Study of emulsifying properties of soluble proteins obtained from defatted rice bran concentrate

Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the most frequently produced cereals in the world. Rice bran (RB) is obtained as a by-product in the rice milling process. A part of the RB is used for oil extraction, obtaining defatted rice bran as a second by-product. The aim of this work was to analyze the emulsifying properties of soluble proteins fraction present in defatted rice bran concentrate (DRBC) in acidic and neutral conditions. Fine emulsions (prepared by high-speed and ultrasound homogenization) stabilized with soluble proteins obtained from DRBC showed a mean particle size lower than coarse emulsions (prepared by only high-speed homogenization) and a significantly lower degree of overall destabilization. Coarse emulsions showed sigmoidal destabilization profiles at pH 4.5 and 7.0, related to the existence of two populations with different particle sizes. In fine emulsions, both pH provided lower particle sizes and greater stability. After 24 h of quiescent storage, the coarse emulsions showed an increase of particle size that was not observed in fine emulsions. Both types of emulsions showed a Newtonian-type behavior. Fine emulsions showed higher viscosity values and higher lightness than coarse emulsions, consistent with the reduction of particle size and increase in the number of particles. The soluble proteins obtained from a waste of the rice industry can be used to obtain stable fine oil-in-water emulsions in acidic and neutral conditions. This result is of interest since it could be used as a food ingredient, increasing the added value of this important by-product.     

Recent developments in the application of Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenases as biocatalysts

Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenases (BVMOs) represent a specific class of monooxygenases that are capable of catalyzing a variety of oxidation reactions, including Baeyer-Villiger oxidations. The recently elucidated BVMO crystal structures have provided a more detailed insight into the complex mechanism of these flavin-containing enzymes. Biocatalytic studies on a number of newly discovered BVMOs have shown that they are very potent oxidative biocatalysts. In addition to catalyzing the regio- and enantioselective Baeyer-Villiger oxidations of a wide range of carbonylic compounds, epoxidations, and enantioselective sulfoxidations have also been shown to be part of their catalytic repertoire. This review provides an overview on the recent developments in BVMO-mediated biocatalytic processes, identification of the catalytic role of these enzymes in metabolic routes and prodrug activation, as well as the efforts in developing effective biocatalytic methodologies to apply BVMOs for the synthesis of high added value compounds.     

Brazing of Mo to a CuZr alloy for the production of bimetallic raw materials for the CLIC accelerating structures

Future linear accelerators, as CLIC (Compact LInear Collider), are extremely demanding in terms of material properties. Traditionally accelerating structure is made of brazed OFE copper parts. For the high conducting regions submitted to mechanical fatigue, CuZr would represent an improved selection than pure copper while for regions where the highest electric field is applied a refractory metal, i.e. Mo, could result in a better performance. The feasibility of joining such materials, namely CuZr (UNS C15000) and pure Mo has been investigated. The joining method developed and investigated here consists in a vacuum brazing process exploiting a Cu-based brazing filler applied under appropriate vacuum conditions.Apparent shear strength (adapted from ASTM B898) on the joined samples was about 200 MPa.     

Effect of Er:YAG laser irradiation on deciduous enamel roughness and bacterial adhesion: An in vitro study

Laser irradiation has been proposed as a preventive method against dental caries since it is capable to inhibit enamel demineralization by reducing carbonate and modifying organic matter, yet it can produce significant morphological changes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of Er:YAG laser irradiation on superficial roughness of deciduous dental enamel and bacterial adhesion. Fifty‐four samples of deciduous enamel were divided into three groups (n = 18 each). G1_control (nonirradiated); G2_100 (7.5 J/cm²) and G3_100 (12.7 J/cm²) were irradiated with Er:YAG laser at 7.5 and 12.7 J/cm², respectively, under water irrigation. Surface roughness was measured before and after irradiation using a profilometer. Afterwards, six samples per group were used to measure bacterial growth by XTT cell viability assay. Adhered bacteria were observed using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Paired t‐, one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal‐Wallis and pairwise Mann–Whitney U tests were performed to analyze statistical differences (p < .05). Before treatment, samples showed homogenous surface roughness, and after Er:YAG laser irradiation, the surfaces showed a significant increase in roughness values (p < .05). G3_100 (12.7 J/cm²) showed the highest amount of Streptococcus mutans adhered (p < .05). The increase in the roughness of the tooth enamel surfaces was proportional to the energy density used; the increase in surface roughness caused by laser irradiation did not augment the adhesion of Streptococcus sanguinis; only the use of the energy density of 12.7 J/cm² favored significantly the adhesion of S. mutans.     

MASMICRO micro-/nano-materials processing, analysis, inspection and materials knowledge management

The main goals of the ‘Material Innovation and Testing’ within MASMICRO are the identification of the miniature/micro-materials which are formable, development of new materials for forming and machining, development of an integrated material-testing system and study of material properties for design/analysis applications. Examples of collaborative work and results are presented regarding the processing of functional electrospun polymer micro-/nano-fibre structures and the characterization of their interface properties with tribological testing. By means of optical coherence tomography, a non-destructive inspection approach for these micro-/nano-structured webs was developed and it is also documented in the paper. Further, an application example of artificial neural networks (ANNs) is given, concerning the modelling of nano-fibres material behaviour under tensile testing. It is shown how artificial intelligence approaches (knowledge-based systems—KBS and ANNs) can support, significantly, the representation and processing of materials’ knowledge of both, symbolic type, in the case of KBS, and algorithmic type, in the case of ANNs, for the cases dealt within the MASMICRO.     

Temperature-dependent contact phenomena of PVD- and CVD-deposited DLC films sliding on the thin aluminium foil

This paper reports on tribological properties of magnetron-sputtered WC–C and chemical vapour-deposited diamond-like carbon films coated onto hard-metal surfaces when sliding on aluminium foil (0.2 mm nominal thickness) at different temperatures. The study addresses the evolution of the coefficient of friction at the interfaces of the coated hard metal and the aluminium foil under dry-lubrication conditions, in a ball-on-disc configuration. The wear mechanisms of the aluminium foil and the damage produced on the coated surfaces due to the sticking of aluminium were evaluated as a function of the deposited coating and the temperature at their interfaces. Aluminium-transfer to WC–C coated hard-metal surfaces during the sliding operation seemed to be a non-continuous process, which appeared after a certain number of sliding cycles. Temperatures above 70°C accelerated the transfer of aluminium to the WC–C tool surfaces. Chemical vapour-deposited diamond-like carbon films hindered the transfer of aluminium to the hard metal even at temperatures of around 125°C. At greater temperatures, an aluminium–aluminium tribosurface is formed at the interface, which increases the wear rate of the foils and rapidly degrades the quality of coatings of the hard-metal surfaces.     

Mathematical model for the study and design of a solar dish collector with cavity receiver for its application in Stirling engines

This paper presents a mathematical model that allows representing the optical behavior of a solar parabolic dish concentrator and the thermal performance of a cavity receiver. A procedure and a graphical method for the design of dish/cavity systems are proposed. A parametric study of the main geometric variables is performed and the influence of climate variables on the thermal behavior of the system coupled to a Stirling engine is analyzed. The model considers errors of solar collector, intercept factor, reflected and emitted radiation, conduction, and convection heat losses. For the validation of the model, the results obtained were compared with theoretical and experimental results reported in the literature. The calculation of the radiation losses, emitted and reflected from the receiver presented errors of up to 14%, and the average error for the rest of the thermal losses, interception factor and the absorber??s temperature, was less than 3%. These results show that the proposed model can be used with sufficient certainty to design and optimize solar dish collectors with cavity receivers.     

Infrared synchrotron radiation from bending magnet and edge radiation sources for the study of orientation and conformation in anisotropic materials

Over the last decade the use of synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy to spatially discriminate chemical and structural features in many different types of materials has grown considerably and has made significant impact in numerous research areas, in particular, in biological sciences and medicine. Although the brightness advantage of the synchrotron infrared (IR) source is well accepted as the key to high spatial discrimination, little attention has been given to measure the polarization properties of the synchrotron light at the sample stage in IR microscopy. In this work the intrinsic polarization of the IR source and its consequences for the study of anisotropic materials are discussed. The polarization characteristics of predominantly bending magnet radiation and predominantly edge radiation sources were measured at the microscope focus and compared. To illustrate the direct use of the intrinsic polarization of these sources in microscopy, the orientation and conformational details of a drawn polymer sample are considered.     

Contribution of a proline residue and a salt bridge to the stability of a type I reverse turn in chymotrypsin inhibitor-2

The contributions of the components of a type I reverse turnto the stability of chymotrypsin inhibitor-2 (Lys43-Pro44-Gly45)have been determined by protein engineering methods. A double-mutantcycle was used to determine the interaction between Lys43 andGlu45 by replacing them with alanine. We also mutated Pro44,which gives the geometry of the turn, to alanine and analysedthe stability of the resulting mutants compared with wild-typechymotrypsin inhibitor-2, using equilibrium denaturation inducedby guanldinium chloride. There are decreases in stability (inkcal/mol) of 0.64 = 0.06 for Lys43 - Ala, 0.57 ± 0.15for Glu45 - Ala, 0.95 ± 0.06 for Lys43 - Ala/Glu45 -Ala and 1.93 ± 0.09 for Pro44 - Ala. The free energyof interaction between Lys43 and Glu45 is calculated to be only0.25 ± 0.09 kcal/mol. From the changes in denaturationmidpoint, T_m measured by circular dkhroism, we estimate theenergy of interaction between Lys43 and Glu45 to be 0.36 ±0.07 kcal/mol whereas the contribution of Pro44 is -2.0 kcal/mol.The contribution of the salt bridge to the stability of theprotein is very small and the residue Pro44 plays the key rolein stabilizing the turn