Effect of high-temperature drying on properties of Norway spruce and larch

In timber drying, mechanical properties may be changed due to treatment temperature and treatment duration. In general, when increasing the kiln temperature, drying time is decreased and some timber properties are negatively affected. In this study, the effect of different drying temperatures (80, 120 and 170 °C) on equilibrium moisture content and sorption rate, on bending strength and stiffness was investigated for Norway spruce and larch from four proveniences and the results were compared to those obtained for heat-treated wood (Thermowood ^®). The experiments confirm earlier research that both treatment temperature and treatment duration affect the properties. High-temperature drying or treatment can be optimized for several applications, yielding strong but not so durable timber or vice versa.     

Effect of Stevia rebaudiana on Oxidative Enzyme Activity and Its Correlation with Antioxidant Capacity and Bioactive Compounds

The effect of different concentrations of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni (Stevia) on polyphenoloxidase and peroxidase activities, antioxidant capacity and other bioactive compounds of a mixture of fruits, during 10 days of incubation at 10 and 37 °C, was studied. A significant decrease (p?<?0.05) in both enzyme activities was observed when Stevia was added, showing an inhibitory effect. Samples with a high Stevia concentration showed the highest total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity, whereas non-significant changes were found in the ascorbic acid and carotenoid contents of the samples with Stevia added. A negative significant dependence (p?<?0.05) during incubation was obtained between enzyme activity and antioxidant capacity, so that antioxidant capacity increases as enzyme activity decreases. Therefore, enzyme activity could be used as an indirect index of antioxidant capacity. The results clearly showed that Stevia had significant potential for use not only as a sweetener but also as a natural preservative agent.     

Online shear viscosity measurement of starchy melts enriched in wheat bran

Abstract: Addition of wheat bran to flours modifies their expansion properties after cooking extrusion. This can be attributed to changes in the melt shear viscosity at the die. The effect of wheat bran concentration added to achieve 2 levels of dietary fibers of 12. 6% and 24.4%, and process conditions on the shear viscosity of wheat flour was therefore assessed using an online twin‐slit rheometer. The shear viscosity measured at 30 s^?1 ranged from 9.5 × 10³ to 53.4 × 10³ Pa s. Regardless of the process conditions and bran concentration, the extruded melts showed a pseudoplastic behavior with a power law index n ranging from 0.05 to 0.27. Increasing the barrel temperature of the extruder from 120 to 180 °C, the water content from 18% to 22% or the screw speed from 400 to 800 rpm significantly decreased the melt shear viscosity at the extruder exit. The addition of bran significantly increased the melt shear viscosity only at the highest bran concentration. The effect was process condition dependant. Mathematical interpretations, based upon observations, of the experimental data were carried out. They can be used to predict the effect of the process conditions on the melt shear viscosity at the die of extruded wheat flour with increasing bran concentration. The viscosity data will be applied in future works to study the expansion properties of extruded wheat flour supplemented with bran. Practical Application: Incorporation of wheat bran, a readily available and low cost by‐product, in extruded puffed foods is constrained due to its negative effect on the product texture. Understanding the effect of wheat bran on rheological properties of extruded melts, driving the final product properties, is essential to provide solutions to the food industry and enhance its use.     

LC-MS/MS methods for absolute quantification and identification of proteins associated with chimeric plant oil bodies

Oil bodies (OBs) are plant cell organelles that consist of a lipid core surrounded by a phospholipid monolayer embedded with specialized proteins such as oleosins. Recombinant proteins expressed in plants can be targeted to OBs as fusions with oleosin. This expression strategy is attractive because OBs are easily enriched and purified from other cellular components, based on their unique physicochemical properties. For recombinant OBs to be a potential therapeutic agent in biomedical applications, it is necessary to comprehensively analyze and quantify both endogenous and heterologously expressed OB proteins. In this study, a mass spectrometry (MS)-based method was developed to accurately quantify an OB-targeted heterologously expressed fusion protein that has potential as a therapeutic agent. The effect of the chimeric oleosin expression upon the OB proteome in transgenic plants was also investigated, and the identification of new potential OB residents was pursued through a variety of liquid chromatography (LC)-MS/MS approaches. The results showed that the accumulation of the fusion protein on OBs was low. Moreover, no significant differences in the accumulation of OB proteins were revealed between transgenic and wild-type seeds. The identification of five new putative components of OB proteome was also reported.     

In situ tracking of enzymatic breakdown of starch granules by synchrotron UV fluorescence microscopy

Synchrotron UV fluorescence microscopy was used for the first time to visualize the adsorption and diffusion of an enzyme while degrading a solid substrate. The degradation pathway of single starch granules by two amylases, optimized for biofuel production and industrial starch hydrolysis, was followed by tryptophan fluorescence (excitation at 280 nm, emission filter at 300-400 nm) and visible light imaging. Thus, both the adsorption of enzyme onto starch granules at 283 nm resolution and the resulting morphological changes were recorded at different stages of hydrolysis. It is the first time that amylases were localized on starch without staining or adding a fluorescent probe at such high resolution. This technique presents a very high potential for imaging proteins in complex systems. Its sensitivity was demonstrated by the detection of GBSS (the granular bound starch synthase) at high recording times, GBSS being present at very low levels in maize starch granules.     

Characteristics of single vehicle rollover fatalities in three Australian states (2000-2007)

An analysis of 2000–2007 single vehicle rollover fatalities in three Australian states was carried out using data from the Australian National Coroners Information System. In this paper, successive selection criteria were applied to the initial dataset to analyse:

• - 

  Occupant fatalities in single passenger car crashes (1743 cases),

• - 

  Occupant fatalities in single passenger car rollovers (474 cases),

overall, rollovers accounted for 35% of all occupant fatalities in a single vehicle transport injury event. For these fatalities, the occupant was ejected or stayed contained in equal proportions. However, results showed strong disparities between the more urban and densely populated states of New South Wales and Victoria, compared to the Northern Territory in terms of crash type distribution and containment of the occupant. Differences were also found in rollover initiation, speed at initiation and number of turns. Overall, the strongest association of fatal neck/thoracic spine injuries with head injuries was found for the contained, restrained occupant. This analysis of single vehicle rollover fatalities is consistent with previous findings. It also shows that in Australia, strategies for rollover injury risk mitigation will need to take into account a broad range of characteristics to be effective.     

Multiplexed method to calibrate and quantitate fluorescence signal for allergen-specific IgE

Using a microarray platform for allergy diagnosis allows for testing of specific IgE sensitivity to a multitude of allergens, while requiring only small volumes of serum. However, variation of probe immobilization on microarrays hinders the ability to make quantitative, assertive, and statistically relevant conclusions necessary in immunodiagnostics. To address this problem, we have developed a calibrated, inexpensive, multiplexed, and rapid protein microarray method that directly correlates surface probe density to captured labeled secondary antibody in clinical samples. We have identified three major technological advantages of our calibrated fluorescence enhancement (CaFE) technique: (i) a significant increase in fluorescence emission over a broad range of fluorophores on a layered substrate optimized specifically for fluorescence; (ii) a method to perform label-free quantification of the probes in each spot while maintaining fluorescence enhancement for a particular fluorophore; and (iii) a calibrated, quantitative technique that combines fluorescence and label-free modalities to accurately measure probe density and bound target for a variety of antibody-antigen pairs. In this paper, we establish the effectiveness of the CaFE method by presenting the strong linear dependence of the amount of bound protein to the resulting fluorescence signal of secondary antibody for IgG, β-lactoglobulin, and allergen-specific IgEs to Ara h 1 (peanut major allergen) and Phl p 1 (timothy grass major allergen) in human serum.     

Size measurement of bubbles in a cavitation tunnel by digital in-line holography

Digital in-line holography (DIH) with a divergent beam is used to measure size and concentration of cavitation bubbles (6-100 μm) in hydrodynamic facilities. A sampling probe is directly inserted in the cavitation tunnel, and the holograms of the bubbles are recorded through a transparent test section specially designed for DIH measurements. The recording beam coming from a fiber-coupled laser diode illuminates the sample volume, and holograms are recorded by a CMOS camera. From each hologram, the sampling volume can be reconstructed slice by slice by applying a wavelet-based reconstruction method. Because of the geometry of the recording beam, a magnification ratio must be introduced for recovering the 3D location and size of each bubble. The method used for processing holograms recorded in such a configuration is presented. Then, statistical results obtained from 5000 holograms recorded under different pressures in the cavitation tunnel are compared and discussed.     

A proposed mixed-mode fracture specimen for wood under creep loadings

A mixed-mode fracture specimen was designed in this paper. This geometry is a judicious compromise between a modified Double Cantilever Beam specimen and Compact Tension Shear specimens. The main objective is to propose a specimen which traduces a stable crack growth during creep loading taking into account viscoelastic behaviour under mixed-mode loadings. The numerical design is based on the instantaneous response traduced by a crack growth stability zone. This zone is characterized by a decrease of the instantaneous energy release rate versus the crack length. In order to obtain a mixed-mode separation, the paper deals with the use of the M-integral approach implemented in finite element software, according to energetic fracture criterions. In these considerations, a numerical geometric optimization is operated for different mixed-mode ratios. Finally, a common specimen which provides to obtain fracture parameters, viscoelastic properties and creep crack growth process for different mixed-mode configurations is proposed.     

Mikrostrukturelle Pressschweißnahtcharakterisierung im strangpressten Zustand für Al‐Mg‐Si‐Legierungen

Weld seams form when profiles are extruded using porthole or bridge dies. These are inevitable when producing industrial relevant hollow profiles but imply the weak spot if the profiles are used for applications with high mechanical requirements. The characterization of formed weld seams together with their mechanical properties is problematic or sometimes even impossible due to the complex profile geometries. Expansion, bending or tensile tests of profiles or parts of the same were hitherto often used for their analysis lacking the possibility of basic assumptions about their properties. The investigations described herein circumvent the problem by using a flat profile exhibiting the weld seam in the middle. Flat profiles offer the possibility of standardised specimens for tensile testing. The extrusion experiments focused on the aluminium alloys EN‐AW 6060 and EN‐AW 6082. During the experiments billet temperature and extrusion speed have been varied. The microstructure was analysed subsequent to explain the obtained results and to offer a possibility of characterisation.