Tailoring the bioactivity of commercially pure titanium by grain refinement using groove pressing

Commercial pure titanium (cpTi) sheets have been processed by groove pressing (GP) at room temperature to refine the grains so as to improve its properties for bone implant applications. Atomic force microscopy revealed submicron/nano roughness features on the processed cpTi. The contact angle measurements show good wettability and higher surface energy when compared to unprocessed cpTi. The bioactivity of the GP samples in simulated body fluid was also found to be enhanced with the formation of a homogenous and dense globular hydroxyapatite layer. The Ca/P ratio of the apatite layer was around 1.66 as similar to the bone mineral phase. The bioactivity enhancement of GP samples has been related to the submicron grain features which results in an increase in the surface roughness and wettability.     

Influence of microwave heating as accelerated aging on physicochemical,texture, pasting properties,and microstructure in brown rice of selected Indian rice varieties

Most of the population does not prefer to consume brown rice because of its strong nutty and chewy texture imparted by bran and germ. The present study has been undertaken to investigate the influence of accelerated aging through microwave (MW) heating at a lower and higher MW power levels of 950 and 1,400 W for 72 and 91 s to observe the changes in physicochemical, texture, pasting properties, sensory attributes, and microstructure of selected rice varieties (Sona masuri and RNR-15048) stored as brown rice for 6 months. The results revealed a significant decrease in moisture, amylose, free fatty acids (FFAs) with changes in color (L*, a*, and b* values) in both the varieties treated at 1,400 W for 91 s. An increase in kernel elongation ratio, water uptake, and a decrease in cooking time and solid loss was noted in both the varieties. After cooking, the texture of both the varieties showed an increase in hardness with reduced stickiness at both lower and higher MW power levels of 950 W for 72 s and 1,400 W for 91 s compared to untreated brown rice with an improved porous structure when observed under SEM analyzer followed by better water absorption and organoleptic properties after cooking. The reduction in final viscosity has been noted in both the varieties at 1,400 W for 91 s due to the binding of FFA with starch. Thus, the MW power level of 950 W for 72 s and 1,400 W for 91 s showed the better results for short-grain varieties like Sona masuri and RNR-15048 stored as brown rice.     

Valorisation of grape pomace (cv. Muscat) for development of functional cookies

Fruit juice industries and wineries generate considerable amount of grape pomace as waste from fresh grapes. However, the nutritional assets of grape pomace that include antioxidants, mainly polyphenols, should not be neglected, and be further processed in developing food supplements. In this study, grape pomace (cv. Muscat) was found to be indeed nutrient-rich. This pomace was subsequently employed in development of grape pomace cookies, as a functional snack. The characterisation of the grape pomace cookies delineated their healthfulness in terms of antioxidant potential, and storability in terms of higher shelf life, at 6% w/w in cookie dough. The present study highlights the importance of utilising a wasted bioresource in adding functional value to a common food that otherwise is only a fat-rich snack.     

Chemical interaction of D9 alloy clad with B4C in liquid sodium: Studies employing XPS,XRD, and SEM

A cell representing typical control rod subassembly of the prototype fast breeder reactor is designed to probe the liquid sodium-mediated chemical interaction of boron carbide (B₄C) control rod with the D9 alloy clad. The cell was equilibrated at 973 K for 5000 hours with liquid sodium in the annular gap. XRD shows the formation of Cr₃C₂ and Fe₂B along with oxides of Ni, Cr, and Fe. XPS studies reveal the diffusion of boron and carbon up to a depth of about 160 and 120 μm, respectively. A boron-rich region is observed up to a depth of about 40 μm which consists of B³⁺ arising from oxides and a nearly constant elemental boron region, extending up to a depth of 160 μm. The highly reacted zone extends up to a depth of about 40 μm consisting of oxides of most of the elements of D9 clad exhibiting a higher valence states. As the cell is helium leak tested, oxygen out gassed from B₄C at 973 K played a major role in chemical oxidation of the constituents of the D9 alloy which can be minimized by using high-density B₄C.     

Gelatin–PEG based metronidazole-loaded vaginal delivery systems: preparation,characterization and in vitro antimicrobial efficiency

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a condition often associated with the overgrowth of pathogenic microbes with a subsequent decrease in lactic acid producing bacteria in vagina. BV is predominant in reproductive women. It has been reported not only to cause pre-term labor but is also one of the major causes of fetal morbidity and mortality. There is an increase in the vaginal discharge in BV. Due to this reason, the locally applied drug formulations are quickly washed off. It is expected that the mucoadhesive delivery vehicles will improve the bioavailability of the drug for prolonged periods. Keeping this in mind, gelatin/PEG based composite hydrogels were developed and characterized as vaginal delivery systems for the treatment of BV. The hydrogels were prepared by varying the concentration of gelatin and PEG. The hydrogels were thoroughly characterized using SEM, FTIR, DSC, and impedance spectroscopy techniques and swelling, mucoadhesive, and texture analysis studies. The in vitro release behavior of metronidazole from the hydrogels was analyzed in-depth. The antimicrobial efficiency of the MZ-loaded hydrogels was tested against E. coli, occurrence of which is predominant in BV. The properties of the hydrogels were found to be dependent on the composition of the hydrogels. The hydrogels were found to be mucoadhesive and the MZ-loaded hydrogels have shown effective antimicrobial activity against E. coli. Based on the preliminary studies, the composite hydrogels were found to be suitable for controlled drug delivery for vaginal applications.     

Vine copulas for mixed data : multi-view clustering for mixed data beyond meta-Gaussian dependencies

Copulas enable flexible parameterization of multivariate distributions in terms of constituent marginals and dependence families. Vine copulas, hierarchical collections of bivariate copulas, can model a wide variety of dependencies in multivariate data including asymmetric and tail dependencies which the more widely used Gaussian copulas, used in Meta-Gaussian distributions, cannot. However, current inference algorithms for vines cannot fit data with mixed—a combination of continuous, binary and ordinal—features that are common in many domains. We design a new inference algorithm to fit vines on mixed data thereby extending their use to several applications. We illustrate our algorithm by developing a dependency-seeking multi-view clustering model based on Dirichlet Process mixture of vines that generalizes previous models to arbitrary dependencies as well as to mixed marginals. Empirical results on synthetic and real datasets demonstrate the performance on clustering single-view and multi-view data with asymmetric and tail dependencies and with mixed marginals.     

Deadline-sensitive workflow orchestration without explicit resource control

Deadline-sensitive workflows require careful coordination of user constraints with resource availability. Current distributed resource access models provide varying degrees of resource control: from limited or none in grid batch systems to explicit in cloud systems. Additionally applications experience variability due to competing user loads, performance variations, failures, etc. These variations impact the quality of service (QoS) that goes unaccounted for in planning strategies. In this paper we propose Workflow ORchestrator for Distributed Systems (WORDS) architecture based on a least common denominator resource model that abstracts the differences and captures the QoS properties provided by grid and cloud systems. We investigate algorithms for effective orchestration (i.e., resource procurement and task mapping) for deadline-sensitive workflows atop the resource abstraction provided in WORDS. Our evaluation compares orchestration methodologies over TeraGrid and Amazon EC2 systems. Experimental results show that WORDS enables effective orchestration possible at reasonable costs on batch queue grid and cloud systems with or without explicit resource control.     

A decomposition approach for commodity pickup and delivery with time-windows under uncertainty

We consider a special class of large-scale, network-based, resource allocation problems under uncertainty, namely that of multi-commodity flows with time-windows under uncertainty. In this class, we focus on problems involving commodity pickup and delivery with time-windows. Our work examines methods of proactive planning, that is, robust plan generation to protect against future uncertainty. By a priori modeling uncertainties in data corresponding to service times, resource availability, supplies and demands, we generate solutions that are more robust operationally, that is, more likely to be executed or easier to repair when disrupted. We propose a novel modeling and solution framework involving a decomposition scheme that separates problems into a routing master problem and Scheduling Sub-Problems; and iterates to find the optimal solution. Uncertainty is captured in part by the master problem and in part by the Scheduling Sub-Problem. We present proof-of-concept for our approach using real data involving routing and scheduling for a large shipment carrier’s ground network, and demonstrate the improved robustness of solutions from our approach.     

Physicochemical,techno-functional and structural properties of gluten-free crackers developed from sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.)) varieties

The present study was conducted to develop gluten-free crackers using six different white varieties of sorghum, namely CO30, K12, Parbhani Moti (PM), Parbhani Shakti (PS), ICSV15021 and M35-1. The physico-chemical, mineral and functional properties of developed crackers were studied. The crackers from soft wheat flour serve as a control. Highest protein (7.35 g/100 g), iron (6.63 mg/100 g) and potassium (199.86 mg/100 g) were found in ICSV15021 crackers, whereas highest total dietary fibre (9.01 g/100 g), magnesium (31.13 mg/100 g), copper (1.47 mg/100 g), zinc (1.92 g/100 g) and manganese (1.32 mg/100 g) were found in PS crackers. All exhibited A-type crystallinity pattern except PS crackers (V-type pattern). Overall acceptability of K12 sorghum crackers was found to be similar to control. In conclusion, this study evidenced that gluten-free sorghum crackers exhibited higher nutrients and mineral composition and can be regarded as health-promoting functional food, which is also cost-effective than commercially available gluten-free products.