Mapping of Malus domestica allergens by 2-D electrophoresis and IgE-reactivity

The importance of apple allergens has been repeatedly emphasized, and their presence has been confirmed both in pollen and in fruits. In the present study, a combination of proteomic tools have been used to build a complete allergen map of apple. The water-soluble fraction of an apple extract was precipitated using a phenol-based procedure and separated by 2-DE. Initially four previously classified allergens, Mal d 1, Mal d 2, Mal d 3 and Mal d 4, could be identified in Western blots with polyclonal rabbit antibodies directed to the four respective allergens, and subsequently matched to the bands recognized by several patient sera. Further, all four known apple allergens were localized on a 2-DE map and they were matched with spots recognized by sera of patients with different allergic patterns. Moreover, a new, putative allergen could be identified using MS. We evaluated the influence of post-translational modifications and the immunoreactivity under different analytical conditions. The comparison of different visualization methods for 2-DE gels and blots revealed that even very low concentrations of the intact epitopes are detectable by IgEs of patients, and therefore might be sufficient to trigger allergic symptoms in sensitized individuals.     

Laminar flow and heat transfer of water/NDG nanofluid on tube banks with rhombic cross section with different longitudinal arrangements

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - With respect to the importance of a multiphase flow behaviour in a microchannel, this study is focused on developing a numerical modelling of two-phase...     

Rationalized Haar approach for nonlinear constrained optimal control problems

This paper presents a numerical method for solving nonlinear optimal control problems including state and control inequality constraints. The method is based upon rationalized Haar functions. The differential and integral expressions which arise in the system dynamics, the performance index and the boundary conditions are converted into some algebraic equations which can be solved for the unknown coefficients. Illustrative examples are included to demonstrate the validity and applicability of the technique.     

Results on Varextropy Measure of Random Variables

In 2015, Lad, Sanfilippo and Agrò proposed an alternative measure of uncertainty dual to the entropy known as extropy. This paper provides some results on a dispersion measure of extropy of random variables which is called varextropy and studies several properties of this concept. Especially, the varextropy measure of residual and past lifetimes, order statistics, record values and proportional hazard rate models are discussed. Moreover, the conditional varextropy is considered and some properties of this measure are studied. Finally, a new stochastic comparison method, named varextropy ordering, is introduced and some of its properties are presented.     

A Mild and Chemoselective Dithioacetalization of Aldehydes in the Presence of Anhydrous Copper (II) Sulfate

Various aldehydes have been protected with different thiols as dithioacetals with excellent yields using anhydrous copper sulfate as a mild and chemoselective catalyst. The reaction is carried out in a solvent and/or under solvent-free conditions. The transthioacetalization of oxyacetals into dithioacetals was also achieved in an excellent yield.     

A composite Chebyshev finite difference method for nonlinear optimal control problems

In this paper, a composite Chebyshev finite difference method is introduced and is successfully employed for solving nonlinear optimal control problems. The proposed method is an extension of the Chebyshev finite difference scheme. This method can be regarded as a non-uniform finite difference scheme and is based on a hybrid of block-pulse functions and Chebyshev polynomials using the well-known Chebyshev–Gauss–Lobatto points. The convergence of the method is established. The nice properties of hybrid functions are then used to convert the nonlinear optimal control problem into a nonlinear mathematical programming one that can be solved efficiently by a globally convergent algorithm. The validity and applicability of the proposed method are demonstrated through some numerical examples. The method is simple, easy to implement and yields very accurate results.     

功能梯度压电圆柱体的旋转分析及其应用——内压和热荷载作用下的力学传感器

对旋转的功能梯度压电(FGP)圆柱体,进行了精确的热弹性分析．圆柱体同时承受电、热和力学荷载的作用,这是一个旋转传感器或者调节器的简化模型．应用能量法得到系统的控制微分方程．为了正确地评估能量函数,引进了一个被称为“附加能量”的新项．在两种边界条件下:自由旋转的圆柱体和受内压作用的圆柱体,求解所得到的控制方程．研究角速度对各个物理量沿半径分布的影响．所研究的结构也可以认为是,在压力及热荷载作用下,测量圆柱体角速度的一个传感器．结果表明,电势与角速度成正比例关系．     

Robust synchronization of Rossler systems with mismatched time-varying parameters

This paper presents robust synchronization algorithms for the Rossler systems in the presence of unknown time-varying parameters. First, an adaptive synchronization algorithm based on the Lyapunov theory is introduced for identical Rossler systems with mismatched uncertainties. This method does not require a priori information regarding the bound of uncertainties. In addition, this technique is such that the states of the synchronization error system are uniformly ultimately bounded. Since in practice the parameters of the drive and response systems are not necessarily the same, two synchronization approaches are used for the drive and response systems with different parameters. In the first approach, a simple controller is designed for the nominal error system, as if there is no uncertainty in the system. The stability analysis is then investigated as the uncertainties are reintroduced, and it is shown that the size of the uncertainties directly affects the synchronization performance. To deal with this problem, an H _∞ controller is designed in which the effects of unknown bounded uncertainties can be attenuated at an appropriate level. It is shown that, using these two approaches, the Rossler systems can be synchronized effectively and the synchronization error is uniformly ultimately bounded. Numerical simulations confirm the effectiveness of the proposed methods.     

Flow force augmented 3D suspended polymeric microfluidic (SPMF3) platform

Detection and study of bioelements using microfluidic systems has been of great interest in the biodiagnostics field. Microcantilevers are the most used systems in biodetection due to their implementation simplicity which have been used for a wide variety of applications ranging from cellular to molecular diagnosis. However, increasing further the sensitivity of the microcantilever systems have a great effect on the cantilever based sensing for chemical and bio applications. In order to improve further the performance of microcantilevers, a flow force augmented 3D suspended microchannel is proposed using which microparticles can be conveyed through a microchannel inside the microcantilever to the detection area. This innovative microchannel design addresses the low sensitivity issue by increasing its sensitivity up to 5 times than the earlier reported similar microsystems. Moreover, fabricating this microsystem out of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) would eliminate external exciter dependency in many detection applications such as biodiagnostics. In this study, the designed microsystem has been analyzed theoretically, simulated and tested. Moreover, the microsystem has been fabricated and tested under different conditions, the results of which have been compared with simulation results. Finally, its innovative fabrication process and issues are reported and discussed.