Effect of raspberry pomace extracts isolated by high pressure extraction on the quality and shelf‐life of beef burgers

Raspberry pomace extracts isolated with supercritical carbon dioxide (SCE) and pressurised ethanol/water (ETE) were tested in beef burgers. Only ETE additives effectively inhibited lipid oxidation and the growth of microorganisms, as it was observed by measuring the changes of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, bacterial counts and the content of O₂ and CO₂ during storage in the modified atmosphere package. ETE additives also demonstrated some meat colour preservation effects, which were assessed by the intensity of hamburger colour and metmyoglobin concentration. However, ETE additives did not alter burger's taste at the applied concentrations (up to 1%). It may be concluded that the most effective extracts possessing strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activity may be isolated from raspberry pomace by the pressurised liquid extraction with a hydroethanolic solvent; such extracts may be considered as promising additives in meat products for improving their stability and enriching with beneficial to health phytochemicals.     

Antioxidant properties of garden strawberry leaf extract and its effect on fish oil oxidation

The present study characterises garden strawberry leaf extract and reports its effect on shelf life and quality characteristics of fish oil. Radical scavenging capacity of the extract in DPPH^? and ABTS^?+ assays was equivalent to 1207 and 1579 μmol g^?1 of trolox equivalents, respectively, total phenolic content was 257 mg g^?1 of gallic acid equivalents. Phenolic and volatile constituents were analysed by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The extract was added to fish oil and its oxidation was followed during 42 days: peroxide, p‐anisidine values and hexanal concentration were lower in the samples with extract, particularly at the end of storage. The effect of extract on fatty acid composition was not significant, however the changes in the percentages of some individual acids were observed. Fish oil containing 5% of extract had lower levels of lipid oxidation in comparison to other samples. The results indicate that strawberry leaves could be a potential source of natural antioxidants.     

Polyacrylamide gels with ionized functional groups in their selective recognition of trimeric molecular form of human growth hormone

Networks of polyacrylamide with ionized functional groups were studied for the possibility of imprinting of oligomeric form of human growth hormone (hGH). Trimeric molecular form of hGH was molecularly imprinted for the first time. The results show that approximately 35–40 % (w/w) of the templates (depending on polymerization conditions) could be extracted from the molecularly imprinted acrylamide polymers. Artificial gel antibodies against trimeric hGH in the form of granules of hydrogel were compared with granules of non-imprinted polymer. Investigation of the binding to imprinted polymer of the template hormone, other molecular forms of the hormone, and other proteins shows enough high selectivity of artificial gel antibodies.     

Comparative study of indices used in toxicity evaluation of effluents

Several toxicological indices currently proposed (inter)nationally to aid decision-making tasks in effluent control were compared. To evaluate effluent ranking differences between the indices an inversion distance as a similarity measure was proposed. The major factor influencing effluent ranking were found to be a composition of test-battery. Differences in mathematical operator of the indices such as, e.g. arithmetic mean (used in averaging indices) or maximum one (used in an approach of the most sensitive test in a battery), affect the ranking similarity noticeably lesser than the modification of the percentage effect level of the measurement endpoints. Effluent and/or river flow parameters incorporated into the indices substantially modify ranking results of the effluent set. For the analysis, the toxicological information on 23 effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plants operating in cities and small towns of Lithuania as well as test-battery data on industrial effluents published elsewhere were used. It seems that the general statements achieved in the current study can be applied to any set of effluents.     

Fabrication of polystyrene microfluidic devices using a pulsed CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> laser system

In this article, we described a simple and rapid method for fabrication of droplet microfluidic devices on polystyrene substrate using a CO₂ laser system. The effects of the laser power and the cutting speed on the depth, width and aspect ratio of the microchannels fabricated on polystyrene were investigated. The polystyrene microfluidic channels were encapsulated using a hot press bonding technique. The experimental results showed that both discrete droplets and laminar flows could be obtained in the device.     

Nearest and reverse nearest neighbor queries for moving objects

With the continued proliferation of wireless communications and advances in positioning technologies, algorithms for efficiently answering queries about large populations of moving objects are gaining interest. This paper proposes algorithms for k nearest and reverse k nearest neighbor queries on the current and anticipated future positions of points moving continuously in the plane. The former type of query returns k objects nearest to a query object for each time point during a time interval, while the latter returns the objects that have a specified query object as one of their k closest neighbors, again for each time point during a time interval. In addition, algorithms for so-called persistent and continuous variants of these queries are provided. The algorithms are based on the indexing of object positions represented as linear functions of time. The results of empirical performance experiments are reported.     

Duplex positioning method for increasing the fatigue life of threaded connections under eccentric loading

A new method, duplex positioning method DPM, to increase the fatigue lifetime of the threaded connection under eccentric loading is presented. When DPM is applied, the most damaged stud regions periodically are removed from risky positions by a change of the stud’s and nut’s mutual position in the axial direction alongside with a change of the stud’s position in respect to bending plane. The mathematical model for DPM enables us to predict its efficiency. To simulate the fatigue strength of the stud the following was used: Patterson’s and Kenny’s thread deflection factors, solutions for the distributions of the axial load and bending moment along the threads, Neuber’s method for the stress concentration factors in multiplier notches, Heywood’s formulas for the stress due to the thread flank loading and for the combined stresses, as well as the results of the photoelastic analysis of the araldite models under eccentric loading.