Effect of different soaking and germination methods on bioactive compounds of germinated brown rice

Germination of brown rice can be completed by full soaking and partial soaking methods. This study aimed to analyse the influence of germination methods on the bioactive accumulations in germinated brown rice (GBR). Germination was conducted in four treatments: (i) membrane reactor with full (RFS) and (ii) partial soaking method soaking (RAG), (iii) manual soaking for complete germination (MFS) and (iv) partial manual soaking in combination with atmospheric germination (MAG). The results showed that soaking BR in membrane reactor accelerated the shoots' growth and increased GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) content compared with the manual soaking method. The RAG treatment achieved higher GABA content (up to 125 mg/100 g), total phenolic and flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity than other germination methods. The main finding of this research indicates that membrane reactor effectively enhances the growth of sprouts. The combination of partial soaking in membrane reactor and atmospheric germination (RAG) is a suited method to increase GABA accumulation in GBR.     

Fines characterization through the methylene blue and sand equivalent test: comparison with other experimental techniques and application of criteria to the aggregate quality assessment

In road construction the general term fines is used to describe particles passing the 0.063, 0.074 or 0.08 mm sieve. Some types of fines are considered to be relatively inert and have almost no effect on pavement performance, whilst the presence of even small amounts of others can significantly affect the stiffness and freezing–thawing behaviour of unbound and hydraulically bound layers. This paper presents the results of research on 12 Slovenian aggregates produced from limestone and dolomite bedrock, and naturally occurring river alluvium gravel. At each production site three different materials were sampled and tested: the actual aggregate for unbound base layers, the clayey soils, which presented the most potentially harmful component at the specific location, and the stony dust, which presented the finest size of crushed aggregate and is typically found as coatings on the crushed grains. Six different methods were used to identify the nature of the fines: X-ray diffractometry, carbonate content determination, methylene blue, sand equivalent, Enslin–Neff water absorption, Atterberg limits test, soil suction measurements and soil water characteristic curves. Based on the results, the relationship between the properties of the different fines was determined and included in draft Slovenian national criteria for sand equivalent and methylene blue values currently being trialed.     

Application of native and phosphorylated tapioca starches in potato starch noodle

Summary Characteristics of potato starch noodles substituted with native, phosphorylated and commercial phosphorylated (MTS283) tapioca starches were evaluated. Substitution of up to 17% with phosphorylated tapioca starch or up to 35% with MTS283 improved the quality of potato starch noodles. The resulting noodles were transparent and less brittle when uncooked, and were moderately elastic, less sticky and experienced lower cooking loss and less swelling when cooked. Substitution with native tapioca starch of up to 17% was also possible, but the uncooked noodles were less transparent and the cooked noodles swelled more and were less elastic.     

InGaP/InGaAs MOS-PHEMT with a nanoscale liquid phase-oxidized InGaP dielectric

InGaP/InGaAs metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (PHEMT) with a nanoscale liquid phase-oxidized InGaP as the gate dielectric is demonstrated. Not only does the MOS-PHEMT have the advantages of the MOS structure, but it also has high-carrier density and a high-mobility 2DEG channel. Using selective oxidation of InGaP by liquid phase oxidation, the MOS-PHEMT can be fabricated without additional recess processes. The MOS-PHEMT exhibits larger transconductance, lower gate leakage current, higher breakdown voltage, higher cut-off frequency, lower minimum noise figure, and higher power-added efficiency than does its counterpart (reference PHEMT). The interface roughness effect on the DC and RF performance of devices is also discussed.     

Dispositional resistance to change: Measurement equivalence and the link to personal values across 17 nations.

The concept of dispositional resistance to change has been introduced in a series of exploratory and confirmatory analyses through which the validity of the Resistance to Change (RTC) Scale has been established (S. Oreg, 2003). However, the vast majority of participants with whom the scale was validated were from the United States. The purpose of the present work was to examine the meaningfulness of the construct and the validity of the scale across nations. Measurement equivalence analyses of data from 17 countries, representing 13 languages and 4 continents, confirmed the cross-national validity of the scale. Equivalent patterns of relationships between personal values and RTC across samples extend the nomological net of the construct and provide further evidence that dispositional resistance to change holds equivalent meanings across nations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Code Division-Based Sensing of Illumination Contributions in Solid-State Lighting Systems

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have emerged as a prime candidate for the light source of the future. To enable easy user interaction with a future lighting system consisting of many LEDs, this paper proposes a method to accurately measure and estimate the local light contributions of a large set of LEDs. This is enabled through tagging the light of each LED with an unique identifier. To this end, we propose a new family of modulation and multiple access schemes in this paper, named code-time division multiple access-pulse position modulation (CTDMA-PPM) and CTDMA-pulse width modulation (CTDMA-PWM). These schemes satisfy illumination constraints, are compatible with the commonly used PWM dimming of LEDs, and meet the multi-signal separation requirements for simultaneous measurement of illumination strengths. Based on these modulation methods, the paper develops algorithms to estimate illumination. Finally, performance analyses show that even for a very large number of LEDs, the sensing performance of the proposed system satisfies the requirements up to an adequate range.     

Improvement of the Performance Characteristic of UWB Antenna Using a Novel Double-Layer FSSs Operating at the Ku-Band

This paper proposed a novel compact design of UWB antenna. Our design used an uni-planar EBG double-layer of FSSs to enhance performance characteristics of UWB antenna in operation frequency of 14 GHz/Ku Band. This UWB antenna occupies a compact size of 40.36?×?29.36 mm² with space/gap between the radiator patch and double-layer of FSSs is 10 mm. We used a simple rectangular truncated-corner as a radiating patch. Double-layer of FSSs consist of a lower layer of FSS that used a unit cell of rectangular loop and an upper layer of FSS applied a wire grid. Optimized size of the truncated-corner is 2?×?0.5 mm², optimal space/gap between radiator patch and double-layer of FSSs is 10 mm, and the width of a rectangular loop in the lower layer of FSS is 1.742 mm. Our proposed uni-planar EBG double-layer of FSSs based UWB antenna reaches S11 parameter of ?42.381, a ?10 dB impedance bandwidth of 1.941 GHz (12.964–14.905 GHz), and a VSWR of 1.0154 in operation frequency 14 GHz. In addition, our UWB antenna design has a high gain about 6.1 dB. Applying of uni-planar EBG double-layer of FSSs improve significantly the performance characteristic of UWB antenna.