Physico-chemical changes in Philippine Carabao mangoes during ripening

Physico-chemical changes in Philippine Carabao mangoes were measured through a seven-day ripening period at ambient conditions (28–32°C and 64–67% RH). Among these were changes in colour, texture, moisture, pectin, starch, total soluble solids, total carotenoids, ascorbic acid, titrable acidity and pH. The ripening changes observed are discussed and compared with known information on similar changes in other mango varieties.     

Miscibility behavior of epoxy thermosets loaded with an oligophosphonate

In this study, a commercial epoxy resin was mixed with a phosphorus‐containing oligomer and thermally cross‐linked using a mixture of two aliphatic amines as curing agents. The miscibility and the influence of the phosphorus‐containing oligomer on the characteristics of epoxy thermosets were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and dynamic mechanical analysis. SEM revealed that phosphorus‐containing oligomer was well dispersed into the epoxy matrix. Dynamic mechanical analysis indicated an increase in storage modulus as the phosphorus‐containing oligomer content loaded into epoxy matrix increased. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the onset temperature of phosphorus‐containing epoxy thermosets and the peak corresponding to the temperature of decomposition decreased compared with the ones corresponding to the neat epoxy system, whereas the char yield increased with the increase in phosphorus content added into the epoxy networks. To better understand the mechanism of action of phosphorus‐containing epoxy thermosets, the char residue was investigated by SEM and energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41822.     

Space–time prediction of rainfall-induced shallow landslides through a combined probabilistic/deterministic approach,optimized for initial water table conditions

In landslide-prone areas the magnitude of events is related to recurring rainfall intensity. In a large sector of the Sannio Apennines (Southern Italy), predictive mapping of recurrent shallow landslides was undertaken by combining deterministic and probabilistic predictive approaches. This, with the aim to minimize the negative influence of the uniform distribution of the initial water table depth in steady condition that usually influence the theoretical instability resulting from the application of methods for large-scale estimation. The deterministic approach was performed by means of the Transient Rainfall Infiltration and Grid-based Regional Slope-stability model to obtain triggering maps in multi-temporal transient pore-water pressures. The optimized physical modeling was validated by back-analysis on large-magnitude landslide events which occurred in 2003 by means of the introduction of two cross-mapping correlation indexes. Subsequently, different predictive scenarios were proposed for different probabilistic return periods of the rainstorm events. The output data permitted the definition of a linear log regression curve to estimate the theoretical instability of the study area. This curve is defined as a function of cumulative precipitation, duration and return periods of the possible rainfall events.     

Bibliometric analysis to identify an emerging research area: Public Relations Intelligence—a challenge to strengthen technological observatories in the network society

Scientometrics - Nowadays within the global economy, organizations of all kinds require strategic information to ensure that their decision making is competitive in uncertain complex environments....     

Mitochondrial Malfunctioning,Proteasome Arrest and Apoptosis in Cancer Cells by Focused Intracellular Generation of Oxygen Radicals

Photofrin/photodynamic therapy (PDT) at sub-lethal doses induced a transient stall in proteasome activity in surviving A549 (p53^+/+) and H1299 (p53^−/−) cells as indicated by the time-dependent decline/recovery of chymotrypsin-like activity. Indeed, within 3 h of incubation, Photofrin invaded the cytoplasm and localized preferentially within the mitochondria. Its light activation determined a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential and a reversible arrest in proteasomal activity. A similar result is obtained by treating cells with Antimycin and Rotenone, indicating, as a common denominator of this effect, the ATP decrease. Both inhibitors, however, were more toxic to cells as the recovery of proteasomal activity was incomplete. We evaluated whether combining PDT (which is a treatment for killing tumor cells, per se, and inducing proteasome arrest in the surviving ones) with Bortezomib doses capable of sustaining the stall would protract the arrest with sufficient time to induce apoptosis in remaining cells. The evaluation of the mitochondrial membrane depolarization, residual proteasome and mitochondrial enzymatic activities, colony-forming capabilities, and changes in protein expression profiles in A549 and H1299 cells under a combined therapeutic regimen gave results consistent with our hypothesis.     

Full wave optical profilometry

We show that tomographic diffractive microscopy can be used for profilometry applications with high transverse resolution. We present an iterative reconstruction procedure, based on a rigorous wave scattering model, that permits us to retrieve the profile of rough metallic interfaces from the complex scattered field. The transversal resolution is subwavelength, and can even fall below the classical resolution limit if the profile is rough enough for multiple interactions to occur. Large profiles, with tens of wavelength size, can be investigated.     

Failure of a soft cohesive soil subjected to combined static and cyclic loading

This paper describes the type of failure that a soft cohesive soil can exhibit when acted upon by combined static and cyclic loading. The conclusions are based on the results of a comprehensive experimental research in which, in addition to identification and classification testing, 15 monotonic simple shear tests and 138 cyclic simple shear tests were carried out in which, prior to the cyclic shear stresses, different levels of monotonic shear stresses were applied. Laboratory tests were performed on undisturbed samples taken from the southern area of the port of Barcelona, Spain. In general, the results thus obtained indicate that the undrained shear strength for a given number of cycles is clearly affected by the initial shear stress, as it is explained in this paper.     

Postharvest shelf-life discrimination of nectarines produced under different irrigation strategies using NIR-spectroscopy

Quick assessment of storage time in fruits is important for both growers and consumers due to the fresh fruit market is becoming increasingly demanding with regard to product quality. This study sought to evaluate the ability of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to classify intact nectarines in post-harvest storage, as a function of pre-harvest irrigation strategies applied and post-harvest cold storage duration. A total of 220 nectarine fruits (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch cv. ‘Sweet Lady’) were sampled after 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of refrigerated storage (0 °C, 95% RH) and at commercial harvest time. Two commercially-available spectrophotometers were evaluated for this purpose: a handheld MEMS spectrophotometer of 1600-2400 nm and a diode-array Vis/NIR spectrophotometer of 400-1700 nm. Models developed using partial least squares 2-discriminant analysis (PLS2-DA) correctly classified between 86 and 96% of samples by post-harvest storage time using the handheld instrument, and between 66 and 89% in the case of the diode-array spectrophotometer. Classification models based on pre-harvest irrigation treatment classified 57-84% of the samples correctly, due to the similarity in physical-chemical properties of fruits in both irrigation strategies. These results showed that NIRS could be used to monitor changes in nectarine quality parameters during pre- and post-harvest as an essential tool for decision-making both in-field and on-line.