Effect of Evolutionary Adaption on Xylosidase Activity in Thermotolerant Yeast Isolates <Emphasis Type="Italic">Kluyveromyces marxianus</Emphasis> NIRE-K1 and NIRE-K3

Efficient use of xylose along with glucose is necessary for the economic production of lignocellulosic based biofuels. Xylose transporters play an important role in the microorganisms for efficient utilization of xylose. In the present study, a novel method has been developed for a rapid assay of xylose transport activity in the xylose-utilizing isolates and other known yeasts. An assay was conducted to compare the activity of β-xylosidase using p-nitrophenyl-β-d-xylopyranoside (pNPX) in the intact, intracellular, and extracellular yeasts cells showing xylose transporter. Saccharomyces cerevisiae (MTCC 170) showed no xylosidase activity, while little growth was observed in the xylose-containing medium. Although other yeasts, i.e., Kluyveromyces marxianus NIRE-K1 (MTCC 5933), K. marxianus NIRE-K3 (MTCC 5934), and Candida tropicalis (MTCC 230), showed xylosidase activity in intact, intracellular, and extracellular culture. The xylosidase activity in intact cell was higher than that of extracellular and intracellular activity in all the yeast cells. The enzyme activity was higher in case of K. marxianus NIRE-K1 and K. marxianus NIRE-K3 rather than the C. tropicalis. Further, better xylosidase activity was observed in adapted K. marxianus cells which were 2.79–28.46 % higher than that of native (non-adapted) strains, which indicates the significant improvement in xylose transportation.     

Thermal weight functions for bi-material interface crack system using energy principles

In this study, Betti’s reciprocal theorem and the principle of superposition are used to obtain weight functions in a two-dimensional bi-material interface crack system for any loading, in general and thermal loading, in particular. It is shown that the general expression of weight functions for bi-materials interface crack problems is of the same type as that found in a homogeneous mixed mode loading case. Furthermore, a computational approach has been developed for calculation of thermal stress intensity factors for bi-material interface cracks subjected to thermal loading under quasi-static uncoupled thermo-elasticity assumption. The thermal weight function (TWF) expression and computational scheme have been validated using three examples given in the available literature.     

A novel content-based active contour model for brain tumor segmentation

Brain tumor segmentation is a crucial step in surgical and treatment planning. Intensity-based active contour models such as gradient vector flow (GVF), magneto static active contour (MAC) and fluid vector flow (FVF) have been proposed to segment homogeneous objects/tumors in medical images. In this study, extensive experiments are done to analyze the performance of intensity-based techniques for homogeneous tumors on brain magnetic resonance (MR) images. The analysis shows that the state-of-art methods fail to segment homogeneous tumors against similar background or when these tumors show partial diversity toward the background. They also have preconvergence problem in case of false edges/saddle points. However, the presence of weak edges and diffused edges (due to edema around the tumor) leads to oversegmentation by intensity-based techniques. Therefore, the proposed method content-based active contour (CBAC) uses both intensity and texture information present within the active contour to overcome above-stated problems capturing large range in an image. It also proposes a novel use of Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix to define texture space for tumor segmentation. The effectiveness of this method is tested on two different real data sets (55 patients - more than 600 images) containing five different types of homogeneous, heterogeneous, diffused tumors and synthetic images (non-MR benchmark images). Remarkable results are obtained in segmenting homogeneous tumors of uniform intensity, complex content heterogeneous, diffused tumors on MR images (T1-weighted, postcontrast T1-weighted and T2-weighted) and synthetic images (non-MR benchmark images of varying intensity, texture, noise content and false edges). Further, tumor volume is efficiently extracted from 2-dimensional slices and is named as 2.5-dimensional segmentation.     

A facile access to chalcogen and dichalcogen bearing dialkylamines and diols

A highly practical procedure for the preparation of novel classes of chalcogen bearing diamines [{H₂N(CH₂)_n}₂E] and diols [{HO(CH₂)_n}₂E] (n = 2 or 3 and E = Se or Te) by the reaction of disodiumchalcogenide and haloalkylamines or haloalcohols is presented.     

Thermodynamics and performance evaluation of encapsulated PCM-based energy storage systems for heating application in building

This communication presents the comparative study of two different types of thermal management systems for room’s heating applications using calcium chloride hexahydrate as the thermal energy storage material encapsulated in panels and balls. During the daytime, TMS was outside the test room to store the solar heat in TMS. The solar heat made available to charge the PCM from solid to liquid and to warm the test room throughout the observation period during night time. As the room temperature drops significantly during the night time, so as the level of comfort. Both the thermal management systems have been used to heat the test room during night time and the temperature of the test room has been maintained at thermal comfort level without any conventional source of energy, i.e. using passive system. Also the experimental values were compared with those of the theoretical values and are found in good agreement with each other. Thus, it can be concluded that the experimental study carried out for both the thermal management systems have been validated by theoretical approach or vice versa and hence found to be satisfactory towards the successful operation of these systems.     

New lower rim looped calix[4]arene for ratiometric and chromogenic recognition of Cu2+

A new calix[4]arene derivative in its cone conformation and bearing Schiff base loop at the lower rim has been synthesized and evaluated as a specific molecular probe for copper ions. The new molecular receptor 4 shows a selective visible change in color from colorless to yellow only in the presence of Cu²⁺ ions which was confirmed by a significant bathochromic shift (?λ_max = 76 nm) in its absorption spectrum. The stoichiometry of the copper complex was calculated to be 1:1. These results may help to design more efficient chemical sensors for determining copper in biological systems.     

N-Methylpyridinium Tosylate Catalysed Green Synthesis,X-Ray Studies and Antimicrobial Activities of Novel (E)-3-Amino-2-(e)-(3, 4-Dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-Ylidene)Hydrazono)Thiazolidin-4-Ones

Abstract

3,4-Dihydro-2H-naphthalen-1-ones 1,on reaction with thiocarbohydrazide, afforded monothiocarbohydrazones 2, which, on condensation with chloroacetic acid in the presence of an ionic liquid and bromotrimethylsilane furnish (E)-3-amino-2-(E)-(3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1-(2H)-ylidene)hydrazono)thiazolidin-4-ones 3 in quantitative yields. Acetyl derivatives 5 were obtained from 3 with acetic anhydride. Monothiocarbohydrazones 2 on condensation with benzaldehyde yield azomethines 4. The structure of compounds 2–5 has been established by elemental analysis, IR, ¹H NMR, and mass spectral data. The structure of compound 3a has been further confirmed by X-ray crystallographic data. The compounds 2–5 were screened for antimicrobial activity. The thiazolidinones 3a and 3b showed maximum antimicrobial activities.