scholarly journals The Problem of Glutathione Determination: a Comparative Study on the Measurement of Glutathione from Plant Cells

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Péter Hajdinák ◽  
Ádám Czobor ◽  
Tamás Lőrincz ◽  
András Szarka

The level and redox status of glutathione is a good indicator for the rate of oxidative stress and eco-toxicological injury in plant cells and subcellular organelles. Thus the determination of GSH and its redox status has special importance. A variety of spectrophotometric and HPLC methods are available to measure glutathione (GSH). The spectrophotometric DTNB-GSH recycling assay is specific due to the application of glutathione reductase, it is rather quick and easy to perform, not surprising that it is rather popular. In the present study we make an attempt to compare the DTNB-GSH recycling assay and the more sophisticated, but difficult monochlorobimane (mBCl)-HPLC method to choose the one that best suits for eco-toxicological and plant stress investigations. We found that the acidification by sulphosalicylic acid (SSA) used for the stabilization of samples for DTNB-GSH recycling assay gives lower efficiency to this method than the formation of mBCl-GSH fluorescent conjugate. The measurable GSH contents were lower in the case of DTNB-GSH recycling assay than in the case of GSH-mBCl conjugates determined by HPLC with fluorescence detection. The auto-oxidation could almost perfectly be prevented by the presence of mBCl in the organelle isolation buffer. Furthermore, this way the reduced GSH content of organelles could be determined much more precisely. However, it is worth to note that the application of mBCl significantly elevates the cost of GSH determination, especially in case of cell organelles.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3611
Author(s):  
Sandra Gonzalez-Piedra ◽  
Héctor Hernández-García ◽  
Juan M. Perez-Morales ◽  
Laura Acosta-Domínguez ◽  
Juan-Rodrigo Bastidas-Oyanedel ◽  
...  

In this paper, a study on the feasibility of the treatment of raw cheese whey by anaerobic co-digestion using coffee pulp residues as a co-substrate is presented. It considers raw whey generated in artisanal cheese markers, which is generally not treated, thus causing environmental pollution problems. An experimental design was carried out evaluating the effect of pH and the substrate ratio on methane production at 35 °C (i.e., mesophilic conditions). The interaction of the parameters on the co-substrate degradation and the methane production was analyzed using a response surface analysis. Furthermore, two kinetic models were proposed (first order and modified Gompertz models) to determine the dynamic profiles of methane yield. The results show that co-digestion of the raw whey is favored at pH = 6, reaching a maximum yield of 71.54 mLCH4 gVSrem−1 (31.5% VS removed) for raw cheese whey and coffee pulp ratio of 1 gVSwhey gVSCoffe−1. The proposed kinetic models successfully fit the experimental methane production data, the Gompertz model being the one that showed the best fit. Then, the results show that anaerobic co-digestion can be used to reduce the environmental impact of raw whey. Likewise, the methane obtained can be integrated into the cheese production process, which could contribute to reducing the cost per energy consumption.


Author(s):  
Frederico Finan ◽  
Maurizio Mazzocco

Abstract Politicians allocate public resources in ways that maximize political gains, and potentially at the cost of lower welfare. In this paper, we quantify these welfare costs in the context of Brazil’s federal legislature, which grants its members a budget to fund public projects within their states. Using data from the state of Roraima, we estimate a model of politicians’ allocation decisions and find that 26.8% of the public funds allocated by legislators are distorted relative to a social planner’s allocation. We then use the model to simulate three potential policy reforms to the electoral system: the adoption of approval voting, imposing a one-term limit, and redistricting. We find that a one-term limit and redistricting are both effective at reducing distortions. The one-term limit policy, however, increases corruption, which makes it a welfare-reducing policy.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4517
Author(s):  
Saheli Biswas ◽  
Shambhu Singh Rathore ◽  
Aniruddha Pramod Kulkarni ◽  
Sarbjit Giddey ◽  
Sankar Bhattacharya

Reversible solid oxide cells (rSOC) enable the efficient cyclic conversion between electrical and chemical energy in the form of fuels and chemicals, thereby providing a pathway for long-term and high-capacity energy storage. Amongst the different fuels under investigation, hydrogen, methane, and ammonia have gained immense attention as carbon-neutral energy vectors. Here we have compared the energy efficiency and the energy demand of rSOC based on these three fuels. In the fuel cell mode of operation (energy generation), two different routes have been considered for both methane and ammonia; Routes 1 and 2 involve internal reforming (in the case of methane) or cracking (in the case of ammonia) and external reforming or cracking, respectively. The use of hydrogen as fuel provides the highest round-trip efficiency (62.1%) followed by methane by Route 1 (43.4%), ammonia by Route 2 (41.1%), methane by Route 2 (40.4%), and ammonia by Route 1 (39.2%). The lower efficiency of internal ammonia cracking as opposed to its external counterpart can be attributed to the insufficient catalytic activity and stability of the state-of-the-art fuel electrode materials, which is a major hindrance to the scale-up of this technology. A preliminary cost estimate showed that the price of hydrogen, methane and ammonia produced in SOEC mode would be ~1.91, 3.63, and 0.48 $/kg, respectively. In SOFC mode, the cost of electricity generation using hydrogen, internally reformed methane, and internally cracked ammonia would be ~52.34, 46.30, and 47.11 $/MWh, respectively.


Author(s):  
Josu Doncel ◽  
Nicolas Gast ◽  
Bruno Gaujal

We analyze a mean field game model of SIR dynamics (Susceptible, Infected, and Recovered) where players choose when to vaccinate. We show that this game admits a unique mean field equilibrium (MFE) that consists in vaccinating at a maximal rate until a given time and then not vaccinating. The vaccination strategy that minimizes the total cost has the same structure as the MFE. We prove that the vaccination period of the MFE is always smaller than the one minimizing the total cost. This implies that, to encourage optimal vaccination behavior, vaccination should always be subsidized. Finally, we provide numerical experiments to study the convergence of the equilibrium when the system is composed by a finite number of agents ( $N$ ) to the MFE. These experiments show that the convergence rate of the cost is $1/N$ and the convergence of the switching curve is monotone.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mircea-Adrian Digulescu

It has long been known that cryptographic schemes offering provably unbreakable security exist, namely the One Time Pad (OTP). The OTP, however, comes at the cost of a very long secret key - as long as the plain-text itself. In this paper we propose an encryption scheme which we (boldly) claim offers the same level of security as the OTP, while allowing for much shorter keys, of size polylogarithmic in the computing power available to the adversary. The Scheme requires a large sequence of truly random words, of length polynomial in the both plain-text size and the logarithm of the computing power the adversary has. We claim that it ensures such an attacker cannot discern the cipher output from random data, except with small probability. We also show how it can be adapted to allow for several plain-texts to be encrypted in the same cipher output, with almost independent keys. Also, we describe how it can be used in lieu of a One Way Function.


Author(s):  
Agustina Malvido Perez Carletti ◽  
Markus Hanisch ◽  
Jens Rommel ◽  
Murray Fulton

AbstractIn this paper, we use a unique data set of the prices paid to farmers in Argentina for grapes to examine the prices paid by non-varietal wine processing cooperatives and investor-oriented firms (IOFs). Motivated by contrasting theoretical predictions of cooperative price effects generated by the yardstick of competition and property rights theories, we apply a multilevel regression model to identify price differences at the transaction level and the departmental level. On average, farmers selling to cooperatives receive a 3.4 % lower price than farmers selling to IOFs. However, we find cooperatives pay approximately 2.4 % more in departments where cooperatives have larger market shares. We suggest that the inability of cooperatives to pay a price equal to or greater than the one paid by IOFs can be explained by the market structure for non-varietal wine in Argentina. Specifically, there is evidence that cooperative members differ from other farmers in terms of size, assets and the cost of accessing the market. We conclude that the analysis of cooperative pricing cannot solely focus on the price differential between cooperatives and IOFs, but instead must consider other factors that are important to the members.


Traditio ◽  
1948 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 161-185
Author(s):  
Kurt Lewent

Cerveri was decidedly no poetical genius, and often enough he follows the trodden paths of troubadour poetry. However, there is no denying that again and again he tries to escape that poetical routine. In many cases these attempts result in odd and eccentric compositions, where the unusual is reached at the cost of good taste and poetical values. On the other hand, it must be admitted that Cerveri's efforts in this respect were not always futile. His is, e.g. an amusing satire upon bad women. One of his love songs, characteristically called libel by the MS (Sg), assumes the form of a complaint submitted to the king as the supreme earthly judge, in which the defendant is the lady whose charms torture the lover and have made him a prisoner. This poem combines the traditional praise of the beloved and a flattery addressed to the king. Its slightly humoristic tone is also found in a song entitled lo vers del vassayll leyal. Here Cerveri, basing himself on a certain legend connected with St. Mark, gives the king advice in his love affair. Again the poet kills two birds with one stone, flattering the sovereign and pointing, for obvious purposes, to his own poverty. The latter is the only topic of a remarkably personal poem in which the author complains bitterly that, while many of his playmates have become rich in later years, the only wealth he himself did amass were the chans gays and sonetz agradans which he composed for other people to enjoy. Cerveri even tries to renew the traditional genre of the chanson de la mal mariée by adding motifs of—presumably—his own invention. This tendency towards a more independent way of thinking and greater originality in its poetical presentation could not be better illustrated than by the two poems which the MS calls Lo vers de la terra de Preste Johan and Pistola The one puts the poet's moral argumentation against the background of the medieval legend of Prester John, the other, which forms the subject of the present study, sets its teachings in a still more solemn framework, the liturgy of the Mass.


Author(s):  
Akira Shoji ◽  
Giichi Kawashima

This paper is the one that it was described to have developed the traction drive by using the plastic hard magnet. The plastics material was used to research by the following reasons. The plastics material can mold it. As a result, it processes complex and it is possible to make it to the magnet. In addition, it is possible to mass-produce, it is light, and it is also possible that the miniaturization reduces possible and the cost. Next, the mechanism of the traction drive is described. It rotates by being circumscribed by non-contact, and inscribing two plastic hard rings as if the gear. N pole and S pole are divided equally in the direction of the circumference of the ring. It becomes by these as if the match of the god with teeth and teeth. These devices are commonly called “Gear without teeth”. Some doughnut disks with a different outside diameter were produced. Each disk is made magnetism. Each disk was set, and assembled to one disk. The disk is molded with the plastic hard. The plastics material used the one that the ferrite powder was mixed with the polyacetal resin. Making to magnetism is possible by the magnetization technology. The mechanism, molding, making to magnetism, and the magnetic induction, etc. were examined in the experiment. The development of non-contact made of plastic hard traction drive device was proven to be possible by this research.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-165
Author(s):  
Adolfo Rodríguez Herrera

Smith is considered the father of the labour theory of value developed by David Ricardo and Karl Marx and simultaneously of the cost-of-production theory of value developed by John Stuart Mill and Alfred Marshall. This polysemy is partly because Smith is developping the terminology to refer to value and measure of value, and often uses it with much imprecision. That has led to different interpretations about his position on these issues, most of them derived from an error of interpretation of Ricardo and Marx. This paper reviews the concepts developed by Smith to formulate his theory of value (value, real price and exchangeable value). Our interpretation of his texts on value does not coincide with what has traditionally been done. According to our interpretation, it would not be correct the criticism made by Ricardo and Marx on Smith’s position about the role of labour as measure of value. For these authors, Smith is not consistent in proposing that the value of a commodity is defined or measured as the amount of labour necessary to produce it and simultaneously as the amount of labour that can be purchased by this commodity. We try to show that for Smith the labour has a double role –as source and measure of value–, and that to it is due the confusion that generates his use of some terms: Smith proposes labour as a measure of value because he conceives it as a source of value. With this interpretation it becomes clear, paradoxically, that Smith holds a labour theory of value that substantially corresponds to the one later developed by Ricardo and Marx.


Author(s):  
Viral Patel ◽  
Daanyaal Kapadia ◽  
Deval Ghevariya ◽  
Shiburaj Pappu

Citizens of the India face civic problems in their day-to-day lives. They resort to the one of many ways provided by the government to file their complaints. The grievance registration systems have evolved in many ways with the advancement in technologies to simplify the task. This paper presents the architecture of a Grievance redresser Application where the civilians can address any kind of complain which they are facing. The main focus of the project is about the pothole related complains. One of the most difficult task for the government officials to estimate the total time and material required to fill the pothole of widely spaced roads, this is one of the major problem faced by government authorities which leads to delaying in repairing the pothole and increased the cost to fill a particular pothole. This Application will give easy access to people to put their complaints towards the government.


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