334 results
Search Results
2. Overview of nanocellulose as additives in paper processing and paper products
- Author
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Jiuping Rao, Dezhong Xu, Yonghui Zhou, Mizi Fan, Lu Luo, Ao Li, Yalan Zhou, Wen Wei Yan, Xin Leng, Dai Dasong, and Hassan Ahmad
- Subjects
Engineering ,Technology ,Physical and theoretical chemistry ,QD450-801 ,Energy Engineering and Power Technology ,Medicine (miscellaneous) ,nanocellulose bio-additive ,02 engineering and technology ,TP1-1185 ,010402 general chemistry ,01 natural sciences ,Nanocellulose ,Biomaterials ,paper and paper-based product ,business.industry ,Process Chemistry and Technology ,Chemical technology ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Environmentally friendly ,0104 chemical sciences ,Surfaces, Coatings and Films ,Paper recycling ,recycle ,functionalization ,Research development ,Biochemical engineering ,specialty paper ,Value added ,0210 nano-technology ,business ,Biotechnology - Abstract
The rapid economic growth and environmental concerns have led to high demands on paper and paper-based products in terms of variety, quantity, quality, and specialty. Enhancement and functionalization with additives are constantly required. Moving away from traditional petroleum-based additives, researchers have attempted to use “green” nanoadditives by introducing renewable environmentally friendly nanocellulose. This article studies the functions of nanocellulose as bio-additives (enhancer, retention and filtration reagent, and coating aid) in paper and paper products, and overviews the research development of nanocellulose-based additives and their applications in the paper industry for both efficient production and paper functionalization. The review shows that (1) a variety of nanocellulose-based bioadditives have been reported for various applications in paper and paper-based products, while commercially viable developments are to be advanced; (2) nanocellulose was mostly formulated with other polymer and particles as additives to achieve their synergistic effects; (3) major interests have concentrated on the nanocellulose in the specialty papers as representing more value added products and in the efficient utilization of recycled fibers, which remains most attractive and promising for future development. This report shall provide most useful database information for researchers and industries for paper recycling and enhancement, and paper-based products innovation and application.
- Published
- 2021
3. Selected Extended Papers of the 11th International Conference on Practical Applications of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (PACBB)
- Author
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Fdez-Riverola Florentino and Rocha Miguel
- Subjects
Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. Selected Extended Papers of the 12th International Conference on Practical Applications of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (PACBB)
- Author
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Fdez-Riverola Florentino and Rocha Miguel
- Subjects
Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. Bioinformatics of genome regulation and structure – 2020 papers collection
- Author
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Yuriy L. Orlov, Ralf Hofestädt, Oxana B. Dobrovolskaya, and Ming Chen
- Subjects
Structure (mathematical logic) ,Editorial ,Genome regulation ,General Medicine ,Computational biology ,Biology ,TP248.13-248.65 ,Biotechnology - Published
- 2020
6. Selected Extended Papers of the 11th International Conference on Practical Applications of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (PACBB)
- Author
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Miguel Rocha, Florentino Fdez-Riverola, and Universidade do Minho
- Subjects
0303 health sciences ,03 medical and health sciences ,Engineering ,Science & Technology ,business.industry ,030302 biochemistry & molecular biology ,Guest Editorial ,General Medicine ,business ,Data science ,TP248.13-248.65 ,030304 developmental biology ,Biotechnology - Abstract
[Excerpt] This special issue includes extended versions of a number of papers selected from the International Conference on Practical Applications of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (PACBB 2017) that was held in Porto (Portugal)inJune2017.Thisforum,alreadyinitseleventhedition,aimstogatherandpromotetheinteraction of a community of researchers developing applied Bioinformatics or Chemoinformatics solutions for diverse problemsinbiologicalandbiomedicalresearch. [...], info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
- Published
- 2017
7. Integrating Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics Education
- Author
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Sina Franziska Schumacher, Hanna Marie Schilbert, and Boas Pucker
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Male ,Cooperative learning ,Computer science ,Teaching method ,Genomics ,transcriptome assembly ,MOLECULAR BIOLOGY METHODS ,Bioinformatics ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Genome research ,ngs ,Opinion Papers ,Research based ,ComputingMilieux_COMPUTERSANDEDUCATION ,Humans ,molecular biology ,030304 developmental biology ,0303 health sciences ,molecular_biology ,variant calling ,Scale (chemistry) ,Computational Biology ,General Medicine ,bioinformatics ,Molecular biology ,teaching ,genome research ,rna-seq ,sequencing technologies ,genome assembly ,Female ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,TP248.13-248.65 ,Biotechnology - Abstract
Combined awareness about the power and limitations of bioinformatics and molecular biology enables advanced research based on high-throughput data. Despite an increasing demand of scientists with a combined background in both fields, the education of dry and wet lab subjects are often still separated. This work describes an example of integrated education with a focus on genomics and transcriptomics. Participants learned computational and molecular biology methods in the same practical course. Peer-review was applied as a teaching method to foster cooperative learning of students with heterogeneous backgrounds. The positive evaluation results indicate that this approach was accepted by the participants and would likely be suitable for wider scale application.
- Published
- 2019
8. Effect of temperature on the structural, linear, and nonlinear optical properties of MgO-doped graphene oxide nanocomposites
- Author
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Salimeh Kimiagar and Fahimeh Abrinaei
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Materials science ,QC1-999 ,Oxide ,02 engineering and technology ,01 natural sciences ,MgO-GO nanocomposites ,Z-scan technique ,Nonlinear optical ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,0103 physical sciences ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,Graphene oxide paper ,010302 applied physics ,Nanocomposite ,business.industry ,Physics ,nonlinear optics ,Nonlinear optics ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics ,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials ,chemistry ,Optoelectronics ,Doped graphene ,0210 nano-technology ,business ,Biotechnology - Abstract
Magnesium oxide (MgO)-graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites were prepared by the hydrothermal method at different temperatures. The effect of growth temperature on the structural, linear, and nonlinear optical (NLO) parameters was investigated. The decoration of MgO on GO sheets was confirmed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, and UV-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy analyses. The energy band-gaps of MgO-GO nanocomposites were calculated from UV-vis spectrum using Tauc plot. The NLO parameters of MgO-GO nanocomposites were calculated for the first time by the simple Z-scan technique with nanosecond Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm. The nonlinear absorption coefficient β and nonlinear refractive index n 2 for MgO-GO nanocomposites at the laser intensity of 1.1×108 W/cm2 were measured to be in the order of 10−7 cm/W and 10−12 cm2/W, respectively. The third-order NLO susceptibility of MgO-GO nanocomposites was measured in the order of 10−9 esu. The results showed that MgO-GO structures have negative nonlinearity as well as good nonlinear two-photon absorption at 532 nm. Furthermore, the NLO parameters increased by the enhancement of the growth temperature. As the investigation of new materials plays an important role in the advancement of optoelectronics, MgO-GO nanocomposites possess potential applications in NLO devices.
- Published
- 2018
9. A Rheological Model for Cupuassu (Theobroma grandiflorum) Pulp at Different Concentrations and Temperatures
- Author
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Arianne Dantas Viana, Luciano Brito Rodrigues, Jadir Noqueira da Silva, Fátima Baptistia, Modesto Antonio Chaves, and Chen, Xiao Dong
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Polynomial regression ,biology ,Pulp (paper) ,Rheometer ,Thermodynamics ,Regression analysis ,engineering.material ,biology.organism_classification ,shear stress ,Shear rate ,Rheology ,viscosity ,Shear stress ,engineering ,Theobroma grandiflorum ,Engineering (miscellaneous) ,Food Science ,Biotechnology ,Mathematics - Abstract
This work was made aiming at studying the best model for the rheological properties of Cupuassu (Theobroma grandiflorum, Schum) pulps with 14 (in nature), 17, 19, 23 and 25°Brix of total soluble solids (TSS) which were measured at 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60°C temperature using a concentric cylinder rheometer. The results were adjusted to the following nine models: Ostwald-de-Waele (power law), Bingham, Casson, Generalized Casson, Heinz–Casson, Herschel–Bulkley, Mizrahi–Berk, Schulmann–Haroske–Reher and Windhab. The parameters of the best model were correlated with pulp temperature and TSS by polynomial regression analysis and were kept in the regression equation only those parameters that contributed more than 1% to the variation of the independent variable. The results indicate that the rheological behavior of Cupuassu pulp in different concentrations and temperatures can be modeled by the Windhab model, although other models can be used in a narrower band of shear stress.
- Published
- 2013
10. Clinical implications of anti-idiotype antibodies in COVID-19.
- Author
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Shukla, Ajay Kumar and Misra, Saurav
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VIRUS disease drug therapy ,VIRAL disease prevention ,THERAPEUTIC use of monoclonal antibodies ,VACCINES ,MONOCLONAL antibodies ,COVID-19 pandemic ,DIFFUSION of innovations ,BIOTECHNOLOGY - Abstract
Idiotype-based therapeutics have failed to deliver their promise, necessitating rethinking of the concept and its potential to develop a viable immunotherapy method. The idiotype based hypothesis is discussed in this paper in order to produce effective anti-idiotype vaccinations. Polyclonal anti-idiotype reagents have been shown to be more successful in animal models, and a better understanding of the immune response in humans supports the idea that polyclonal anti-idiotype vaccines will be more effective than monoclonal-based anti-idiotype vaccines. This innovative approach can be used to produce therapeutic antibodies in a Biotech-standard manner. The idiotype network has been tweaked in the lab to provide protection against a variety of microbiological diseases. Antibodies to image-idiotype antigens, both internal and non-internal, can elicit unique immune responses to antigens. The current outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-2) has presented a fantastic chance to use idiotype/anti-idiotype antibodies as a protective regimen, which might be used to treat COVID-19 patients. The development of various effective vaccinations has been crucial in the pandemic's management, but their effectiveness has been limited. In certain healthy people, the development of viral variations and vaccinations can be linked to rare off-target or hazardous effects, such as allergic responses, myocarditis and immune-mediated thrombosis and thrombocytopenia. Many of these occurrences are most likely immune-mediated. The current analysis reveals successful idiotype/anti-idiotype antibody uses in a variety of viral illnesses, emphazising their importance in the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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11. Artificial neural networks: applications in chemical engineering.
- Author
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Pirdashti, Mohsen, Curteanu, Silvia, Kamangar, Mehrdad Hashemi, Hassim, Mimi H., and Khatami, Mohammad Amin
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ARTIFICIAL neural networks ,CHEMICAL engineering ,FAULT diagnosis ,PETROLEUM chemicals ,PETROLEUM industry ,GAS industry ,BIOTECHNOLOGY ,NANOTECHNOLOGY - Abstract
Artificial neural networks (ANN) provide a range of powerful new techniques for solving problems in sensor data analysis, fault detection, process identification, and control and have been used in a diverse range of chemical engineering applications. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of various ANN applications within the field of chemical engineering (CE). It deals with the significant aspects of ANN (architecture, methods of developing and training, and modeling strategies) in correlation with various types of applications. A systematic classification scheme is also presented, which uncovers, classifies, and interprets the existing works related to the ANN methodologies and applications within the CE domain. Based on this scheme, 717 scholarly papers from 169 journals are categorized into specific application areas and general (other) applications, including the following topics: petrochemicals, oil and gas industry, biotechnology, cellular industry, environment, health and safety, fuel and energy, mineral industry, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical industry, and polymer industry. It is hoped that this paper will serve as a comprehensive state-of-the-art reference for chemical engineers besides highlighting the potential applications of ANN in CE-related problems and consequently enhancing the future ANN research in CE field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
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12. Screening for xylanase and β-xylosidase production from wood-inhabiting Penicillium strains for potential use in biotechnological applications.
- Author
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Lee, Jaejung, Jang, Yeongseon, Lee, Hanbyul, Lee, Sangjoon, Kim, Gyu-Hyeok, and Kim, Jae-Jin
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XYLANASES ,XYLOSIDASES ,PENICILLIUM ,WOOD-pulp ,BIOTECHNOLOGY ,CELLULASE ,ETHANOL as fuel - Abstract
Experiments were performed to find potential sources for enzyme production for the pulp and paper industry and for biological ethanol production by screening the cellulase, xylanase and β-xylosidase activities of 36 species of Penicillium isolated from various wood materials in Korea. Rice straw powder (RiceP), birchwood xylan (BirchX), and beechwood xylan (BeechX) were supplied as individual carbon sources for the Penicillium species. All Penicillium species tested in this study showed little cellulase activity, but some species exhibited remarkably high xylanase and β-xylosidase activities, as determined by a filter paper assay. P. oxalicum showed the greatest xylanase activity on RiceP (158.70 U ml
-1 ). On the other hand, P. brevicompactum produced the highest active β-xylosidase on BirchX (6.25 U ml-1 ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2012
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13. A device and an app for the diagnosis and self-management of tinnitus
- Author
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Vittorini Pierpaolo, Chamoso Pablo, and De la Prieta Fernando
- Subjects
acufenometry ,app ,audiometry ,device ,tinnitus ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
Tinnitus is an annoying ringing in the ears, in varying shades and intensities. Tinnitus can affect a person’s overall health and social well-being (e.g., sleep problems, trouble concentrating, anxiety, depression and inability to work). The diagnostic procedure of tinnitus usually consists of three steps: an audiological examination, psychoacoustic measurement, and a disability evaluation. All steps are performed by physicians, who use specialised hardware/software and administer questionnaires. This paper presents a system, to be used by patients, for the diagnosis and self-management of tinnitus. The system is made up of an app and a device. The app is responsible for executing – through the device – a part of the required audiological and psychoacoustic examinations, as well as administering questionnaires that evaluate disability. The paper reviews the quality of the automated audiometric reporting and the user experience provided by the app. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to support the findings. The results show that automated reporting is comparable with that of physicians and that user experience was improved by re-designing and re-developing the acufenometry of the app. As for the user experience, two experts in Human-Computer Interaction evaluated the first version of the app: their agreement was good (Cohen’s K = 0.639) and the average rating of the app was 1.43/2. Also patients evaluated the app in its initial version: the satisfactory tasks (audiometry and questionnaires) were rated as 4.31/5 and 4.65/5. The unsatisfactory task (acufenometry) was improved and the average rating increased from 2.86/5 to 3.96/5 (p = 0.0005). Finally, the general usability of the app was increased from the initial value of 73.6/100 to 85.4/100 (p = 0.0003). The strengths of the project are twofold. Firstly, the automated reporting feature, which – to the best of our knowledge – is the first attempt in this area. Secondly, the overall app usability, which was evaluated and improved during its development. In summary, the conclusion drawn from the conducted project is that the system works as expected, and despite some weaknesses, also the replication of the device would not be expensive, and it can be used in different scenarios.
- Published
- 2022
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14. Strategic Labeling and Trade of GMOs.
- Author
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Veyssiere, Luc and Giannakas, Konstantinos
- Subjects
AGRICULTURAL biotechnology ,GENETICALLY modified foods ,ECONOMICS ,ECONOMIC equilibrium ,SUPPLY & demand ,CONSUMER preferences - Abstract
The emergence of agricultural biotechnology and the subsequent introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the food system have been among the most controversial issues surrounding the increasingly scrutinized agri-food system. They have received considerable attention in the economics literature with the main focus being on the optimal regulatory response to products of biotechnology. This paper builds on the literature on the regulation of products of biotechnology by placing the analysis of labeling decisions in a multi-country context. Specifically, the objective of this study is to examine the effect of the strategic interdependence between countries on their regulatory responses to products of biotechnology. The paper analyzes the strategic effects of national regulatory decisions on labeling of GM products and identifies the determinants of the non-cooperative Nash equilibrium labeling regimes in a small number of producing countries that supply the world market of an agricultural product. Analytical results show that the Nash equilibrium configuration of labeling regimes in countries that have adopted the GM technology depends on (i) the distribution of consumer preferences and the level of consumer aversion to GM products; (ii) the size of the segregation and labeling costs in these countries; (iii) the relative productive efficiency and the cost effectiveness of the GM technology; (iv) the market power of the life science companies; and (v) the strength of intellectual property rights in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006
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15. Bioinspired and biobased chemistry & materials (N.I.C.E. 2020): onsite and online hybrid conference.
- Author
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Salapare III, Hernando S., Amigoni, Sonia, and Guittard, Frédéric
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CHEMICAL processes ,IRON oxide nanoparticles ,BIOMIMETIC chemicals ,CONFERENCES & conventions ,COVID-19 pandemic - Abstract
For this special issue, we collected 8 high quality and breaking research papers on bioinspired and biobased chemistry and materials that were presented in the conference. Keywords: Biobased chemistry and materials; bioinspiration; biomimetics; biomimicry; bionic surfaces and interfaces; biotechnology; molecular architectures; nanobiocatalysts; nanotechnology; NICE 2020; smart technology; sustainable energy EN Biobased chemistry and materials bioinspiration biomimetics biomimicry bionic surfaces and interfaces biotechnology molecular architectures nanobiocatalysts nanotechnology NICE 2020 smart technology sustainable energy 1245 1246 2 11/29/21 20211101 NES 211101 As with the previous editions of NICE Conference, the aim of the 5th International Conference on Bioinspired and Biobased Chemistry & Materials (NICE 2020 Conference) is to provide a venue to experts, researchers, managers, manufacturers and policy makers from different countries and with different scientific backgrounds a place for the exchange of ideas, the open discussion of current research problems and the development of new ideas and collaborations with the aim of sustainable, green, and environmentally friendly solutions to material challenges that will have a lasting impact for generations. Bioinspiration, biomimetics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, NICE 2020, smart technology, Biobased chemistry and materials, bionic surfaces and interfaces, biomimicry, molecular architectures, nanobiocatalysts, sustainable energy. [Extracted from the article]
- Published
- 2021
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16. Production of lignocellulosic gasoline using fast pyrolysis of biomass and a conventional refining scheme.
- Author
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de Rezende Pinho, Andrea, de Almeida, Marlon Brando Bezerra, Mendes, Fabio Leal, and Ximenes, Vitor Loureiro
- Subjects
LIGNOCELLULOSE ,GASOLINE ,PYROLYSIS ,BIOMASS ,SUGARCANE ,AROMATIC compounds ,PETROLEUM chemicals industry - Abstract
This paper shows how some existing refining technologies such as fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) can be modified to process bio-oil, derived from agricultural lignocellulosic wastes such as the sugar cane straw. Tests carried out in demonstration scale (150 kg/h) show the potential of these alternative materials to produce lignocellulosic gasoline or aromatic compounds, suitable to the petrochemical industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
17. The Economics of Biofuel Policy and Biotechnology.
- Author
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Hochman, Gal, Sexton, Steven E., and Zilberman, David D.
- Subjects
ENERGY policy ,BIOMASS energy industries ,BIOMASS energy ,CAPITAL investments ,ETHANOL as fuel ,TECHNOLOGICAL innovations ,AGRICULTURAL biotechnology ,GOVERNMENT policy - Abstract
This paper employs a partial equilibrium trade framework to show that biofuel policy can substitute for traditional agricultural policy intended to boost farm welfare. It also shows how food market volatility can induce periods of boom and bust in the ethanol industry, causing episodes of bankruptcy and reduced capital investment. This paper further models the effects of two specific technological innovations—cellulosic ethanol and agricultural biotechnology—on food and fuel markets and demonstrates that technology can reduce ethanol market volatility. A parameterized model is used to characterize the impacts of biofuels on food and fuel markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008
- Full Text
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18. Diagnosis of diabetes in pregnant woman using a Chaotic-Jaya hybridized extreme learning machine model
- Author
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Debata Prajna Paramita and Mohapatra Puspanjali
- Subjects
chaotic jaya algorithm ,diabetes diagnosis ,extreme learning machine ,multi-layer perceptron ,optimization ,teaching learning based optimization ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
As stated by World Health Organization (WHO) report, 246 million individuals have suffered with diabetes disease over worldwide and it is anticipated that by 2025 this estimation can cross 380 million. So, the proper and quick diagnosis of this disease is turned into a significant challenge for the machine learning researchers. This paper aims to design a robust model for diagnosis of diabetes using a hybrid approach of Chaotic-Jaya (CJaya) algorithm with Extreme Learning Machine (ELM), which is named as CJaya-ELM. In this paper, Jaya algorithm with Chaotic learning approach is used to optimize the random parameters of ELM classifier. Here, to assess the efficacy of the designed model, Pima Indian diabetes dataset is considered. Here, the designed model CJaya-ELM, has been compared with basic ELM, Teaching Learning Based Optimization algorithm (TLBO) optimized ELM (TLBO-ELM), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Jaya algorithm optimized MLP (Jaya-MLP), TLBO algorithm optimized MLP (TLBO-MLP) and CJaya algorithm optimized MLP models. CJaya-ELM model resulted in the highest testing accuracy of 0.9687, sensitivity of 1, specificity of 0.9688 with 0.9782 area under curve (AUC) value. Results reveal that CJaya-ELM model effectively classifies both the positive and negative samples of Pima and outperforms the competitors.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
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19. Programmatic Access to FAIRified Digital Plant Genetic Resources
- Author
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Ghaffar Mehmood, Schüler Danuta, König Patrick, Arend Daniel, Junker Astrid, Scholz Uwe, and Lange Matthias
- Subjects
plant digital resources ,genotyping ,phenotyping ,lab information management ,fair data ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
Genetic variance within the genotype of population and its mapping to phenotype variance in a systematic and high throughput manner is of interest for biodiversity and breeding research. Beside the established and efficient high throughput genotype technologies, phenotype capabilities got increased focus in the last decade. This results in an increasing amount of phenotype data from well scaling, automated sensor platform. Thus, data stewardship is a central component to make experimental data from multiple domains interoperable and re-usable. To ensure a standard and comprehensive sharing of scientific and experimental data among domain experts, FAIR data principles are utilized for machine read-ability and scale-ability. In this context, BrAPI consortium, provides a comprehensive and commonly agreed FAIRed guidelines to offer a BrAPI layered scientific data in a RESTful manner. This paper presents the concepts, best practices and implementations to meet these challenges. As one of the worlds leading plant research institutes it is of vital interest for the IPK-Gatersleben to transform legacy data infrastructures into a bio-digital resource center for plant genetics resources (PGR). This paper also demonstrates the benefits of integrated database back-ends, established data stewardship processes, and FAIR data exposition in a machine-readable, highly scalable programmatic interfaces.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
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20. Approaches to Set Rules for Trade in the Products of Agricultural Biotechnology. Is Harmonization under Trans-Pacific Partnership Possible?
- Author
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Viju, Crina, Kerr, William A, and Smyth, Stuart
- Subjects
AGRICULTURAL biotechnology laws ,TRANS-Pacific Partnership ,AGRICULTURAL biotechnology ,TRANSGENIC organisms -- Law & legislation ,CONFERENCES & conventions - Abstract
Given the absence of progress toward a multilateral agreement on trade liberalization in the WTO's Doha Round, countries are attempting to gain the perceived gains from trade through the negotiation of preferential trade agreements. One of the most ambitious attempts to negotiate a preferential agreement is the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) which encompasses 12 countries across the Pacific including both the US and Japan. The TPP members account for approximately 40 % of global GDP. One of the most difficult issues in current international trade policy is the regulation of trade in the products of modern agricultural biotechnology. This question was on the negotiating agenda of the TPP. The objective of this paper is to lay out the major issues in the trade of products of modern agricultural biotechnology and examines the regulatory regimes for biotechnology in the 12 TPP countries. It finds that there is a significant divergence in the approaches to regulating genetically modified organisms (GMOs) across the TPP countries. As a result, the development of a harmonized regulatory regime to govern trade in GMOs was impossible directly in the TPP. A forum where the development of a harmonized system could potentially be undertaken was, however, agreed in the TPP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
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21. SAMNA: accurate alignment of multiple biological networks based on simulated annealing
- Author
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Chen Jing, Wang Zixiang, and Huang Jia
- Subjects
multiple network alignment ,protein–protein interaction network ,simulated annealing algorithm ,network clustering ,sequence similarity ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
Proteins are important parts of the biological structures and encode a lot of biological information. Protein–protein interaction network alignment is a model for analyzing proteins that helps discover conserved functions between organisms and predict unknown functions. In particular, multi-network alignment aims at finding the mapping relationship among multiple network nodes, so as to transfer the knowledge across species. However, with the increasing complexity of PPI networks, how to perform network alignment more accurately and efficiently is a new challenge. This paper proposes a new global network alignment algorithm called Simulated Annealing Multiple Network Alignment (SAMNA), using both network topology and sequence homology information. To generate the alignment, SAMNA first generates cross-network candidate clusters by a clustering algorithm on a k-partite similarity graph constructed with sequence similarity information, and then selects candidate cluster nodes as alignment results and optimizes them using an improved simulated annealing algorithm. Finally, the SAMNA algorithm was experimented on synthetic and real-world network datasets, and the results showed that SAMNA outperformed the state-of-the-art algorithm in biological performance.
- Published
- 2023
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22. An overview of machine learning and deep learning techniques for predicting epileptic seizures
- Author
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Zurdo-Tabernero Marco, Canal-Alonso Ángel, de la Prieta Fernando, Rodríguez Sara, Prieto Javier, and Corchado Juan Manuel
- Subjects
seizure prediction ,machine learning ,epilepsy ,electroencephalogram ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder (the third most common, following stroke and migraines). A key aspect of its diagnosis is the presence of seizures that occur without a known cause and the potential for new seizures to occur. Machine learning has shown potential as a cost-effective alternative for rapid diagnosis. In this study, we review the current state of machine learning in the detection and prediction of epileptic seizures. The objective of this study is to portray the existing machine learning methods for seizure prediction. Internet bibliographical searches were conducted to identify relevant literature on the topic. Through cross-referencing from key articles, additional references were obtained to provide a comprehensive overview of the techniques. As the aim of this paper aims is not a pure bibliographical review of the subject, the publications here cited have been selected among many others based on their number of citations. To implement accurate diagnostic and treatment tools, it is necessary to achieve a balance between prediction time, sensitivity, and specificity. This balance can be achieved using deep learning algorithms. The best performance and results are often achieved by combining multiple techniques and features, but this approach can also increase computational requirements.
- Published
- 2023
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23. Homo biotechnologicus.
- Author
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Višňovský, Emil
- Abstract
The paper outlines the concept of the human being as homo biotechnologicus. This concept is just one version of many possible human self-interpretations, since human beings can answer their own fundamental question of 'who are we?' simply using their 'human, all too human' self-descriptions. However, technology is a substantial part of the human being as a natural being, and biotechnology is, moreover, its root. The biotechnology of today's world means that humanity is set on a path to transcending its own human nature, with all the risky consequences that entails. The author considers these radical developments from the standpoint of posthumanism [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
24. STARGATE-X: a Python package for statistical analysis on the REACTOME network
- Author
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Marino Andrea, Sinaimeri Blerina, Tronci Enrico, and Calamoneri Tiziana
- Subjects
biochemical reaction networks ,network analysis ,pathways ,reactome ,stargate-x ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
Many important aspects of biological knowledge at the molecular level can be represented by pathways. Through their analysis, we gain mechanistic insights and interpret lists of interesting genes from experiments (usually omics and functional genomic experiments). As a result, pathways play a central role in the development of bioinformatics methods and tools for computing predictions from known molecular-level mechanisms. Qualitative as well as quantitative knowledge about pathways can be effectively represented through biochemical networks linking the biochemical reactions and the compounds (e.g., proteins) occurring in the considered pathways. So, repositories providing biochemical networks for known pathways play a central role in bioinformatics and in systems biology. Here we focus on Reactome, a free, comprehensive, and widely used repository for biochemical networks and pathways. In this paper, we: (1) introduce a tool StARGate-X (STatistical Analysis of the Reactome multi-GrAph Through nEtworkX) to carry out an automated analysis of the connectivity properties of Reactome biochemical reaction network and of its biological hierarchy (i.e., cell compartments, namely, the closed parts within the cytosol, usually surrounded by a membrane); the code is freely available at https://github.com/marinoandrea/stargate-x; (2) show the effectiveness of our tool by providing an analysis of the Reactome network, in terms of centrality measures, with respect to in- and out-degree. As an example of usage of StARGate-X, we provide a detailed automated analysis of the Reactome network, in terms of centrality measures. We focus both on the subgraphs induced by single compartments and on the graph whose nodes are the strongly connected components. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first freely available tool that enables automatic analysis of the large biochemical network within Reactome through easy-to-use APIs (Application Programming Interfaces).
- Published
- 2023
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- View/download PDF
25. Is the International Regulation of Biotechnology Coherent?
- Author
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Rhodes, Catherine
- Subjects
BIOTECHNOLOGY industries ,DELEGATED legislation ,BIOTECHNOLOGY ,INTERNATIONAL cooperation ,MATHEMATICAL functions ,GOVERNMENT policy ,PREVENTIVE medicine ,ADMINISTRATIVE procedure ,EVALUATION - Abstract
Coherence has an important influence on the ability of a set of international regulations to function effectively. This paper examines the degree of coherence among the international regulations relevant to applications and impacts of biotechnology, and outlines problems that may arise from a lack of coherence among this regulatory set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
26. Efforts to Overcome Sex Selection in Reproduction in Asia.
- Author
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Macer, Darryl
- Subjects
DIAGNOSIS ,REPRODUCTION ,SEX ratio ,ENDOCRINOLOGY ,BIOTECHNOLOGY ,POPULATION ,SOCIAL responsibility ,ETHICS ,SEX preselection - Abstract
There is significant abuse of medical diagnostic technology in some Asian countries to select male fetuses and embryos over female fetuses, which leads to an imbalanced sex ration at birth. The paper discusses the ethics of sex selection, and reviews policies that have been used. Legal measures to prevent this in China and India are described, as well as the reasons that those efforts have not solved the problem. There are also growing uses of technology for sex selection in Nepal and Vietnam. The Republic of Korea has used policies and education to reverse preference for boys, and there is discussion of the reasons behind this. New partners and policies are required to overcome this serious abuse of biotechnology that is responsible for close to one hundred million missing girls in the world population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
27. Fungal decay of spruce and beech wood assessed by near-infrared spectroscopy in combination with uni- and multivariate data analysis.
- Author
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Karin Fackler, Manfred Schwanninger, Cornelia Gradinger, Ewald Srebotnik, Barbara Hinterstoisser, and Kurt Messner
- Subjects
WOOD ,BASIDIOMYCETES ,FUNGI ,BIOTECHNOLOGY ,HYPOXYLON - Abstract
AbstractWood is colonised and degraded by a variety of micro-organisms, the most efficient ones are wood-rotting basidiomycetes. Microbial decay processes cause damage to wooden constructions, but also have great potential as biotechnological tools to change the properties of wood surfaces and of sound wood. Standard methods to evaluate changes in infected wood, e.g., EN350-1 1994, are time-consuming. Rapid FT-NIR spectroscopic methods are also suitable for this purpose. In this paper, degradation experiments on surfaces of spruce (Picea abiesL. Karst) and beech (Fagus silvaticaL.) were carried out with white rot basidiomycetes or the ascomycete Hypoxylon fragiforme. Experiments with brown rot or soft rot caused by Chaetomium globosumwere also performed. FT-NIR spectra collected from the degraded wood were subjected to principal component analysis. The lignin content and mass loss of the specimens were estimated based on univariate or multivariate data analysis (partial least squares regression). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2007
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- View/download PDF
28. Genetically Modi ed Food Standards as Trade Barriers: Harmonization, Compromise, and Sub-Global Agreements.
- Author
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Tothova, Monika and Oehmke, James F.
- Subjects
GENETICALLY modified foods ,FOOD biotechnology ,STANDARDS ,DEVELOPING countries - Abstract
GMOs have brought new concerns into an already challenged world trading system. This paper considers the jointly enodogenous formation of GMO-related standards and sub-global trading agreements. Standards are understood as tolerance levels for GMOs. Sub-global trading agreements may be either formal agreements between countries sanctioned by the WTO, or they may be implicit agreements, e.g. a developing country accepting the U.S. standards. We develop a theoretical model of standard formation and agreement formation. In autarky, national standards reflect the preferences of domestic consumers. The possibility of gains from trade encourages countries to modify their standards to facilitate trade with other countries having similar standards. Whether or not a country engages in trade depends on the magnitude and nature of the gains from trade - e.g. economies of scale, greater variety for consumers, etc. - and the degree of standard modification required for trade. If the gains from trade are sufficient, countries will compromise or harmonize standards to achieve these gains. In the case of countries of similar size (bargaining power), compromise may be feasible. In the case of countries of different size, harmonization of the smaller country's standard to that of the larger country may be more likely. The case of the European Union's de facto prohibition on trade in GMOs is represented as a case in which the gains from trade are insufficient to catalyze a compromise position. Analogously, the North American refusal to restrict or prohibit GMOs indicates that the gains from trade with Europe are insufficient to compensate for this change in standard. In the absence of a common global standard, countries with similar preferences cluster into smaller clubs to capture at least some gains from trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
29. Europe's Regulation of Agricultural Biotechnology: Precaution or Trade Distortion?
- Author
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Sheldon, Ian
- Subjects
AGRICULTURAL biotechnology ,BIOTECHNOLOGY ,HIGH technology ,TECHNOLOGY ,LABELING laws ,LABELS - Abstract
In July 2003, the European Parliament voted on amendments to the European Union's (EU) system of regulation for agricultural biotechnology, most notably the rules for mandatory labeling of food products that contain traces of genetically modified (GM) ingredients. The expectation is that approval of these changes in EU regulations will result in the moratorium on approval of new GM crops, formalized by the Council of the European Union in 1999, being lifted. Despite the approval of these amendments, in August, the US, along with Canada and Argentina, requested the formation of a WTO dispute panel to make a ruling on the EU's failure to approve marketing of a number of GM crops. This paper addresses the issue of whether there is any legitimacy in the EU's precautionary approach to biotechnology regulation, or whether their regulatory approach is trade distorting, and, hence, likely to be found in violation of WTO agreements. First the background to the debate in the EU and US over biotechnology is reviewed, paying particular attention to recent public discussion in the UK where the government has undertaken an extensive public consultation process over regulation of GM crops. Second, the EU's approach to biotechnology regulation is outlined and compared to that in the US, and the analytical foundations of the precautionary principle are reviewed. Third, how GM regulations fit into the rules of the WTO is outlined, along with a discussion of the nature of the US's WTO filing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
30. Agricultural Biotechnology: Productivity, Biodiversity, and Intellectual Property Rights.
- Author
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Zilberman, David, Ameden, Holly, Graff, Gregory, and Qaim, Matin
- Subjects
AGRICULTURAL biotechnology ,BIOTECHNOLOGY ,DEVELOPING countries ,HUMANITARIANISM ,GENETICS - Abstract
This paper argues that current forms of agricultural biotechnology have significant potential for developing countries; the challenge is to realize this potential. We develop a conceptual model that explains why the yield effects of GMVs (genetically modified varieties) tend to be significant and reduce chemical use, contributing to human welfare, and present results from empirical studies that support these findings. We demonstrate that the adoption of GMVs might not necessarily lead to elimination of many varieties. Instead, crop biodiversity may be enhanced. Finally, we discuss how IPR constraints can be addressed, and new institutions that are already emerging may be used to allow developing countries more access to IPRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
31. Consumers' Responses to Front vs. Back Package GM Labels in Japan.
- Author
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Matsumoto, Shigeru
- Subjects
BIOTECHNOLOGY ,CONSUMERS ,FOOD ,MEMORY ,GENETICALLY modified foods ,ADVERTISING ,CONSUMER behavior - Abstract
A number of studies show that consumers are willing to pay premiums for GM-Free foods. In this paper, we examine the effect, if any, that GM-Free messages have on product selection by the consumer. We made sample products which differed in the use of the labels and conducted two experiments: a choice experiment and a memory recall experiment. The result of out choice experiment demonstrates that the consumer who shows general concern about GM foods without relevant biotech knowledge responds to GM-Free messages on front labels. On the other hand, the result of our memory recall experiment shows that the consumer with relevant biotech knowledge uses the product information on the back label. Thus, firms can positively influence the product selection of biotech un-savvy consumers by placing GM-Free messages on the front labels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
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- View/download PDF
32. Data literacy in genome research
- Author
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Wolff Katharina, Friedhoff Ronja, Schwarzer Friderieke, and Pucker Boas
- Subjects
computational biology ,genomics ,sequencing ,data literacy ,bioinformatics ,education ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
With an ever increasing amount of research data available, it becomes constantly more important to possess data literacy skills to benefit from this valuable resource. An integrative course was developed to teach students the fundamentals of data literacy through an engaging genome sequencing project. Each cohort of students performed planning of the experiment, DNA extraction, nanopore sequencing, genome sequence assembly, prediction of genes in the assembled sequence, and assignment of functional annotation terms to predicted genes. Students learned how to communicate science through writing a protocol in the form of a scientific paper, providing comments during a peer-review process, and presenting their findings as part of an international symposium. Many students enjoyed the opportunity to own a project and to work towards a meaningful objective.
- Published
- 2023
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33. Integrated Automatic Workflow for Phylogenetic Tree Analysis Using Public Access and Local Web Services
- Author
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Damkliang Kasikrit, Tandayya Pichaya, Sangket Unitsa, and Pasomsub Ekawat
- Subjects
Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
At the present, coding sequence (CDS) has been discovered and larger CDS is being revealed frequently. Approaches and related tools have also been developed and upgraded concurrently, especially for phylogenetic tree analysis. This paper proposes an integrated automatic Taverna workflow for the phylogenetic tree inferring analysis using public access web services at European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), and our own deployed local web services. The workflow input is a set of CDS in the Fasta format. The workflow supports 1,000 to 20,000 numbers in bootstrapping replication. The workflow performs the tree inferring such as Parsimony (PARS), Distance Matrix - Neighbor Joining (DIST-NJ), and Maximum Likelihood (ML) algorithms of EMBOSS PHYLIPNEW package based on our proposed Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) similarity score. The local web services are implemented and deployed into two types using the Soaplab2 and Apache Axis2 deployment. There are SOAP and Java Web Service (JWS) providing WSDL endpoints to Taverna Workbench, a workflow manager. The workflow has been validated, the performance has been measured, and its results have been verified. Our workflow’s execution time is less than ten minutes for inferring a tree with 10,000 replicates of the bootstrapping numbers. This paper proposes a new integrated automatic workflow which will be beneficial to the bioinformaticians with an intermediate level of knowledge and experiences. The all local services have been deployed at our portal http://bioservices.sci.psu.ac.th
- Published
- 2016
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34. Co-creation environment with cloud virtual reality and real-time artificial intelligence toward the design of molecular robots
- Author
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Konagaya Akihiko, Gutmann Gregory, and Zhang Yuhui
- Subjects
cloud virtual reality ,co-creation environment ,molecular robotics ,real-time artificial intelligence ,virtual reality simulation ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
This paper describes the design philosophy for our cloud-based virtual reality (VR) co-creation environment (CCE) for molecular modeling. Using interactive VR simulation can provide enhanced perspectives in molecular modeling for intuitive live demonstration and experimentation in the CCE. Then the use of the CCE can enhance knowledge creation by bringing people together to share and create ideas or knowledge that may not emerge otherwise. Our prototype CCE discussed here, which was developed to demonstrate our design philosophy, has already enabled multiple members to log in and touch virtual molecules running on a cloud server with no noticeable network latency via real-time artificial intelligence techniques. The CCE plays an essential role in the rational design of molecular robot parts, which consist of bio-molecules such as DNA and protein molecules.
- Published
- 2022
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- View/download PDF
35. Neighborhood hypergraph model for topological data analysis
- Author
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Liu Jian, Chen Dong, Li Jingyan, and Wu Jie
- Subjects
hypergraph ,geometric graphs ,neighborhood complex ,neighborhood hypergraph ,persistent homology ,55n31 ,05c65 ,92e10 ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 ,Physics ,QC1-999 - Abstract
Hypergraph, as a generalization of the notions of graph and simplicial complex, has gained a lot of attention in many fields. It is a relatively new mathematical model to describe the high-dimensional structure and geometric shapes of data sets. In this paper,we introduce the neighborhood hypergraph model for graphs and combine the neighborhood hypergraph model with the persistent (embedded) homology of hypergraphs. Given a graph,we can obtain a neighborhood complex introduced by L. Lovász and a filtration of hypergraphs parameterized by aweight function on the power set of the vertex set of the graph. Theweight function can be obtained by the construction fromthe geometric structure of graphs or theweights on the vertices of the graph. We show the persistent theory of such filtrations of hypergraphs. One typical application of the persistent neighborhood hypergraph is to distinguish the planar square structure of cisplatin and transplatin. Another application of persistent neighborhood hypergraph is to describe the structure of small fullerenes such as C20. The bond length and the number of adjacent carbon atoms of a carbon atom can be derived from the persistence diagram. Moreover, our method gives a highly matched stability prediction (with a correlation coefficient 0.9976) of small fullerene molecules.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
36. Bridging data management platforms and visualization tools to enable ad-hoc and smart analytics in life sciences
- Author
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Panse Christian, Trachsel Christian, and Türker Can
- Subjects
accessible ,findable ,interoperable and reusable (fair) ,integrations for data analysis ,open research data (ord) ,workflow ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
Core facilities have to offer technologies that best serve the needs of their users and provide them a competitive advantage in research. They have to set up and maintain instruments in the range of ten to a hundred, which produce large amounts of data and serve thousands of active projects and customers. Particular emphasis has to be given to the reproducibility of the results. More and more, the entire process from building the research hypothesis, conducting the experiments, doing the measurements, through the data explorations and analysis is solely driven by very few experts in various scientific fields. Still, the ability to perform the entire data exploration in real-time on a personal computer is often hampered by the heterogeneity of software, the data structure formats of the output, and the enormous data sizes. These impact the design and architecture of the implemented software stack. At the Functional Genomics Center Zurich (FGCZ), a joint state-of-the-art research and training facility of ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, we have developed the B-Fabric system, which has served for more than a decade, an entire life sciences community with fundamental data science support. In this paper, we sketch how such a system can be used to glue together data (including metadata), computing infrastructures (clusters and clouds), and visualization software to support instant data exploration and visual analysis. We illustrate our in-daily life implemented approach using visualization applications of mass spectrometry data.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
37. A Mathematical Model for Blood Flow Accounting for the Hematological Disorders
- Author
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Karthik A., Kumar P.T.V. Praveen, and Radhika T.S.L.
- Subjects
blood flow ,hematocrit ,mathematical modelling ,newtonian fluid ,homotopy analysis method ,00a71 ,62g10 ,62j05 ,76d05 ,65h20 ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 ,Physics ,QC1-999 - Abstract
This paper considers a mathematical model that accounts for the hematological disorders of blood in its flow in human arteries. Blood is described as a Newtonian fluid but with its viscosity as a function of the hematocrit, plasma viscosity, and shape factor of the red blood cells. The artery is modeled as a flexible circular pipe with the blood flow as oscillatory. This model is solved using HAM (Homotopy Analysis Method), an approximate analytical method, and we computed expressions for wall shear stress (WSS) and volumetric flow rate. With the help of publicly available data, blood flow in the human femoral artery for male and female populations aged 19 to 60 and above years is simulated for healthy, anemia, and polycythemia cases. The model projected a significant difference in the mean volumetric flow rates in the conditions mentioned above. Results also indicated that the mean WSS of healthy and anemic populations are not significantly different. However, a significant difference in the mean has been observed in healthy and polycythemic conditions. Furthermore, a 33.3% decrease in hematocrit value from that in the normal range (taken as 0.45) of a healthy population has increased the flow rate by 33.5%. For a value 33.3% above 0.45, there is a decrease of 42.7% in the flow rate.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
38. Meetings.
- Subjects
CONFERENCES & conventions ,WOOD ,ENVIRONMENTAL protection ,BIOTECHNOLOGY ,TECHNOLOGICAL innovations - Abstract
No Abstract available [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
39. A fiber optic–nanophotonic approach to the detection of antibodies and viral particles of COVID-19
- Author
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Tao Peng, Chao-Yang Lu, Zhenhuan Yi, Anatoly A. Svidzinsky, Marlan O. Scully, Jian-Wei Pan, Benjamin W. Neuman, Vincent Poor, Jeffrey D. Cirillo, Garry Adams, Girish S. Agarwal, Moochan Kim, Kai Wang, Steven Scully, Aleksei M. Zheltikov, Sahar Delfan, Volker Deckert, Ming Che Lee, Lan Yang, Edward S. Fry, Philip R. Hemmer, Kimberly R. Chapin, Da-Wei Wang, Aart J. Verhoef, Shi-Yao Zhu, Alma Fernández-González, Jon E. Mogford, Yanhua Shih, Alexei V. Sokolov, Suhail Zubairy, Zehua Han, George W. Kattawar, Szymon Suckewer, Vsevolod V. Belousov, Shahriar Esmaeili, Navid Rajil, and Robert Brick
- Subjects
education.field_of_study ,hollow-core fibers ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Task force ,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ,Physics ,QC1-999 ,Population ,Early detection ,medicine.disease_cause ,Computer security ,computer.software_genre ,detection of sar-cov-2 virus ,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics ,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials ,laser spectroscopic technique ,medicine ,nanophotonics ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,A fibers ,education ,Biological scientists ,computer ,Biotechnology ,Coronavirus - Abstract
Dr Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator, told NBC News on "Meet the Press"that "[T]he U S needs a 'breakthrough' in coronavirus testing to help screen Americans and get a more accurate picture of the virus' spread "We have been involved with biopathogen detection since the 2001 anthrax attacks and were the first to detect anthrax in real-time A variation on the laser spectroscopic techniques we developed for the rapid detection of anthrax can be applied to detect the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2 virus) In addition to detecting a single virus, this technique allows us to read its surface protein structure In particular, we have been conducting research based on a variety of quantum optical approaches aimed at improving our ability to detect Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) viral infection Indeed, the detection of a small concentration of antibodies, after an infection has passed, is a challenging problem Likewise, the early detection of disease, even before a detectible antibody population has been established, is very important Our team is researching both aspects of this problem The paper is written to stimulate the interest of both physical and biological scientists in this important problem It is thus written as a combination of tutorial (review) and future work (preview) We join Prof Federico Capasso and Editor Dennis Couwenberg in expressing our appreciation to all those working so heroically on all aspects of the COVID-19 problem And we thank Drs Capasso and Couwenberg for their invitation to write this paper © 2020 Navid Rajil et al , published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2020
- Published
- 2020
40. Diagnosis of diabetes in pregnant woman using a Chaotic-Jaya hybridized extreme learning machine model
- Author
-
Prajna Paramita Debata and Puspanjali Mohapatra
- Subjects
0209 industrial biotechnology ,diabetes diagnosis ,Computer science ,Chaotic ,teaching learning based optimization ,02 engineering and technology ,Machine learning ,computer.software_genre ,World health ,Article ,multi-layer perceptron ,Machine Learning ,extreme learning machine ,020901 industrial engineering & automation ,Pregnancy ,0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering ,Diabetes Mellitus ,Humans ,Extreme learning machine ,business.industry ,General Medicine ,Random parameters ,Perceptron ,Chaotic Jaya algorithm ,Multilayer perceptron ,020201 artificial intelligence & image processing ,Female ,Artificial intelligence ,Neural Networks, Computer ,Pregnant Women ,business ,Teaching learning ,computer ,Classifier (UML) ,optimization ,TP248.13-248.65 ,Algorithms ,Biotechnology - Abstract
As stated by World Health Organization (WHO) report, 246 million individuals have suffered with diabetes disease over worldwide and it is anticipated that by 2025 this estimation can cross 380 million. So, the proper and quick diagnosis of this disease is turned into a significant challenge for the machine learning researchers. This paper aims to design a robust model for diagnosis of diabetes using a hybrid approach of Chaotic-Jaya (CJaya) algorithm with Extreme Learning Machine (ELM), which is named as CJaya-ELM. In this paper, Jaya algorithm with Chaotic learning approach is used to optimize the random parameters of ELM classifier. Here, to assess the efficacy of the designed model, Pima Indian diabetes dataset is considered. Here, the designed model CJaya-ELM, has been compared with basic ELM, Teaching Learning Based Optimization algorithm (TLBO) optimized ELM (TLBO-ELM), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Jaya algorithm optimized MLP (Jaya-MLP), TLBO algorithm optimized MLP (TLBO-MLP) and CJaya algorithm optimized MLP models. CJaya-ELM model resulted in the highest testing accuracy of 0.9687, sensitivity of 1, specificity of 0.9688 with 0.9782 area under curve (AUC) value. Results reveal that CJaya-ELM model effectively classifies both the positive and negative samples of Pima and outperforms the competitors.
- Published
- 2020
41. A review on the mechanical properties for thin film and block structure characterised by using nanoscratch test
- Author
-
Ji-Hua Zhu, Jun Ren, Feng Xing, Long-yuan Li, Rui Han, Ping Xu, Xianfeng Wang, and Ningxu Han
- Subjects
Technology ,Materials science ,nanoindentation ,thin film ,Physical and theoretical chemistry ,QD450-801 ,Energy Engineering and Power Technology ,Medicine (miscellaneous) ,02 engineering and technology ,TP1-1185 ,01 natural sciences ,Nanomaterials ,Biomaterials ,interfacial property ,Block structure ,0103 physical sciences ,polymer composite ,Composite material ,Thin film ,010302 applied physics ,Critical load ,Materials processing ,critical load ,Process Chemistry and Technology ,Chemical technology ,Industrial chemistry ,Nanoindentation ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,adhesion strength ,Surfaces, Coatings and Films ,nanoscratch ,Polymer composites ,concrete ,0210 nano-technology ,Biotechnology - Abstract
The nanoscratch test has been identified as one of the important tools for evaluating the mechanical and tribological properties of materials. This paper reviews the current researches on the nanoscratch test using to characterise the mechanical properties of three typical materials, including thin film, polymer composite and concrete, from the perspectives of the Berkovich indenter, parameter selection, mode selection, and analysis of resulting data. In addition, to provide a deep understanding on the test from different magnitude, a comparison between the microscratch test and nanoscratch test on the evaluation of tribological performance is also provided in this paper. The characterisation by nanoscratch test of two structural samples, in terms of layered film structures (thin film and coating sample) and single layer block structure (polymer composite sample and concrete samples) are also described in this paper, which aims to provides a deep understand on the evaluation the adhesion, tribological and interfacial properties of the typical materials samples by nanoscratch test. Finally, the coefficient of friction and critical load are discussed, which are two important parameters in tribological properties and adhesion properties.
- Published
- 2019
42. Broadband multi-wavelength optical sensing based on photothermal effect of 2D MXene films
- Author
-
Ming Shao, Zhenye Wang, De Zhou, Zhen Li, Xinliang Zhang, Yerun Gao, Yan Zuo, Shiyu Qin, and Yu Yu
- Subjects
Materials science ,QC1-999 ,Multi wavelength ,02 engineering and technology ,010402 general chemistry ,01 natural sciences ,mxene ,Nanomaterials ,Optical sensing ,Broadband ,photothermal effect ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,business.industry ,multi-wavelength optical sensing ,Physics ,Photothermal effect ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics ,0104 chemical sciences ,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials ,integrated optics ,Optoelectronics ,Integrated optics ,0210 nano-technology ,business ,Biotechnology - Abstract
Two-dimensional (2D) materials were widely used in sensing owing to the tunable physical or chemical properties. For years, optical sensing attracted a massive amount of attention on account of high accuracy, high security, non-invasive measurement, and strong anti-interference ability. Among the various optical sensing schemes, multi-wavelength optical sensing (MWOS) is an important branch and widely adopted in optical image, spectroscopy, or bio/chemical research. However, no spectral selectivity, limited working wavelength range, or intrinsic instability makes conventional 2D materials unsuitable for MWOS. A new class of 2D materials, known as MXene, exhibits outstanding electronic, optical, and thermal properties, leading to new applications in optical sensing. In this paper, we propose an integrated photothermal optical sensor (PHOS) using Ti3C2Tx MXene films. Thanks to the inherent spectral dependence of Ti3C2Tx MXene over a broadband range, the proposed PHOS can respond to different wavelengths from visible to short-wavelength infrared. Because of the efficient photothermal conversion, the PHOS has a control efficiency up to 0.19 π · mW−1 · mm−1 under 980-nm laser pumping and shows a higher control efficiency under red light (690 nm) irradiation. The measured response time of the proposed PHOS is 23.4 μs. This paper brings MXene into chip-integrated optical sensing fields for the first time and shows the potential applications.
- Published
- 2019
43. Global stability dynamics and sensitivity assessment of COVID-19 with timely-delayed diagnosis in Ghana
- Author
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Moore Stephen E., Nyandjo-Bamen Hetsron L., Menoukeu-Pamen Olivier, Asamoah Joshua Kiddy K., and Jin Zhen
- Subjects
epidemiology of covid-19 ,lyapunov function ,latin hypercube sampling ,ghana ,34d23 ,37n25 ,92-10 ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 ,Physics ,QC1-999 - Abstract
In this paper, we study the dynamical effects of timely and delayed diagnosis on the spread of COVID-19 in Ghana during its initial phase by using reported data from March 12 to June 19, 2020. The estimated basic reproduction number, ℛ0, for the proposed model is 1.04. One of the main focus of this study is global stability results. Theoretically and numerically, we show that the disease persistence depends on ℛ0. We carry out a local and global sensitivity analysis. The local sensitivity analysis shows that the most positive sensitive parameter is the recruitment rate, followed by the relative transmissibility rate from the infectious with delayed diagnosis to the susceptible individuals. And that the most negative sensitive parameters are: self-quarantined, waiting time of the infectious for delayed diagnosis and the proportion of the infectious with timely diagnosis. The global sensitivity analysis using the partial rank correlation coefficient confirms the directional flow of the local sensitivity analysis. For public health benefit, our analysis suggests that, a reduction in the inflow of new individuals into the country or a reduction in the inter community inflow of individuals will reduce the basic reproduction number and thereby reduce the number of secondary infections (multiple peaks of the infection). Other recommendations for controlling the disease from the proposed model are provided in Section 7.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
44. Deriving biological applications from domain specific process models
- Author
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Jablonski Stefan, Faerber Matthias, Volz Bernhard, and Genthner Stefanie
- Subjects
Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
In this paper we present how the process modeling and execution tools iPM and iPE can be used to model and execute biological processes. The main focus of this paper is on the flexibility of iPM and iPE with respect to the customization to the biological application domain. We will demonstrate the flexibility of our modeling methodology by giving two examples: Modeling the invocation semantics of web services used in the biological application domain and the processing of streamed data.
- Published
- 2007
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
45. Bismuth-based metamaterials: from narrowband reflective color filter to extremely broadband near perfect absorber
- Author
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Amir Ghobadi, Ekmel Ozbay, Murat Gokbayrak, Hodjat Hajian, Bayram Butun, Ghobadi, Amir, Hajian, Hodjat, Gökbayrak, Murat, Bütün, Bayram, and Özbay, Ekmel
- Subjects
Materials science ,QC1-999 ,Color filter ,perfect absorber ,Impedance matching ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Physics::Optics ,02 engineering and technology ,Nanomaterials ,Bismuth ,Solar irradiation ,03 medical and health sciences ,Narrowband ,Plasmonic resonance ,Color gel ,Broadband ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,030304 developmental biology ,0303 health sciences ,Perfect absorber ,impedance matching ,business.industry ,Physics ,plasmonic resonance ,Metamaterial ,solar irradiation ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics ,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials ,metamaterials ,chemistry ,color filter ,Metamaterials ,Optoelectronics ,0210 nano-technology ,business ,Biotechnology - Abstract
In recent years, sub-wavelength metamaterials-based light perfect absorbers have been the subject of many studies. The most frequently utilized absorber configuration is based on nanostructured plasmonic metals. However, two main drawbacks were raised for this design architecture. One is the fabrication complexity and large scale incompatibility of these nano units. The other one is the inherent limitation of these common metals which mostly operate in the visible frequency range. Recently, strong interference effects in lithography-free planar multilayer designs have been proposed as a solution for tackling these drawbacks. In this paper, we reveal the extraordinary potential of bismuth (Bi) metal in achieving light perfect absorption in a planar design through a broad wavelength regime. For this aim, we adopted a modeling approach based on the transfer matrix method (TMM) to find the ideal conditions for light perfect absorption. According to the findings of our modeling and numerical simulations, it was demonstrated that the use of Bi in the metal-insulator-metal-insulator (MIMI) configuration can simultaneously provide two distinct functionalities; a narrow near unity reflection response and an ultra-broadband near perfect absorption. The reflection behavior can be employed to realize additive color filters in the visible range, while the ultra-broadband absorption response of the design can fully harvest solar irradiation in the visible and near infrared (NIR) ranges. The findings of this paper demonstrate the extraordinary potential of Bi metal for the design of deep sub-wavelength optical devices.
- Published
- 2019
46. Fast alignment of reads to a variation graph with application to SNP detection
- Author
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Monsu Maurilio and Comin Matteo
- Subjects
reads alignment ,snp detection ,variation graph ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
Sequencing technologies has provided the basis of most modern genome sequencing studies due to its high base-level accuracy and relatively low cost. One of the most demanding step is mapping reads to the human reference genome. The reliance on a single reference human genome could introduce substantial biases in downstream analyses. Pangenomic graph reference representations offer an attractive approach for storing genetic variations. Moreover, it is possible to include known variants in the reference in order to make read mapping, variant calling, and genotyping variant-aware. Only recently a framework for variation graphs, vg [Garrison E, Adam MN, Siren J, et al. Variation graph toolkit improves read mapping by representing genetic variation in the reference. Nat Biotechnol 2018;36:875–9], have improved variation-aware alignment and variant calling in general. The major bottleneck of vg is its high cost of reads mapping to a variation graph. In this paper we study the problem of SNP calling on a variation graph and we present a fast reads alignment tool, named VG SNP-Aware. VG SNP-Aware is able align reads exactly to a variation graph and detect SNPs based on these aligned reads. The results show that VG SNP-Aware can efficiently map reads to a variation graph with a speedup of 40× with respect to vg and similar accuracy on SNPs detection.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
47. In silico approach to understand epigenetics of POTEE in ovarian cancer
- Author
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Qazi Sahar and Raza Khalid
- Subjects
deep neural network ,md simulation ,network-based epigenetics ,ovarian cancer ,potee ,template-based modeling ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
Ovarian cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in India. Epigenetics mechanisms seemingly plays an important role in ovarian cancer. This paper highlights the crucial epigenetic changes that occur in POTEE that get hypomethylated in ovarian cancer. We utilized the POTEE paralog mRNA sequence to identify major motifs and also performed its enrichment analysis. We identified 6 motifs of varying lengths, out of which only three motifs, including CTTCCAGCAGATGTGGATCA, GGAACTGCC, and CGCCACATGCAGGC were most likely to be present in the nucleotide sequence of POTEE. By enrichment and occurrences identification analyses, we rectified the best match motif as CTTCCAGCAGATGT. Since there is no experimentally verified structure of POTEE paralog, thus, we predicted the POTEE structure using an automated workflow for template-based modeling using the power of a deep neural network. Additionally, to validate our predicted model we used AlphaFold predicted POTEE structure and observed that the residual stretch starting from 237-958 had a very high confidence per residue. Furthermore, POTEE predicted model stability was evaluated using replica exchange molecular dynamic simulation for 50 ns. Our network-based epigenetic analysis discerns only 10 highly significant, direct, and physical associators of POTEE. Our finding aims to provide new insights about the POTEE paralog.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
48. Optimal Control of a Dengue-Dengvaxia Model: Comparison Between Vaccination and Vector Control
- Author
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Mentuda Cheryl Q.
- Subjects
dengvaxia ,vaccination ,ℛ0 ,optimal control ,pontryagin maximum principle ,34d23 ,92d30 ,92-10 ,49j15 ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 ,Physics ,QC1-999 - Abstract
Dengue is the most common mosquito-borne viral infection transmitted disease. It is due to the four types of viruses (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, DENV-4), which transmit through the bite of infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus female mosquitoes during the daytime. The first globally commercialized vaccine is Dengvaxia, also known as the CYD-TDV vaccine, manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur. This paper presents a Ross-type epidemic model to describe the vaccine interaction between humans and mosquitoes using an entomological mosquito growth population and constant human population. After establishing the basic reproduction number ℛ0, we present three control strategies: vaccination, vector control, and the combination of vaccination and vector control. We use Pontryagin’s minimum principle to characterize optimal control and apply numerical simulations to determine which strategies best suit each compartment. Results show that vector control requires shorter time applications in minimizing mosquito populations. Whereas vaccinating the primary susceptible human population requires a shorter time compared to the secondary susceptible human.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
49. An evaluation study of biclusters visualization techniques of gene expression data
- Author
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Aouabed Haithem, Elloumi Mourad, and Santamaría Rodrigo
- Subjects
biclustering algorithms ,biclusters ,information visualization ,overlaps ,visualization ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 - Abstract
Biclustering is a non-supervised data mining technique used to analyze gene expression data, it consists to classify subgroups of genes that have similar behavior under subgroups of conditions. The classified genes can have independent behavior under other subgroups of conditions. Discovering such co-expressed genes, called biclusters, can be helpful to find specific biological features such as gene interactions under different circumstances. Compared to clustering, biclustering has two main characteristics: bi-dimensionality which means grouping both genes and conditions simultaneously and overlapping which means allowing genes to be in more than one bicluster at the same time. Biclustering algorithms, which continue to be developed at a constant pace, give as output a large number of overlapping biclusters. Visualizing groups of biclusters is still a non-trivial task due to their overlapping. In this paper, we present the most interesting techniques to visualize groups of biclusters and evaluate them.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
50. The Knot Spectrum of Confined Random Equilateral Polygons
- Author
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Diao Y., Ernst C., Montemayor A., Rawdon E., and Ziegler U.
- Subjects
dna packing ,topology of circular dna ,random polygons ,dna knots ,knot spectrum of random polygons ,Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 ,Physics ,QC1-999 - Abstract
It is well known that genomic materials (long DNA chains) of living organisms are often packed compactly under extreme confining conditions using macromolecular self-assembly processes but the general DNA packing mechanism remains an unsolved problem. It has been proposed that the topology of the packed DNA may be used to study the DNA packing mechanism. For example, in the case of (mutant) bacteriophage P4, DNA molecules packed inside the bacteriophage head are considered to be circular since the two sticky ends of the DNA are close to each other. The DNAs extracted from the capsid without separating the two ends can thus preserve the topology of the (circular) DNAs. It turns out that the circular DNAs extracted from bacteriophage P4 are non-trivially knotted with very high probability and with a bias toward chiral knots. In order to study this problem using a systematic approach based on mathematical modeling, one needs to introduce a DNA packing model under extreme volume confinement condition and test whether such a model can produce the kind of knot spectrum observed in the experiments. In this paper we introduce and study a model of equilateral random polygons con_ned in a sphere. This model is not meant to generate polygons that model DNA packed in a virus head directly. Instead, the average topological characteristics of this model may serve as benchmark data for totally randomly packed circular DNAs. The difference between the biologically observed topological characteristics and our benchmark data might reveal the bias of DNA packed in the viral capsids and possibly lead to a better understanding of the DNA packing mechanism, at least for the bacteriophage DNA. The purpose of this paper is to provide information about the knot spectrum of equilateral random polygons under such a spherical confinement with length and confinement ratios in a range comparable to circular DNAs packed inside bacteriophage heads.
- Published
- 2014
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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