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Nanostructured columnar titanium nitride (TiN) thin films were produced by oblique angle deposition using reactive magnetron sputtering. The influence of the angular distribution of the incoming particle flux on the resulting film morphology (column tilt angle, porosity, surface roughness) was studied by varying the inclination angle α of the substrate at two different working pressures, 0.3 and 0.5 Pa. The microstructural features and columns tilt angles βexp determined experimentally were compared to those simulated from two kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) models. With increasing pressure, the TiN columns were found to be less defined but no significant changes in βexp were revealed. Both KMC models satisfactorily reproduced the experimental findings, the agreement being closer at 0.5 Pa. The evolution of β angle is also discussed with respect to the resulting incidence angle θres of the incoming flux, this latter quantity accounting for the local incidence angle of individual particles, which may greatly differ from the geometrical angle α, especially at high working pressure due to the incoming particle – gas collisions. Crossover phenomena between the 0.3 and 0.5 Pa series were revealed from the evolution of the film resistivity, as well as simulated layer density and surface roughness versus α angle. Keywords: TiN, Reactive magnetron sputtering, Monte Carlo simulations, Particle flux, GLAD

The modern human is getting more and more mobile having access to online services by using mobile cutting-edge computational devices. In the last decade, the field of context-aware services had led to emerge several works. However, most of the proposed approaches have not provided clear adaptation strategies in case of unforeseen contexts. Dealing with this last at runtime is also another crucial need that has been ignored in their proposals. This paper aims to propose a generic dynamic adaptation process as a phase in a model-driven development life-cycle for context-aware services using the MAPE-K control loop to meet the runtime adaptation. This process is validated by implementing an illustrative application on FraSCAti platform. The main benefit of the proposed process is to sustain the self-reconfiguration of such services at model and code levels by enabling successive dynamic adaptations depending on the changing context.

Seven novel pyrazole derivatives (4a-g) and four novel starting compounds incorporating substituted pyridine moieties were synthesized successfully. Cell viability assay for the tested compounds was performed, and the inhibitory concentrationlogarithmic 50 (LogIC 50 ) values of the compounds were calculated after a 24-h treatment. Four of the examined compounds (3d, 3g, 4f, and 4g) showed comparable cytotoxic activity against CaCo-2 compared to the standard drug docetaxel at 0.1 and 1 μM concentrations. Although the LogIC 50  of docetaxel was -0.678 μM for CaCo-2 cells at 24 h, the LogIC 50 values of compounds were -0.794, -0.567, -0.657, and -0.498 μM, respectively. Five of the compounds (2d, 2g, 3d, 3g, and 4e) showed comparable cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 at 0.1 μM concentration compared to docetaxel (p < 0.05). Docking studies revealed the compounds have a good affinity to the active site of the human topoisomerase II β enzyme. The antioxidant capacities of all compounds were determined using both 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and metal chelation methods. Although the compounds did not show significant antioxidant activity, relatively effective are compounds 3c, 3d, and 3g, which are hydrazine derivatives with approximately 50% antioxidant activity of standard antioxidants at concentrations of 62.5 and 125 μg/ml., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

This study aimed to assess the counts and biodiversity characterization of aerobic sporeforming bacteria (ASB) in powdered infant formula (PIF). Fifty-four (n = 54) samples of PIF of three brands were analyzed for mesophilic aerobic bacteria, and ASB counts. ASB isolated from PIF were assessed for their ability to produce spoilage enzymes and hemolytic activity and further identified by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Then, the isolates were subjected to rpoB gene typing and assessment of bceT, entFM, nhe (A, B, C), and hbl (A, B, C) toxin genes. The main species isolated were B. licheniformis (54%), followed by B. cereus (33%) and B. subtilis (5%). The ASB counts ranged from 1 to 4 log CFU/g, and the mean was 2.9 log CFU/g for mesophilic aerobic sporeforming bacteria (MSC) and 2.5 log CFU/g for thermophilic aerobic sporeforming bacteria (TSC). Most PIF samples presented MSC and TSC counts between 2 and 3 log CFU/g. A total of 13%, 50%, and 37% of the samples presented MSC counts from <2 log CFU/g, between 2 and 3 log CFU/g and between 3 and 4 log CFU/g, respectively. Among the ASB isolates, 97% had protease, 84% hydrolyzed starch, 66% had hemolytic activity, and 61% had lecithinase activity. A total of 44 out of 120 isolates harbored at least one toxin gene; 56% for B. cereus, 34% for B licheniformis, and less than 5% for B. subtilis, B pumilus, and L. sphaericus. All B. cereus isolates harbored the nhe gene, 60% entFM, 44% cytK, 32% bceT, and 28% hbl genes. Besides, 17% of B. licheniformis harbored nhe. A small proportion of B. subtilis, B. pumilus, and L. sphaericus carried toxin genes. The rpoB based phylogenetic tree provided high resolution among Bacillus species. The findings of this study provide insights into the phenotypic and genotypic biodiversity of Bacillus present in PIF., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Nine novel hydrazone derivatives (4a-i) incorporating pyridine and isatin moieties were synthesized through one-pot, four-component heterocyclic condensation reactions. The structures of all new compounds (2a-e, 3a, 3c-e, and 4a-e) were identified by 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), 13 C NMR, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic techniques and elemental analysis. Cell viability assays for the tested hydrazone derivatives were performed and the log IC 50 values of the compounds were calculated after a 24-h treatment. All hydrazide derivatives tested showed a promising antitumor activity against A-2780 cells as compared with the standard drug docetaxel with a log IC 50 value of 0.2200 μM (p < .05). Seven of the examined compounds (4b-e, 4g-i) showed high cytotoxic activity against A-2780 cells as compared with the standard drug docetaxel. Whereas the log IC 50 of docetaxel was 0.2200 μM for A-2780 cells at 24 h, the IC 50 values of these compounds were -0.4987, -0.4044, -0.8138, -0.3868, -0.6954, -0.4751, and 0.1809 μM, respectively. Three of the compounds, 4b, 4d, and 4i, showed high cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cells as compared with docetaxel (p < .05). Whereas the log IC 50 of docetaxel was 0.2400 μM for MCF-7 cells at 24 h, the log IC 50 values of compounds 4b, 4d, and 4i were -0.1293, -0.1700, and 0.2459 μM, respectively., (© 2020 Deutsche Pharmazeutische Gesellschaft.)

The aim of the study is the research and identification of a Streptomyces strain as a new producer of spectinabilin, undecylprodigiosin and metacycloprodigiosin. Among 54 actinomycete isolates isolated from El-Ogbane forest soils in Algeria, only one isolate, designated V 002 , was selected for its ability to produce prodigiosins. The selected strain was analysed for its ability to produce three different secondary metabolites as well as their biological activities. V 002 belongs to the Streptomyces genus and has significant antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. The taxonomic position of V 002 by 16S rRNA sequence analysis showed a similarity of 99.93% with Streptomyces lasiicapitis DSM 103124 T and 98.96% with Streptomyces spectabilis DSM 40512 T . Fractionation of crude secondary metabolites produced by the strain using HPLC-MS revealed the presence of spectinabilin, undecylprodigiosin and metacycloprodigiosin, which demonstrated significant activity. Strain V 002 is considered a new producer of spectinabilin, undecylprodigiosin and metacycloprodigiosin with significant antimicrobial and antioxidant activity.

The present data article is concerned with the hygrothermal performance at the wall scale of a new bio-based building material including date palm fibres. A specific test setup allowed to measure temperature and relative humidity (RH) profiles at three different depths of the bio-based wall subjected to outdoor boundary conditions. Besides, a partial differential equations resolution software was then used to solve two mathematical models ( i.e. , Kunzel and Mendes models) describing heat and moisture transfer in porous building materials. Both experimental/simulated temperature and RH profiles are provided with this dataset article. The proposed experimental setup can be used for studying the hygrothermal performance of different kinds of bio-based building materials at wall scale, while experimental/numerical data can serve as reference values for the validation of mathematical models intended to describe heat and mass transfer., (© 2019 The Author(s).)