Development of a methodology to attain high levels of storage proteins in cassava tuberized roots and its implications

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz.) is a member of the Euphorbiaceae family, cultivated in the tropics and subtropical areas as a staple food crop for more than 700 million people around the world. The starchy storage roots of cassava are rich in calories and deficient in all other nutrients, cassava meals has the lowest of all sources of dietary protein. Severe protein deficiencies and malnutrition problems are common among those who rely on cassava as their daily meal. Although cassava is ranked the fifth most important crop in the world, the research on this crop is very limited. Among the limited number of reports on cassava genetic transformation, only one attempt was concerned in nutritional enhancement of cassava storage roots. In this thesis, methodologies of improving the protein content in cassava storage roots are demonstrated. I investigated the possibility of accumulating storage proteins and studied the limitation of this process in the storage roots of cassava. Tissue and subcellular-targeted protein expressions are found to concentrate the expressed proteins and improve the amino acid profile in cassava storage roots. Fusing targeting signal peptides, which stabilize the expressed proteins in protective subcellular environments, enhances the storage protein accumulation in cassava root cells. In addition, establishing a strong protein sink in the storage roots redirects the nitrogen flow from cyanogen biosynthesis towards the protein synthesis machinery. On the other hand, the ability to increase the protein content indirectly by modifying metabolic pathways, such as the pro-vitamin A pathway, illustrates the huge potential of cassava and the wealth of its genetic resources. I also clearly demonstrated that protein accumulation in the roots and pro-Vitamin A enhancement are inducing a number of changes in several biochemical pathways. All these modifications have been tested in field trials, where transgenic plants are evaluated for their phenotype and yield productivity. The objective of all the experiments performed in this study is to increase the protein content in cassava storage roots and provide solutions to the malnutrition problems for those who cannot afford to supplement their cassava meals with other nutritious foods

Mapping Hydrothermal Mineral Deposits Using PCA and BR Methods in Baft 1:100000 Geological Sheet, Iran

Evaluating the conventional methods for mapping hydrothermal altered deposits by using landsat-8 OLI images in the Baft one to one hundred thousand geological Sheet is the prime target of our study. We used the color composite, band ratio, principal component analysis. The color composite and band ratio methods showed very clearly the hydrothermal altered deposits of clay minerals, iron oxides and ferric oxides around the fumaroles. The principal component analysis also enabled us to represent undoubtedly the altered hydroxyl and iron oxide mineral deposits of this region concentrating around the fumaroles. Finally, the target detection method for reference spectral analysis by using EnvI 4.8 detected the representative hydrothermal altered minerals around study area. Therefore, all the methods showed high efficiency for mapping hydrothermal altered mineral deposits

Efficient Scheduling Rule for Robotic Flexible Assembly Cells Based on Fuzzy Approach

AbstractThis study aims to develop an efficient rule for scheduling robotic flexible assembly cells (RFACs). The proposed scheduling rule is called fuzzy sequencing rule (FSR) which is constructed by combining different input variables: processing time, due date, batch size and number of required assembly stations, using the fuzzy logic (FL) technique. Two independent performance measures are considered: makespan and maximum of tardiness. Simulation software named SIMPROCESS is used to examine the performance of FSR compared with existing scheduling rules. Simulation results show that the proposed rule outperforms the common scheduling rules

Technical feasibility analysis of utilizing special purpose machine tools

Special purpose machine tools (SPMs) are primarily used for performing drilling-related operations and are widely used in mass production including automotive component manufacturing. Utilization of SPM is considerably widespread; however, this technology is relatively new and expensive. The important problems facing manufacturing industries wishing to utilize this technology is feasibility analysis to decide whether a SPM can be utilised for production of the given part and if it is feasible which SPM components would be appropriate. Since the cost of utilizing SPM is high, feasibility analysis must be performed before any investment on detailed design. This paper proposes a technical feasibility analysis method which assists in deciding whether SPM is applicable for machining a given part to achieve the highest productivity. The method is based on the framework which consists of relations between the desired part properties to the characteristics of the SPM components. These relations are captured as rules and constraints in an intelligent system which is implemented in Visual Basic. Applying the proposed method to a number of industrial parts shows that it is a very useful tool in deciding when SPMs should be utilized

Optimization and experimental validation of stiff porous phononic plates for widest complete bandgap of mixed fundamental guided wave modes

Phononic crystal plates (PhPs) have promising application in manipulation of guided waves for design of low-loss acoustic devices and built-in acoustic metamaterial lenses in plate structures. The prominent feature of phononic crystals is the existence of frequency bandgaps over which the waves are stopped, or are resonated and guided within appropriate defects. Therefore, maximized bandgaps of PhPs are desirable to enhance their phononic controllability. Porous PhPs produced through perforation of a uniform background plate, in which the porous interfaces act as strong reflectors of wave energy, are relatively easy to produce. However, the research in optimization of porous PhPs and experimental validation of achieved topologies has been very limited and particularly focused on bandgaps of flexural (asymmetric) wave modes. In this paper, porous PhPs are optimized through an efficient multiobjective genetic algorithm for widest complete bandgap of mixed fundamental guided wave modes (symmetric and asymmetric) and maximized stiffness. The Pareto front of optimization is analyzed and variation of bandgap efficiency with respect to stiffness is presented for various optimized topologies. Selected optimized topologies from the stiff and compliant regimes of Pareto front are manufactured by water-jetting an aluminum plate and their promising bandgap efficiency is experimentally observed. An optimized Pareto topology is also chosen and manufactured by laser cutting a Plexiglas (PMMA) plate, and its performance in self-collimation and focusing of guided waves is verified as compared to calculated dispersion properties

Introducing obliquely perforated phononic plates for enhanced bandgap efficiency

Porous phononic crystal plates (PhPs) that are produced by perpendicular perforation of a uniform plate have well-known characteristics in selective manipulation (filtration, resonation, and steering) of guided wave modes. This paper introduces novel designs of porous PhPs made by an oblique perforation angle. Such obliquely perforated PhPs (OPhPs) have a non-uniform through-the-thickness cross section, which strongly affects their interaction with various wave mode types and therefore their corresponding phononic properties. Modal band analysis is performed in unit-cell scale and variation of phononic bandgaps with respect to the perforation angle is studied within the first 10 modal branches. Unit-cells with arbitrary perforation profile as well as unit-cells with optimized topology for maximized bandgap of fundamental modes are investigated. It is observed that the oblique perforation has promising effects in enhancing the unidirectional and/or omnidirectional bandgap efficiency, depending on the topology and perforation angle of OPhP

A Scheduling Framework for Robotic Flexible Assembly Cells

Today’s companies develop flexible systems that are adaptable to assemble a mix of products with minimal reconfiguration. A Robotic Flexible Assembly Cell (RFAC) is an adaptable system which can assemble a variety of products using the same resources. A major limitation of Scheduling RFACs is that no prior research has documented the scheduling problem for assembly of multi-products. Hence, the objective of the present study is to layout a scheduling framework to overcome this limitation. The framework intends to propose an effective way to solve the scheduling problem through modelling, simulation and analysis of the RFACs