Improvement of ${\beta}-glucosidase$ Activity of Olea europaea Fruit Extracts Processed by Membrane Technology

Mazzei, R.,Giomo, L.,Spadafora, A.,Mazzuca, S.,Drioli, E. The Membrane Society of Korea 2006 Korean Membrane Journal Vol.8 No.1

The ${\beta}-glucosidase$ from olive fruit is of particular interest compared to the ones from other sources because it has shown to have high specifity to convert the oleuropein into dialdehydes, which have antibacterial activity and are of high interest for their application in the food and pharmaceutical fields. The enzyme is not yet commercially available and advanced clean and safe technologies for its purification able to maintain the functional stability are foreseen. The purification of this protein from fruit extracts has been already tempted by electrophoresis but either enzyme deactivation or high background with unclear profiles occurred. In this work, fruit extracts obtained from the ripening stage that showed the highest enzyme activity have been processed by diafiltration and ultrafiltration. Asymmetric membranes made of polyamide or polysulphone having 50 and 30 kDa molecular weight cut-off, respectively, were tested for the diafiltration process. Ultrafiltration membranes made of polyethersulfone with 4 kDa molecular weight cut-off were used to concentrate the dia-filtered permeate solutions. The efficiency of the separation processes was evaluated byenzyme activity tests using the hydrolysis of p-D-nitrophenyl-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside (pNPGlc) as reaction model. Qualitative and quantitative electrophoresis were applied to analyze the composition of protein solution before and after the membrane separation; in addition dot blot and western blot analyses were applied to verify the presence of ${\beta}-glucosidase$ in the processed fractions. The overall results showed that the ${\beta}-glucosidase$ functional stability was preserved during the membrane operations and the removal of 20 kDa proteins allowed to increase the specific activity of the enzyme of about 52% compared to the one present in the initial fruit extract.

Towards a Unified Control Framework for Humanoid Robots and their Virtual Avatars in Physical and Virtual Reality-based Interactions

Barnabas Takacs,Gergely Richter,Klara Csizinszky,Daniele Mazzei,Lajos Simon 제어로봇시스템학회 2015 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2015 No.10

We introduce a unified modular control architecture and virtual-reality evaluation framework to extend the use of socially capable humanoid robots. Our methodology is based on a unique gesture and facial expression representation module, called cascaded Temporal Disc Controllers (TDCs), that represents all emotional expressions, gestures and time-variant actions in a normalized mathematical space designed to accept high level control commands, while being independent of actual physical robot implementations. At the same time it also provides an underlying mechanism for avoiding repetitive behaviors and increases the “humanness” by minor random perturbations during the interaction process. Our implementation combines two available physical robots (Zeno, FACE) and their virtual representations with active perception in order to drive low- and high level reactive behaviors in support of interactive educational and pedagogical goals. Our photo-realistic representations were used in comparative evaluation studies and a low-cost Augmented-Reality interface was also developed to support seamless interaction in virtual space.

Bio-degradation of Phenol in Wastewater by Enzyme-loaded Membrane Reactor: Numerical Approach

Barbieri, Giuseppe,Choi, Seung-Hak,Scura, Francesco,Mazzei, Rosalinda,Giorno, Lidietta,Drioli, Enrico,Kim, Jeong-Hoon The Membrane Society of Korea 2009 멤브레인 Vol.19 No.1

A mathematical model was written for simulating the removal of phenol from wastewater in enzyme-loaded membrane reactor (EMR). The numerical simulation program was developed so as to predict the degradation of phenol through an EMR. Numerical model proves to be effective in searching for optimal operating conditions and creating an optimal microenvironment for the biocatalyst in order to optimize productivity. In this study, several dimensionless parameters such as Thiele Modulus (${\phi}^2$, dimensionless Michaelis-Menten constant ($\xi$), Peclet number (Pe) were introduced to simplify their effects on system efficiency. In particular, the study of phenol conversion at different feed compositions shows that low phenol concentrations and high Thiele Modulus values lead to higher reactant degradation.

Evaluating productive performance, meat quality and oxidation products of Italian White breed rabbits under free-range and cage rearing system

Tufarelli Vincenzo,Tateo Alessandra,Schiavitto Michele,Mazzei Domenico,Calzaretti Giovanna,Laudadio Vito 아세아·태평양축산학회 2022 Animal Bioscience Vol.35 No.6

Objective: Free-range systems have been increasingly available to the consumer due to increased demand for more sustainable meat-products. In the current study, the effect of free-range (FR) and cage system (CS) was explored on growth performance, meat quality and oxidation products in Italian White breed rabbits during the growing-fattening phase (5 to 13 weeks of age). Methods: Forty rabbits were randomly allotted to two treatment groups according to the rearing system, and each treatment group was replicated five times with four subjects in each replicate (20 rabbits per treatment-group). All rabbits fed the same diet as pelleted, and under FR system, no additional feeds were available to animals. Results: Rearing system had significant effect on rabbit growth performance, where CS group resulted in higher final body weight (p<0.045) and gain (p<0.029) and better feed efficiency (p<0.025) compared to FR rabbits. Most carcass traits were not affected by rearing system; however, a reduction of abdominal fat content (p<0.015) and meat lipids (p<0.034) was observed in FR rabbits. Rearing system had no effects on meat fatty acid profile, whereas meat from FR rabbits resulted less susceptible to lipid and protein oxidation compared to caged animals. Conclusion: In overall, FR system could be suggested as a substitute for conventional caged system because of FR system preserved rabbit meat from oxidation. Objective: Free-range systems have been increasingly available to the consumer due to increased demand for more sustainable meat-products. In the current study, the effect of free-range (FR) and cage system (CS) was explored on growth performance, meat quality and oxidation products in Italian White breed rabbits during the growing-fattening phase (5 to 13 weeks of age).Methods: Forty rabbits were randomly allotted to two treatment groups according to the rearing system, and each treatment group was replicated five times with four subjects in each replicate (20 rabbits per treatment-group). All rabbits fed the same diet as pelleted, and under FR system, no additional feeds were available to animals.Results: Rearing system had significant effect on rabbit growth performance, where CS group resulted in higher final body weight (p<0.045) and gain (p<0.029) and better feed efficiency (p<0.025) compared to FR rabbits. Most carcass traits were not affected by rearing system; however, a reduction of abdominal fat content (p<0.015) and meat lipids (p<0.034) was observed in FR rabbits. Rearing system had no effects on meat fatty acid profile, whereas meat from FR rabbits resulted less susceptible to lipid and protein oxidation compared to caged animals.Conclusion: In overall, FR system could be suggested as a substitute for conventional caged system because of FR system preserved rabbit meat from oxidation.

A Psychological Framework to Objectively Evaluate Socially Capable Robots for Interactive Tutoring Systems

Barnabas Takacs,Klara Csizinszky,Daniele Mazzei,Lajos Simon 제어로봇시스템학회 2015 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2015 No.10

We introduce a novel evaluation methodology to establish psychometrically validated measures to objectively evaluate socially capable robots. Our methodology involves first creating a digital computer generated face model designed to replicate the facial expression space of the robot with the highest accuracy, and second, using this model to render test sequences, which are in turn analyzed with independent facial metrics software. We compared three different facial modelings techniques to approximate our robot"s face and achieved 98.86% accuracy in replicating the facial appearance as measured by facial metric software. This digital face model can now be used to create arbitrary expressions for interaction purposes and for a more detailed analysis of low-amplitude micro-expressions, which are critical for proper social communication with children in a virtual tutoring context. We argue that our methodology is a first step towards objectively assessing the believability of commercially available robots.

Spectropolarimetry of Galactic stars with anomalous extinction sightlines

Cikota, Aleksandar,Hoang, Thiem,Taubenberger, Stefan,Patat, Ferdinando,Mazzei, Paola,Cox, Nick L.J.,Zelaya, Paula,Cikota, Stefan,Tomasella, Lina,Benetti, Stefano,Rodeghiero, Gabriele Springer-Verlag 2018 Astronomy and astrophysics Vol.615 No.-

<P>Highly reddened type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) with low total-to-selective visual extinction ratio values, <I>R</I><I>V</I>, also show peculiar linear polarization wavelength dependencies with peak polarizations at short wavelengths (<I>λ</I>max ≲ 0.4 <I>μ</I>m). It is not clear why sightlines to SNe Ia display such different continuum polarization profiles from interstellar sightlines in the Milky Way with similar <I>R</I><I>V</I> values. We investigate polarization profiles of a sample of Galactic stars with low <I>R</I><I>V</I> values, along anomalous extinction sightlines, with the aim to find similarities to the polarization profiles that we observe in SN Ia sightlines. We undertook spectropolarimetry of 14 stars, used archival data for 3 additional stars, and ran dust extinction and polarization simulations (by adopting the picket-fence alignment model) to infer a simple dust model (size distribution, alignment) that can reproduce the observed extinction and polarization curves. Our sample of Galactic stars with low <I>R</I><I>V</I> values and anomalous extinction sightlines displays normal polarization profiles with an average <I>λ</I>max ~ 0.53 <I>μ</I>m, and is consistent within 3<I>σ</I> to a larger coherent sample of Galactic stars from the literature. Despite the low <I>R</I><I>V</I> values of dust toward the stars in our sample, the polarization curves do not show any similarity to the continuum polarization curves observed toward SNe Ia with low <I>R</I><I>V</I> values. There is a correlation between the best-fit Serkowski parameters <I>K</I> and <I>λ</I>max, but we did not find any significant correlation between <I>R</I><I>V</I> and <I>λ</I>max. Our simulations show that the <I>K</I>-<I>λ</I>max relationship is an intrinsic property of polarization. Furthermore, we have shown that in order to reproduce polarization curves with normal <I>λ</I>max and low <I>R</I><I>V</I> values, a population of large (a ≥ 0.1<I>μm</I>) interstellar silicate grains must be contained in the dust composition.</P>

A step forwards in ethanol selective photo-oxidation

Ciambelli, P.,Sannino, D.,Palma, V.,Vaiano, V.,Mazzei, R.S. Korean Society of Photoscience 2009 Photochemical & photobiological sciences Vol.8 No.5

This work focuses on the optimization of a photocatalyst formulation for the selective oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde. $VO_x/TiO_2$ catalysts at different vanadium loading were studied in a gas-solid photocatalytic fluidized bed reactor at high illumination efficiency, in which the bed is constituted by photocatalyst diluted with $\alpha-Al_2O_3$ or silica gel. Photocatalytic tests showed the selective formation of acetaldehyde, with ethylene and carbon dioxide as by-products. Selectivity is influenced by the vanadium loading. For ethanol inlet concentration of 0.2 vol%, maximum conversion and acetaldehyde selectivity of 73% and 97%, respectively, were obtained at $100^{\circ}C$ on catalyst at nominal 5 wt% $V_2O_5$ content (53% of surface monolayer) mixed with $\alpha-Al_2O_3$. Selective sites were related to surface polymeric vanadates possessing Ti-O-V and V-O-V functionalities while the photoactivity appeared correlated with the catalyst equivalent band gap energy. Increasing the ethanol inlet concentration to 1 vol% and diluting the catalyst with silica gel, total ethanol conversion with about 97% selectivity to acetaldehyde was achieved with a photoreactivity of $0.34\;mol\;{m_{irradiated}}^{-3}\;s^{-1}$. This is three times higher than reported for other photoreactors.

Bio-degradation of Phenol in Wastewater by Enzyme-loaded Membrane Reactor: Numerical Approach

Seung-Hak CHOI,Francesco SCURA,Giuseppe BARBIERI,Rosalinda MAZZEI,Lidietta GIORNO,Enrico DRIOLI,Jeong-Hoon KIM 한국막학회 2009 멤브레인 Vol.19 No.1

A mathematical model was written for simulating the removal of phenol from wastewater in enzyme-loaded membrane reactor (EMR). The numerical simulation program was developed so as to predict the degradation of phenol through an EMR. Numerical model proves to be effective in searching for optimal operating conditions and creating an optimal microenvironment for the biocatalyst in order to optimize productivity. In this study, several dimensionless parameters such as Thiele Modulus (Φ2, dimensionless Michaelis-Menten constant (ξ), Peclet number (Pe) were introduced to simplify their effects on system efficiency. In particular, the study of phenol conversion at different feed compositions shows that low phenol concentrations and high Thiele Modulus values lead to higher reactant degradation.

Effect of dietary sesame (Sesame indicum L) seed meal level supplemented with lysine and phytase on performance traits and antioxidant status of late-phase laying hens

Baghban-Kanani, Payam,Hosseintabar-Ghasemabad, Babak,Azimi-Youvalari, Saba,Seidavi, Alireza,Laudadio, Vito,Mazzei, Domenico,Tufarelli, Vincenzo Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2020 Animal Bioscience Vol.33 No.2

Objective: This study was performed to investigate the effects of supplementing sesame seed meal (SSM) with phytase and lysine on performance, egg quality, blood biochemical and antioxidant status of laying hens. Methods: A total of 960, 56-wk-old laying hens were divided into 12 dietary groups with eight replicates per group (10 birds per replicate). A completely randomized design with factorial arrangement 2×3×2 consisted of two levels of lysine supplement (0% and 10% over requirement), three SSM levels (0%, 10%, and 20%) with or without phytase (0 and 300 g/ton). The feeding trial lasted 10 weeks. Results: Birds fed diets with 10% SSM had higher feed intake than groups fed 0% and 20% SSM. The addition of phytase to experimental feeds, improved feed conversion ratio, increased egg weight and mass (p<0.01). Egg quality criteria was not affected by supplementing phytase; however, supplementing 300 g/ton phytase to hens diet, led to a significant (p<0.05) increase in egg shell strength. Egg yolk cholesterol and serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, atherogenic index and total cholesterol were decreased (p<0.01) by diet containing 20% SSM. The high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was increased (p<0.05) in serum of hens fed 20% SSM than the other groups. It was also observed that total antioxidant capacity and total superoxide dismutase content of hens fed 20% SSM was significantly higher than control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: As from results, dietary supplementation of SSM and phytase had no negative effects on laying hens performance or egg quality while improving the egg oxidative stability.