Synthesis and Physico-Chemical Studies of 1, 1'-Substituted Phenyl Cyclohexane

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Collaboration: A Youth Development Initiative of the Faribault Youth Service Center.

Prepared in partnership with the Faribault Youth Service Center by the Community Assistantship Program (CAP) administered by the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota

Chiral auxiliaries and substrate-directable reactions in asymmetric synthesis

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

fMRI Feature Extraction Model for ADHD Classification Using Convolutional Neural Network

Biomedical intelligence provides a predictive mechanism for the automatic diagnosis of diseases and disorders. With the advancements of computational biology, neuroimaging techniques have been used extensively in clinical data analysis. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric disorder, with the symptomology of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, in which early diagnosis is crucial to prevent unwelcome outcomes. This study addresses ADHD identification using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data for the resting state brain by evaluating multiple feature extraction methods. The features of seed-based correlation (SBC), fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF), and regional homogeneity (ReHo) are comparatively applied to obtain the specificity and sensitivity. This helps to determine the best features for ADHD classification using convolutional neural networks (CNN). The methodology using fALFF and ReHo resulted in an accuracy of 67%, while SBC gained an accuracy between 84% and 86% and sensitivity between 65% and 75%

Factors Affecting the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Reverse Logistics Process

The purpose of this research is to identify the current reverse logistics practices adopted by soft drink companies and the prominent factors which can decide the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire process of the reverse logistics channel. The paper employs Pareto analysis and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method on data collected from logistics professionals involved in the software industry in Sri Lanka using two questionnaires. As the prominent factors, transportation, accidents, packaging, a method of storage, the cleaning process and sorting process was identified and the first four prominent factors have a higher influence on both measures of efficiency and effectiveness. They can also identify the external factors which can emerge inefficiencies due to outsourced dealers. Lack of previous literature on the subject matter and the difficulty to access the filed data were the main limitations of this study. The identified factors will help to identify the correct root causes for the inefficiencies of the current reverse logistics practices and concentrating on these factors will give an opportunity for the soft drink industry players to successfully implement a sustainable green supply chain which reduces waste at each stage of its forwards and reverse logistics process. Transportation, Accidents, Packaging, and Storage have been previously identified as considerations in reverse logistics processes and the current study showed that they have a higher impact on both efficiency and effectiveness on reverse logistics and these factors should be given specific consideration while in the operations

A remote sensing approach for assessing the invasion of Najas marina in Madu Ganga Estuary, Sri Lanka

The present study was carried out to determine the distribution of Najas marina, an invasive floral species in the Ramsar site of Madu Ganga Estuary in Sri Lanka using ASTER satellite data. Cloud free ASTER imageries of Madu Ganga Estuary with 15 m resolution were atmospherically corrected using the FLAASH in ENVI software. The NDVI was calculated and unsupervised classification was applied for the study site for each image and the distribution maps of N. marina were developed from 2007 to 2014. Methodology was validated using in situ data, which were collected in 2014 with monthly intervals parallel to ASTER overpass. The derived distribution maps indicated that N. marina was distributed in about 31% of the estuary in April 2014. The highest densities were mostly found in bay areas and peripheral areas. Maps developed for December 2007, December 2009 and December 2013 indicated that there is a temporal variation in the distribution of N. marina over the years. The overall distribution of N. marina has decreased from December 2007 to December 2009 and increased from December 2009 to April 2014. Low water levels and stagnation of water appears to be conducive for the variation of this species. These factors should be taken into consideration when managing the invasion of N. marina in this economically and ecologically important estuary

Evaluating the efficacy of different DEMs for application in lood frequency and risk mapping of the Indian Coastal River Basin

Floods are among the most occurring natural hazards that cause severe damage to infrastructure and loss of life. In India, southern Gujarat is affected during the monsoon season, facing multiple flood events in the Damanganga basin. As the basin is one of the data-scarce regions, evaluating the globally available dataset for flood risk mitigation studies in the Damanganga basin is crucial. In the present study, we compared four open-source digital elevation models (DEMs) (SRTM, Cartosat-1, ALOS-PALSAR, and TanDEMX) for hydrodynamic (HD) modeling and flood risk mapping. The simulated HD models for multiple flood events using HEC-RAS v6.3 were calibrated by adopting different roughness coefficients based on land-use land cover, observed water levels at gauge sites, and peak flood depths in the flood plain. In contrast to the previous studies on the Purna river basin (the neighboring basin of Damanganga), the present study shows that Cartosat-1 DEM provides reliable results with the observed flood depth. Furthermore, the calibrated HD model was used to determine the flood risk corresponding to 10, 25, 50, and 100-year return period floods calculated using Gumbel’s extreme value (GEV) and log-Pearson type III (LP-III) distribution techniques. Comparing the obtained peak floods corresponding to different return periods with the observed peak floods revealed that the LP-III method gives more reliable estimates of flood peaks for lower return periods, while the GEV method gives comparatively more reliable estimates for higher return period floods. The study shows that evaluating different open-source data and techniques is crucial for developing reliable flood mitigation plans with practical implications

Role of Lipids in Spheroidal High Density Lipoproteins

We study the structure and dynamics of spherical high density lipoprotein (HDL) particles through coarse-grained multi-microsecond molecular dynamics simulations. We simulate both a lipid droplet without the apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) and the full HDL particle including two apoA-I molecules surrounding the lipid compartment. The present models are the first ones among computational studies where the size and lipid composition of HDL are realistic, corresponding to human serum HDL. We focus on the role of lipids in HDL structure and dynamics. Particular attention is paid to the assembly of lipids and the influence of lipid-protein interactions on HDL properties. We find that the properties of lipids depend significantly on their location in the particle (core, intermediate region, surface). Unlike the hydrophobic core, the intermediate and surface regions are characterized by prominent conformational lipid order. Yet, not only the conformations but also the dynamics of lipids are found to be distinctly different in the different regions of HDL, highlighting the importance of dynamics in considering the functionalization of HDL. The structure of the lipid droplet close to the HDL-water interface is altered by the presence of apoA-Is, with most prominent changes being observed for cholesterol and polar lipids. For cholesterol, slow trafficking between the surface layer and the regimes underneath is observed. The lipid-protein interactions are strongest for cholesterol, in particular its interaction with hydrophobic residues of apoA-I. Our results reveal that not only hydrophobicity but also conformational entropy of the molecules are the driving forces in the formation of HDL structure. The results provide the first detailed structural model for HDL and its dynamics with and without apoA-I, and indicate how the interplay and competition between entropy and detailed interactions may be used in nanoparticle and drug design through self-assembly

A Novel Strategy for Minimizing Acid Whey Generation during Greek Yoghurt Production

Greek yoghurt is thicker, creamier and surpasses regular yoghurt in terms of protein richness, flavour, texture and taste. Greek yoghurt attains this unique combination by incorporating straining at the end of the production process. However, such straining also generates whey with high lactic acid content, which can cause serious environmental problems unless properly disposed. Difficulties in post-process treatment of this whey stream still presents a main challenge for the industry although various approaches have been attempted. The necessity of developing techniques to reduce the acid whey production are thus importantly emphasized by the dairy industry. This present study aimed to explore an alternative strategy for Greek yoghurt production, which would reduce the amount of acid whey released. The main purpose of whey removal is to obtain desired concentration of total solids in the final Greek yoghurt. The proposed strategy thus aimed to increase the total solid level in initial milk base prior fermentation. This would potentially lead to lower levels of acid whey removal after fermentation. Therefore, the proposed technique would potentially provide a solution to the current acid whey issue. The study applied milk fortification and ultrafiltration techniques as two different approaches to obtain higher dry matter content of the initial milk base

Correlation of Core Stability with Agility and Dynamic Balance in Basketball Players

A cross sectional study was done on a recreational basketball players. The aim of the study is to find out the correlation of core stability with agility and balance in a recreational players who play basketball from at least last 2 years and who are free from injury and surgery. Study was done between 18 to 28 years players. The data of this research was taken for total 36 samples