Are disulphide bonds formed during acid gelation of preheated milk?

The role of thiol/disulphide exchanges during acid gelation of preheated milk was studied with milk samples with or without N‐ethylmaleimide (NEM), a thiol‐blocking agent, and acidified to pH 4 by the addition of glucono‐delta‐lactone at 20 °C. Active or total thiol groups, particle size with light scattering measurements in a dissociating solvent or by SDS‐agarose electrophoresis were determined on acidified milk samples. Diffusing wave spectroscopy and rheology in low strain were applied during acidification of sample, while rheology in large strain was applied on final acid gels. The only effect of the presence of NEM was a reduced firmness of acid gels as measured at large strain and a reduced tendency to form large aggregates at pH<5.5. In conclusions, thiol/disulphide exchanges during acidification of milk played only a minor role in the building of acid gel networks from heated milk.     

Numerical simulation of an arbitrarily ended asymmetrical slab waveguide by guided-mode extracted integral equations

The scattering phenomenon from an arbitrary-shaped end of a asymmetrical slab waveguide for the cases of TE and TM guided modes is simulated by means of boundary integral equations that are called guided-mode extracted integral equations. The integral equations that we derive can be solved by the conventional boundary-element method. Numerical results are presented for problems of three-layer asymmetrical waveguides with tilted ends. The reflection coefficient, reflected and scattered powers, and radiation patterns are calculated numerically for the cases of incident TE and TM guided modes.     

Building blocks for a two-frequency laser lidar-radar: a preliminary study

A new principle of lidar-radar is theoretically and experimentally investigated. The proposed architecture is based on the use of an rf modulation of the emitted light beam and a direct detection of the backscattered intensity. Use of a radar-processing chain allows one to obtain range and Doppler measurements with the advantages of lidar spatial resolution. We calculate the maximum range of this device, taking into account different possible improvements. In particular, we show that use of a pulsed two-frequency laser and a spatially multimode optical preamplification of the backscattered light leads to calculated ranges larger than 20 km, including the possibility of both range and Doppler measurements. The building blocks of this lidar-radar are tested experimentally: The radar processing of an rf-modulated backscattered cw laser beam is demonstrated at 532 nm, illustrating the Doppler and identification capabilities of the system. In addition, signal-to-noise ratio improvement by optical pre-amplification is demonstrated at 1.06 microm. Finally, a two-frequency passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is developed. This laser then permits two-frequency pulses with tunable pulse duration (from 18 to 240 ns) and beat frequency (from 0 to 2.65 GHz) to be obtained.     

Exploring structure-activity relationships around the phosphomannose isomerase inhibitor AF14049 via combinatorial synthesis

Phosphomannose Isomerase (PMI) has been shown by genetic methods to be an essential enzyme in fungal cell wall biosynthesis. The PMI inhibitor AF14049 was discovered as an unanticipated side product from high-throughput library screening against the enzyme from C, albicans. Solid-phase synthetic methods were developed and a series of libraries and discrete analogs synthesized to explore SAR around AF14049.     

Thermal stability in high-T c coil and magnet design by process control of Bi(Pb)-2223/Ag multifilamentary tapes

It has been found that the degree of thermal stability of Bi(Pb)-2223/Ag pancake-shaped coils at 77 K can be determined by controlling the amount of matrix and superconducting materials during processing. The intermediate deformation step between sintering stages has been found to be crucial in optimizing the performance of the processed composite tapes as well as governing the thermal stability of the subsequently made pancake-shaped coils. Results obtained from numerical analysis of the finite element method has shown that monolayer coils produced from Bi(Pb)-2223/Ag composite tapes are thermally very stable with high values of the fill factor. However, increasing the number of co-wound tapes would require either a reduction in the fill factor or an increase in cooling rate for thermal stability to be sustained as would otherwise be achieved with the metallurgically same single tape.     

Comparaison du modèle des réservoirs imparfaitement agités en série avec le modèle de dispersion axiale

The transfer function of the model of imperfectly mixed tanks in series, involving the three parameters p, m and n, is presented. It is thus possible to evaluate easily the residence time distribution curve E(θ) and the output response for a given input. This model is compared to the axial dispersion model, through the variance of the curve for E(θ) and the average absolute error between theoretical values and experimental data. A graphical representation relates the Péclet number of the axial dispersion model to the parameters of the p, m, n model and also to the variance of the curve for E(θ). The p, m, n model gives a good approximation of experimental data; it is shown to be more versatile than the axial dispersion model.     

Container terminal operation and operations research - a classification and literature review

In the last four decades the container as an essential part of a unit-load-concept has achieved undoubted importance in international sea freight transportation. With ever increasing containerization the number of seaport container terminals and competition among them have become quite remarkable. Operations are nowadays unthinkable without effective and efficient use of information technology as well as appropriate optimization (operations research) methods. In this paper we describe and classify the main logistics processes and operations in container terminals and present a survey of methods for their optimization. Correspondence to: Stefan Voß     

Functionalization of silicone rubber for the covalent immobilization of fibronectin

Surface modification techniques were employed in order to provide functionalized silicone rubber with enhanced cytocompatibility. Acrylic acid (AAc), methacrylic acid (MAAc) and glycidylmethacrylate (GMA) were graft-co-polymerized onto the surface of silicone induced by an argon plasma and thermal initiation. The polymerizations were carried out in solution, in the case of acrylic acid a vapor phase graft-co-polymerization subsequent to argon plasma activation was carried out as well. Human fibronectin (hFn), which acts as a cell adhesion mediator for fibroblasts, was immobilized by making use of the generated carboxylic or epoxy groups, respectively. Surface analysis was accomplished by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflection mode (IR-ATR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and dynamic contact angle measurements using the Wilhelmy-plate method. The amount of immobilized active hFn was semiquantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a structure-specific antibody against the cell-binding domain of hFn. In vitro testing showed a remarkable difference between surfaces exposing adsorbed-only and surfaces with covalently immobilized hFn. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers     

Symmetric Orthogonal Complex-Valued Filter Bank Design by Semidefinite Programming

A new design method for complex-valued two-channel finite impulse response (FIR) filter banks with both orthogonality and symmetry properties is developed. Based on a novel linear matrix inequality (LMI) characterization of trigonometric curves, the optimal design of perfect-reconstruction filter banks is cast into a semidefinite programming (SDP) problem. The dimension of the resulting SDP problem is further reduced by exploiting convex duality. Consequently, the globally optimal solution can be found for any practical filter length and desired regularity order.