Single Box Research Articles

Optimization of Sporulation Conditions for Bacillus subtilis BSNK-5

Bacillus subtilis spores have important biological applications; however, high spore-cell densities and sporulation efficiencies in fermentation is poorly reported. This study systematically analyzed the spore densities and formation efficiency of B. subtilis BSNK-5 in different culture substrates. A response surface regression equation was established based on the results of single factor and Box–Behnken experimental designs. The optimal medium formulation, as predicted from the equation, consisted of soluble starch at 3 g·L−1, soybean flour at 12 g·L−1, and MgSO4 at 5 g·L−1. The spore yield reached 2.43 × 109 CFU·mL−1, and the sporulation rate was 83.3%, which was nearly three times higher than before optimization using an optimized medium at 36 °C and 200 rpm for 60 h.

Experimental-Numerical Study on the Flexural Ultimate Capacity of Prestressed Concrete Box Girders Subjected to Collision

Precise evaluation for flexural ultimate capacity of bridges which are subjected to the collision of over-height trucks is essential for making decisions on corresponding maintenance, strengthening or replacement. When the span of a cross-line continuous bridge with a double-box girder was hit by an overly high vehicle, the concrete floor of one girder was severely damaged, and part of the prestressed strands and reinforcements in the girder were broken. After the double-box girder was removed and separated into two single box girders, the ultimate flexural capacity of both box girders was studied by destructive tests, and a comparison was made between the damaged and undamaged girders. Moreover, finite element analysis was conducted to simulate the failure process. The results show that the flexural bearing capacity of the damaged box girder decreased by 33%, but it was still 1.07 times greater than the design bearing capacity, which basically meets the design requirements. Also, the damaged box girder showed a desirable serviceable limit state for three-axle vehicles and five-axle vehicles, but showed an undesirable serviceable limit state for six-axle vehicles. This study shows that repairing or strengthening the damaged span may be better than demolishing and rebuilding the whole superstructure bridge.

The two-dimensional knapsack problem with splittable items in stacks

The two-dimensional knapsack problem consists in packing rectangular items into a single rectangular box such that the total value of packed items is maximized. In this article, we restrict to 2-stage non-exact guillotine cut packings and consider the variant with splittable items: each item can be horizontally cut as many times as needed, and a packing may contain only a portion of an item. This problem arises in the packing of semifluid items, like tubes of small radius, which has the property to behave like a fluid in one direction, and as a solid in the other directions. In addition, the items are to be packed into stable stacks, that is, at most one item can be laid on top of another item, necessarily wider than itself. We establish that this variant of the two-dimensional knapsack problem is NP-hard, and propose an integer linear formulation. We exhibit very strong dominance properties on the structure of extreme solutions, that we call canonical packings. This structure enables us to design polynomial time algorithms for some special cases and a pseudo-polynomial time algorithm for the general case. We also develop a Fully Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme (FPTAS) for the case where the height of each item does not exceed the height of the box. Finally, some numerical results are reported to assess the efficiency of our algorithms.

Study on flow field characteristics of box artificial reef

Based on Zhuhai Miaowan artificial reef demonstration project, this paper studied the flow field characteristics of single box artificial reef and reef group under different spacing by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The results show that the box artificial reef has a significant effect on flow field. The maximum upwelling height near the reef is about 1.4 times the reef height, and the length of the back vortex is twice the reef size. In the reef group arrangement, the flow field distribution plays the best performance at the 5m spacing arrangement. The research results can provide guidance for reef structure optimization and practical arrangement in site.

Live Streaming of Face Mask and Body Temperature Detection System using Transfer Learning and IoT

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, enormous development has been done in computer vision systems in face masks and temperature detection. To enforce the mandate for wearing the mask in public places, the authors have suggested a solution using transfer learning (MobileNetV2) architecture as a foundation for image classification. The proposed solution is embedded devices with Raspberry Pi4 and python packages viz TensorFlow, OpenCV, and Keras. In this Work, a combination of transfer learning and IoT has been worked out using live streaming to detect an appropriate use of face masks along with body temperature. This technique includes the Single Shot Single box and Multi-box identification of the face mask. Further, a person can check the Temperature at the entrance. This temperature sensor is in noncontact mode, which senses a temperature from 2 cm to 5 cm and is displayed through LCD. It sends the data to the cloud for visualization and analysis, and an alert message is sent in a real-time environment based on that analysis.

SAMPL9 blind predictions using nonequilibrium alchemical approaches.

We present our blind predictions for the Statistical Assessment of the Modeling of Proteins and Ligands (SAMPL), ninth challenge, focusing on the binding of WP6 (carboxy-pillar[6]arene) with ammonium/diammonium cationic guests. Host-guest binding free energies have been calculated using the recently developed virtual double system single box approach, based on the enhanced sampling of the bound and unbound end-states followed by fast switching nonequilibrium alchemical simulations [M. Macchiagodena et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput. 16, 7160 (2020)]. As far as Pearson and Kendall coefficients are concerned, performances were acceptable and, in general, better than those we submitted for calixarenes, cucurbituril-like open cavitand, and beta-cyclodextrines in previous SAMPL host-guest challenges, confirming the reliability of nonequilibrium approaches for absolute binding free energy calculations. In comparison with previous submissions, we found a rather large mean signed error that we attribute to the way the finite charge correction was addressed through the assumption of a neutralizing background plasma.

Supervised and semi-supervised 3D organ localisation in CT images combining reinforcement learning with imitation learning

Computer aided diagnostics often requires analysis of a region of interest (ROI) within a radiology scan, and the ROI may be an organ or a suborgan. Although deep learning algorithms have the ability to outperform other methods, they rely on the availability of a large amount of annotated data. Motivated by the need to address this limitation, an approach to localisation and detection of multiple organs based on supervised and semi-supervised learning is presented here. It draws upon previous work by the authors on localising the thoracic and lumbar spine region in CT images. The method generates six bounding boxes of organs of interest, which are then fused to a single bounding box. The results of experiments on localisation of the Spleen, Left and Right Kidneys in CT Images using supervised and semi supervised learning (SSL) demonstrate the ability to address data limitations with a much smaller data set and fewer annotations, compared to other state-of-the-art methods. The SSL performance was evaluated using three different mixes of labelled and unlabelled data (i.e. 30:70,35:65,40:60) for each of lumbar spine, spleen left and right kidneys respectively. The results indicate that SSL provides a workable alternative especially in medical imaging where it is difficult to obtain annotated data.

Box Trapの捕獲率に影響する構造と色に関するチカイエカ，<i>Culex pipiens</i> form <i>molestus</i>，を用いた実験的検討

The efficiency of box traps was evaluated by release-capture laboratory experiments of Culex pipiens form molestus. The basic box trap (13L×18W×10H cm) was composed of three parts, a shading-plate, a top board, and a collection box. The shading-plate was attached to the end of the top board at a 45-degree angle. Under the shading-plate there was a rectangular opening (9×9 cm) on the top board, which connected to the collection box. The inside wall of the collection box was covered with a sticky sheet. It is suggested that the angle of the shading-plate be between 45 and 90 degrees, the size of the opening be between 9×2 cm and 9×9 cm, the top board be black or red, and the height of trap setting position be less than 80 cm from the floor to maximize the trap efficiency. When the mosquito density was low and multiple traps were placed in a room, the relationship between the overall trapping probability (Ps) and the number of traps (n) was described by the following equation: Ps=1−(1−p)n, where p is the trapping probability achieved by a single box trap in the room.

Development of Applicability of Distribution Factor for Single Cell Box Girder Bridges by Modifying Bakht and Mufti Method

Live load distribution factors for simply supported single cell box girder by manual method has been studied. The distribution factor allows the designer to consider the transverse effect of wheel loads in determining the shear and moments of each beam for live load. The increased need of transporting very heavy loads by road haulage has given rise to the need for an easily applied and accurate method of calculating the division of loads between the main girders of highway bridge decks. The bridge is loaded with IRC 70 R and Class A loading so as to obtain maximum bending moment. Bakht and Mufti is close representation of semi-continuum idealization to obtain distribution factors for slab on girder bridges where shear deformation or more correctly cell distortion is neglected. An attempt is made to obtain distribution factor for single cell box girders by modifying the formula of Bakht and Mufti method with Cusens and Pama formula to consider distortional effects. Results are compared with spine beam method using Midas Civil Software which shows good agreement between both the methods.

Large Deviations for Intersections of Random Walks

AbstractWe prove a large deviations principle for the number of intersections of two independent infinite‐time ranges in dimension 5 and greater, improving upon the moment bounds of Khanin, Mazel, Shlosman, and Sinaï [9]. This settles, in the discrete setting, a conjecture of van den Berg, Bolthausen, and den Hollander [15], who analyzed this question for the Wiener sausage in the finite‐time horizon. The proof builds on their result (which was adapted in the discrete setting by Phetpradap [12]), and combines it with a series of tools that were developed in recent works of the authors [2, 3, 5]. Moreover, we show that most of the intersection occurs in a single box where both walks realize an occupation density of order 1. © 2022 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Nanoliposome Use to Improve the Stability of Phenylethyl Resorcinol and Serve as a Skin Penetration Enhancer for Skin Whitening

Phenylethyl resorcinol (PR) is a potent tyrosinase inhibitor and a cosmeceutical skin lightening agent. However, the application of PR is limited by photoinstability and poor solubility. In this study, we formulated and optimized phenylethyl resorcinol loaded nanoliposomes (PR-NLPs) to improve the stability and effective delivery of PR. PR-NLPs were prepared by the ethanol injection method and optimized by a single factor experimental and Box–Behnken design. In addition, Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate (DHHB) as the UBA absorber was added to PR-NLPs, which significantly improved the photostability of PR. The mean size, polydispersity index (PDI), and zeta potential of the optimized PR-NLPs were 130.1 ± 3.54 nm, 0.225 ± 0.02, and −43.9 ± 3.44 mV, respectively. The drug encapsulation efficiency (EE) and loading efficiency (LC) of PR-NLPs were 96.81 ± 3.46% and 8.82 ± 0.6%, respectively. These PR-NLPs showed good physicochemical stability for 3 months at 4 °C and 25 °C in the dark. They showed typical sustained and prolonged drug-release behavior in vitro. The in vitro cytotoxicity assay and cellular uptake demonstrated that the PR-NLPs had excellent biocompatibility and cell transport ability. It significantly inhibited tyrosinase activity and reduced melanin production in B16F10 cells at concentrations of 20 or 30 μg/mL. Moreover, the PR-NLPs enhanced the PR into the skin. These results indicate that PR-NLPs can be used as a nanocarrier to improve the transdermal delivery of PR.

SAMPL9 blind predictions using nonequilibrium alchemical approaches

We present our blind predictions for the Statistical Assessment of the Modeling of Proteins and Ligands (SAMPL), 9th challenge, focusing on binding of WP6 (carboxy-pillar[6]arene) with ammonium/diammonium cationic guests. Host-guest binding free energies have been calculated using the recently developed virtual double system single box approach, based on the enhanced sampling of the bound and unbound end-states followed by fast switching nonequilibrium alchemical simulations [M Macchiagodena, M Pagliai, M Karrenbrock, G Guarnieri, F Iannone, Procacci, J Chem Theory Comput, 16, 7260, 2020]. As far as Pearson and Kendall coefficients are concerned, performances were acceptable and, in general, better than those we submitted for calixarenes, cucurbituril-like open cavitand, and beta-cyclodextrines in previous SAMPL host-guest challenges, confirming the reliability of nonequilibrium approaches for absolute binding free energy calculations. In comparison with previous submissions, we found, nonetheless, a rather large mean signed error that we attribute to the way the finite charge correction was addressed through the assumption of a neutralizing background plasma.

Karakteristik Tanaman Hias Pekarangan Rumah di Kelurahan Plaju Ulu Kota Palembang

Research on the morphological characteristics of ornamental plant species in the home garden in Plaju Ulu Village, Palembang City, has been carried out from March to June 2021, aiming to determine the morphological characteristics of ornamental plants in Plaju Ulu Village, Palembang City. This study uses a descriptive survey method by exploring the village area as many as 3 RT. Observations were made by looking directly at the ornamental plants found and then recorded, photographed and then described morphologically. The results obtained 2 classes, 21 orders, 24 families, 36 genera and 36 species of ornamental plants. The species obtained had roots (Radix) with a fibrous root system (Radix adventicia) and tap (Radix primaria). The stem has a wet stem structure and woody shrubs and pseudo stems that are modified into rhizomes. Leaves are heart-shaped, shield, oblong, sword, lanceolate, elongated, triangular, ovoid, round and asymmetrical. Flowers have a single flower structure and compound flowers, cobs, bunches, umbrellas, grains, pots and cups. The fruit structure is a single true fruit dry, box fruit, buni fruit, bracket fruit, kendaga fruit and fleshy pseudo fruit. Accessory organs consist of tubers and spines. Keywords : Ornamental plants, Morphological characteristics.

Box model trajectory studies of contrail formation using a particle-based cloud microphysics scheme

Abstract. We investigate the microphysics of contrail formation behind commercial aircraft by means of the particle-based LCM (Lagrangian Cloud Module) box model. We extend the original LCM to cover the basic pathway of contrail formation on soot particles being activated into liquid droplets that soon after freeze into ice crystals. In our particle-based microphysical approach, simulation particles are used to represent different particle types (soot, droplets, ice crystals) and properties (mass/radius, number). The box model is applied in two frameworks. In the classical framework, we prescribe the dilution along one average trajectory in a single box model run. In the second framework, we perform a large ensemble of box model runs using 25 000 different trajectories inside an expanding exhaust jet as simulated by the LES (large-eddy simulation) model FLUDILES. In the ensemble runs, we see a strong radial dependence of the temperature and relative humidity evolution. Droplet formation on soot particles happens first near the plume edge and a few tenths of a second later in the plume centre. Averaging over the ensemble runs, the number of formed droplets and ice crystals increases more smoothly over time than for the single box model run with the average dilution. Consistent with previous studies, contrail ice crystal number varies strongly with atmospheric parameters like temperature and relative humidity near the contrail formation threshold. Close to this threshold, the apparent ice number emission index (product of freezing fraction and soot number emission index) strongly depends on the geometric-mean dry core radius and the hygroscopicity parameter of soot particles. The freezing fraction of soot particles slightly decreases with increasing soot particle number, particularly for higher soot number emissions. This weakens the increase of the apparent ice number emission index with rising soot number emission index. Comparison with box model results of a recent contrail formation study by Lewellen (2020) (using similar microphysics) shows a later onset of our contrail formation due to a weaker prescribed plume dilution. If we use the same dilution data, our evolution and Lewellen's evolution in contrail ice nucleation show an excellent agreement cross-verifying both microphysics implementations. This means that differences in contrail properties mainly result from different representations of the plume mixing and not from the microphysical modelling. Using an ensemble mean framework instead of a single trajectory does not necessarily lead to an improved scientific outcome. Contrail ice crystal numbers tend to be overestimated since the interaction between the different trajectories is not considered. The presented aerosol and microphysics scheme describing contrail formation is of intermediate complexity and thus suited to be incorporated in an LES model for 3D contrail formation studies explicitly simulating the jet expansion. Our box model results will help interpret the upcoming, more complex 3D results.

Experimental Investigation and Validation on Suppressing the Unsteady Aerodynamic Force and Flow Structure of Single Box Girder by Trailing Edge Jets

In the present investigation, a wind tunnel experiment was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the trailing edge jets control scheme to mitigate the unsteady aerodynamic force and flow structure of a single box girder (SBG) model. The flow control scheme uses four isolated circular holes for forming the jet flow to modify the periodic vortex shedding behind the SBG model and then alleviate the fluctuation of the aerodynamic force acting on the test model. The Reynolds number is calculated as 2.08 × 104 based on the incoming velocity and the height of the test model. A digital pressure measurement system was utilized to obtain and record the surface pressure that was distributed around the SBG model. The surface pressure results show that the fluctuating amplitude of the aerodynamic forces was attenuated in the controlled case at a specific range of the non-dimensional jet momentum coefficient. The Strouhal number of the controlled case also deviates from that of the original SBG model. Except for the pressure measurement experiment, a high-resolution digital particle image velocimetry system was applied to investigate the detailed flow structure behind the SBG model to uncover the unsteady vortex motion process from the SBG model with and without the trailing edge jets flow control. As the jet flow blows into the wake, the alternating vortex shedding mode is switched into a symmetrical shedding mode and the width of the wake flow is narrowed. The proper orthogonal decomposition was used to identify the energy of the different modes and obtain its corresponding flow structures. Moreover, the linear stability analysis of the flow field behind the SBG model shows that the scheme of trailing edge jets can dramatically suppress the area of unsteady flow.

The influence of gap- and chord-widths for multi-box girders: Superposition of flat plate flutter derivatives and section model tests

A two dimensional model based on the superposition of Theodorsen’s flat plate theory generalized to approximate the aeroelastic effects on an arbitrary multi-box bridge girder is developed. The model is compared with wind tunnel test results of a single box girder and two triple-box girders having different gap-widths between the center box and the external boxes. Reasonable agreement between the flutter derivatives obtained from single degree of freedom harmonic forced motion tests and superposition of flat plate flutter derivatives is obtained. For vertical motion, the aerodynamic damping is correlated with the sum of chord-widths of the interconnected boxes. The aerodynamic damping during harmonic torsional motion is correlated with the distance from the elastic axis of the section to the mid-chords of the external boxes. The torsional aerodynamic damping agrees with the superposition of flat plate derivatives while the torsional aerodynamic stiffness disagrees. This means that the flat plate model overestimates the critical flutter wind speed for the present sections, but it can be used to approximate the flutter derivatives: H1, H2, H3 and A2. Empirical results are used to tune the superposed flat plate model, which is then used to approximate the critical flutter wind speed for a 2200 m single span suspension bridge featuring a light-weight triple-box girder. The wind tunnel tests indicate that the light-weight triple-box girder is aerodynamically stable up to at least 70 m/s even though the torsional frequency is lower than the vertical.

Correction of shear lag warping function of steel bottom – Corrugated steel web box girder

To clarify the shear lag effect of the cross-section of steel bottom – corrugated steel web box girder, this study investigated the effect of replacing the concrete floor with a steel bottom on the additional warping displacement of the steel-concrete cross-section based on the energy variation principles of the cosine function method. Two methods are used to derive the maximum shear angle difference function of each member. Firstly, considering the influence of different material modulus and geometric size on the composite section of box girder, the warpage function is modified. On the other hand, the maximum angle difference function of each member on the composite section is assumed, and its expression is derived by using the matrix eigenvalue method. Refer to bridges under construction, a 6 m scale model beam is made and designed as the single box double chamber steel bottom - corrugated steel web box girder. By comparing the General beam theory, finite element method (FEM), Model beam test value and the correction method in this paper, the validity of this theory is verified.

Relative Binding Free Energy Calculations for Ligands with Diverse Scaffolds with the Alchemical Transfer Method.

We present an extension of the alchemical transfer method (ATM) for the estimation of relative binding free energies of molecular complexes applicable to conventional, as well as scaffold-hopping, alchemical transformations. Named ATM-RBFE, the method is implemented in the free and open-source OpenMM molecular simulation package and aims to provide a simpler and more generally applicable route to the calculation of relative binding free energies than what is currently available. ATM-RBFE is based on sound statistical mechanics theory and a novel coordinate perturbation scheme designed to swap the positions of a pair of ligands such that one is transferred from the bulk solvent to the receptor binding site while the other moves simultaneously in the opposite direction. The calculation is conducted directly in a single solvent box with a system prepared with conventional setup tools, without splitting of electrostatic and nonelectrostatic transformations, and without pairwise soft-core potentials. ATM-RBFE is validated here against the absolute binding free energies of the SAMPL8 GDCC host-guest benchmark set and against protein-ligand benchmark sets that include complexes of the estrogen receptor ERα and those of the methyltransferase EZH2. In each case the method yields self-consistent and converged relative binding free energy estimates in agreement with absolute binding free energies and reference literature values, as well as experimental measurements.

A Novel Chaotic Permutation-Substitution Image Encryption Scheme Based on Logistic Map and Random Substitution

Privacy is a serious concern related to sharing videos or images among people over the Internet. As a method to preserve images’ privacy, chaos-based image encryption algorithms have been used widely to fulfil such a requirement. However, these algorithms suffer from a low key-space, significant computational overhead, and a lag in resistance against differential attacks. This paper presents a novel chaos-based image encryption method based on permutation and substitution using a single Substitution Box (S-Box) to address issues in contemporary image encryption algorithms. The proposed encryption technique’s efficiency is validated through extensive experiments as compared to the state-of-the-art encryption algorithms using different measures and benchmarks. Precisely, the collected results demonstrate that the proposed technique is more resilient against well-known statistical attacks and performs well under plaintext attacks. Indeed, the proposed scheme exhibits very high sensitivity concerning the plaintext attack. A minor change in the encryption key or the plain text would result in a completely different encrypted image.

Design and optimization of spur gears in a single stage reduction gear box

The intent of this work is to outline a single stage reduction gearbox and optimize the gears. This involves designing of gears, shafts, gearbox casings and selection of bearings. Based on the requirements the components are designed. The gearbox must transmit power from the motor to the wheels through drive axle. The motor works at a speed of 4500 rpm and produces a torque of 25 Nm. The gearbox needs to be designed in such a way that the output torque produced must be enough to drive the wheels. Based on the requirement the velocity ratio for the gearbox is set as 4. This produces the required torque and traction to the wheels. There are many researches going on design of gears and analysing them using various failure criteria. Apart from this research is made on topology optimization and its algorithms used. Research on optimization of gears using RP methods is going on. Very less research is done on optimisation of gears using simulation software such as Fusion 360, etc. In this work, the gears are optimized using Fusion 360.