Anthocyanin composition in Cabernet Sauvignon red wine vinegar obtained by submerged acetification

Vinegars elaborated from white wine can be characterized by their phenolic composition. Indeed, for authenticity purpose, phenolic composition can be used to identify Sherry and Balsamic vinegars. However, the phenolic composition of red wine vinegars has scarcely been studied. Anthocyanin compounds in particular remain largely unknown. This study focuses on the analysis of anthocyanin compounds in red wine vinegar and the effect of acetification with submerged culture on such vinegars.The vinegar used in this study was produced from a young Cabernet Sauvignon wine in a laboratory-scale fermenter. Subsequent analyses of both wine and vinegar included their anthocyanin profile (by LC/MS), and their non-anthocyanin phenolic profile (by LC/DAD). In addition, wine and vinegar anthocyanin extracts were fractionated by CCC to determine the contribution of the fractions to overall antioxidant activity (AA), using ORAC, FRAP and DPPH assays.A total of 20 anthocyanin compounds were identified in the vinegar. As far as we know, this is the first time that anthocyanin-derived pigments (pyranoanthocyanins and ethyl-linked compounds) have been identified in red vinegar in such detail. Moreover, an original contribution of this study is the identification for the first time of catechyl-pyranocyanidin-3-glucoside in vinegar and wine, as well as two anthocyanin compounds not previously reported in vinegar or Cabernet Sauvignon wine: acetyl vitisin B and coumaroyl vitisin B. After the acetification process, vitisin-type and ethyl-linked compounds increased and monomeric anthocyanins, phenolic acids (ferulic acid, caffeic acid and caftaric acid) and flavan-3-ol ((+)-catechin) decreased.Although the proportion by weight of the polymeric compound fraction is similar in wine and vinegar, the AA of these polymers in vinegar is significantly greater (p < 0.05). We have also determined for the first time an approximate value of AA for malvidin-3-(6-acetyl)-glucoside isolated from vinegar.     

The Effect of 45° Rolling Process on the Mechanical Properties of P/M Rhenium

A novel processing technique which utilizes the 45° rolling mode is introduced. An optimum processing method of light rolling (10-12% reduction in thickness) along the 45° direction, followed by intermittent annealing (1650°C / 30 min. in H₂ atmosphere) was carried out. The partial reduction and intermittent annealing were repeated until an 82.9% reduction was achieved with a tensile strength of 2388 MPa (346.6 Ksi) and 3.3% elongation. Additional experiments were performed to test the feasibility of increasing the percentage of reduction in thickness in cold rolling from the conventional 10-15% to 20-55% along the 45° direction. Although extensive microcracking occurred, intermediate strengths were achieved and ductility was retained. This processing technique has the potential of producing ultra high strength, very thin sheets, which are vital for space nuclear power applications and missile guidance systems.     

Adaptive control for a radio‐controlled helicopter in a vertical flying stand

In this paper, we focus on the design and implementation of a controller for a two degree‐of‐freedom system. This system is composed of a small‐scale helicopter which is mounted on a vertical platform. The model is based on Lagrangian formulation and the controller is obtained by classical pole‐placement techniques for the yaw dynamics and adaptive pole‐placement for the altitude dynamics. Experimental results show the performance of such a controller. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generalized analysis of the illumination intensity vs. open-circuit voltage of solar cells

A new technique to determine the current–voltage characteristics of solar cells based on simultaneously measuring the open-circuit voltage as a function of a slowly varying light intensity has been proposed recently [Sinton and Cuevas, Proc. 16th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conf., Glasgow, UK, May 2000, pp. 1152–1155]. This paper presents a detailed theoretical analysis and interpretation of such quasi-steady-state V_oc measurements (QssV_oc). The ability of this analysis to accurately obtain the true steady-state device characteristics even in the case of high lifetime, high resistivity devices is demonstrated experimentally. Besides reasonable choices for the light source (2 and 4 ms exponential flashes), we have also used a rapidly varying illumination (0.35 ms decay rate) to illustrate problems with the existing analysis. The new analysis results in an excellent agreement between the three QssV_oc measurements and the true steady-state and dark I–V curves. An important application of the QssV_oc technique is to determine the minority carrier lifetime, and the new model proves to be especially important to do this accurately.     

Analysis of delay mean and variance of collision-free WDM rings with segment recirculation of blocked traffic

In Tunable-Transmitter Fixed-Receiver (TT-FR)-based Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM) ring topologies, each node is provided with a dedicated wavelength (home channel) for reception, which must be shared by the upstream nodes willing to communicate with it. Thus, to avoid channel collisions, it is necessary to define a Medium Access Control (MAC) mechanism that arbitrates access to a given destination wavelength. This work proposes and analyses a simple MAC mechanism that avoids channel collisions by recirculating traffic on the upstream ring segment where congestion was detected. Essentially, whenever a given node has got any traffic to transmit, it must first block access to in-transit traffic, which is reflected back to the upstream node over a second optical fibre. Such blocked traffic is given a second chance to pass through the congested node after a round segment delay, thus making use of the ring topology as buffering units. This work analyses the performance operation of such a MAC protocol under two policies applied to recirculated traffic: (1) recirculation bypass and (2) recirculation store-and-forward.     

In Vitro and In Silico Analysis of New n-Butyl and Isobutyl Quinoxaline-7-carboxylate 1,4-di-N-oxide Derivatives against Trypanosoma cruzi as Trypanothione Reductase Inhibitors

American trypanosomiasis is a worldwide health problem that requires attention due to ineffective treatment options. We evaluated n-butyl and isobutyl quinoxaline-7-carboxylate 1,4-di-N-oxide derivatives against trypomastigotes of the Trypanosoma cruzi strains NINOA and INC-5. An in silico analysis of the interactions of 1,4-di-N-oxide on the active site of trypanothione reductase (TR) and an enzyme inhibition study was carried out. The n-butyl series compound identified as T-150 had the best trypanocidal activity against T. cruzi trypomastigotes, with a 13% TR inhibition at 44 μM. The derivative T-147 behaved as a mixed inhibitor with Ki and Ki’ inhibition constants of 11.4 and 60.8 µM, respectively. This finding is comparable to the TR inhibitor mepacrine (Ki = 19 µM).     

Improved retention of imidacloprid (Confidor) in soils by adding vermicompost from spent grape marc

Batch sorption experiments of the insecticide imidacloprid by ten widely different Spanish soils were carried out. The sorption was studied for the active ingredient and its registered formulation Confidor. The temperature effect was studied at 15 degrees C and 25 degrees C. The addition of a vermicompost from spent grape marc (natural and ground), containing 344 g kg(-1) organic carbon, on the sorption of imidacloprid by two selected soils, a sandy loam and a silty clay loam, having organic carbon content of 3.6 g kg(-1) and 9.3 g kg(-1), respectively, was evaluated. Prior to the addition of this vermicompost, desorption isotherms with both selected soils, were also performed. The apparent hysteresis index (AHI) parameter was used to quantify sorption-desorption hysteresis. Sorption coefficients, K(d) and K(f), for the active ingredient and Confidor(R) in the different soils were similar. Sorption decreased with increasing temperature, this fact has special interest in greenhouse systems. A significant correlation (R(2)=0.965; P<0.01) between K(f) values and the organic carbon (OC) content was found, but some soils showed higher sorption coefficients than that expected from their OC values. The normalized sorption coefficients with the soil organic carbon content (K(oc)) were dispersed and low, implying that other characteristics of soils could contribute to the retention capacity as well. The spent grape marc vermicompost was an effective sorbent of this insecticide (K(f)=149). The sorption of imidacloprid increased significantly in soils amended with this vermicompost. The most pronounced effect was found in the sandy loam soil with low OC content, where the addition of 5% and 10% of vermicompost increased K(f) values by 8- and 15-fold, respectively. Soil desorption of imidacloprid was slower for the soil with the higher OC and clay content.     

Model reference adaptive control with unknown relative degree

This work presents an indirect, model reference adaptive control for minimum phase linear systems of arbitrary relative degree. Global stability of the closed-loop system is proved in spite of bounded disturbances and asympotic tracking is achieved in the ideal case.     

Modeling of the radiation field in a parabolic trough solar photocatalytic reactor

We calculate the distribution of absorbed radiation inside a solar photocatalytic reactor, by means of radiative transfer theory. The reactor configuration is that of a glass tube illuminated by a parabolic trough collector, where the catalyst consists of titanium dioxide micro-particles suspended in water. The calculations are made within the framework of the P1 approximation, which allows to solve analytically the radiative transfer equations. The obtained solution is used to study the effect of catalyst concentration on the degradation of pollutants, by means of a general kinetic model. The results obtained display the main features which are observed in experiments reported in the literature.