Development and evaluation of antimicrobial natamycin‐incorporated film in gorgonzola cheese conservation

Conservation of food products depends on product quality and packaging suitability. The objective of this work was to develop and evaluate the antimicrobial efficiency of natamycin‐incorporated film in the production process of Gorgonzola cheese. It aims to optimize the production process and increase shelf‐life and food safety for the consumer. Films with different concentrations of natamycin were produced and tested in Gorgonzola cheeses to evaluate its efficiency against Penicillium roqueforti on the cheese surface. Films with 2 and 4% natamycin presented satisfactory results for fungus inhibition and the amount of natamycin released to the cheese was below that allowed by the legislation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Secondary ion emission from Ti and Si targets induced by medium energy Ar ion bombardment - Experiment and computer simulation

The paper presents experimental results of secondary ion energy distributions obtained for Ti and Si targets bombarded by 20-30 keV monoisotope Ar⁺ ion beam. The influence of the extraction voltages between target and a slit of the electrostatic energy analyzer entrance on the energy distributions of secondary ions was investigated. After optimization of the secondary ion extraction system, the mass spectra of secondary ions were also measured. The investigations were done using recently built experimental system. Experimental data are compared with the computer simulation results obtained using TRQR and SATVAL codes.     

Flash-lamp annealing of semiconductor materials—Applications and process models

Flash-lamp annealing (FLA) on a millisecond time scale has been shown to be a promising tool in the preparation of high-quality semiconducting materials. The process imposes time varying through-thickness temperature profiles on the substrates being processed, and consequently thermal stresses. A combined thermal and optical model has been developed to predict the substrate temperature distribution and this model has been linked to a structural model to compute stresses and deflections. The paper shows how these models can be used to explore process conditions in flash lamp annealing, with particular regard to the annealing of ion implants in silicon and the crystallization of amorphous silicon layers on glass substrates.     

Cointegration of Gate-All-Around MOSFETs and Local Silicon-on-Insulator Optical Waveguides on Bulk Silicon

In this work we present a bulk silicon technology platform able to cointegrate gate-all-around (GAA) MOSFETs and local SOI waveguides with pentagonal cross section. Wire diagonals of 100-800 nm are obtained using a lithographic resolution of 0.8 mum. Well-functioning triangular multigate MOSFETs are reported, and tested up to 150 degC. A significant increase is observed in the low-field mobility mu₀ for small devices (W_effles500 nm), which is attributed to local volume inversion in the corners. Preliminary characterization of the optical waveguides is carried out, showing optical losses of a few dB/cm. The processing is entirely CMOS compatible, does not require access to advanced lithography equipment, and is based on a silicon bulk substrate. Thus, this technology might serve as the basis for a low-cost, high-performance optical signaling platform     

Microstructural Investigation on Failure of Internal Drive Shaft

17-4 PH stainless steel is used as internal drive shaft material in liquid engine pumps. One of the drive shafts failed during operation. The shaft pieces were in contact for short duration after failure, which has resulted in abrasion of fractured surfaces. Samples from the location of failure were taken, and investigation of the failure was carried out using optical and scanning electron microscopy. The microstructural analysis of the material and fractographic analysis of the fractured surface show that the failure was caused by excessive torsion.     

Noncontact Material Identification and Distance Measurement Using Effective Capacitance With CdS Cells

We propose a novel noncontact sensing method for material identification and for detection of the distance between the sensor and the surface of a material by using its electrical and optical properties. In the proposed method, capacitance between the terminals of a pair of CdS cells, called the effective capacitance, is measured, and several capacitance values are obtained by changing the emission strength of the light emitting diode, thus changing the resistance value of the CdS cells. From these values, it is possible to identify the materials and to detect the distance between the CdS cells and the material. In this paper, we compare four kinds of effective capacitance measurement methods using a pair of CdS cells and describe the proposed measurement method. In addition, this paper discusses the measurement accuracy of effective capacitance values in the proposed method and demonstrates its ability to identify six material samples-clear, white, and black acrylic, clear vinyl chloride, brown bakelite, and aluminum-and to detect the distance between the CdS cells and the material.     

A Low-Complexity Circuit for On-Sensor Concurrent A/D Conversion and Compression

A low-complexity circuit for on-sensor compression is presented. The proposed circuit achieves complexity savings by combining a single-slope analog-to-digital converter with a Golomb-Rice entropy encoder and by implementing a low-complexity adaptation rule. The adaptation rule monitors the output codewords and minimizes their length by incrementing or decrementing the value of the Golomb-Rice coding parameter k. Its hardware implementation is one order of magnitude lower than existing adaptive algorithms. The compression circuit has been fabricated using a 0.35 muM CMOS technology and occupies an area of 0.0918 . Test measurements confirm the validity of the design.     

Physicochemical Properties of Bread Baked from Flour Blended with Immature Wheat Meal Rich in Fructooligosaccharides

ABSTRACT: Grain of the soft white wheat cultivar Harus was harvested weekly from anthesis to maturity and fructooligosaccharides (FOS) contents were determined by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Tests were carried out to determine the effect of adding immature wheat meal to a base flour of cultivar Russ (hard red spring) on the quality characteristics of bread. FOS content was also analyzed in baked bread, and the effect of transglutaminase in improving bread quality was examined. Marked decreases in FOS contents, such as 1-kestose and nystose, were observed with grain maturation. The overall quality of bread appeared to be acceptable, and the added FOS were retained after baking.     

Interlaboratory ring test of time-resolved fluoroimmunoassays for zeranol and alpha-zearalenol and comparison with zeranol test kits.

Many zeranol immunoassay test kits cross-react with toxins formed by naturally occurring Fusarium spp. fungi, leading to false-positive screening results. This paper describes the evaluation and application of recently published, dry reagent time-resolved fluoroimmunoassays (TR-FIA) for zeranol and the toxin alpha-zearalenol. A ring test of bovine urine fortified with zeranol and/or alpha-zearalenol in four European Union National Reference Laboratories demonstrated that the TR-FIA tests were accurate and robust. The alpha-zearalenol TR-FIA satisfactorily quantified alpha-zearalenol in urine fortified at 10-30 ng ml(-1). The specificity-enhanced zeranol TR-FIA accurately quantified zeranol in the range 2-5 ng ml(-1) and gave no false-positive results in blank urine, even in the presence of 30 ng ml(-1) alpha-zearalenol. Zeranol TR-FIA specificity was demonstrated further by analysing incurred zeranol-free urine samples containing natural Fusarium spp. toxins. The TR-FIA yielded no false-positive results in the presence of up to 22 ng ml(-1) toxins. The performance of four commercially available zeranol immunoassay test kits was more variable. Three kits produced many false-positive results. One kit produced only one potential false-positive using a protocol that was longer than that of the TR-FIA. These TR-FIAs will be valuable tools to develop inspection criteria to distinguish illegal zeranol abuse from contamination arising from in vivo metabolism of Fusarium spp. toxins.