Evaluation of Alternative Preservation Treatments (Water Heat Treatment,Ultrasounds, Thermosonication and UV-C Radiation) to Improve Safety and Quality of Whole Tomato

Previously optimised postharvest treatments were compared to conventional chlorinated water treatment in terms of their effects on the overall quality of tomato (‘Zinac’) during storage at 10 °C. The treatments in question were water heat treatment (WHT?=?40 °C, 30 min), ultrasounds (US?=?45 kHz, 80 %, 30 min), thermosonication (TS?=?40 °C, 30 min, 45 kHz, 80 %) and ultraviolet irradiation (UV-C: 0.97 kJ m^?2). The quality factors evaluated were colour, texture, sensorial analysis, mass loss, antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, peroxidase and pectin methylesterase enzymatic activities, and microbial load reduction. The results demonstrate that all treatments tested preserve tomato quality to some extent during storage at 10 °C. WHT, TS and UV-C proved to be more efficient on minimising colour and texture changes with the additional advantage of microbial load reduction, leading to a shelf life extension when compared to control trials. However, at the end of storage, with exception of WHT samples, the antioxidant activity and phenolic content of treated samples was lower than for control samples. Moreover, sensorial results were well correlated with instrumental colour experimental data. This study presents alternative postharvest technologies that improve tomato (Zinac) quality during shelf life period and minimise the negative impact of conventional chlorinated water on human safety, health and environment.     

Dielectric properties of polyarylate (PAr) around the glass transition

Dielectric characterization of the α-relaxation in polyarylate (PAr) has been carried out by means of a dielectric spectroscopy technique in a frequency range of 10–30 kHz. Complementary thermally stimulated depolarization currents (TSDC) and differential scanning calorimetry d.s.c.) measurements have also been performed. The results are interpreted in terms of the standard Cole-Cole plot and Havriliak-Negami distribution for the dielectric relaxation times. Information about the temperature and frequency dependence of a.c. conductivity is also obtained from the experimental curves. However, the behaviour of the main dielectric relaxation time is deduced from the experimental data in a wide range of temperature around the glass transition. This behaviour results in close agreement with the theoretical predictions of a free-volume approach for the dielectric α-relaxation recently proposed by the authors.     

Evaluation of a four-point sine wave frequency estimator for portable DSP based instrumentation

A recent frequency estimation method was proposed in a Measurement paper for use in portable DSP based instrumentation. This method is especially important due to its low computational effort making it suitable for fast and low cost instrumentation. It has been found that many parameters can affect the frequency estimation using the proposed method. In this paper, the performance of the method in the presence of additive noise is evaluated, and the influence of signal frequency, initial phase, additive noise and number of analog-to-digital converter bits on the estimator is studied. Some caveats of the practical use of the method are addressed. Detailed numerical simulations based on a Monte Carlo procedure are presented in order to highlight the range of applicability of the method and determine the estimation bias.     

Relationship between cobalt,copper and zinc content of soils and vegetables

The relationship between cobalt, copper and zinc content of soils and the vegetables grown in them is discussed. Samples of soil and edible vegetables were taken from 15 different sites, corresponding to four agricultural areas exposed to different degrees of environmental pollution: high industrial and traffic, high industrial and urban, and low industrial and urban pollution. Elements were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Variance analysis (ANOVA) was applied to cobalt, copper and zinc content of vegetables and soils in order to detect significant differences among soils of different areas and the vegetables grown there. The possible relationship between the heavy metal content of soils (total and extractable) and of the vegetables grown in them was estimated by the correlation coefficient value. Statistically significant correlations were observed between the total and extractable cobalt content of soils and of roots and bulbs (p < 0.1) and between the total copper content of soils and of inflorescences (p < 0.05). In the case of zinc no correlation was found.     

Measurement challenges in trying to understand our brain

I present here the briefest of summaries of what is known about the workings of the brain to an audience of non-neuroscientists. The intention is to motivate those intimately involved in instrumentation and measurement to collaborate in improving the techniques available nowadays and that will allow Man, in a not too distant future, to understand its own brain. I focus on four of the most promising methods highlighting what they can tell us about the brain and pointing out the shortcomings that need to be addressed: magnetic resonance imaging, magnetoencephalography, two-photon excitation microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.     

Overdrive in the ramp histogram test of ADCs

This paper presents a study about the amount of overdrive to use when analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are tested with the ramp histogram method. Overdrive is used to limit the error induced by input-equivalent noise in the estimation of the ADC transition voltages. This study has direct application in the new coarse ramp static test.     

A 980-nm Yb-doped fiber MOPA source and its frequency doubling

A continuous-wave (CW) master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA) fiber source, tunable around 978 nm, was frequency-doubled to 488.7 nm. Both the laser and the amplifier were made with cladding-pumped jacketed air-clad Yb-doped fibers. The MOPA generated up to 2.7 W of power in an output beam with an M/sup 2/ value of 1.8. This was frequency-doubled in a periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate crystal at room temperature, in a single-pass configuration. The generated blue light had a CW power of 18.1 mW, a nearly Gaussian spatial intensity profile, and an M/sup 2/ value of 1.7.     

Error in the estimation of transition voltages with the standard histogram test of ADCs

In this paper we address the use of overdrive in the standard histogram test of analog to digital converters. The error in the estimation of the transition voltages due to the presence of additive noise is calculated and expressions for the minimum amount of overdrive required are presented. A comparison with previously published work is carried out.     

An ADC histogram test based on small-amplitude waves

This paper deals with a new method improving the static test for analogue-to-digital converters. The method is based on a histogram procedure using as test signals small-amplitude triangular waves superimposed on suitable constant offset values. The histogram is built over the converter fullscale by varying the offset step by step systematically. A small amplitude and a reduced time slope in comparison to the converter range and slew rate, respectively, lead to static test conditions. This procedure allows inexpensive function generators to be used and the test duration to be dramatically reduced. Experimental results of tests aimed at validating, characterizing, and comparing the proposed method on two different converter architectures are presented.     

Half‐Sandwich Scorpionate Vanadium,Iron and Copper Complexes: Synthesis and Application in the Catalytic Peroxidative Oxidation of Cyclohexane under Mild Conditions

The new half‐sandwich scorpionate complexes [hydridotris(1‐pyrazolyl)methane]vanadium trichloride, ([VCl₃{HC(pz)₃}] 1 (pz=pyrazolyl), [tris(1‐pyrazolyl)methanesulfonate]vanadium trichloride, [VCl₃{SO₃C(pz)₃}] 2 , [hydrido(1‐pyrazolyl)methane]iron dichloride, [FeCl₂{HC(pz)₃}] 3 , lithium [tris(1‐pyrazolyl)methanesulfonate]dichloroferrate, Li[FeCl₂{SO₃C(pz)₃}] 4 , and [tris(1‐pyrazolyl)methanesulfonate]copper chloride, [CuCl{SO₃C(pz)₃}] 5 were synthesized, characterized and shown to act, as well as the related (tripyrazolylmethane)copper dichloride, [CuCl₂{HC(pz)₃}] 6 , as selective catalysts (or catalyst precursors) for the peroxidative oxidation (with hydrogen peroxide) of cyclohexane to cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone, under mild conditions (at room temperature and using an aqueous solution of H₂O₂). The iron complexes are the most active ones (reaching TON values up to ca. 690), the effects of a variety of factors are reported and the reaction is shown to proceed via both C‐ and O‐centred radical mechanisms, conceivably involving a metal‐based oxidant.