Heat losses in Grätzel solar cells

The absorption and reflection spectra of a Grätzel-type solar cell were evaluated in terms of heat losses. Using these experimental data, the temperature distribution inside the solar cell was calculated. The temperature-controlling process in this cell is the heat transfer from the cell to the environment. Assuming the environment temperature of 25°C, the natural air convection leads to the temperature of 46.9°C inside the TiO₂ layer. Forced air convection causes the decrease, up to 30.1°C at the wind speed of 10 m s⁻¹. Variations in the cell dimensions, except the active layer length, have only a small effect on the temperature field, compared to the variations in the heat transfer coefficients.     

Fluorescent labelled thiourea-bridged glycodendrons

GlcNAc-coated glycodendrimers, which are polyvalent glycomimetics, display strong in vitro affinity for the rat natural killer cell protein-1A (NKR-P1A), a C-type lectin-like receptor of natural killer (NK) cells in rats, humans and some strains of mice. Administration of these compounds in vivo results in a substantial increase in the antitumour activity with involvement of the natural cell immunity. To clarify the in vitro and in vivo fate of these molecules, we synthesized labelled glycodendron analogues of the previously studied glycodendrimers. Labelling with fluorescent tags enabled the localization of the glycodendrons in white blood cells, tumours and other tissues by using different imaging techniques such as fluorescence and confocal microscopy. These studies are useful for probing the mechanism of action and fate of artificial ligands and the cell receptors involved.     

On weak completeness and weak non-degeneracy of networks

The graph-theoretic properties depending on the element types and their controllability but not on the particular form of constitutive relations of elements are considered. New concepts such as normal partition pair of the branch set, weak completeness and weak non-degeneracy are introduced and their properties are investigated in detail. These properties may then be used to formulate purely topological methods of analysing some dynamical aspects of nonlinear RLC networks.     

Determination of PAHs in various smoked meat products and different samples by enzyme immunoassay

An enzyme immunoassay was used to determine benzo[a ]pyrene (BaP) in smoked meat products and other samples of food and environmental origin. The method used has a detection limit (3 σ) of 0.1 μg kg⁻¹ and a coefficient of variation less than 10%. The main aim of the study was to compare the possible influence of different smoking processes and packaging material on the amount of BaP deposited on smoked meat product, mainly different sausages. The lowest amount of BaP was found when smoke produced by steam in the indirect method smoking‐chamber was used. A slightly protective effect of polyamide casing was noted. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry     

Telomerase Interaction Partners–Insight from Plants

Telomerase, an essential enzyme that maintains chromosome ends, is important for genome integrity and organism development. Various hypotheses have been proposed in human, ciliate and yeast systems to explain the coordination of telomerase holoenzyme assembly and the timing of telomerase performance at telomeres during DNA replication or repair. However, a general model is still unclear, especially pathways connecting telomerase with proposed non-telomeric functions. To strengthen our understanding of telomerase function during its intracellular life, we report on interactions of several groups of proteins with the Arabidopsis telomerase protein subunit (AtTERT) and/or a component of telomerase holoenzyme, POT1a protein. Among these are the nucleosome assembly proteins (NAP) and the minichromosome maintenance (MCM) system, which reveal new insights into the telomerase interaction network with links to telomere chromatin assembly and replication. A targeted investigation of 176 candidate proteins demonstrated numerous interactions with nucleolar, transport and ribosomal proteins, as well as molecular chaperones, shedding light on interactions during telomerase biogenesis. We further identified protein domains responsible for binding and analyzed the subcellular localization of these interactions. Moreover, additional interaction networks of NAP proteins and the DOMINO1 protein were identified. Our data support an image of functional telomerase contacts with multiprotein complexes including chromatin remodeling and cell differentiation pathways.     

Development of colloidal carbon-based immunochromatographic strip for rapid detection of carbaryl in fruit juices

The differences in lipid content will lead to differences in protein structure and gel properties and it is a nice model system, so our study, based on the production process for Zhongxiang tofu, used soy protein isolate (SPI) as raw material and adopted circular dichroism and Raman spectrum to investigate the influence of different lipid content on protein secondary structure in tofu. Texture profile analysis and differential scanning calorimetry were used to analyze the influence of lipid on gel texture properties and state of water. The interactive mechanism at microscopic level was investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the additional lipid reacted with the soy protein and the lipid became a component of a newly formed molecular membrane. With an increase in added lipid, SPI gel hardness was reduced, while springiness increased. The proportion of α-helix and β-sheet in SPI gel at 16% (w/v) lipid are 4.0 and 26.0%, respectively. The equilibrium water content tended to decrease when lipid content was increased.     

Determination and correlation of axial-mixing parameters in an agitated liquid-liquid extraction column

Dispersion coefficients were measured in a pilot-plant sized agitated liquid-liquid extraction column of the Kuhni type. Available techniques were considered, and the axial mixing in both phases obtained over a broad range of operating conditions, both with and without mass transfer and with two sets of stator plates. Earlier correlations for backmixing in the continuous phase were checked and improved, the final equation being successfully tested on available published data.     

Application of eddy current inversion technique to the sizing of defects in Inconel welds with rough surfaces

This paper evaluates the applicability of eddy current inversion techniques to the sizing of defects in Inconel welds with rough surfaces. For this purpose, a plate Inconel weld specimen, which models the welding of a stub tube in a boiling water nuclear reactor is fabricated, and artificial notches machined into the specimen. Eddy current inspections using six different eddy current probes are conducted and efficiencies were evaluated for the six probes for weld inspection. It is revealed that if suitable probes are applied, an Inconel weld does not cause large noise levels during eddy current inspections even though the surface of the weld is rough. Finally, reconstruction of the notches is performed using eddy current signals measured using the uniform eddy current probe that showed the best results among the six probes in this study. A simplified configuration is proposed in order to consider the complicated configuration of the welded specimen in numerical simulations. While reconstructed profiles of the notches are slightly larger than the true profiles, quite good agreements are obtained in spite of the simple approximation of the configuration, which reveals that eddy current testing would be an efficient non-destructive testing method for the sizing of defects in Inconel welds.     

Contribution to the development of thermal stabilization system for vinylidene chloride co-polymers

Selected compounds of phosphorus and tin improve the thermal stability of vinylidene chloride co-polymers. Although offering superior intermediate color stability, incorporation of polyols will result in erratic processing of the PVdC. Combinations rather than individual compounds appear to stabilize PVdC more effectively and an explanation of the stabilization mechanism is attempted for some compounds.     

Impedance measurement of growth of lactic acid bacteria in the presence of nisin and lysozyme

Effect of nisin (0.500 g/l), lysozyme (0.035 g/l) and the mix of nisin (0.500 g/l) and lysozyme (0.035 g/l) against two nisin-producing lactococci strains, three non-nisin-producing lactococci strains and four lactobacilli strains with antimicrobial activity was determined by the impedimetric method. None of the tested lactococci and lactobacilli strains were inhibited by lysozyme at concentration of 0.035 g/l. Only the nisin-producing lactococci strains were resistant to nisin at 0.500 g/l, the other lactococci and lactobacilli were inhibited by nisin at 0.500 g/l intensively. The mix of lysozyme and nisin displayed a comparable effect to the nisin addition against the used lactococci strains and was very variable depending on the strain of tested lactobacilli. The impedimetric method was shown to be convenient for screening the growth abilities of lactococci and lactobacilli in the presence of antimicrobial components.