26 research outputs found
Biosurfactant coated silver and iron oxide nanoparticles with enhanced anti-biofilm and anti-adhesive properties
No full textPseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus are among the hazardous biofilm forming bacteria ubiquitous in industrial/clinical wastes. Serious efforts are required to develop effective strategies to control surface-growing antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacterial communities which they are emerging as a global health issue. Blocking hazardous biofilms would be a useful aspect of biosurfactant coated nanoparticles (NPs). In this regard, we report a facile method for the synthesis of rhamnolipid (RL) coated silver (Ag) and iron oxide (Fe3O4) NPs and propose the mechanism of their synergistic antibacterial and anti-adhesive properties against biofilms formed by P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. These NPs demonstrated excellent anti-biofilm activity not only during the biofilms formation but also on the pre-formed biofilms. Mechanistically, RL coated silver (35 nm) and Fe3O4 NPs (48 nm) generate reactive oxygen species, which contribute to the antimicrobial activity. The presence of RLs shell on the nanoparticles significantly reduces the cell adhesion by modifying the surface hydrophobicity and hence enhancing the anti-biofilm property of NPs against both mentioned strains. These findings suggest that RL coated Ag and Fe3O4 NPs may be used as potent alternate to reduce the infection severity by inhibiting the biofilm formation and, therefore, they possess potential biomedical applications for antibacterial coatings and wound dressings.</p
Biomedical Communications to semi-automatically
No full textThe Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications has developed a system that incorporates OCR and automated recognition and reformatting algorithms to extract bibliographic citation data from scanned biomedical journal articles to populate the NLM’s MEDLINE ® database. The multi-engine OCR server incorporated in the system performs well in general, but fares less well with text printed in the small or italic fonts often used to print institutional affiliations. Because of poor OCR and other reasons, the resulting affiliation field frequently requires a disproportionate amount of time to manually correct and verify. In contrast, author names are usually printed in large, normal fonts that are correctly recognized by the OCR system. We describe techniques to exploit the more successful OCR conversion of author names to help find the correct affiliations from MEDLINE data
Grammaticalization of Morphological Changes Manifested in Finite Single-word Lexical Verbs in Shahmukhi Punjabi
No full textPunjabi exhibits a rich linguistic landscape characterized by agglutinative and fusional features. This linguistic complexity has led many scholars, including Tehseen et al. (2023) and Jamshaid & Akhtar (2022), to emphasize the significance of morphological distinctions within Punjabi, surpassing even its syntactic variations. The primary objective of this study is to undertake an extensive morphological analysis of finite single-word lexical verbs in Shamukhi Punjabi. Drawing from our preliminary findings, two key hypotheses were formulated. First, we postulated that the notion of verbal finiteness plays a pivotal role in categorizing Punjabi verbs. Second, we hypothesized that morphological intricacies linked to progressive and perfective aspects, voice, gender, and number systems manifest within the domain of finite single-word lexical verbs. To achieve these research objectives, we employed a corpus of modest proportions, encompassing one hundred thousand words from Shahmukhi Punjabi. This study operates within the framework of inflectionally regular verbs, allowing us to identify recurring morphological structures within finite single-word verbs and their sub-systems. Our findings offer compelling evidence that Punjabi verbs can indeed be categorized based on finiteness, while also highlighting the diverse inflections that characterize finite single-word verbs concerning number, gender, aspect, and voice systems. This research not only holds promise for the preservation and enrichment of the Punjabi language but also contributes significantly to our understanding of the intricate linguistic structures embedded within Shahmukhi Punjabi
Adapting a Transdisciplinary Approach to Regional Development in the Case of Facilitating Planning of Energy Systems
No full textIn this paper, we aim to facilitate regional development through collaborative meta-governance processes, involving municipalities, energy companies and more actors. The case in point involves increased electrification through the development of local energy systems in a sub-region comprising 15 municipalities and 21 grid owners and is an exemplary case where a transdisciplinary engineering approach is not only suitable but the only path forward. The complex problem landscape comprises interdependencies across different roles, such as politicians, civil servants, and engineers at energy companies, where autonomous entities act independently. We employ a design science research approach to create artefacts to support the meta-governance mechanisms needed to accelerate social change processes. One artefact is a system dynamics simulation model to analyze scenarios considering the electrification of vehicles and implementing large wind and solar energy units to enable the establishment of new industries. We provide brief overviews of how three artefacts assist in visualizing 1) roles, 2) structures, and 3) scenarios to the decision-makers, to facilitate various transdisciplinary decision-making processes in regional development. In the discussion, we synthesize our learnings into a model to support mitigating powerlessness in this complex multi-stakeholder context. Finally, we lay out future research to further contribute to the social change and regional development we believe is necessary.CC BY-NC 4.0Corresponding Author, Email: [email protected]</p
PCB congener 126-induced ultrastructural alterations in the rat liver: a stereological study
No full textHepatocyte cytoplasmic alterations were morphometrically determined in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats fed PCB congener 126 (3,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl) in concentrations of 0.1, 1.0, 10, 100 ppb or corn oil in diets for 13 weeks. A dose-dependent increase (P < 0.05) in the volume fraction of smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) and mitochondria was measured in the hepatocytes of the females. However, these cells of the male rats contained a significantly greater baseline volume fraction of SER compared to that in the females. Statistical differences were not detected in the volume fractions of rough endoplasmic reticulum, peroxisomes or lipid droplets of the hepatocytes in either the males or females. We conclude the increase in mitochondrial volume was a necessary cellular adaptation to meet the heightened energy demands by the SER to produce the necessary enzymes to detoxify the PCB. Morphometric analysis rather than a descriptive methodology allowed for a more accurate determination of the liver pathology induced by PCB 126. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.PT: J; CR: AHLBORG UG, 1994, CHEMOSPHERE, V28, P1049 BANDIERA S, 1982, CHEM-BIOL INTERACT, V39, P259 CHU I, 1994, FUND APPL TOXICOL, V22, P457 CLARKE DW, 1984, CAN J PHYSIOL PHARM, V62, P1253 DEVITO MJ, 1993, FUND APPL TOXICOL, V20, P125 GHADIALLY FN, 1988, ULTRASTRUCT PATHOL, V2, P767 GILLETTE DM, 1987, FUND APPL TOXICOL, V8, P4 GILROY C, 1998, TOXICOLOGY, V127, P179 HANSELL MM, 1974, TOXICOL APPL PHARM, V28, P418 HARRIS C, 1984, ARCH ENVIRON CON TOX, V13, P715 HONG CS, 1992, ECOTOX ENVIRON SAFE, V23, P118 KANNAN N, 1989, ARCH ENVIRON CON TOX, V18, P850 KASZA L, 1978, J ENVIRON PATHOL TOX, V1, P241 KIMBROUGH RD, 1972, ARCH ENVIRON HEALTH, V25, P354 LEECE B, 1985, J TOXICOL ENV HEALTH, V16, P379 LIN FS, 1979, ARCH ENV CONTAM TOXI, V88, P321 MACLELLAN K, 1994, HISTOL HISTOPATHOL, V9, P453 MACLELLAN K, 1994, HISTOL HISTOPATHOL, V9, P461 MACLELLAN K, 1994, J SUBMICR CYTOL PATH, V26, P279 MARTUCCI CP, 1993, PHARMACOL THERAPEUT, V57, P237 OKEY AB, 1990, PHARMACOL THERAPEUT, V45, P241 PARKINSON A, 1980, CHEM-BIOL INTERACT, V30, P217 PATTERSON DG, 1994, ENVIRON HEALTH PERSP, V102, P195 PENG J, 1997, TOXICOLOGY, V120, P171 POLAND A, 1977, MOL PHARMACOL, V13, P924 SAFE S, 1990, CRIT REV TOXICOL, V21, P51 SAFE SH, 1994, CRIT REV TOXICOL, V24, P87 SATO T, 1968, J ELECTRON MICROSC, V17, P158 SCHECTER A, 1984, BANBURY REPORT, V18, P177 SHAPIRO BH, 1995, INT J BIOCHEM CELL B, V27, P9 SINGH A, 1981, PATHOLOGY, V13, P487 SINGH A, 1996, ULTRASTRUCT PATHOL, V20, P275 SINGH A, 1997, ULTRASTRUCT PATHOL, V21, P143 SMITH LM, 1990, CHEMOSPHERE, V21, P1063 TANABE S, 1987, ENVIRON POLLUT, V47, P147 TEHSEEN WM, 1992, B ENVIRON CONTAM TOX, V48, P101 VANBIRGELEN APJM, 1994, TOXICOL APPL PHARM, V127, P209 VOS JG, 1972, TOXICOL APPL PHARM, V23, P563 WASSERMANN D, 1979, TOXICOL EUR RES, V1, P159 WEIBEL ER, 1969, J CELL BIOL, V42, P68 WEISS L, 1988, CELL TISSUE BIOL TXB, P1; NR: 41; TC: 4; J9: TOXICOLOGY; PG: 9; GA: 240XASource type: Electronic(1
Enabling Industrial Mixed Reality Using Digital Continuity : An Experiment Within Remanufacturing
No full textIn the digitalisation era, overlaying digital, contextualised information on top of the physical world is essential for an efficient operation. Mixed reality (MR) is a technology designed for this purpose, and it is considered one of the critical drivers of Industry 4.0. This technology has proven to have multiple benefits in the manufacturing area, including improving flexibility, efficacy, and efficiency. Among the challenges that prevent the big-scale implementation of this technology, there is the authoring challenge, which we address by answering the following research questions: (1) “how can we fasten MR authoring in a manufacturing context?” and (2) “how can we reduce the deployment time of industrial MR experiences?”. This paper presents an experiment performed in collaboration with Volvo within the remanufacturing of truck engines. MR seems to be more valuable for remanufacturing than for many other applications in the manufacturing industry, and the authoring challenge appears to be accentuated. In this experiment, product lifecycle management (PLM) tools are used along with internet of things (IoT) platforms and MR devices. This joint system is designed to keep the information up-to-date and ready to be used when needed. Having all the necessary data cascading from the PLM platform to the MR device using IoT prevents information silos and improves the system’s overall reliability. Results from the experiment show how the interconnection of information systems can significantly reduce development and deployment time. Experiment findings include a considerable increment in the complexity of the overall IT system, the need for substantial investment in it, and the necessity of having highly qualified IT staff. The main contribution of this paper is a systematic approach to the design of industrial MR experiences.CC BY-NC 4.0Corresponding Author: [email protected] authors wish to thank the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova and the Strategic Innovation Programme Produktion2030 (funding number 2019-00787). Likewise, the authors [wish to thank Volvo AB.]</p
Characterization of phenolics in different parts of selected Capparis species harvested in low and high rainfall season
No full textEducation of the Future : Learnings and Experiences from Offering Education to Industry Professionals
No full textDigitalization is forcing the industry to rethink current practices in all business domains, pushing for a digital transformation of business and operations at a high rate and, thus, paving the way for new business models and making others redundant. For small and medium-sized companies (SME), in particular, it is an enormous challenge to keep up with the pace of technological development. Several initiatives have argued the industry’s need for continuous digitalization, innovation, transformation ability, and future skills and competencies development. However, the advancement of the Swedish industry in this area has been uneven, where larger organizations have begun their digital transformation journey to some extent, but SMEs risk falling behind. In addition to the technological transformation, the challenges regarding the industries’ skills supply need to be solved, where a workforce with the right competencies, knowledge, and skill sets are equally, if not more, important for remaining competitive. One of the key elements to face these challenges in the companies will be to recruit knowledgeable employees or re-skill the existing ones. Efficient access to relevant knowledge and skills is still a major concern for companies that will surely affect their competitiveness for a long time to come. This paper elaborates on the opportunities and challenges that Swedish universities face in the context of lifelong learning and education for industry professionals. The paper presents results and experiences gained from a lifelong learning project for industry professionals at the University of Skövde in collaboration with ten industry partners. The results from the project show that in addition to pedagogical methods, current structures and policies within academia need to be further developed to effectively serve industry professionals. The paper also presents a concept of education for industry professionals in the lifelong learning context based on the results and experience gained from the project.CC BY-NC 4.0Corresponding Author: [email protected] authors gratefully acknowledge the Swedish Knowledge Foundation for funding the projects Virtual Factory and WISER as part of their Graduate Professional Development projects (Expertkompetens), which strengthen education through the development of flexible, research-linked courses at advanced level for working professionals.Virtual FactoryWISE
