Clarification and pasteurisation effects on monomeric anthocyanins and percent polymeric colour of black carrot (Daucus carota L.) juice

Black carrots (BCs) are a rich source of stable anthocyanins (ACNs). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of clarification and pasteurisation on ACNs of black carrot juice (BCJ). Monomeric ACNs, ACN profile and percent polymeric colour were determined during processing of BCJ. While depectinisation and bentonite treatments resulted in 7% and 20% increases in monomeric ACN content of BCJ, respectively, gelatine–kieselsol treatment and pasteurisation resulted in 10% and 3–16% reduction. Percent polymeric colour decreased after clarification, but substantially increased in samples subjected to heat. ACNs of BCJ samples were identified by HPLC–MS. Unclarified BCJ contained cyanidin-3-galactoside-xyloside-glucoside-ferulic acid as the major ACN, followed by cyanidin-3-galactoside-xyloside-glucoside-coumaric acid, and cyanidin-3-galactoside-xyloside-glucoside. After depectinisation, two more ACNs (cyanidin-3-galactoside-xyloside and cyanidin-3-galactoside-xyloside-glucoside-sinapic acid) were also identified. These results indicated that depectinisation and bentonite treatment had positive effect on the colour of BCJ, while gelatin–kieselsol treatment and pasteurisation had negative effect.     

Multi-sink load balanced forwarding with a multi-criteria fuzzy sink selection for video sensor networks

Congestion is a challenging problem in wireless sensor networks, which exacerbates with the high volume of data traffic imposed by video applications such as video surveillance and target tracking. Deployment of multiple sinks is a candidate solution for congestion and is also promising in terms of reliability and energy-efficiency. In order to gain the maximum benefit from multiple sinks, it is essential to distribute the load among them evenly. In this paper, we propose a cross layer geographic forwarding scheme MLBRF (Multi-Sink Load Balanced Reliable Forwarding) which aims to provide reliable and energy efficient video delivery in a multi-sinked sensor network for target tracking. In order to provide load balancing among the sinks, MLBRF proposes a sink selection mechanism based on fuzzy logic for the frame forwarding which evaluates the traffic density in the direction of each sink by combining two dynamic criteria which are the number of contenders and the buffer occupancy levels in the neighborhood with the static distance criterion. The performance of the fuzzy sink selection mechanism is compared using simulation with various sink selection mechanisms. The results show that MLBRF gains the maximum benefit from deploying multiple sinks in terms of reliability, latency and energy efficiency by using the proposed fuzzy sink selection mechanism.     

An eco-friendly process: Predictive modelling of copper adsorption from aqueous solution on Spirulina platensis

The adsorption of copper ions on Spirulina platensis was studied as a function of contact time, initial metal ion concentration, and initial pH regimes. Characterization of this adsorbent was confirmed by FTIR spectrum. Modified Gompertz and Logistic models have not been previously applied for the adsorption of copper. Logistic was the best model to describe experimental kinetic data. This adsorption could be explained by the intra-particle diffusion, which was composed of more than one sorption processes. Langmuir, Freundlich, and Redlich–Peterson were fitted to equilibrium data models. According to values of error functions and correlation coefficient, the Langmuir and Redlich–Peterson models were more appropriate to describe the adsorption of copper ions on S. platensis. The monolayer maximum adsorption capacity of copper ions was determined as 67.93 mg g^?1. Results indicated that this adsorbent had a great potential for removing of copper as an eco-friendly process.     

Episodic memory and metamemory in Parkinson’s disease patients.

This study investigated episodic memory and metamemory for verbs and nouns in patients who have cognitive impairments associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). PD patients and healthy control participants were asked to recall word pairs and provide feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgments for the items they were unable to recall. This was followed by a 4-alternative recognition test. PD patients were impaired in both recall and recognition, compared with controls. In terms of metamemory, PD patients were less confident in their ability to recognize the unrecalled items in a future recognition test. Most important, accuracy of PD patients’ FOK judgments was not above chance and was lower than that of control participants. The PD group correctly recognized fewer verbs than nouns, but type of material (verb vs. noun) had no impact on recall or FOK judgments. In addition, contribution of executive functions to FOK accuracy was different in PD patients and controls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neural extension of experimental data to investigate using phosphogypsume in light brick production

In this study, usability of wastes produced in phosphoric acid plants in structural brick manufacture has been investigated. There are several parameters involved in using these wastes in brick production namely the rate of added waste, firing speed and firing temperature. The performance of these parameters can be measured by several criteria such as natural drying shortening, water absorption and weight loss. Therefore, so many experiments are needed to investigate the effects of these parameters on the bricks produced with these wastes. The result of a series of experiments were utilized to achieve this end. The results have shown that the industrial wastes considered improve the performance of the bricks in terms of the criteria mentioned above. However, the results have also shown that further investigations are needed to explore the effects of interim values on the performance of the bricks. To achieve that end, a neural experimental study is adopted. For this purpose, the results of the experiments conducted were used to construct an artificial neural network. The trained and tested network was then used to check the effects of 280 different combinations for each type of material mixtures mentioned. The outcome of these artificial tests have provided the optimal values for the waste addition rate, firing speed and firing temperature based on the four criteria mentioned previously.     

Lateral stiffness of steel plate shear wall systems

The accuracy of the finite element method and strip method of analysis for calculating the lateral stiffness of steel plate shear wall (SPSW) systems is assessed by making comparisons with experimental findings. Comparisons revealed that while both methods provide acceptable accuracy, they also require the generation of sophisticated computer models. In this paper, two alternative methods are developed. The first one is an approximate hand method based on the deep beam theory. The classical deep beam theory is modified in the light of parametric studies performed on restrained thin plates under pure shear and pure bending. The second one is a computer method based on the truss analogy. Stiffness predictions using the two alternative methods are found to compare well with the experimental findings. In addition, lateral stiffness predictions of the alternate methods are compared against the solutions provided using finite element and strip methods of analysis for a class of test structures. These comparisons reveal that the developed methods provide estimates with acceptable accuracy and are simpler than the traditional analysis techniques.     

Compensating the effects of DC bias lines on terahertz photomixer antennas using resistively loaded lines

This paper proposed a method, namely resistively loaded lines (RLL), to compensate the effects of the DC bias lines after investigating its effects on several types of antennas for terahertz photomixers. The RLL is formed by placing lumped resistances periodically on the DC bias line in order to cease the leakage current virtually, which cause a significant amount of distortion on the antenna performance. The simulation results of the dipole, folded dipole, log-periodic, and spiral antennas show that RLL almost removes the effects of the bias lines and improves the antenna radiation resistance and radiation pattern notably compared with that of the commonly used bias line types, such as coplanar stripline and photonic bandgap type bias lines.     

Effects and modelling of ultrasonic waste‐activated sludge disintegration

Sonication is a well‐known sludge pretreatment technique with the advantages of simple operation and high efficiency. However, it is an energy‐intensive process. Hence, it is very important to predetermine its sludge disintegration efficiency at varying pretreatment conditions in order to minimize the ultrasonic energy consumption. In this study, it was found that the ultrasonic sludge disintegration occurred in two stages: rapid and subsequent slow disintegration stages. For this reason, it was aimed to develop a simple and accurate mathematical model to describe the two‐stage sludge disintegration as a function of pretreatment conditions. Sludge concentration and ultrasonic density along with sonication period were involved in this model as independent variables. It was determined that the mathematical model can predict accurately the degree of sludge disintegration. Thus, the proposed model was seen to be very useful for evaluating the disintegration efficiency and/or for process design using the operating parameters under different conditions.     

Exploiting the channel using uninterrupted collision‐free MAC adaptation over IEEE 802.11 WLANs

IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLANs) have reached an important stage and become a common technology for wireless access due to its low cost, ease of deployment, and mobility support. In parallel with the extensive growth of WLANs, the development of an efficient medium access control protocol that provides both high throughput performance for data traffic and quality of service support for real‐time applications has become a major focus in WLAN research. The IEEE 802.11 Distributed Coordination Functions (DCF/EDCA) provide contention‐based distributed channel access mechanisms for stations to share the wireless medium. However, performance of these mechanisms may drop dramatically because of high collision probabilities as the number of active stations increases. In this paper, we propose an adaptive collision‐free MAC adaptation. The proposed scheme prevents collisions and allows stations to enter the collision‐free state regardless of the traffic load (saturated or unsaturated) and the number of stations on the medium. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme dramatically enhances the overall throughput and supports quality of service for real‐time services over 802.11‐based WLANs. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.