Gold Nanoparticles with Self-Assembled Cysteine Monolayer Coupled to Nitrate Reductase in Polypyrrole Matrix Enhanced Nitrate Biosensor

We have developed here a novel, highly sensitive and selective nitrate (NO– 3) biosensor by covalent immobilization of nitrate reductase (NaR) in self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of cysteine on gold nanoparticles (GNP)-polypyrrole (PPy) modified platinum electrode. Incorporation of GNP in highly microporous PPy matrix was confirmed by morphological scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. The electrochemical behavior of the NaR modified electrode exhibited the characteristic reversible redox peaks at the potential, –0.76 and –0.62 V versus Ag/AgCl. Further, the GNP-PPy nanocomposite enhanced the current response by 2-fold perhaps by enhancing the immobilization of NaR and also direct electron transfer between the deeply buried active site and the electrode surface. The common biological interferences like ascorbic acid, uric acid were not interfering with the NO– 3 measurement at low concentration levels. This biosensor showed a wide linear range of response over the concentration of NO– 3 from 1 μM to 1 mM, with higher sensitivity of 84.5 nA μM–1 and a detection limit of 0.5 μM. Moreover, the NO– 3 level present in the nitrate-rich beetroot juice and the NO– 3 release from the lipopolysaccharide treated human breast cancer cells were estimated

Nanotechnology – an emerging technology for use in agricultural and food research

Abstract Nanotechnology, the science of building atomic, molecular or macro-molecular sized materials, devices, structures or systems is finding applications in different fields. The technology is presently utilized by the chemical, health care, biotech, and manufacturing industries. In the pharmaceuticals, drugs with nano-sized particles are highly efficient with minimal side effects. Micro-scale mechanical and electro mechanical devices are determined to be highly sensitive, durable, and less expensive. Nanotechnology has potential applications in agricultural and food engineering such as exploring biological life processes, monitoring plant and animal health, analyzing and determining product qualities, developing novel materials from agricultural products, and reducing environmental pollutions. This short article reviews the present applications of nanotechnology in other industries and explores its potential applications in agricultural and food industries

Temperature induced biochemical changes and antioxidant activity in mature avocado (persea americana Mill.) fruit during storage

The present study was carried out to determine the effect of different storage temperatures (5oC, 9oC, 12oC and room temperature (26-32oC) on biochemical and antioxidant properties of two avocado accessions (CHES-HA-I/I and CHES-HA-VII/I). The result showed that titratable acidity, total soluble solids, and protein content decreased, while, fat content increased with the advancement of storage. The higher antioxidant activity was recorded in fruits stored at 9oC in both the accessions. At 5oC, fruits exhibited signs of chilling injury and lower antioxidant activity. Significantly higher phenolic content was found in fruits stored at room temperature. It was observed that both antioxidants and total phenolic content of avocado fruits increased irrespective of storage temperatures. It is, therefore, concluded that unlike other tropical fruits, as the ripening progressed, avocado fruits exhibited major change in biochemical and antioxidant activity

Morpho-biochemical characterization of a unique avocado (Persia americana Mill.) accession PA-026 (IC0644455)

A unique avocado accession PA-026 (IC0644455) bearing yellow colour fruits was identified and evaluated for morphological and biochemical parameters. The accessions PA-026 characterise as yellow coloured pulp, young shoots and leaf midribs, fruit weight (398.3 g), pulp weight (255.38 g), seed weight (92.35 g) and peel thickness (1.43 mm). The biochemical profiling showed that, it has high carotenoid content (7.17 mg/100 g), total phenols (102.24 mg GAE/100 g), FRAP activity (87.32 AEAC/100 g) and high β-carotene (3.85 μg/g) followed by α-carotene (1.03 μg/g), while, fatty acid profile showed presence of five fatty acids, among which oleic acid (52.11%) and palmitic acid (41.56%) were most dominant. In conclusion, avocado accession PA-026 was found unique with respect to yellow fruit, pulp colour, and high carotenoid content especially β-carotene, which could be used to improve the carotenoids content in avocado through breeding

WALLABY pre-pilot survey: ultra-diffuse galaxies in the Eridanus supergroup

We present a pilot study of the atomic neutral hydrogen gas (H I) content of ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG) candidates. In this paper, we use the pre-pilot Eridanus field data from the Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind Survey to search for H I in UDG candidates found in the Systematically Measuring Ultra-diffuse Galaxies survey (SMUDGes). We narrow down to 78 SMUDGes UDG candidates within the maximum radial extents of the Eridanus subgroups for this study. Most SMUDGes UDGs candidates in this study have effective radii smaller than 1.5 kpc and thus fail to meet the defining size threshold. We only find one H I detection, which we classify as a low-surface-brightness dwarf. Six putative UDGs are H I-free. We show the overall distribution of SMUDGes UDG candidates on the size–luminosity relation and compare them with low-mass dwarfs on the atomic gas fraction versus stellar mass scaling relation. There is no correlation between gas-richness and colour indicating that colour is not the sole parameter determining their H I content. The evolutionary paths that drive galaxy morphological changes and UDG formation channels are likely the additional factors to affect the H I content of putative UDGs. The actual numbers of UDGs for the Eridanus and NGC 1332 subgroups are consistent with the predicted abundance of UDGs and the halo virial mass relation, except for the NGC 1407 subgroup, which has a smaller number of UDGs than the predicted number. Different group environments suggest that these putative UDGs are likely formed via the satellite accretion scenario

Terahertz underdamped vibrational motion governs protein-ligand binding in solution

Low-frequency collective vibrational modes in proteins have been proposed as being responsible for efficiently directing biochemical reactions and biological energy transport. However, evidence of the existence of delocalized vibrational modes is scarce and proof of their involvement in biological function absent. Here we apply extremely sensitive femtosecond optical Kerr-effect spectroscopy to study the depolarized Raman spectra of lysozyme and its complex with the inhibitor triacetylchitotriose in solution. Underdamped delocalized vibrational modes in the terahertz frequency domain are identified and shown to blue-shift and strengthen upon inhibitor binding. This demonstrates that the ligand-binding coordinate in proteins is underdamped and not simply solvent-controlled as previously assumed. The presence of such underdamped delocalized modes in proteins may have significant implications for the understanding of the efficiency of ligand binding and protein–molecule interactions, and has wider implications for biochemical reactivity and biological function

Cytotoxic prenylated xanthone and coumarin derivatives from Malaysian Mesua beccariana

Our recent research on the phytochemical constituents of the stem bark of Mesua beccariana gave one new xanthone, beccarixanthone T (1) and one new coumarin, beccamarin T (2) together with three known xanthones mesuarianone (3), mesuasinone (4), 1,5-dihydroxyxanthone (5) and four known terpenoids, friedelin (6), stigmasterol (7), beta-sitosterol (8) and gamma-sitosterol (9). The structures of these compounds were elucidated and determined using spectroscopic techniques such as NMR and MS. The cytotoxic activities of compounds 1-4 as well as the crude extracts were tested against two cancer cell lines, Hep G2 (liver cancer cell line) and HT-29 (colon cancer cell line) using MTT assays. Mesuarianone (3) gave a significant activity on the HT-29 cell line while mesuasinone (4) gave moderate activity against HT-29 cell line

Satellites around Milky Way Analogs: Tension in the Number and Fraction of Quiescent Satellites Seen in Observations versus Simulations

We compare the star-forming properties of satellites around Milky Way (MW) analogs from the Stage II release of the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs Survey (SAGA-ii) to those from the APOSTLE and Auriga cosmological zoom-in simulation suites. We use archival GALEX UV imaging as a star formation indicator for the SAGA-ii sample and derive star formation rates (SFRs) to compare with those from APOSTLE and Auriga. We compare our detection rates from the NUV and FUV bands to the SAGA-ii Hα detections and find that they are broadly consistent with over 85% of observed satellites detected in all three tracers. We apply the same spatial selection criteria used around SAGA-ii hosts to select satellites around the MW-like hosts in APOSTLE and Auriga. We find very good overall agreement in the derived SFRs for the star-forming satellites as well as the number of star-forming satellites per host in observed and simulated samples. However, the number and fraction of quenched satellites in the SAGA-ii sample are significantly lower than those in APOSTLE and Auriga below a stellar mass of M ∗ ∼ 108 M o˙, even when the SAGA-ii incompleteness and interloper corrections are included. This discrepancy is robust with respect to the resolution of the simulations and persists when alternative star formation tracers are employed. We posit that this disagreement is not readily explained by vagaries in the observed or simulated samples considered here, suggesting a genuine discrepancy that may inform the physics of satellite populations around MW analogs

WALLABY pre-pilot survey: ultra-diffuse galaxies in the Eridanus supergroup

We present a pilot study of the atomic neutral hydrogen gas (H I) content of ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG) candidates. In this paper, we use the pre-pilot Eridanus field data from the Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind Survey to search for H I in UDG candidates found in the Systematically Measuring Ultra-diffuse Galaxies survey (SMUDGes). We narrow down to 78 SMUDGes UDG candidates within the maximum radial extents of the Eridanus subgroups for this study. Most SMUDGes UDGs candidates in this study have effective radii smaller than 1.5 kpc and thus fail to meet the defining size threshold. We only find one H I detection, which we classify as a low-surface-brightness dwarf. Six putative UDGs are H I-free. We show the overall distribution of SMUDGes UDG candidates on the size–luminosity relation and compare them with low-mass dwarfs on the atomic gas fraction versus stellar mass scaling relation. There is no correlation between gas-richness and colour indicating that colour is not the sole parameter determining their H I content. The evolutionary paths that drive galaxy morphological changes and UDG formation channels are likely the additional factors to affect the H I content of putative UDGs. The actual numbers of UDGs for the Eridanus and NGC 1332 subgroups are consistent with the predicted abundance of UDGs and the halo virial mass relation, except for the NGC 1407 subgroup, which has a smaller number of UDGs than the predicted number. Different group environments suggest that these putative UDGs are likely formed via the satellite accretion scenario. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical SocietyThis research was supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through project number CE170100013. This scientific work uses data obtained from Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara/the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. We acknowledge the Wajarri Yamaji People as the Traditional Owners and native title holders of the Observatory site. CSIRO's ASKAP radio telescope is part of the Australia Telescope National Facility (https://ror.org/05qajvd42). Operation of ASKAP is funded by the Australian Government with support from the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. ASKAP uses the resources of the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre. Establishment of ASKAP, Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, and the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre are initiatives of the Australian Government, with support from the Government of Western Australia and the Science and Industry Endowment Fund. This research has made use of images of the Legacy Surveys. The Legacy Surveys consist of three individual and complementary projects: (DECaLS; Proposal ID #2014B-0404; PIs: David Schlegel and Arjun Dey), the Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS; NOAO Prop. ID #2015A-0801; PIs: Zhou Xu and Xiaohui Fan), and the Mayall z-band Legacy Survey (MzLS; Prop. ID #2016A-0453; PI: Arjun Dey). DECaLS, BASS, and MzLS together include data obtained, respectively, at the Blanco telescope, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, NSF's NOIRLab; the Bok telescope, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, and the Mayall telescope, Kitt Peak National Observatory, NOIRLab. The Legacy Surveys project is honoured to be permitted to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Du'ag (Kitt Peak), a mountain with particular significance to the Tohono O'odham Nation. We thank the anonymous referee for their constructive comments to improve this manuscript. BQF thanks A. Bosma, A. Boselli, B. Holwerda, A. Lopez-Sanchez, K. McQuinn, G. Muerer, J. Roman, and P. Zuo for their comments on the manuscript. KS acknowledges support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). AK acknowledges financial support from the grant CEX2021-001131-S funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and from the grant POSTDOC_21_00845 funded by the Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities Council of the Regional Government of Andalusia and financial support from the grant PID2021-123930OB-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, by 'ERDF A way of making Europe' and by the 'European Union'. DZ and RD gratefully acknowledge financial support for SMUDGes from NSF AST-1713841 and AST-2006785. DZ thanks the Astronomy Department at Columbia University for their gracious welcome during his sabbatical

Right Scaling for Right Pricing: A Case Study on Total Cost of Ownership Measurement for Cloud Migration

Cloud computing promises traditional enterprises and independent software vendors a myriad of advantages over on-premise installations including cost, operational and organizational efficiencies. The decision to migrate software configured for on-premise delivery to the cloud requires careful technical consideration and planning. In this chapter, we discuss the impact of right-scaling on the cost modelling for migration decision making and price setting of software for commercial resale. An integrated process is presented for measuring total cost of ownership, taking in to account IaaS/PaaS resource consumption based on forecast SaaS usage levels. The process is illustrated with a real world case study