Effects of additives on the activity of a covalently immobilised lipase in organic media

Lipase from Mucor miehei was covalently immobilised onto the graft copolymer poly(ethylene)-g.co-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (PE-g.co-HEMA), partially hydrolysed, via a spacer arm of 1,6-diaminohexane activated with glutaraldehyde. To improve the lipolytic activity of the immobilised lipase (for the synthesis of isoamyl-caprylate, as a model), the effect of several additives was investigated. Polyethylene glycol (PEG), glutaraldehyde, organic solvents and buffers, were added during the immobilisation procedure and their effects are reported and compared with the behaviour of the lipolytic preparation without pre-treatment. An increase of 40-100% in the activity was obtained when small quantities of PEG 2000 and glutaraldehyde (used also as an activator of the spacer arm) were added. The activity had a maximum when the pH of the lipase attachment solution was 7.2 and buffered with phosphate. The effect of the aggregation level of biocatalyst particles on the amount of water retained, as well as the effect of the immobilisation on solid supports on the stability to organic solvents, is also reported.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6T3C-3V8CG7H-7/1/f8c9c7095fea93b2ccae17922a1f89d

Network Awareness of P2P Live Streaming Applications

Early P2P-TV systems have already attracted millions of users, and many new commercial solutions are entering this market. Little information is however available about how these systems work. In this paper we present large scale sets of experiments to compare three of the most successful P2P-TV systems, namely PPLive, SopCast and TVAnts. Our goal is to assess what level of "network awareness" has been embedded in the applications, i.e., what parameters mainly drive the peer selection and data exchange. By using a general framework that can be extended to other systems and metrics, we show that all applications largely base their choices on the peer bandwidth, i.e., they prefer high-bandwidth users, which is rather intuitive. Moreover, TVAnts and PPLive exhibits also a preference to exchange data among peers in the same autonomous system the peer belongs to. However, no evidence about preference versus peers in the same subnet or that are closer to the considered peer emerges. We believe that next-generation P2P live streaming applications definitively need to improve the level of network-awareness, so to better localize the traffic in the network and thus increase their network-friendliness as wel

Estimation of the Radio Channel Parameters using the SAGE Algorithm

This paper presents the problem of estimating the parameters of a given number of superimposed signals, as is the case of the received signal in wireless communications. Based on the description of the received signal in the frequency domain, one version of the SAGE (Space-Alternating Generalized Expectation-Maximization) algorithm is presented, allowing the estimation, for each impinging ray, the delay, azimuth, elevation and complex amplitude. Ray retrieval results are presented in synthetic channels, using data generated with the extended Saleh Valenzuela (ESV) model, and also in real channels

Growth aspects of the marine microalga Nannochloropsis gaditana

Nannochloropsis is well appreciated in aquaculture due to its nutritional value and the ability to produce valuable chemical compounds, such as pigments (zeaxanthin, astaxanthin...) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (EPA). Commercial exploitation needs high cell densities but the low growth rate and the small size of cells are practical difficulties. To increase biomass concentration the positive effect of several factors was evident: (i) pH[approximate]8 control (with dilute Tris-HCl buffer); (ii) the continuous illumination (no evidence of photo-inhibition was observed); (iii) a quite large temperature range (25±5 °C); (iv) the presence of organic carbon source (with the danger of contamination); (v) the presence of urea as an additional nitrogen source (10 mM); (vi) a small air flow rate with large bubbles can be more efficient for CO2 mass transfer (associated to reduced shearing).http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VRM-492W13D-4/1/d65b11cf23c3d0795406c391c335446

Nanoscale ear drum: Graphene based nanoscale sensors

The difficulty in determining the mass of a sample increases as its size diminishes. At the nanoscale, there are no direct methods for resolving the mass of single molecules or nanoparticles and so more sophisticated approaches based on electromechanical phenomena are required. More importantly, one demands that such nanoelectromechanical techniques could provide not only information about the mass of the target molecules but also about their geometrical properties. In this sense, we report a theoretical study that illustrates in detail how graphene membranes can operate as nanoelectromechanical mass-sensor devices. Wide graphene sheets were exposed to different types and amounts of molecules and molecular dynamic simulations were employed to treat these doping processes statistically. We demonstrate that the mass variation effect and information about the graphene-molecule interactions can be inferred through dynamical response functions. Our results confirm the potential use of graphene as mass detector devices with remarkable precision in estimating variations in mass at molecular scale and other physical properties of the dopants

Magnetic-field effects on transport in carbon nanotube junctions

Here we address a theoretical study on the behaviour of electronic states of heterojunctions and quantum dots based on carbon nanotubes under magnetic fields. Emphasis is put on the analysis of the local density of states, the conductance, and on the characteristic curves of current versus voltage. The heterostructures are modeled by joining zigzag tubes through single pentagon-heptagon pair defects, and described within a simple tight binding calculation. The conductance is calculated using the Landauer formula in the Green functions formalism. The used theoretical approach incorporates the atomic details of the topological defects by performing an energy relaxation via Monte Carlo calculation. The effect of a magnetic field on the conductance gap of the system is investigated and compared to those of isolated constituent tubes. It is found that the conductance gap of the studied CNHs exhibits oscillations as a function of the magnetic flux. However, unlike the pristine tubes case, they are not Aharonov-Bohm periodic oscillations

Biotecnología, sostenibilidad y mejoramiento genético * ITANOA

En un contexto mundial de cambio climático y aumento poblacional preocupante, la ciencia y el desarrollo tecnológico deberán aportar la ayuda necesaria paramitigar la creciente necesidad de alimentos y energía renovable.Este escenario plantea grandes desafíos para la producción agrícola en las próximas décadas. La ONU estimó que para el año 2030 se necesitarán mil millonesde toneladas más de cereales por año (UNDP, 2015). Esta cifra es preocupante si se piensa en lograr estos incrementos mediante la utilización de las estrategias empleadas hasta el momento, es decir, expandir la superficie cultivada avanzandosobre ecosistemas naturales e intensificando el uso de fertilizantes y otros productos agroquímicos sintéticos, ya que conduciría indefectiblemente a profundizar el daño a la salud humana y ambiental.Fil: Pardo, Esteban Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Rocha, C. M. L.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Garcia, M.G. M.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Pérez Borroto, Lucía Sandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Toum, L. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Filippone, María Paula. Universidad Nacional de Tucuman. Facultad de Agronomia y Zootecnia. Departamento de Ecología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Castagnaro, Atilio Pedro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; Argentin

Characterisation of "Catalão" and "Salsichão" Portuguese traditional sausages with salt reduction

The present study evaluated the effect of salt reduction on traditional dry-cured sausages' safety, quality and product acceptance, comprising physicochemical and microbiological parameters, biogenic amines, fatty acids, texture profile and sensory analysis. According to our results, salt content had a major effect on microbiological counts, although not compromising the products' safety. Marked differences were identified regarding biogenic amines, in particular for histamine, tyramine and cadaverine, which were detected in larger amounts in products with 3%. Moreover, significant differences in the fatty acids profile have also been found, but only in less abundant components such as linoleic, lauric and heneicosanoic acids. Texture profile analysis of low-salt products, revealed a decrease in hardness and chewiness, along with an increase in adhesiveness values. Sensory evaluations revealed that despite the less intense aroma, products with 3% salt, had a more balanced salt perception. Our results suggest that salt content may be reduced to 50% in dry-cured products, with the obvious health-related advantages