Effect of seed treatments on the chemical composition and properties of two amaranth species: starch and protein

The seeds of two Amaranth species were studied. The starch contents were 543 and 623 g kg^?1 while crude protein contents were 154 and 169 g kg^?1 for Amaranthus caudatus and Amaranthus cruentus seeds, respectively. The effect of several treatments, including cooking, popping and germination and flour air classification on the protein and starch properties were studied. Air classification decreased the starch content and increased the protein content, while heating increased the protein but did not affect the starch content. Germination decreased both starch and protein contents. Amylose content was increased by air classification and heating, but was not affected by germination. It was found that all treatments increased the starch swelling power and reduced the falling number. The resistant starch content was increased in the high protein flour (HPF) fraction and germinated flour compared with the raw flour, while its content decreased in the heat treated seed flours. These processes also affected the starch gelatinization temperature and peak viscosity. The thermal properties of the starch flour were not affected by air classification while gelatinization energy was decreased significantly (by 52.0 and 90.0% and by 70.0 and 95.0%) in cooked and popped A caudatus and A cruentus seed flours, respectively. The gelatinization energy was highest in germinated seeds dried at 90 °C with values of 2.67 and 3.87 J g^?1. Air classification reduced the level of all protein fractions. Thermal treatment decreased the water‐soluble fraction (albumins + globulins) and alcohol‐soluble fraction (prolamins) in both species. The levels of all fractions except the water‐soluble fraction (albumins + globulins) were reduced significantly in both species by germination, which mainly increased the amount of aspartic acid, serine and alanine, while the amounts of threonine, arginine and tyrosine decreased in both species. The polypeptide bands of the HPF in both species were unchanged compared with the raw seed flours, but more intensive coloured bands were observed. Thermal treatments eliminated major and minor bands above 35.0 KDa in both species. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Antioxidant activity screening of extracts from Sideritis species (Labiatae) grown in Bulgaria

Plant samples from several species and populations of the genus Sideritis (Labiatae) grown in Bulgaria (S scardica, S syriaca and S montana) were extracted with different solvents. Their antioxidant activities were determined by the β‐carotene bleaching test (BCBT), 2,2′‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH^?) radical scavenging method and static headspace gas chromatography (HS‐GC) and compared with the antioxidant activity of two reference compounds of different polarity, viz butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and rosmarinic acid. The pure reference compounds were applied in a ten‐times lower concentration than the plant extracts. The highest antioxidant activity in the BCBT, close to that of BHT, was observed for the more apolar extracts. The inhibitory effect on β‐carotene bleaching of the polar extracts and rosmarinic acid was much lower than that of BHT. The inhibition of hexanal formation in bulk safflower oil by most of S syriaca and S scardica extracts was as effective as BHT but less so than rosmarinic acid. S montana extracts showed weak antioxidant or even pro‐oxidant properties. Extracts from butanol and from ethyl acetate and the total methanol extracts from all Sideritis plants studied showed a strong radical scavenging activity against DPPH^?, close to that of rosmarinic acid. S montana extracts were, as a whole, slightly weaker radical inhibitors than the extracts from the other two species. The antioxidant activity of Sideritis extracts was attributed to the presence of flavonoid and phenylpropanoid glycosides. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

Actual versus apparent within cell wall variability of nanoindentation results from wood cell walls related to cellulose microfibril angle

Hardness and elastic modulus of spruce wood cell walls parallel to their axial direction were investigated by means of nanoindentation. In the secondary cell wall layer S2 of individual earlywood and compression wood tracheids, a systematic pattern variability was found. Several factors potentially affecting nanoindentation results were investigated, i.e. specimen orientation related to the indenter tip, cutting direction during specimen preparation, tip geometry, specimen and fibre inclination, respectively, and finally micro fibril orientation. Mechanical property measurements were correlated with structural features measured by confocal Raman spectroscopy. It was demonstrated that very high variability in the measurement of micromechanical cell wall properties can be caused by unintentional small fibre misalignment by few degrees with regard to the indentation direction caused by sub-optimal specimen preparation.     

Accumulation of metals and selected nutritional parameters in the field-grown chamomile anthodia

Accumulation of metals and selected nutritional parameters of chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) anthodia cultured under natural condition on an experimental field in Košice (Slovak Republic) were studied. Two official cultivars (diploid ‘Novbona’ and tetraploid ‘Lutea’) and two ontogenetic phases of anthodia (‘bud’ and ‘flower’) were compared. K, Ca, Mg, Al, Cu, Cr, Hg and Cd were more accumulated in both bud and flower of diploid plants while accumulation of Fe, Zn, Ni and Pb was ploidy-independent. Bioaccumulation factor was lower than one for toxic metals, indicating that chamomile is an excluder. Tetraploid plants contained lower concentrations of amino acids but higher concentrations of phenolic acids compared to diploid plants. Among phenolic acids, caffeic and vanillic acids were mainly present in the glycosidic form. Reducing sugars (glucose equivalents), total soluble phenols, sum of flavonols, individual flavonols (quercetin and kaempferol), apigenin and herniarin were more accumulated in anthodia of tetraploid plants. Our data indicate that increase in ploidy level reduces accumulation of toxic metals and amino acids but enhances accumulation of phenolic metabolites. Thus polyploidisation is a good tool to achieve safer chamomile cultivars for pharmaceutical purposes.     

Failure analysis of mechanical elements in steelworks equipment by methods of experimental mechanics

New technological equipment is mostly designed with the goal of increasing the productivity of manufacturing. This aim often results in an increased loading of structural support members. In the paper attention is given to the reasons for crack initiation in the supporting part of the converter torsion system that ensures transfer of the tilting moments from the converter vessel to the converter pedestal. The numerical and experimental analysis of the reasons for crack initiation in the pedestals of the converter torsion systems was carried out over the period of 2 years. In the paper forces and stresses in the structure are analysed both under normal and extraordinary operational conditions of the converter (big steel residues on the converter wall, demolition of the converter lining). Alongside the reasons for crack initiation the ways for solving the problem of further safe operation of the converter are suggested.     

Manipulating microstructure and mechanical properties of CuO doped 3Y-TZP nano-ceramics using spark-plasma sintering

Nano-powder composites of 3Y-TZP doped with 8 mol% CuO were processed by spark-plasma sintering (SPS). A 96% dense composite ceramic with an average grain size of 70 nm was obtained by applying the SPS process at 1100 °C and 100 MPa for 1 min. In contrast to normal, pressureless, sintering during SPS reactions between CuO and 3Y-TZP were suppressed, the CuO phase was reduced to metallic Cu, while the 3Y-TZP phase remained almost purely tetragonal. Annealing after SPS results in grain growth and tetragonal to monoclinic zirconia phase transformation. The grain size and monoclinic zirconia phase content are strongly dependent on the annealing temperature. By combining the processing techniques studied in this work, including traditional pressureless sintering, properties of the composite ceramic can be tuned via manipulation of microstructure. Tuning the mechanical properties of dense 8 mol% CuO doped 3Y-TZP composite ceramic by utilising different processing techniques is given as an example.     

On the numerical implications of multiplicative inelasticity with an anisotropic elastic constitutive law

The statement that theories of inelasticity at finite strains have arrived at a high level of development is only true in conjunction with isotropic material behaviour. From both points of view (theoretical and computational), the extension to anisotropic material behaviour seems to be a complicated task. The statement is especially true when the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient is considered a basis for the formulation. Of special interest are questions related to the mathematical form of the stored energy function or, equivalently, of the constitutive relation for the material stress tensor as the thermodynamical force. This paper deals with the above issues. The anisotropic formulation is accomplished using the notion of structural tensors. Here we suggest that the privileged directions of the material should be transformed in a specific way under the action of the inelastic part of the deformation gradient. The inelastic behaviour is assumed to be governed by evolution equations of the unified type. Numerically, we deal with the full multiplicative structure of the theory. The numerical treatment is developed in full detail. Expressions concerning the local iteration as well as the tangent operator are derived. Various numerical examples with applications to shells are presented which demonstrate the influence of anisotropy and the applicability of the theory. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

In vitro bio-immunological and cytotoxicity studies of poly(2-oxazolines)

Poly(2-oxazolines) with varying alkyl chain lengths (e.g., methyl, ethyl, aryl) and molar masses have been tested for cell cytotoxicity in vitro. A standard 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used for the estimation of cell viability. Two monomers, 2-methyl-2-oxazoline and 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline, were found to provide polymers with non-cytotoxic properties. The dependence of cell viability on molar mass confirmed the expected trend; the viability increased with the higher molar mass of poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PETOX), up to 15,000 g/mol. The results obtained for the polymers with aliphatic side chains were compared with the analogues that possessed an aromatic moiety. All results confirmed low cytotoxicity of the polymers prepared by cationic polymerization of 2-alkyl- and 2-aryl-2-oxazolines, which supports their utilization in biomedical applications. Fluorescence microscopy and steady-state fluorescence were used to observe pyrene-labeled polymer interactions with living cells. Polymer accumulated within the cells was found to be dependent on polymer concentration in media. The immunoefficiency of aromatic and aliphatic oxazoline polymers and copolymers was also studied. Phagocytic and metabolic activities of macrophages were used to assess the immunosuppressive effects of the selected copolymers for possible applications in drug delivery and immunobiology. Overall, the tested polymers demonstrated no significant influences on the cellular immunological parameters.