Optical properties of ferroelectric lanthanum lithium niobate

Fine structures (ferroelectric domains), ferroelectricity and Second Harmonic Generation results were found and studied as a function of laser linearly and circularly polarization dependent polarized excitations in ferroelectric stoichiometric La_0.05Li_0.85NbO₃ nanocrystals ceramic material. Scanning Electron Microscope images are taken as a comparison to Second Harmonic Generation intensity profiles revealed fine structures. By using laser polar measured response we are able to find the angle orientation from 0° to 90° angles of ferroelectric domains with highly good definition contrast obtained in blue/gray colors. It shows ferroelectric hysteresis loops at room temperature with a polarization saturation of (0.247 μC/cm²), remnant polarization of (0.15 μC/cm²) and coercitivity field of (1.31 kV/cm). X-ray Diffraction, Atomic Force Microscope, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, revealed well formed of ferroelectric ABO₃ perovskite crystal structure, piezoelectric image response indicate ferroelectric pattern domain structure, new vibrations modes on LaO₆, LiO₆ and NbO₆ octahedral sites and binding energies of electronic structure of La⁵⁷, Nb⁴¹, O⁸, Li³ from the surface of the ferroelectric stoichiometric La_0.05Li_0.85NbO₃ nanocrystals ceramic material, respectively.     

Performance of palm‐based fat blends with a low saturated fat content in puff pastry

Four fat blends based on palm fractions in combination with high oleic sunflower oil (HOSF) with a relatively low saturated fatty acid content (29.2 ± 0.85%, i.e. less than 50% of that of butter) were prepared. The saturated fat was located in different TAG structures in each blend. Principal saturated TAG were derived from palm stearin (POs, containing tripalmitoyl glycerol—PPP), palm mid‐fraction (PMF, containing 1,3‐dipalmitoyl‐2‐oleoyl glycerol—POP) and interesterified PMF (inPMF, containing PPP, POP and rac‐1,2‐dipalmitoyl‐3‐oleoyl glycerol—PPO). Thus, in blend 1, composed of POs and HOSF, the saturates resided principally in PPP. In blend 2, composed of POs, PMF and HOSF, the principal saturate‐containing TAG were PPP and POP. Blend 3, composed of inPMF and HOSF, was similar to blend 2 except that the disaturated TAG comprised a 2:1 mixture of PPO:POP. Finally, blend 4, a mixture of PMF and HOSF, had saturates present mainly as POP. The physical properties and the functionality of blends, as shortenings for puff pastry laminated in a warm bakery environment (20–24°C), were compared with each other, and with butter. Puff pastry prepared with blend 1 (POs:HOSF 29:71) and blend 4 (PMF:HOSF 41:59), was very hard; blend 2 (POs:PMF:HOSF 13:19:68) was most similar to butter in the compressibility of the baked product and it performed well in an independent baking trial; blend 3 (inPMF:HOSF 40:60) gave a product that required a higher force for compression than butter.     

Dialogic reading and morphology training in Chinese children: Effects on language and literacy.

This study investigates the effects of parent-child shared book reading and metalinguistic training on the language and literacy skills of 148 kindergartners in Hong Kong. Children were pretested on Chinese character recognition, vocabulary, morphological awareness, and reading interest and then assigned randomly to 1 of 4 conditions: the dialogic reading with morphology training (DR + MT), dialogic reading (DR), typical reading, or control condition. After a 12-week intervention period, the DR intervention yielded greater gains in vocabulary, and the DR + MT intervention yielded greater improvement in character recognition and morphological awareness. Both interventions enhanced children's reading interest. Results confirm that different home literacy approaches influence children's oral and written language skills differently: Shared book reading promotes language development, whereas parents' explicit metalinguistic training within a shared book reading context better prepares children for learning to read. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analysis of phenotypic variation of sugar profile in different peach and nectarine [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] breeding progenies

BACKGROUND: Specific sugar contents are well known for contributing to a range of quality traits of fresh fruits such as flavour, texture and health properties. Peaches and nectarines of 205 genotypes from 14 different breeding progenies cultivated under Mediterranean conditions were evaluated by high‐performance liquid chromatography for their content of these sugar traits. RESULTS: A high contribution of cross to the phenotypic variance of all evaluated fruit quality traits was found. There were significant differences in mean sugar concentrations between peach and nectarine, yellow‐ and white‐fleshed or freestone and clingstone genotypes. Pre‐selected genotypes from the original breeding programme showed enhanced soluble solid content (SSC), total sugar and sucrose contents. A significant effect of year was found for SSC, sucrose and glucose contents, whereas no effect was found for fructose and sorbitol contents. Individual sugar contents correlated significantly with each other and with other fruit quality traits. CONCLUSION: A significant effect of cross, year and qualitative traits on the sugar profile of peaches and nectarines was found. Moreover, the differences shown in sugar traits between the breeding population and the pre‐selected genotypes indicated the importance of sugar profile in the global quality of peaches and nectarines. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Exposure to ultrafine particles in children until 18 years of age: A systematic review

Airborne ultrafine particles (UFP) have been related to adverse health effects, but exposure in vulnerable population groups such as children is still not well understood. We aim to review the scientific literature regarding personal exposure to UFP in different microenvironments in populations until 18 years of age. The bibliographical search was carried out in July 2019 using the online database PubMed and was completed with references in articles found in the search. We selected the studies that used continuous counters and measured UFP levels in both specific microenvironment (houses, schools, transport, etc) and personal exposure. Finally, 32 studies fulfilled the criteria: of these, 10 analyzed personal exposure and 22 examined UFP levels in the microenvironment (especially in schools or nurseries (18/22)) and five in various microenvironments (including dwellings and means of transport, where exposure levels were higher). The characteristics of the microenvironments with the greatest levels of UFP were being close to heavy traffic or near cooking and cleaning activities. This review revealed the wide differences in exposure assessment methodologies that could lead to a lack of uniform and comparable information about the real UFP exposure in children.     

Asynchronous Distributed Average Consensus: A Switched System Framework for Biased Average Analysis

International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems - This paper investigates a biased average error for distributed average consensus problems under asynchronous updates in the expectation...     

Identification of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory and antioxidant peptides in a whey protein concentrate hydrolysate produced at semi‐pilot scale

Antioxidant and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides were identified in a 5 kDa ultrafiltration permeate of a whey protein hydrolysate generated at semi‐pilot scale. Further laboratory scale ultrafiltration of this 5 kDa permeate resulted in a 0.65 kDa permeate with antioxidant, (1.11 ± 0.074 μmol TE per mg dry weight, oxygen radical absorbance capacity, ORAC) and ACE inhibitory (ACE IC₅₀ 0.215 ± 0.043 mg mL^?1) activities. Semi‐preparative (SP) reverse phase high‐performance liquid chromatography (RP‐HPLC) of the 0.65 kDa permeate resulted in a fraction (SP_F3) with a 4.4‐fold increase in ORAC activity (4.83 ± 0.45 μmol TE mg dry weight) and a 1.3‐fold increase in ACE inhibitory activity (84.35 ± 1.36% inhibition when assayed at 0.28 mg mL^?1). Peptides within SP_F3 were identified using UPLC‐ESI‐MS/MS. Met‐Pro‐Ile had the highest ORAC activity (205.75 ± 12.08 μmol TE per mmol peptide) while Met‐Ala‐Ala and Val‐Ala‐Gly‐Thr had the highest ACE inhibitory activities (IC₅₀:515.50 ± 1.11 and 610.30 ± 2.41 μm , respectively).