Lipid peroxidation-derived cytotoxic aldehyde, 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal in smoked pork

The contents of 4-Hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE), cytotoxic aldehyde, in smoked meat products (ham, bacon and sausage) were analyzed. All the samples analyzed contained HNE, although large differences in the contents between the different samples were observed. In one lot of ham (H1) and wiener sausage (WS1) a high level in HNE was observed. The changes of HNE contents of pork meats containing 0, 0.1, 0.5 and 1% Sugi wood vinegar (SWV) stored at 0?°C were also analyzed for 7 days. As an index of lipid peroxidation level, malonaldehyde (MA) contents were also analyzed in these samples. After 7 days of storage, HNE was detected only in pork meats containing 1% SWV and the level was similar to those of H1 and WS1. Judging from MA contents, SWV may act as a pro-oxidant in pork meats and HNE may accumulate in pork in which lipid peroxidation is in progress.     

High resolution MR imaging of joint degeneration in the knee of the STR/ORT mouse

MR imaging of the knee joints of the mouse at 2.35 T produces an in-plane resolution of 35 x 70 microns and a slice thickness of 600 microns from the sagittal and coronal planes, in less than 60 min. In normal, live DBA mice, which have no known pathology, the images clearly resolve many joint structures, such as the cruciate ligaments, menisci, and articulating surfaces of the femur and tibia. Gross pathological changes were identified first in excised knees from cadaver mice of the STR/ORT strain. Males of this strain spontaneously exhibit rapid joint degeneration with increasing age compared to females, in which much milder symptoms develop more slowly. Thickening of the patellar tendon, displacement of the patella, deformity, and sclerosis were clearly distinguishable in males compared with females older than 7 mo of age. The same degenerative features were evident in MR images of the knees of the live male but not female STR/ORT mice of this age, indicating that it would be possible to monitor longitudinally by MR imaging progressive development of joint changes in this osteoarthritic model.     

Sodium chloride as a preferred protein extractant for pork lean meat

The protein extractability of sodium chloride (NaCl), potassium chloride (KCl) and lithium chloride (LiCl) under a range of molarity with in the physiological pH range (pH 6.0–8.0) was assessed to determine the best protein extractant for pork lean meat. The individual proteins in the extracts were identified by electrophoresis. The highest protein extractabilities at pH 7.0 for NaCl, KCl and LiCl were observed at 1.2, 1.1, and 1.1 M, respectively. There was no significant difference in protein extractability for KCl and LiCl within physiological pH range. NaCl had a significant increase of its protein extractability as pH increased from 6.0 to 6.5 followed by a relatively constant extractability. The NaCl had the highest protein extractability followed by LiCl and KCl. The maximum number of proteins (26 bands) was found at the optimum concentration of each salt. However, resolution and clarity of bands were better in NaCl extracts. The pH variation does not affect the number and the intensity of the bands.     

Energy-efficient inter-RAN cooperation for non-collocated cell sites with base station selection and user association policies

Wireless Networks - Conventional planning and optimization of cellular mobile networks for supporting the peak-time user demand leads to substantial wastage of electrical energy. Infrastructure...     

High brightness ZnS and GaN electroluminescent devices using PZT thick dielectric layers

An improved thick dielectric (TD) layer for inorganic electroluminescent (EL) display devices has been achieved through a composite high-/spl kappa/ dielectric sol-gel/powder route. This composite TD film results in a luminance improvement (up to 10/spl times/) in these TDEL devices with Eu-doped GaN and Mn-doped ZnS phosphor layers. The use of a composite TD film, composed primarily of lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT), results in a significantly higher charge (>3 /spl mu/C/cm/sup 2/) coupling to the phosphor layer. Furthermore, the reduction in porosity of the TD has improved the homogeneity of electric field applied to the phosphor layer, resulting in a steeper luminance-voltage slope. The reduction in porosity has also decreased the diffuse reflection of the TD, which when pigmented, exhibits a diffuse reflectivity of <2% resulting in high display contrast. High luminance levels of up to 3500 cd/m/sup 2/ have been achieved from the ZnS:Mn TDEL devices and 450 cd/m/sup 2/ from GaN:Eu devices. A detailed analysis of the electrical steady-state time-varying characteristics has shown that the electrical performance of TDELs is very similar to TFELs in spite of the physical asymmetry in the device structure. These results demonstrate that three critical requirements for practicality of the TDEL approach (formation on standard display glass, low reflectivity, and electric field homogeneity) can be obtained by careful selection and design of the device materials, fabrication process and device structure.     

GaN:Eu electroluminescent devices grown by interrupted growth epitaxy

In this paper we report on electroluminescent devices fabricated using Eu-doped GaN films grown by interrupted growth epitaxy (IGE). IGE is a combination of conventional molecular beam epitaxy and migration enhanced epitaxy. It consists of a sequence of ON/OFF cycles of the Ga and Eu beams, while the N₂ plasma is kept constant during the entire growth time. IGE growth of GaN:Eu resulted in significant enhancement in the Eu emission intensity at 620.5 nm. The nitridation of the surface that occurs during the OFF cycle appears to be the dominant process producing the enhancement. Thick dielectric devices fabricated on glass substrates using IGE-grown GaN:Eu have resulted in luminance of ∼1000 cd/m² and luminous efficiency of ∼0.15 lm/W.     

Third World energy policies Demand management and conservation

Increasing energy costs underline the need for more efficient management of energy supply and demand to maintain economic growth, especially in the resource scarce developing countries. Combining policy tools for demand management and conservation (including pricing, physical controls, technical methods, and education) yields the best results. Pricing policy takes into account the efficiency costs of energy supply required to meet economic objectives. This is then adjusted to satisfy other objectives of pricing such as social-subsidy considerations, financial viability, conservation, price stability, etc. Energy conservation programmes should be implemented only after determining whether their economic benefits exceed the corresponding costs.     

Accuracy,latency, and energy cross‐optimization in wireless sensor networks through infection spreading

In this paper, cross‐optimization of accuracy, latency, and energy in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) through infection spreading is investigated. Our solution is based on a dual‐layer architecture for efficient data harvesting in a WSN, in which, the lower layer sensors are equipped with a novel adaptive data propagation method inspired by infection spreading and the upper layer consists of randomly roaming data harvesting agents. The proposed infection spreading mechanisms, namely random infection (RI) and linear infection (LI), are implemented at the lower layer. The entire sensor field is dynamically separated into several busy areas (BA) and quiet areas (QA). According to the BA or QA classification, the level of importance is defined, on which, the optimal number of infections for a particular observation is evaluated. Therefore, the accessed probability for observations with a relatively higher importance level is adaptively increased. The proposed mechanisms add further value to the data harvesting operation by compensating for its potential lack of coverage due to random mobility and tolerable delay, thus a relatively higher accuracy and latency requirements can be guaranteed for the optimization of energy consumption in a dynamically changing environment. Further, with the cost of processing simple location information, LI is proved to outperform RI. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal electricity supply: Reliability,pricing and system planning

This paper provides a state-of-the-art summary of recent developments in electricity supply reliability, pricing and system planning, with emphasis on the close interrelationships among these aspects. Economic theory indicates that net social benefits would be maximized if price was set equal to marginal cost while the marginal system costs of improving reliability were equal to the averted marginal outage costs. Attention is focused on the measurement of outage costs and a reliability optimizing model is used to develop an operational criterion for system planning in which the sum of system costs and outage costs is minimized. This approach subsumes the traditional criterion of minimizing only the system costs at an arbitrary target level of reliability. The results of a case study to test the new methodology are summarized and the use of reliability indices and techniques of estimating outage costs are also discussed.