Brno University of Technology

About: Brno University of Technology is a education organization based out in Brno, Czechia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Fracture mechanics & Filter (video). The organization has 6339 authors who have published 15226 publications receiving 194088 citations. The organization is also known as: Vysoké učení technické v Brně & BUT.

Multimode fibre: Light-sheet microscopy at the tip of a needle

Abstract: Light-sheet fluorescence microscopy has emerged as a powerful platform for 3-D volumetric imaging in the life sciences. Here, we introduce an important step towards its use deep inside biological tissue. Our new technique, based on digital holography, enables delivery of the light-sheet through a multimode optical fibre – an optical element with extremely small footprint, yet permitting complex control of light transport processes within. We show that this approach supports some of the most advanced methods in light-sheet microscopy: by taking advantage of the cylindrical symmetry of the fibre, we facilitate the wavefront engineering methods for generation of both Bessel and structured Bessel beam plane illumination. Finally, we assess the quality of imaging on a sample of fluorescent beads fixed in agarose gel and we conclude with a proof-of-principle imaging of a biological sample, namely the regenerating operculum prongs of Spirobranchus lamarcki.

Towards Fully Bayesian Speaker Recognition: Integrating Out the Between-Speaker Covariance.

Abstract: We propose a variational Bayes solution to integrate out the model parameters in a generative i-vector speaker recognizer. The existing state-of-the-art in generative i-vector modelling plugs in fixed maximum-likelihood point-estimates of model parameters. This recipe may suffer from over-fitting of especially the between-speaker covariance. We show how to integrate out the between-speaker covariance and demonstrate dramatic improvements on NIST SRE 2010.

Amino acid and soluble protein cocktail from waste keratin hydrolysed by a fungal keratinase of Paecilomyces marquandii

Abstract: Waste bovine hooves and horns were enzymatically hydrolysed into soluble products intended for foliar fertilizer. With the powdered keratin at 50°C and pH 8 between 34 to nearly 60% of nitrogen was solubilized in 5 h, depending on the enzyme concentration. The reaction could further be improved by steam pretreatment of the keratin, resulting in 98% solubilisation of the nitrogen. The products of hydrolysis consisted of a mixture of soluble proteins, peptides, and free amino acids. Among the latter, 18 common amino acids were detected. Several of them were previously recognized to have a positive effect on plants. Nonpolar neutral, basic, and sulphur amino acids were present in relatively large amounts, while proline and tryptophan were not found. Comparison with other protein hydrolysates aimed for fertilizer suggests that keratin degradation products, obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis, have potential to be used for foliar fertilization, alone or in a combination with another complementary hydrolysate of a different source, such as skin or plant proteins.

Production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates Using Hydrolyzates of Spruce Sawdust: Comparison of Hydrolyzates Detoxification by Application of Overliming, Active Carbon, and Lignite

Abstract: Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are bacterial polyesters which are considered biodegradable alternatives to petrochemical plastics PHAs have a wide range of potential applications, however, the production cost of this bioplastic is several times higher A major percentage of the final cost is represented by the price of the carbon source used in the fermentation Burkholderia cepacia and Burkholderia sacchari are generally considered promising candidates for PHA production from lignocellulosic hydrolyzates The wood waste biomass has been subjected to hydrolysis The resulting hydrolyzate contained a sufficient amount of fermentable sugars Growth experiments indicated a strong inhibition by the wood hydrolyzate Over-liming and activated carbon as an adsorbent of inhibitors were employed for detoxification All methods of detoxification had a positive influence on the growth of biomass and PHB production Furthermore, lignite was identified as a promising alternative sorbent which can be used for detoxification of lignocellulose hydrolyzates Detoxification using lignite instead of activated carbon had lower inhibitor removal efficiency, but greater positive impact on growth of the bacterial culture and overall PHA productivity Moreover, lignite is a significantly less expensive adsorbent in comparison with activated charcoal and; moreover, used lignite can be simply utilized as a fuel to, at least partially, cover heat and energetic demands of fermentation, which should improve the economic feasibility of the process