Effects of gamma irradiation on chemical composition and ruminal protein degradation of canola meal

Gamma irradiation of canola meal (at doses of 25, 50 and 75 kGy) could alter its ruminal protein degradation characteristics by cross-linking of the polypeptide chains. This processing resulted in decrease (linear effect, P<0.001) of ruminal protein degradation and increase (linear effect, P<0.001) of intestinal protein digestibility. The results showed that gamma irradiation at doses higher than 25 kGy can be used as a cross-linking agent to improve protein properties of supplements in ruminant nutrition.     

On-line extraction and determination of uranium in aqueous samples using multi-walled carbon nanotubes-coated cellulose acetate membrane

In this work, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-coated cellulose acetate membrane was used for on-line extraction and pre-concentration of uranium from aqueous samples prior to inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) determination. Sample solutions containing the U(VI)-2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5-diethylaminophenol (Br-PADAP) complex were passed through the membrane. The adsorbed analyte was subsequently eluted from the membrane with acid, which was directly introduced into the ICP-OES nebuliser. The main variables affecting the pre-concentration and determination steps of uranium were studied and optimised. Under the optimised conditions, the enrichment factor of 150 and the detection limit of 0.16 μg L^–1 were obtained. This method was successfully used for determination of uranium in environmental water samples.     

Structure–Activity Studies of Cysteine‐Rich α‐Conotoxins that Inhibit High‐Voltage‐Activated Calcium Channels via GABAB Receptor Activation Reveal a Minimal Functional Motif

α‐Conotoxins are disulfide‐rich peptides that target nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Recently we identified several α‐conotoxins that also modulate voltage‐gated calcium channels by acting as G protein‐coupled GABA_B receptor (GABA_BR) agonists. These α‐conotoxins are promising drug leads for the treatment of chronic pain. To elucidate the diversity of α‐conotoxins that act through this mechanism, we synthesized and characterized a set of peptides with homology to α‐conotoxins known to inhibit high voltage‐activated calcium channels via GABA_BR activation. Remarkably, all disulfide isomers of the active α‐conotoxins Pu1.2 and Pn1.2, and the previously studied Vc1.1 showed similar levels of biological activity. Structure determination by NMR spectroscopy helped us identify a simplified biologically active eight residue peptide motif containing a single disulfide bond that is an excellent lead molecule for developing a new generation of analgesic peptide drugs.     

von Neumann–Schatten Dual Frames and their Perturbations

In this paper, we discuss the dual of a von Neumann–Schatten p-frames in separable Banach spaces and obtain some of their characterizations. Moreover, we present a classical perturbation result to von Neumann–Schatten p-frames.     

Facile Synthesis of Some Novel Tetrasubstituted 2,4‐Diaminopyrimidine Derivatives in Aqueous Glucose Solution as a Fully Green Medium and Promoter

A novel environmentally benign method toward the synthesis of some novel tetrasubstituted 2,4‐diaminopyrimidine derivatives using an aqueous glucose‐mediated one‐pot three‐component reaction of malononitrile with various benzaldehyde and amidine derivatives is reported. Some pyrimidine derivatives possessing α‐amino acid moiety were synthesized by the present protocol for the first time. This protocol offers advantages including facile reaction conditions, using naturally occurring glucose as promoter and water as solvent, simple work‐up, relatively short reaction times, and high yields of the products.     

Nano-cellulose-OSO<Subscript>3</Subscript>H as a new,green, and effective nano-catalyst for one-pot synthesis of pyrano [4,3-<Emphasis Type="Italic">b</Emphasis>] pyrans

A facile, green, and efficient method has been developed for the synthesis of biologically important pyrano [4,3-b] pyrans in the presence of nano-cellulose-OSO₃H as a new solid acid catalyst. The reaction involves the use of 4-hydroxy-6-methyl-2H-pyran-2-one, malononitrile, and aldehydes. A wide range of aldehydes is compatible in this reaction, producing excellent yields in short time. The morphology of nano-catalyst (nano-cellulose-OSO₃H) was observed using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The cellulose-OSO₃H surface was studied by the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) method to find out the chemical composition. The decomposition steps and thermal stability of the catalyst were investigated by thermal analysis techniques (TGA/DTG). In addition, the vibrational spectrum analysis (FT-IR) and X-ray diffractogram (XRD) of the catalyst have been performed.     

Community detection in social networks based on improved Label Propagation Algorithm and balanced link density

Nowadays, community detection has been raised as one of the key research areas in the online social networks mining. One of the most common algorithms in this field is label propagation algorithm (LPA). Even though the LPA method has advantages such as simplicity in understanding and implementation, as well as linear time complexity, it has an important disadvantage of the uncertainty and instability in outcomes, that is, the algorithm detects and reports different combinations of communities in each run. This problem originates from the nature of random selection in the LPA method. In this paper, a novel method is proposed based on the LPA method and the inherent structure, that is, link density feature, of the input network. The proposed method uses a sensitivity parameter (balance parameter); by choosing the appropriate values for it, the desired qualities of the identified communities can be achieved. The proposed method is called Balanced Link Density-based Label Propagation (BLDLP). In comparison with the basic LPA, the proposed method has an advantage of certainty and stability in the output results, whereas its time complexity is still comparable with the basic LPA and of course lowers than many other approaches. The proposed method has been evaluated on real-world known datasets, such as the Facebook social network and American football clubs, and by comparing it with the basic LPA, the effectiveness of the proposed method in terms of the quality of the communities found and the time complexity has been shown.     

The simple chaotic model of passive dynamic walking

Recent findings on the dynamical analysis of human locomotion characteristics such as stride length signal have shown that this process is intrinsically a chaotic behavior. The passive walking has been defined as walking down a shallow slope without using any muscular contraction as an active controller. Based on this definition, some knee-less models have been proposed to present the simplest possible models of human gait. To maintain stability, these simple passive models are compelled to show a wide range of different dynamics from order to chaos. Unfortunately, based on simplifications, for many years the cyclic period-one behavior of these models has been considered as the only stable response. This assumption is not in line with the findings about the nature of walking. Thus, this paper proposes a novel model to demonstrate that the knee-less passive dynamic models also have the ability to model the chaotic behavior of human locomotion with some modifications. The presented novel model can show chaotic behavior as a stable and acceptable answer using a chaotic function in heel-strike condition. The represented chaotic model is also able to simulate different types of motor deficits such as Parkinson’s disease only by manipulating the value of chaotic parameter. Our model has extensively examined in complexity and chaotic behavior using different analytical methods such as fractal dimension, bifurcation and largest Lyapunov exponent, and it was compared with conventional passive models and the stride signal of healthy subjects and Parkinson patients.     

SPH modelling of depth‐limited turbulent open channel flows over rough boundaries

A numerical model based on the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method is developed to simulate depth‐limited turbulent open channel flows over hydraulically rough beds. The 2D Lagrangian form of the Navier–Stokes equations is solved, in which a drag‐based formulation is used based on an effective roughness zone near the bed to account for the roughness effect of bed spheres and an improved sub‐particle‐scale model is applied to account for the effect of turbulence. The sub‐particle‐scale model is constructed based on the mixing‐length assumption rather than the standard Smagorinsky approach to compute the eddy‐viscosity. A robust in/out‐flow boundary technique is also proposed to achieve stable uniform flow conditions at the inlet and outlet boundaries where the flow characteristics are unknown. The model is applied to simulate uniform open channel flows over a rough bed composed of regular spheres and validated by experimental velocity data. To investigate the influence of the bed roughness on different flow conditions, data from 12 experimental tests with different bed slopes and uniform water depths are simulated, and a good agreement has been observed between the model and experimental results of the streamwise velocity and turbulent shear stress. This shows that both the roughness effect and flow turbulence should be addressed in order to simulate the correct mechanisms of turbulent flow over a rough bed boundary and that the presented smoothed particle hydrodynamics model accomplishes this successfully. © 2016 The Authors International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Study on the Interaction of the CpG Alternating DNA with CdTe Quantum Dots

A novel sensitive method for detection of DNA methylation was developed with thioglycollic acid (TGA)-capped CdTe quantum dots (QDs) as fluorescence probes. Recognition of methylated DNA sites would be useful strategy due to the important roles of methylation in disease occurrence and developmental processes. DNA methylation occurs most often at cytosine-guanine sites (CpG dinucleotides) of gene promoters. The QDs significantly interacted with hybridized unmethylated and methylated DNA. The interaction of CpG rich methylated and unmethylated DNA hybrid with quantum dots as an optical probe has been investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy and electrophoresis assay. The fluorescence intensity of QDs was highly dependent to unmethylated and methylated DNA. Specific site of CpG islands of Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), a well-studied tumor suppressor gene, was used as the detection target. Under optimum conditions, upon the addition of unmethylated dsDNA, the fluorescence intensity increased in linear range from 1.0?×?10^??10 to 1.0?×?10^??6M with detection limit of 6.2?×?10^??11 M and on the other hand, the intensity of QDs showed no changes with addition of methylated dsDNA. We also demonstrated that the unmethylated and methylated DNA and QDs complexes showed different mobility in electrophoresis assay. This easy and reliable method could distinguish between methylated and unmethylated DNA sequences.