Comparison of the levels of bioactive benzoxazinoids in different wheat and rye fractions and the transformation of these compounds in homemade foods

Benzoxazinoids are important phytochemicals found in wheat and rye that are associated with plant resistance against pathogens, and recent studies have emphasized the potential health-promoting role of these compounds i.e. anti-cancer, anti-allergy and anti-inflammation. Accordingly, an understanding of their distribution in seeds and the effect of different processing techniques on their transformation will be helpful in identifying the mechanisms of their production and distribution and will support the on-going efforts to utilize these compounds in health-promoting food products.     

ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF ASPHALTENES IN ORGANIC SOLVENTS

ABSTRACT

Conductivities of asphaltenes were measured as a function of concentration in solvents of varying permittivity. The molar conductivity was calculated assuming the molecular weight of asphaltenes to be 1000 g/mol

The Fuoss conductivity model was fitted to the experimental data with two free parameters i.e. the association constant and the molar conductivity at infinite dilution. The experimental data show indication of ion-pairs and strong dipole-ion interaction. Accordingly, the measurements were consistent with the model for ion pairs as given by Fuoss and multibody interaction theory given by Petrucci

At low concentration the asphaltenes consist mainly of free ions, as the concentration increases ion pairing leads to a decrease of the molar conductivity. At higher concentration ion-dipole interaction may lead to an increase of the molar conductivity, as is seen in some of the solvents. At even higher concentrations some indications of aggregation are observed

The results indicate that part of the asphaltenic fraction is ionized and behave as ions in solvents of low dielectric constant.     

Using evolutionary search to optimise the energy consumption for natural gas liquefaction

Liquefaction of natural gas is a highly energy intensive process. Therefore its energy optimisation is an important matter. Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) will often be the preferred method for solving these optimisation problems, but there are some obstacles due to the fact that they use the local shape of the functions. Evolutionary search could be a way of getting around these problems and in this work, evolutionary search methods were combined and adapted to the liquefaction problem. The research focused on how to efficiently use all the function evaluations to obtain robust convergence, leading to the concept of diversity; and secondly how to deal with the infeasible individuals. Tests were performed on a benchmark function to assess the effect of different methods from the literature and the parameters which control them. Finally an application to the process simulator showed satisfactory results which were less than 5% from the assumed optimal solution.     

Energy behaviour as a collectif

A household’s energy behaviour consists of several processes and interactions and involves the decisions and functions of several entities. The topic of this study is to reconstruct, through narrations, the process of designing and implementing the new student dorms at Link?ping University through the lens of household energy behaviour. In particular, we aim to investigate how the interactions between entities such as the builders, landlords, users, ventilators, heaters, climate and so forth co-perform energy behaviour in the setting of residential student buildings. Inspired by the actor-network theory, the study treats energy behaviour as a hybrid collectif. It is the relations and their heterogeneity that are important in this approach. The project studies how heterogeneous relations among everyday practices, human experiences and interactions with nonhumans enact energy use patterns.     

Influence of sulfated arabino- and glucuronoxylans charging-behavior regarding antithrombotic properties

During the last decade xylans were widely researched and several derivatives have been developed and analyzed. However, the application properties of these new products are still sparsely known. The main objective of the presented investigation was to examine whether sulfated xylans from different sources (hard wood and oat-spelt) possess antithrombotic properties and how their protonation/deprotonation behavior in water solutions influence these properties. Two types of xylans, glucuronoxylan derived from beech wood, and arabinoxylan from oat spelt, were sulfated. Infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, NMR and size exclusion chromatography were applied for analyzing the success of derivatization. Deprotonation/protonation behavior of xylan samples in water solutions was analyzed by titration methods and the antithrombotic properties were investigated using activated partial thromboplastin time determination.The results showed significant increases in negative charges for the sulfated samples, which were a consequence of introducing sulfated groups as strong acids. However, the increase of antithrombotic properties was not influenced only by the presence of certain amounts of sulfate functional groups but also by the total negative-charges originating from both sulfate and carboxyl groups. The later was proved by the high linear correlation between the activated partial thromboplastin time values, and the total charge of the samples.     

Constrained state-space system identification with application to structural dynamics

Constrained identification of state-space models representing structural dynamic systems is addressed. Based on physical insight, transfer function constraints are formulated in terms of the state-space parametrization. A simple example shows that a method tailored for this application, which utilizes the non-uniqueness of a state-space model, outperforms the classic sequential quadratic programming method in terms of robustness and convergence properties. The method is also successfully applied to real experimental data of a plane frame structure.     

Packet video error concealment with Gaussian mixture models.

In this paper, Gaussian mixture modeling is applied to error concealment for block-based packet video. A Gaussian mixture model for video data is obtained offline and is thereafter utilized online in order to restore lost blocks from spatial and temporal surrounding information. We propose estimators on closed form for missing data in the case of varying available neighboring contexts. Our error concealment strategy increases peak signal-to-noise ratio compared to previously proposed schemes. Examples of improved subjective visual quality by means of the proposed method are also supplied.     

Comparison of oxygen plasma and cutinase effect on polyethylene terephthalate surface

The aim of the study is to activate inert PET surface in order to introduce the carboxyl groups and to obtain its hydrophilic character. Two advanced and environmentally friendly techniques were used for these purposes: i) oxygen plasma activation; ii) enzymatic treatment by cutinase. Differently treated PET foils were studied in terms of carboxylic group content (non‐aqueous potentiometric titrations, XPS) and hydrophobic/hydrophilic character (goniometry). Moreover, the influence of both activation procedures onto chitosan adsorption was examined by XPS, zeta potential measurements and ATR‐FTIR spectroscopy. Obtained results show that plasma activation gives for around 19% higher amount of carboxylic groups than cutinase treatment and is during the storage less stable. Results clearly show that the use of both surfaces activation processes increases the ability of PET foils for chitosan adsorption. Due to the fact that chitosan is an antimicrobial agent, obtained materials may be applied as an active packaging system. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of an Integrated Sleeve-Wedge Anchorage for CFRP Rods

The tensioning of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) rods for prestressed concrete applications or posttensioning repair and strengthening has been met with mixed success. This is primarily because of limitations inherent in the use of traditional wedge anchors typically used for steel tendons. Recently, an integrated sleeve-wedge anchorage has been successfully developed specifically for CFRP rods. This paper presents a numerical simulation of the newly developed anchorage by using ABAQUS. The three-dimensional (3D) finite-element (FE) model, which considers material nonlinearity, uses hexagonal elements for the barrel, CFRP rod, and tetrahedral elements for the integrated sleeve wedge. The simulated barrel surface strains are shown to compare well with optically measured strains; however, the numerical results are shown to be sensitive to the mechanical properties of the anchorage and CFRP rod and especially the transverse elastic modulus of the CFRP rod. Finally, the simulated strain distributions throughout the anchorage as well as the distribution of CFRP rod confining pressure are presented. Such strain and pressure distributions enable insights into the inner workings of the anchorage to be achieved.     

In vitro performance of magnesium processed by different routes for bone regeneration applications

Magnesium processed by powder metallurgy (PM) and casting was investigated for potential use in bone regeneration applications. To reduce its corrosion rate, magnesium was surface-modified by a chemical conversion treatment in hydrofluoric acid (HF). In vitro behaviour was evaluated in terms of biodegradation and osteoblastic cell response. The metallurgical route used to produce magnesium has more significant consequences on biodegradation and biocompatibility than the effects of the surface coating. The coated magnesium processed by casting exhibits the best in vitro performance.