Lycopene content and antioxidant activity of fresh and processed tomatoes and in vitro bioavailability of lycopene

BACKGROUND: Lycopene, a phytochemical, has attracted a great deal of interest over the past few years. This has triggered research on the biological properties of lycopene and on the numerous factors that control these properties. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate lycopene content and antioxidant activity of fresh, sun‐dried and canned tomatoes. In addition, in vitro bioavailability of lycopene was determined. RESULTS: Lycopene contents of fresh, sun‐dried and canned tomatoes were found to be 1.74, 5.51 and 3.55 mg 100 g^?1, respectively, on a fresh wet basis. The highest lycopene bioavailability was obtained for sun‐dried tomatoes (58.05%) and this was followed by fresh (28.67%) and canned tomatoes (21.83%). Fresh tomatoes showed the highest antioxidant activity against ABTS radical oxidation. This was followed by sun‐dried tomatoes and canned tomatoes. The inhibition effect of intestinal dialysates of the samples on ABTS radical oxidation was between 51.34% and 92.96%. CONCLUSION: Maintenance antioxidant activity and existence of lycopene following an in vitro digestion process were the main findings, which might contribute forthcoming studies in this scientific field. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Loadability of power transformer under regional climate conditions: the case of Turkey

This paper presents an accurate methodology and examines the effects of long-term ambient temperature changes on the power transformer loadability and its service life loss considering regional climate characteristics. The daily ambient temperature variation is modeled on yearly basis for different climate regions according to historical records. For this purpose, four different regions are selected in Turkey. Thermal and service life loss models are tested under two loading conditions for selected climate projections. Models used in the study, are created in accordance with IEEE C57.91-95 and IEC 60076-7 standards. Calculations are made in high resolution as the basis of second distinct from related standards, for mineral oil-immersed power transformer parameters. In this way, the impact of regional climate conditions on power transformer loadability is determined more accurately. The results show that the power transformer loadability is a function of the regional climate conditions. In addition, the result of the analysis, some coefficients are recommended for power transformer loadability to complete a normal service life range (20.55 years) under selected regional climate conditions. This methodology is applicable to the different climate regions and power transformers outside scope of this study.     

Electrical Characteristics of Al/Poly(methyl methacrylate)/p-Si Schottky Device

Al/Poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)/p-Si organic Schottky devices were fabricated on a p-Si semiconductor wafer by spin coating of PMMA solution. The capacitance–voltage (C–V) and conductance–voltage (G–V) characteristics of Al/PMMA/p-Si structures have been investigated in the frequency range of 1 kHz–10 MHz at room temperature. The diode parameters such as ideality factor, series resistance and barrier height were calculated from the forward bias current–voltage (I–V) characteristics. In order to explain the electrical characteristics of metal–polymer–semiconductor (MPS) with a PMMA interface, the investigation of interface states density and series resistance from C–V and G–V characteristics in the MPS structures with thin interfacial insulator layer have been reported. The measurements of capacitance (C) and conductance (G) were found to be strongly dependent on bias voltage and frequency for Al/PMMA/p-Si structures. The values of interface state density (D _it) were calculated. These values of D _it and series resistance (R _s) were responsible for the non-ideal behavior of I–V and C–V characteristics.     

Efficient solution techniques for the integrated coverage, sink location and routing problem in wireless sensor networks

Sensors are tiny electronic devices having limited battery energy and capability for sensing, data processing and communicating. They can collectively behave to provide an effective wireless network that monitors a region and transmits the collected information to gateway nodes called sinks. Most of the applications require the operation of the network for long periods of times, which makes the efficient management of the available energy resources an important concern. There are three major issues in the design of sensor networks: sensor deployment or the coverage of the sensing area, sink location, and data routing. In this work, we consider these three design problems within a unified framework and develop two mixed-integer linear programming formulations. They are difficult to solve exactly. However, it is possible to compute good feasible solutions of the sink location and routing problems easily, when the sensors are deployed and their locations in the sensor field become known. Therefore, we propose a tabu search heuristic that tries to identify the best sensor locations satisfying the coverage requirements. The objective value corresponding to each set of sensor locations is calculated by solving the sink location and routing problem. Computational tests carried out on randomly generated test instances indicate that the proposed hybrid approach is both accurate and efficient.     

Causes of scent marking in female golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus): Specific signals or classes of information?

Odor-elicited scent marking is common among mammals, but the proximate causes of marking are not well understood. Scent marking by female hamsters in response to 8 different male odors was investigated. Two odors (flank, mouth) increased flank marking and 2 (flank, rump) increased vaginal marking; in the latter case the effects of flank and rump odors were additive. Two odors (feces, urine) decreased flank marking but did not affect vaginal marking; other odors (foot, ear, ano-genital) had no influence on either scent-marking behavior. Results show that scent marking by females is influenced by a limited number of male odors, suggesting specific effects of particular odors. Classes of information (such as sexual identity) were not relevant causes of scent marking, as some odors containing such information were effective but others were not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Solution behavior of Na sulfonated polystyrene: Dipole moment determinations

Solution behavior of Na sulfonated polystyrene (NaSPS) ionomers with different percentages of sulfonate was studied by viscosity and dipole moment measurements. Two solvents of different character were chosen, i.e. dioxane (? = 2.22) and dimethyl formamide (DMF, ? = 36) and their mixtures. The reduced viscosity as a function of concentration in polar solvents reflects the ‘polyelectrolyte’ behaviour of the ionomers. Mean-squared dipole moment (<μ²>/x) values were calculated over a temperature range of 20–100°C, in dioxane and in a mixture of 4% DMF in dioxane. The results confirm the ‘polyelectrolyte’ behavior of ionomers by the addition of a small amount of polar cosolvent. The effect of increasing temperature on <μ²>/x in the DMF-dioxane mixture is attributed to the formation of a coordination complex.     

Sequential point estimation based on U-statistics

This paper discusses a sequential procedure to estimate an estimable parameter of the underlying unkown distribution function. The estimator is based on the corresponding U-statistic. Under appropriate regularity conditions the regret is shown to be bounded. A second order approximation is provided for the expectation of the stopping time used.     

Wide Dynamic Range High Output Impedance Current-mode Multifunction Filters with Dual-output Current Conveyors

This paper reports five new single-input multiple-output current-mode multifunction filter circuits which can simultaneously realise three basic filter functions all at high impedance outputs. The circuits employ only the same type of active elements, grounded passive components, andno element matching conditions are imposed. The filters permit orthogonal adjustment of the quality factor Q and angular resonant frequency ω₀. The active/passive sensitivities are shown to be low.     

Biogenic amines formation in Atlantic bonito (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Sarda sarda</Emphasis>) fillets packaged with modified atmosphere and vacuum,wrapped in chitosan and cling film at 4 °C

A study was carried out to determine the effect of vacuum packed (VP) and modified atmosphere (MAP) (100% CO₂) packing, chitosan film and cling film (CF) wrapping on the formation of biogenic amines and trimethylamine (TMA) during storage of Atlantic bonito (Sarda sarda) fillets at 4 °C. The biogenic amine contents generally increased in all treatments with increasing storage period. Significant differences were found (p < 0.01) in the levels of cadaverine, tyramine and histamine among the four treatments but it was not detected significant difference for putrescine, phenylethylamine and tryptamine in this level. Spermidine and spermine did not detect throughout the storage period for all experimental conditions. The amine contents of Atlantic bonito were highest in stored in cling film, followed by VP, MAP and chitosan film.