injury and infection in humans, and it is also an important causative factor of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease. The solution state NMR structure of the cyclopeptide was determined, which helped to deduce its mode of interaction with TNFα. TNFα sensor cells were used to evaluate the biological activity of the peptide.
Isolation of Unstable Isomers of Lucilactaene and Evaluation of Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Secondary Metabolites Produced by the Endophytic Fungus Fusarium sp. QF001 from the Roots of Scutellaria baicalensis
Authors: Maharjan Sailesh , Lee Sang Bong , Kim Geum Jin , Cho Sung Jin , Nam Joo-Won , Chin Jungwook , Choi Hyukjae
Published: February 2020

The filamentous fungal pathogen Fusarium sp. causes several crop diseases. Some Fusarium sp. are endophytes that produce diverse valuable bioactive secondary metabolites. Here, extensive chemical investigation of the endophytic fungus, Fusarium sp. QF001, isolated from the inner rotten part of old roots of Scutellariae baicalensis resulted in the isolation of two new photosensitive geometrical isomers of lucilactaene (compounds 2 and 3) along with lucilactaene (6) and six other known compounds (fusarubin (1), (+)-solaniol (4), javanicin (5), 9-desmethylherbarine (7), NG391 (8) and NG393 (9)). Newly isolated isomers and lucilactaene were unstable under light at room temperature and tended to be a mixture in equilibrium state when exposed to a polar protic solvent during reversed phase chromatography. Normal phase chromatography under dim light conditions with an aprotic mobile phase led to the successful isolation of the relatively unstable isomers 2 and 3. Their structures were elucidated as 8(Z)-lucilactaene (2) and 4(Z)-lucilactaene (3) based on spectroscopic data. The absolute configuration of 4 was speculated to be R by computer-assisted specific rotation analysis. The isolated compounds could inhibit NO production and suppress pro-inflammatory cytokines expression in LPS-stimulated macrophage cells. These properties of the isolated compounds indicate their potential use as anti-inflammatory drugs.
Efficient Biocatalytic Synthesis of Dihalogenated Purine Nucleoside Analogues Applying Thermodynamic Calculations
Authors: Yehia Heba , Westarp Sarah , Röhrs Viola , Kaspar Felix , Giessmann Robert T. , Klare Hendrik F.T. , Paulick Katharina , Neubauer Peter , Kurreck Jens , Wagner Anke
Published: February 2020

The enzymatic synthesis of nucleoside analogues has been shown to be a sustainable and efficient alternative to chemical synthesis routes. In this study, dihalogenated nucleoside analogues were produced by thermostable nucleoside phosphorylases in transglycosylation reactions using uridine or thymidine as sugar donors. Prior to the enzymatic process, ideal maximum product yields were calculated after the determination of equilibrium constants through monitoring the equilibrium conversion in analytical-scale reactions. Equilibrium constants for dihalogenated nucleosides were comparable to known purine nucleosides, ranging between 0.071 and 0.081. To achieve 90% product yield in the enzymatic process, an approximately five-fold excess of sugar donor was needed. Nucleoside analogues were purified by semi-preparative HPLC, and yields of purified product were approximately 50% for all target compounds. To evaluate the impact of halogen atoms in positions 2 and 6 on the antiproliferative activity in leukemic cell lines, the cytotoxic potential of dihalogenated nucleoside analogues was studied in the leukemic cell line HL-60. Interestingly, the inhibition of HL-60 cells with dihalogenated nucleoside analogues was substantially lower than with monohalogenated cladribine, which is known to show high antiproliferative activity. Taken together, we demonstrate that thermodynamic calculations and small-scale experiments can be used to produce nucleoside analogues with high yields and purity on larger scales. The procedure can be used for the generation of new libraries of nucleoside analogues for screening experiments or to replace the chemical synthesis routes of marketed nucleoside drugs by enzymatic processes.
Extraction Methods Affect the Structure of Goji (Lycium barbarum) Polysaccharides
Authors: Zhou Shengyi , Rahman Atikur , Li Junhui , Wei Chaoyang , Chen Jianle , Linhardt Robert J. , Ye Xingqian , Chen Shiguo
Published: February 2020

Polysaccharides are considered to be the most important active substances in Goji. However, the structure of polysaccharides varies according to the extraction methods applied, and the solution used to prepare Goji polysaccharides (LBPs) were limited. Thus, it is important to clarify the connection between extraction methods and structure of Goji polysaccharide. In view of the complex composition of cell wall polysaccharides and the various forms of interaction, different extraction methods will release different parts of the cell wall. The present study compared the effects of different extraction methods, which have been used to prepare different types of plant cell wall polysaccharides based on various sources, on the structure of cell-wall polysaccharides from Goji, by the single separate use of hot water, hydrochloric acid (0.4%) and sodium hydroxide (0.6%), at both high and low temperatures. Meanwhile, in order to explore the limitations of single extraction, sequential extraction methods were applied. Structural analysis including monosaccharide analysis, GPC-MALLS, AFM and 1H-NMR suggested the persistence of more extensively branched rhamnogalacturonan I (RG-I) domains in the procedures involving low-temperature-alkali, while procedures prepared by high-temperature-acid contains more homogalacturonan (HG) regions and results in the removal of a substantial part of the side chain, specifically the arabinan. A kind of acidic heteropolysaccharide was obtained by hot water extraction. SEC-MALLS and AFM confirmed large-size polymers with branched morphologies in alkali-extracted polysaccharides. Our results provide new insight into the extraction of Goji polysaccharides, which differ from the hot water extraction used by traditional Chinese medicine.
Playing with Structural Parameters: Synthesis and Characterization of Two New Maltol-Based Ligands with Binding and Antineoplastic Properties
Authors: Macedi Eleonora , Paderni Daniele , Formica Mauro , Conti Luca , Fanelli Mirco , Giorgi Luca , Amatori Stefano , Ambrosi Gianluca , Valtancoli Barbara , Fusi Vieri
Published: February 2020

Two maltol-based ligands, N,N′-bis((3-hydroxy-4-pyron-2-yl)methyl)-1,4-piperazine (L1) and N,N′,N′-tris((3-hydroxy-4-pyron-2-yl)methyl)-N-methylethylendiamine (L2), were synthesized and characterized. L1 and L2, containing, respectively, two and three maltol units spaced by a diamine fragment, were designed to evaluate how biological and binding features are affected by structural modifications of the parent compound malten. The acid-base behavior and the binding properties towards transition, alkaline-earth (AE) and rare-earth (RE) cations in aqueous solution, studied by potentiometric, UV-Vis and NMR analysis, are reported along with biological studies on DNA and leukemia cells. Both ligands form stable complexes with Cu(II), Zn(II) and Co(II) that were studied as metallo-receptors for AE and RE at neutral pH. L1 complexes are more affected than L2 ones by hard cations, the L1-Cu(II) system being deeply affected by RE. The structural modifications altered the mechanism of action: L1 partially maintains the ability to induce structural alterations of DNA, while L2 provokes single strand (nicks) and to a lesser extent double strand breaks of DNA.
Zinc(II) Complexes with Amino Acids for Potential Use in Dermatology: Synthesis, Crystal Structures, and Antibacterial Activity
Authors: Abendrot Michał , Chęcińska Lilianna , Kusz Joachim , Lisowska Katarzyna , Zawadzka Katarzyna , Felczak Aleksandra , Kalinowska-Lis Urszula
Published: February 2020

The multifunctional profile of Zn2+ has influenced its great popularity in various pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic products. Despite the use of different inorganic and organic zinc derivatives, the search for new zinc-containing compounds with a safer skin profile still remains an open issue. The present paper describes the synthesis, structural characterization, and antibacterial activity of zinc(II) complexes with proteinogenic amino acids as potential candidates for dermatological treatments. The obtained complexes are of the general formula [Zn(AA)2], where AA represents an amino acid (L-Glu, Gly, L-His, L-Pro, L-Met, and L-Trp). Their synthesis was designed in such a way that the final bis(aminoacidate) zinc(II) complexes did not contain any counter-ions such as Cl−, NO3−, or SO42− that can cause some skin irritations. The chemical structure and composition of the compounds were identified by 1H NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis, and four were also characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The Hirshfeld surface analysis for the Zn2+ metallic center helped to determine its coordination number and geometry for each complex. Finally, the antibacterial properties of the complexes were determined with respect to three Gram-positive strains, viz. Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 12228, and Streptococcus pyogenes ATCC 19615, and two Gram-negative bacteria, viz. Escherichia coli ATCC 25992 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, and were compared with the activity of zinc 2-pirrolidone 5-carboxylate (ZnPCA), commonly applied in dermatology. It was found that the Zn(II) complexes with methionine and glycine exhibited a higher antibacterial activity than the tested standard, and the antimicrobial properties of complex with Trp were satisfactory. The results of the antimicrobial activity examination allow us to postulate that the obtained zinc complexes might become new active substances for use in dermatological products.
Changes Induced by Pressure Processing on Immunoreactive Proteins of Tree Nuts
Authors: Cuadrado Carmen , Sanchiz Africa , Vicente Fatima , Ballesteros Isabel , Linacero Rosario
Published: February 2020

Tree nuts confer many health benefits due to their high content of vitamins and antioxidants, and they are increasingly consumed in the last few years. Food processing is an important industrial tool to modify allergenic properties of foods, in addition to ensuring safety and enhancing organoleptic characteristics. The effect of high pressure, without and with heating, on SDS-PAGE and immunodetection profile of potential allergenic proteins (anti-11S, anti-2S and anti-LTP) of pistachio, cashew, peanut, hazelnut, almond, and chestnut was investigated. Processing based on heat and/or pressure and ultra-high pressure (HHP, 300–600 MPa) without heating was applied. After treating the six tree nuts with pressure combined with heat, a progressive diminution of proteins with potential allergenic properties was observed. Moreover, some tree nuts proteins (pistachio, cashew, and peanut) seemed to be more resistant to technological processing than others (hazelnut and chestnut). High pressure combined with heating processing markedly reduce tree nut allergenic potential as the pressure and treatment time increases. HHP do not alter hazelnut and almond immunoreactivity.
Metal Organic Frameworks: Synthesis and Application
Authors: Samanidou Victoria F. , Deliyanni Eleni A.
Published: February 2020

The concept of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) was first introduced in 1990; nowadays they are among the most promising novel materials [...]
Discovery of Antifungal and Biofilm Preventative Compounds from Mycelial Cultures of a Unique North American Hericium sp. Fungus
Authors: Song Xun , Gaascht François , Schmidt-Dannert Claudia , Salomon Christine E.
Published: February 2020

Edible mushrooms are an important source of nutraceuticals and for the discovery of bioactive metabolites as pharmaceuticals. In this work, the OSMAC (One Strain, Many Active Compounds) approach was used to isolate two new compounds (1 and 2) along with seven known compounds (3–9) from a mycelial culture of a unique North American edible mushroom Hericium sp. The fruiting body was collected in Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota (USA), and mycelial cultures were grown on four different solid and liquid media. Extracts from the mycelial cultures were screened for antimicrobial activity and only the extract from the Cheerios substrate culture exhibited antifungal activity. Bioassay guided fractionation and HPLC analysis were used to isolate nine pure compounds and the structures of the known compounds were established by analysis of the NMR and mass spectrometry data and comparison to published reports. Compound 1 is a new erinacerin alkaloid and 2 is an aldehyde derivative of 4-hydroxy chroman. Four chlorinated orcinol derivatives (3–6), a pyran (7), erinaceolactone (8), and erinacine (9) were identified. Compound 4 showed antifungal activity against C. albicans and C. neoformans (MIC = 31.3–62.5 μg/mL, respectively). Compound 4 also inhibited biofilm formation of C. albicans and C. neoformans at 7.8 μg/mL. These results suggest that mycelial cultures of edible fungi may provide useful, bioactive compounds.
Novel Chaperones RrGroEL and RrGroES for Activity and Stability Enhancement of Nitrilase in Escherichia coli and Rhodococcus ruber
Authors: Xu Chunmeng , Tang Lingjun , Liang Youxiang , Jiao Song , Yu Huimin , Luo Hui
Published: February 2020

For large-scale bioproduction, thermal stability is a crucial property for most industrial enzymes. A new method to improve both the thermal stability and activity of enzymes is of great significance. In this work, the novel chaperones RrGroEL and RrGroES from Rhodococcus ruber, a nontypical actinomycete with high organic solvent tolerance, were evaluated and applied for thermal stability and activity enhancement of a model enzyme, nitrilase. Two expression strategies, namely, fusion expression and co-expression, were compared in two different hosts, E. coli and R. ruber. In the E. coli host, fusion expression of nitrilase with either RrGroES or RrGroEL significantly enhanced nitrilase thermal stability (4.8-fold and 10.6-fold, respectively) but at the expense of enzyme activity (32–47% reduction). The co-expression strategy was applied in R. ruber via either a plasmid-only or genome-plus-plasmid method. Through integration of the nitrilase gene into the R. ruber genome at the site of nitrile hydratase (NHase) gene via CRISPR/Cas9 technology and overexpression of RrGroES or RrGroEL with a plasmid, the engineered strains R. ruber TH3 dNHase::RrNit (pNV18.1-Pami-RrNit-Pami-RrGroES) and TH3 dNHase::RrNit (pNV18.1-Pami-RrNit-Pami-RrGroEL) were constructed and showed remarkably enhanced nitrilase activity and thermal stability. In particular, the RrGroEL and nitrilase co-expressing mutant showed the best performance, with nitrilase activity and thermal stability 1.3- and 8.4-fold greater than that of the control TH3 (pNV18.1-Pami-RrNit), respectively. These findings are of great value for production of diverse chemicals using free bacterial cells as biocatalysts.
Perceptions and Misconceptions in Molecular Recognition: Key Factors in Self-Assembling Multivalent (SAMul) Ligands/Polyanions Selectivity
Authors: Marson Domenico , Laurini Erik , Aulic Suzana , Fermeglia Maurizio , Pricl Sabrina
Published: February 2020

Biology is dominated by polyanions (cell membranes, nucleic acids, and polysaccharides just to name a few), and achieving selective recognition between biological polyanions and synthetic systems currently constitutes a major challenge in many biomedical applications, nanovectors-assisted gene delivery being a prime example. This review work summarizes some of our recent efforts in this field; in particular, by using a combined experimental/computation approach, we investigated in detail some critical aspects in self-assembled nanomicelles and two major polyanions—DNA and heparin.
Study on Cecropin B2 Production via Construct Bearing Intein Oligopeptide Cleavage Variants
Authors: Fang Yi-Ting , Li Si-Yu , Hu Nien-Jen , Yang Jie , Liu Jyung-Hurng , Liu Yung-Chuan
Published: February 2020

In this study, genetic engineering was applied to the overexpression of the antimicrobial peptide (AMP) cecropin B2 (cecB2). pTWIN1 vector with a chitin-binding domain (CBD) and an auto-cleavage Ssp DnaB intein (INT) was coupled to the cecB2 to form a fusion protein construct and expressed via Escherichia coli ER2566. The cecB2 was obtained via the INT cleavage reaction, which was highly related to its adjacent amino acids. Three oligopeptide cleavage variants (OCVs), i.e., GRA, CRA, and SRA, were used as the inserts located at the C-terminus of the INT to facilitate the cleavage reaction. SRA showed the most efficient performance in accelerating the INT self-cleavage reaction. In addition, in order to treat the INT as a biocatalyst, a first-order rate equation was applied to fit the INT cleavage reaction. A possible inference was proposed for the INT cleavage promotion with varied OCVs using a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The production and purification via the CBD-INT-SRA-cecB2 fusion protein resulted in a cecB2 yield of 58.7 mg/L with antimicrobial activity.
Micro- and Macro-Scale Measurement of Flow Velocity in Porous Media: A Shadow Imaging Approach for 2D and 3D
Authors: Sabbagh Reza , Kazemi Mohammad Amin , Soltani Hirad , Nobes David S.
Published: February 2020

Flow measurement in porous media is a challenging subject, especially when it comes to performing a three-dimensional (3D) velocimetry at the micro scale. Volumetric flow measurement techniques such as defocusing and tomographic imaging generally involve rigorous procedures, complex experimental setups, and multi-part data processing procedures. However, detailed knowledge of the flow pattern at the pore and subpore scales is important in interpreting the phenomena that occur inside the porous media and understanding the macro-scale behaviors. In this work, the flow of an oil inside a porous medium is measured at the pore and subpore scales using refractive index matching (RIM) and shadowgraph imaging techniques. At the macro scale, flow is measured using the particle image velocimetry (PIV) method in two dimensions (2D) to confirm the volumetric nature of the flow and obtain the overall flow pattern in the vicinity of the flow entrance and at the far field. At the micro scale, the three-dimensional (3D) flow within an arbitrary volume of the porous medium was quantified using 2D particle-tracking velocimetry (PTV) utilizing the law of conservation of mass. Using the shadowgraphy method and a single camera makes the flow measurement much less complex than the approaches using laser light sheets or multiple cameras with multiple viewing angles.
Method for Pulmonary Administration Using Negative Pressure Generated by Inspiration in Mice
Authors: Oiso Yuki , Akita Tomomi , Kato Daiki , Yamashita Chikamasa
Published: February 2020

When developing inhaled medicines for respiratory diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, drugs need to be administered by pulmonary delivery to animals in non-clinical tests. Common methods require application of pressure during administration, and it may cause lung injury, so we focused on the inhalation of liquid medicines by mice themselves. This study aimed to evaluate a negative pressure method of pulmonary administration in mice by self-inhalation. First, to confirm the accuracy of delivery of liquid medicines into lungs and the potential for lung injury, Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice received methylene blue tetrahydrate or saline by the negative pressure method. We assessed drug distribution and usefulness of this method by administering porcine pancreatic elastase and all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) to mice. Consequently, we confirmed good distribution of the dye and no injury such as disruption of blood flow or destruction of alveoli in lungs of mice. Following production of the murine emphysema model, the mean linear intercept (Lm) was calculated as 78 ± 4 μm. Moreover, a significant therapeutic effect of administration of the ATRA was confirmed. These results suggest that this negative pressure method of administration may be useful for pulmonary administration in non-clinical tests.
Structural Optimization of Alkylbenzenes as Graphene Dispersants
Authors: Takeda Shimpei , Nishina Yuta
Published: February 2020

Among the several methods of producing graphene, the liquid-phase exfoliation of graphite is attractive because of a simple and easy procedure, being expected for mass production. The dispersibility of graphene can be improved by adding a dispersant molecule that interacts with graphene, but the appropriate molecular design has not been proposed. In this study, we focused on aromatic compounds with alkyl chains as dispersing agents. We synthesized a series of alkyl aromatic compounds and evaluated their performance as a dispersant for graphene. The results suggest that the alkyl chain length and solubility in the solvent play a vital role in graphene dispersion.
Hybrid Drying of Murraya koenigii Leaves: Energy Consumption, Antioxidant Capacity, Profiling of Volatile Compounds and Quality Studies
Authors: Choo Choong Oon , Chua Bee Lin , Figiel Adam , Jałoszyński Klaudiusz , Wojdyło Aneta , Szumny Antoni , Łyczko Jacek , Chong Chien Hwa
Published: February 2020

This study aims to reduce the amount of specific energy consumed during the drying of fresh Murraya koenigii leaves by comparing four drying methods: (1) convective hot-air drying (CD; 40, 50 and 60 °C); (2) single-stage microwave-vacuum drying (MVD; 6, 9 and 12 W/g); (3) two-stage convective hot-air pre-drying followed by microwave-vacuum finishing–drying (CPD-MVFD; 50 °C, 9 W/g); and (4) freeze-drying as a control in the analysis sections. The drying kinetics were also modelled using thin-layer models. The quality parameters of dried M. koenigii leaves were measured including total polyphenolic content (TPC), antioxidant capacity (ABTS and FRAP), profiling of volatile compounds, colour analysis and water activity analysis. Results showed that CPD-MVFD effectively reduced the specific energy consumption of CD at 50 °C by 67.3% in terms of kilojoules per gram of fresh weight and 48.9% in terms of kilojoules per gram of water. The modified Page model demonstrated excellent fitting to the empirical data obtained. FD showed promising antioxidant activity. The major contributor of antioxidant capacity was TPC. The volatile compounds profiled by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, namely, β-phellandrene (31%), α-pinene (19.9%), and sabinene (16%) were identified as the major compounds of dried M. koenigii leaves. Colour analysis showed MVD’s high performance in preserving the colour parameters of M. koenigii leaves under all conditions. The colour parameters were correlated to the antioxidant capacity and TPC. Water activity analysis showed that the water activity of M. koenigii leaves for all drying methods indicating that the conditions were microbiologically and shelf-stable. Pearson correlation showed the colour parameters of the leaves had a strong correlation to TPC. Overall, MVD showed promising energy consumption reduction and recovery in TPC and volatile compounds.
Isolated Taylor Bubbles in Co-Current with Shear Thinning CMC Solutions in Microchannels—A Numerical Study
Authors: Moreira Ana I. , Rocha Luís A. M. , Carneiro João , Araújo José D. P. , Campos João B. L. M. , Miranda João M.
Published: February 2020

Slug flow is a multiphase flow pattern characterized by the occurrence of long gas bubbles (Taylor bubbles) separated by liquid slugs. This multiphase flow regime is present in many and diversified natural and industrial processes, at macro and microscales, such as in eruption of volcanic magmas, oil recovery from pre-salt regions, micro heat exchangers, and small-sized refrigerating systems. Previous studies in the literature have been mostly focused on tubular gas bubbles flowing in Newtonian liquids. In this work, results from several numerical simulations of tubular gas bubbles flowing in a shear thinning liquid in microchannels are reported. To simulate the shear thinning behavior, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) solutions with different concentrations were considered. The results are compared with data from bubbles flowing in Newtonian liquids in identical geometric and dynamic conditions. The numerical work was carried out in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package Ansys Fluent (release 16.2.0) employing the volume of fluid (VOF) methodology to track the volume fraction of each phase and the continuum surface force (CSF) model to insert the surface tension effects. The flow patterns, the viscosity distribution in the liquid, the liquid film thickness between the bubble and the wall, and the bubbles shape are analyzed for a wide range of shear rates. In general, the flow patterns are similar to those in Newtonian liquids, but in the film, where a high viscosity region is observed, the thickness is smaller. Bubble velocities are smaller for the non-Newtonian cases.
Synthesis and Characterization of New Schiff Base/Thiol-Functionalized Mesoporous Silica: An Efficient Sorbent for the Removal of Pb(II) from Aqueous Solutions
Authors: Ahmed Moawia O. , Shrpip Ameen , Mansoor Muhammad
Published: February 2020

A new type of silica hybrid material functionalized with Schiff base-propyl-thiol and propyl-thiol groups (adsorbents 1 and 2, respectively) was synthesized using a co-condensation method. The synthesized materials and their starting materials were successfully characterized using a variety of techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area calculation method, the Barrett, Joyner, and Halenda (BJH) pore size calculation method, thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), and 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra. The results indicate that the new material (adsorbent 1) has a large surface and possesses different functional groups (-SH, -OH, -C=O and –N=C). The newly synthesized hybrid materials (1 and 2) were investigated as potential adsorbents for removal of toxic heavy metals, such as Pb(II) from aqueous solutions. The adsorption results show that materials 1 and 2 have different sorption properties and were found to be effective adsorbents for Pb(II) removal from aqueous solutions. In addition, compound 1 exhibited a higher adsorption capacity for Pb(II) compared to compound 2. The results showed that the optimum pH for Pb(II) sorption was 6.5. Contact time was observed to occur after 30 min for 25 mg L−1 Pb(II) concentration and adsorbent dose of 0.4 g L−1 at 25 °C.
Application of a Liquid Biphasic Flotation (LBF) System for Protein Extraction from Persiscaria Tenulla Leaf
Authors: Saw Hui Shi , Sankaran Revathy , Khoo Kuan Shiong , Chew Kit Wayne , Phong Win Nee , Tang Malcolm S.Y. , Lim Siew Shee , Mohd Zaid Hayyiratul Fatimah , Naushad Mu. , Show Pau Loke
Published: February 2020

Persiscaria tenulla, commonly known as Polygonum, is a plant belonging to the family Polygonaceae, which originated from and is widely found in Southeast Asia countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The leaf of the plant is believed to have active ingredients that are responsible for therapeutic effects. In order to take full advantage of a natural medicinal plant for the application in the pharmaceutical and food industries, extraction and separation techniques are essential. In this study, an emerging and rapid extraction approach known as liquid biphasic flotation (LBF) is proposed for the extraction of protein from Persiscaria tenulla leaves. The scope of this study is to establish an efficient, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective technology for the extraction of protein from therapeutic leaves. Based on the ideal conditions of the small LBF system, a 98.36% protein recovery yield and a 79.12% separation efficiency were achieved. The upscaling study of this system exhibited the reliability of this technology for large-scale applications with a protein recovery yield of 99.44% and a separation efficiency of 93.28%. This technology demonstrated a simple approach with an effective protein recovery yield and separation that can be applied for the extraction of bioactive compounds from various medicinal-value plants.
Landslides Information Extraction Using Object-Oriented Image Analysis Paradigm Based on Deep Learning and Transfer Learning
Authors: Lu Heng , Ma Lei , Fu Xiao , Liu Chao , Wang Zhi , Tang Min , Li Naiwen
Published: February 2020

How to acquire landslide disaster information quickly and accurately has become the focus and difficulty of disaster prevention and relief by remote sensing. Landslide disasters are generally featured by sudden occurrence, proposing high demand for emergency data acquisition. The low-altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) remote sensing technology is widely applied to acquire landslide disaster data, due to its convenience, high efficiency, and ability to fly at low altitude under cloud. However, the spectrum information of UAV images is generally deficient and manual interpretation is difficult for meeting the need of quick acquisition of emergency data. Based on this, UAV images of high-occurrence areas of landslide disaster in Wenchuan County and Baoxing County in Sichuan Province, China were selected for research in the paper. Firstly, the acquired UAV images were pre-processed to generate orthoimages. Subsequently, multi-resolution segmentation was carried out to obtain image objects, and the barycenter of each object was calculated to generate a landslide sample database (including positive and negative samples) for deep learning. Next, four landslide feature models of deep learning and transfer learning, namely Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG), Bag of Visual Word (BOVW), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), and Transfer Learning (TL) were compared, and it was found that the TL model possesses the best feature extraction effect, so a landslide extraction method based on the TL model and object-oriented image analysis (TLOEL) was proposed; finally, the TLOEL method was compared with the object-oriented nearest neighbor classification (NNC) method. The research results show that the accuracy of the TLOEL method is higher than the NNC method, which can not only achieve the edge extraction of large landslides, but also detect and extract middle and small landslides accurately that are scatteredly distributed.
Irregular Tessellation and Statistical Modeling Based Regionalized Segmentation for SAR Intensity Image
Authors: Zhao Quanhua , Zhang Hongyun , Wang Guanghui , Li Yu
Published: February 2020

This paper presents a regionalized segmentation method for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) intensity images based on tessellation with irregular polygons. In the proposed method, the image domain is partitioned into a collection of irregular polygons, which are constructed using sets of nodes and are used to fit homogeneous regions with arbitrary shapes. Each partitioned polygon is taken as the basic processing unit. Assuming the intensities of the pixels in the polygon follow an independent and identical gamma distribution, the likelihood of the image intensities is modeled. After defining the prior distributions of the tessellation and the parameters for the likelihood model, a posterior probability model can be built based on the Bayes theorem as a segmentation model. To obtain optimal segmentation, a reversible-jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC) algorithm is designed to simulate from the segmentation model, where the move operations include updating the gamma distribution parameter, updating labels, moving nodes, merging polygons, splitting polygons, adding nodes, and deleting nodes. Experiments were carried out on synthetic and real SAR intensity images using the proposed method while the regular and Voronoi tessellation-based methods were also preformed for comparison. Our results show the proposed method overcomes some intrinsic limitations of current segmentation methods and is able to generate good results for homogeneous regions with different shapes.
Estimation of Hourly Sea Surface Salinity in the East China Sea Using Geostationary Ocean Color Imager Measurements
Authors: Kim Dae-Won , Park Young-Je , Jeong Jin-Yong , Jo Young-Heon
Published: February 2020

Sea surface salinity (SSS) is an important tracer for monitoring the Changjiang Diluted Water (CDW) extension into Korean coastal regions; however, observing the SSS distribution in near real time is a difficult task. In this study, SSS detection algorithm was developed based on the ocean color measurements by Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) in high spatial and temporal resolution using multilayer perceptron neural network (MPNN). Among the various combinations of input parameters, combinations with three to six bands of GOCI remote sensing reflectance (Rrs), sea surface temperature (SST), longitude, and latitude were most appropriate for estimating the SSS. According to model validations with the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and Ieodo Ocean Research Station (I-ORS) SSS measurements, the coefficient of determination (R2) were 0.81 and 0.92 and the root mean square errors (RMSEs) were 1.30 psu and 0.30 psu, respectively. In addition, a sensitivity analysis revealed the importance of SST and the red-wavelength spectral signal for estimating the SSS. Finally, hourly estimated SSS images were used to illustrate the hourly CDW distribution. With the model developed in this study, the near real-time SSS distribution in the East China Sea (ECS) can be monitored using GOCI and SST data.
Secure State Estimation for Motion Monitoring of Intelligent Connected Vehicle Systems
Authors: Song Xiulan , Lou Xiaoxin , Zhu Junwei , He Defeng
Published: February 2020

This paper considers the state estimation problem of intelligent connected vehicle systems under the false data injection attack in wireless monitoring networks. We propose a new secure state estimation method to reconstruct the motion states of the connected vehicles equipped with cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) systems. First, the set of CACC models combined with Proportion-Differentiation (PD) controllers are used to represent the longitudinal dynamics of the intelligent connected vehicle systems. Then the notion of sparseness is employed to model the false data injection attack of the wireless networks of the monitoring platform. According to the corrupted data of the vehicles’ states, the compressed sensing principle is used to describe the secure state estimation problem of the connected vehicles. Moreover, the L1 norm optimization problem is solved to reconstruct the motion states of the vehicles based on the orthogonaldecomposition. Finally, the simulation experiments verify that the proposed method can effectively reconstruct the motion states of vehicles for remote monitoring of the intelligent connected vehicle system.
Vehicle Trajectory Prediction Method Based on License Plate Information Obtained from Video-Imaging Detectors in Urban Road Environment
Authors: Zhang Zheng , Liu Haiqing , Rai Laxmisha , Zhang Siyi
Published: February 2020

The vehicle license plate data obtained from video-imaging detectors contains a huge volume of information of vehicle trip rules and driving behavior characteristics. In this paper, a real-time vehicle trajectory prediction method is proposed based on historical trip rules extracted from vehicle license plate data in an urban road environment. Using the driving status information at intersections, the vehicle trip chain is acquired on the basis of the topologic graph of the road network and channelization of intersections. In order to obtain an integral and continuous trip chain in cases where data is missing in the original vehicle license plate, a trip chain compensation method based on the Dijkstra algorithm is presented. Moreover, the turning state transition matrix which is used to describe the turning probability of a vehicle when it passes a certain intersection is calculated by a massive volume of historical trip chain data. Finally, a k-step vehicle trajectory prediction model is proposed to obtain the maximum possibility of downstream intersections. The overall method is thoroughly tested and demonstrated in a realistic road traffic scenario with actual vehicle license plate data. The results show that vehicles can reach an average accuracy of 0.72 for one-step prediction when there are only 200 historical training data samples. The proposed method presents significant performance in trajectory prediction.
Special Issue on Symmetry and Fluid Mechanics
Authors: Ellahi Rahmat
Published: February 2020

This Special Issue invited researchers to contribute their original research work and review articles on “Symmetry and Fluid Mechanics” that either advances the state-of-the-art mathematical methods through theoretical or experimental studies or extends the bounds of existing methodologies with new contributions related to the symmetry, asymmetry, and lie symmetries of differential equations proposed as mathematical models in fluid mechanics, thereby addressing current challenges. In response to the call for papers, a total of 42 papers were submitted for possible publication. After comprehensive peer review, only 25 papers qualified for acceptance for final publication. The rest of the papers could not be accommodated. The submissions may have been technically correct but were not considered appropriate for the scope of this Special Issue. The authors are from geographically distributed countries such as the USA, Australia, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, UAE, South Africa, and Vietnam. This reflects the great impact of the proposed topic and the effective organization of the guest editorial team of this Special Issue.
A Privacy Preserving Authentication Scheme for Roaming in IoT-Based Wireless Mobile Networks
Authors: Alzahrani Bander A. , Chaudhry Shehzad Ashraf , Barnawi Ahmed , Al-Barakati Abdullah , Alsharif Mohammed H.
Published: February 2020

The roaming service enables a remote user to get desired services, while roaming in a foreign network through the help of his home network. The authentication is a pre-requisite for secure communication between a foreign network and the roaming user, which enables the user to share a secret key with foreign network for subsequent private communication of data. Sharing a secret key is a tedious task due to underneath open and insecure channel. Recently, a number of such schemes have been proposed to provide authentication between roaming user and the foreign networks. Very recently, Lu et al. claimed that the seminal Gopi-Hwang scheme fails to resist a session-specific temporary information leakage attack. Lu et al. then proposed an improved scheme based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) for roaming user. However, contrary to their claim, the paper provides an in-depth cryptanalysis of Lu et al.’s scheme to show the weaknesses of their scheme against Stolen Verifier and Traceability attacks. Moreover, the analysis also affirms that the scheme of Lu et al. entails incorrect login and authentication phases and is prone to scalability issues. An improved scheme is then proposed. The scheme not only overcomes the weaknesses Lu et al.’s scheme but also incurs low computation time. The security of the scheme is analyzed through formal and informal methods; moreover, the automated tool ProVerif also verifies the security features claimed by the proposed scheme.
Using Neighborhood Rough Set Theory to Address the Smart Elderly Care in Multi-Level Attributes
Authors: Zhou Jining , Zhang Bo , Tan Runhua , Tseng Ming-Lang , Lin Remen Chun-Wei , Lim Ming K.
Published: February 2020

The neighborhood rough set theory was adopted for attributes reduction and the weight distribution of condition attributes based on the concept of importance level. Smart elderly care coverage rate is low in China. A decisive role in the adoption of smart elderly care is still a problem that needs to be addressed. This study contributes to the adoption of smart elderly care was selected as the decision attribute. The remaining attributes are used as conditional attributes and the multi-level symmetric attribute set for assessing acceptance of smart elderly care. Prior studies are not included smart elderly care adoption attributes in multi-levels; hence, this problem needs to be addressed. The results of this study indicate that the condition attribute of gender has the greatest influence on the decision attribute. The condition attribute of living expenses for smart elderly care has the second largest impact on decision attribute. Children’s support for the elderly decency of the novel elderly care system and the acceptance of non-traditional elderly care methods belong to the primary condition attribute of traditional concept. The result indicates traditional concepts have a certain impact on the adoption of smart elderly care and a condition attribute of residence also has a slight influence on the symmetric decision attribute. The sensitivity analysis shows the insights for uncertainties and provides as a basis for the analysis of the attributes in the smart elderly care service adoption.
Disdrometer Performance Optimization for Use in Urban Settings Based on the Parameters that Affect the Measurements
Authors: Mocholí Belenguer Ferran , Martínez-Millana Antonio , Mocholí Salcedo Antonio , Milián Sánchez Víctor , Josefa Palomo Anaya María
Published: February 2020

There are currently different types of commercial optical disdrometers to measure the rainfall intensity, of which many are commonly used for monitoring road conditions. Having information about the amount of rain, the composition of the precipitation particles and visibility are essential to avoid accidents, which requires intelligent systems that warn drivers and redirect traffic. However, few studies related to Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) have been performed regarding why these devices are not optimized for this type of applications. Therefore, this paper analyzes and evaluates the operating mode of these equipment through their theoretical model, which will allow the design of prototypes of disdrometers with different characteristics. In addition, this model will be implemented in a simulation program, through which an exhaustive study analyzing how the type of precipitation and its intensity affect the measures provided by the model will be conducted. In this way, the results will help optimize its operation to be thus used in urban settings, which will allow obtaining more accurate real-time information, better traffic management, and a reduction in the number of accidents.
An Efficient Algorithm for Eigenvalue Problem of Latin Squares in a Bipartite Min-Max-Plus System
Authors: Umer Mubasher , Hayat Umar , Abbas Fazal , Agarwal Anurag , Kitanov Petko
Published: February 2020

In this paper, we consider the eigenproblems for Latin squares in a bipartite min-max-plus system. The focus is upon developing a new algorithm to compute the eigenvalue and eigenvectors (trivial and non-trivial) for Latin squares in a bipartite min-max-plus system. We illustrate the algorithm using some examples. The proposed algorithm is implemented in MATLAB, using max-plus algebra toolbox. Computationally speaking, our algorithm has a clear advantage over the power algorithm presented by Subiono and van der Woude. Because our algorithm takes 0 . 088783 sec to solve the eigenvalue problem for Latin square presented in Example 2, while the compared one takes 1 . 718662 sec for the same problem. Furthermore, a time complexity comparison is presented, which reveals that the proposed algorithm is less time consuming when compared with some of the existing algorithms.
Transverse Kähler–Ricci Solitons of Five-Dimensional Sasaki–Einstein Spaces Yp,q and T1,1
Authors: Visinescu Mihai
Published: February 2020

We investigate the deformations of the Sasaki–Einstein structures of the five-dimensional spaces T 1 , 1 and Y p , q by exploiting the transverse structure of the Sasaki manifolds. We consider local deformations of the Sasaki structures preserving the Reeb vector fields but modify the contact forms. In this class of deformations, we analyze the transverse Kähler–Ricci flow equations. We produce some particular explicit solutions representing families of new Sasakian structures.
The Contribution of Wastewater to the Transmission of Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment: Implications of Mass Gathering Settings
Authors: Fouz Nour , Pangesti Krisna N. A. , Yasir Muhammad , Al-Malki Abdulrahman L. , Azhar Esam I. , Hill-Cawthorne Grant A. , Abd El Ghany Moataz
Published: February 2020

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the major issue posing a serious global health threat. Low- and middle-income countries are likely to be the most affected, both in terms of impact on public health and economic burden. Recent studies highlighted the role of resistance networks on the transmission of AMR organisms, with this network being driven by complex interactions between clinical (e.g., human health, animal husbandry and veterinary medicine) and other components, including environmental factors (e.g., persistence of AMR in wastewater). Many studies have highlighted the role of wastewater as a significant environmental reservoir of AMR as it represents an ideal environment for AMR bacteria (ARB) and antimicrobial resistant genes (ARGs) to persist. Although the treatment process can help in removing or reducing the ARB load, it has limited impact on ARGs. ARGs are not degradable; therefore, they can be spread among microbial communities in the environment through horizontal gene transfer, which is the main resistance mechanism in most Gram-negative bacteria. Here we analysed the recent literature to highlight the contribution of wastewater to the emergence, persistence and transmission of AMR under different settings, particularly those associated with mass gathering events (e.g., Hajj and Kumbh Mela).