Effects of frozen storage temperature on the quality and oxidative stability of bigeye tuna flesh after light salting

Effects of frozen storage temperature on the quality and oxidative stability of lightly salted tuna were investigated. The bright and vivid colour became totally brown after 4 weeks at −20 °C and 8 weeks at −30 °C, where the a^*/b^* value decreased from 1.35 to 0.38 and 0.58, respectively. Discoloration and lipid oxidation occurred concurrently in lightly salted tuna flesh, and it was speculated that the oxidation of oxymyoglobin to metmyoglobin exacerbated lipid oxidation and vice versa. Storage at −40 °C or lower temperatures effectively suppressed the discoloration and maintained the high water-holding capacity and unique textural properties of lightly salted flesh. It was attributed to the reduction in the conformational changes and particularly hydrophobic interactions among proteins, protecting the myoglobin from oxidative damages during frozen storage. Considering the quality maintenance and energy savings, storage at −40 °C was appropriate for lightly salted tuna flesh.     

Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis for an accelerator-driven system with JENDL-4.0

A sensitivity and uncertainty analysis was performed for the accelerator-driven system (ADS) proposed by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) with the latest version of the Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (JENDL-4.0). Significant discrepancies have been found between the reactor physics parameters of JENDL-4.0 and those of JENDL-3.3. An analysis with the sensitivity coefficients showed that the major contributors to these discrepancies are the differences in the inelastic scattering cross sections of ²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁷Pb, and the capture and inelastic scattering cross sections and ν value of ²⁴¹Am. The uncertainty analysis with the JENDL-4.0 covariance data found that the covariances of the fission neutron spectrum of minor actinides (MAs) have a considerable impact on the uncertainties of the reactor physics parameters.     

Experimental analyses of bismuth sample reactivity worth at Kyoto University Critical Assembly

Sample reactivity worth experiments are carried out by substituting aluminum (Al) plates for bismuth (Bi) ones at the Kyoto University Critical Assembly. At the beginning, uncertainty quantification of bismuth isotope is conducted by deterministic calculations with nuclear data library JENDL-4.0, with the use of experimental results of sample reactivity worth. Then, with the combined use of current (Bi) and previous (Pb) experimental results that demonstrate the comparative difference in the sensitivity and uncertainty of Bi and Pb isotopes, experimental results of cross-section uncertainties of Bi isotope are available for examination of neutron characteristics of Pb–Bi coolant material in the accelerator-driven system. From the experimental analyses, further uncertainty analyses by neutron transport calculations are needed for several reactions of Bi isotope, especially with the use of the covariance data of capture, elastic scattering and inelastic scattering reactions in another nuclear data library.     

Multicolor emission and thin film transistor properties of 1,8-diethynylcarbazole-based conjugated copolymers

1,8-Carbazole-based conjugated copolymers are synthesized by the Sonogashira polycondensation between the 1,8-diethynylcarbazole derivative and dibromo comonomers. The resulting polymers are fully characterized by GPC, and ¹H NMR and IR spectroscopies, and their high thermal stability with the 5% decomposition temperature exceeding 350 °C by thermogravimetric analyses. The optical properties of the carbazole polymers reveal that the comonomer structures significantly affect the absorption and emission spectra. For example, a bathochromic shift of the spectra is achieved when electron-accepting comonomers are selected, finally leading to the production of additive primaries. The mixtures of three carbazole polymers with red, green, and blue emission colors provide a white light emission both in solutions and in thin solid films. In addition, the thin film transistor properties of the carbazole polymers are investigated. The 1,8-carbazole-based polymers display an intermediate mobility between the 2,7-carbazole and 3,6-carbazole-based counter polymers. All these results suggest the potential application possibilities of the 1,8-carbazole-based conjugated polymers in optoelectronic devices.     

Energy conversion efficiency of solar cells coated with fluorescent coloring agent

A coating of fluorescent coloring agent (FCA) on the solar cells gives 30% increase in the energy conversion efficiency of the solar cell. This increase is attributable to the reduction of the reflection of incident light. The reflectances show low values at the excitation wavelengths, where the incident light is absorbed to excite the FCA. The fluorescence quantum yield for a dried FCA was much larger than that for FCAs dissolved in paint thinner.     

Mechanical,Barrier, Optical Properties and Antimicrobial Activity of Edible Films Prepared from Silver Carp Surimi Incorporated with ε‐Polylysine

The effects of incorporating ε‐polylysine (ε‐PL) on mechanical, barrier, optical properties and the antimicrobial activity of edible films from silver carp surimi were investigated. The mechanical properties of surimi films could be improved using ε‐PL below the level of 0.15% in surimi film‐forming solutions, whereas these slightly declined with increasing addition of ε‐PL. However, accelerated polymerization of surimi myosin heavy chain by the addition of ε‐PL was too low to be observed from sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis patterns. It is of interest to notice that surimi films containing ε‐PL revealed a wide range of antimicrobial activity, especially against gram‐positive bacteria. For preservation of fresh fish meats with the help of edible films, the increase of total viable counts and total volatile basic nitrogen values was suppressed during storage at 4°C, indicating that the application of surimi films containing ε‐PL could prolong the shelf life of fresh fish meats. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Calotropin: A Cardenolide from Calotropis gigantea that Inhibits Wnt Signaling by Increasing Casein Kinase 1α in Colon Cancer Cells

Wnt signaling plays key roles in embryonic development and various human diseases. Activity‐guided testing to isolate Wnt signaling inhibitors from the methanol extract of Calotropis gigantea (Asclepiadaceae) exudutes identified six Wnt inhibitory cardenolides ( 1 – 6 ), of which 1 , 3 , 5 , and 6 exhibited potent TCF/β‐catenin inhibitory activities (IC₅₀ 0.7–3.6 nM ). Calotropin ( 1 ) inhibited Wnt signaling by decreasing both nuclear and cytosolic β‐catenin in a dose‐dependent manner, and promoted degradation of β‐catenin by increasing the phosphorylation of β‐catenin at Ser45 through casein kinase 1α (CK1α). Moreover, 1 significantly increased CK1α protein and mRNA levels. The results suggest that 1 inhibits the Wnt signaling pathway by increasing CK1α protein levels. To the best of our knowledge, calotropin is the first small molecule to increase CK1α levels.     

Representing images of a rotating object with cyclic permutation for view-based pose estimation

In this paper, we propose a novel approach using a cyclic group to model the appearance change in an image sequence of an object rotated about an arbitrary axis (1DOF out-of-plane rotation). In the sequence, an image x_j is followed by an image x_j+1. We represent the relationship between images by a cyclic group as x_j+1=Gx_j, and obtain the matrix G by real block diagonalization. Then, G to the power of a real number is used to represent the image sequence and also for pose estimation. Two estimation methods are proposed and evaluated with real image sequences from the COIL-20, COIL-100, and ALOI datasets, and also compared to the Parametric Eigenspace method. Additionally, we discuss the relationship of the proposed approach to the pixel-wise Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and to linear regression, and also outline several extensions.