Effect of short-term storage on phenolic content,o-diphenolase and peroxidase activities of cut yam tubers (Dioscorea sp)

The effect of short-term storage on the protein, phosphorus and phenolic content as well as peroxidase and o-diphenolase activities of cut, harvested Jamaican yam (Dioscorea sp) tubers (D rotundata. D alata and D cayenensis) was studied. There was an initial increase in the total phenolic content up to the third week of storage followed by a gradual decrease to the sixth week. Phenolic content was found to be highest in D cayenensis followed by D rotundata and D alata. The activities of peroxidase (EC 1. 11. 1. 7) and o-diphenolase (EC 1. 10.3.1) increased steadily up to the third week of storage and thereafter decreased to the fifth week. The intensity and rapidity of browning in tubers when cut, correlated very closely with the tuber o-diphenolase and phenolic content levels while the onset of rotting correlated with the peroxidase activity levels in the species studied.     

Studies on the interactions of metal oxides and Na2 SO4 at 1100 and 1200 K in oxygen

The interaction of different metal oxides such as Co₃O₄, NiO, Al₂O₃, Cr₂O₃, Fe₂O₃ and SiO₂ with Na₂SO₄ at a temperature of 1100 and 1200 K in flowing oxygen has been studied. The thermogravimetric studies for each system were carried out as a function of Na₂SO₄ in the mixture. The presence of different constituents in the reaction products were identified by X-ray diffraction analysis and the morphologies of the reaction products were characterized using metallography and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The formation of products was also investigated by thermodynamic computation of free energies of the reactions and the study of relevant equilibrium phase diagrams. The soluble species in the aqueous solutions of the reaction products were determined quantitatively using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The high temperature interaction products usually contain a 3-phase structure namely, Na₂O·M₂O _x , M₂O _x and metal sulphide and/or metal sulphate. The formation of Na₂O·M₂O _x depends upon the solid state solubility of metal oxide in the molten salt at high temperatures. Under limited solubility conditions Na₂O·M₂O _x is invariably formed, but as soon as this condition is relaxed the oxide. M₂O _x , precipitates and forms a separate phase.     

The effect of OPWF filler on impact strength of glass-fiber reinforced epoxy composite

In the present study, oil palm wood flour (OPWF) particles with less than 250 μm sizes have been used as filler materials in the woven-glass-fiber reinforced epoxy composite. The hybrid composites were fabricated using a hand lay-up method and cured at room temperature under a compressive load of 196 N (20 kg). The OPWF of 2.5 to 10 parts per hundred (pph) by weight was used to evaluate its effect on impact strength of the hybrid composites at a range of temperature from −50 to 50 °C. The impact strength, evaluated using V-notch Charpy method, showed reduction with increasing filler content up to 5 pph and then the strength increment in those composites containing more than 5 pph OPWF. More severe damages were found in specimens with higher filler contents resulting higher energy absorption during impact. The composites with a large amount of OPWF particles deflected crack propagation paths or created obstacles at the crack tips and increased toughness of the composites. The impact strength was found to decrease when the samples fractured at subzero temperatures and this happened because of the reduction of the matrix ductility at lower temperatures.     

Multidimensional vector radix FHT algorithms

In this paper, efficient multidimensional (M-D) vector radix (VR) decimation-in-frequency and decimation-in-time fast Hartley transform (FHT) algorithms are derived for computing the discrete Hartley transform (DHT) of any dimension using an appropriate index mapping and the Kronecker product. The proposed algorithms are more effective and highly suitable for hardware and software implementations compared to all existing M-D FHT algorithms that are derived for the computation of the DHT of any dimension. The butterflies of the proposed algorithms are based on simple closed-form expressions that allow easy implementations of these algorithms for any dimension. In addition, the proposed algorithms possess properties such as high regularity, simplicity and in-place computation that are highly desirable for software and hardware implementations, especially for the M-D applications. A close relationship between the M-D VR complex-valued fast Fourier transform algorithms and the proposed M-D VR FHT algorithms is established. This type of relationship is of great significance for software and hardware implementations of the algorithms, since it is shown that because of this relationship and the fact that the DHT is an alternative to the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) for real data, a single module with a little or no modification can be used to carry out the forward and inverse M-D DFTs for real- or complex-valued data and M-D DHTs. Thus, the same module (with a little or no modification) can be used to cover all domains of applications that involve the DFTs or DHTs.     

Lowpass and bandpass transadmittance filter using operational amplifier pole

A new topology simultaneously implementing lowpass (LP) and bandpass (BP) transadmittance filtering signals using a single operational amplifier (OA), one capacitor, and two resistors is presented. The input impedance is very high which is essential for cascading without employment of buffers. The circuit uses absolute minimum number of active and passive components. The filter employs pole-model of OA and as such has acquired suitability for extended frequency operation. The circuit permits separate adjustment of natural frequency (ω₀) and quality factor (Q) in an orthogonal manner. The circuit has low sensitivity figures unlike the reported single amplifier biquads. The PSPICE simulation results are included.     

Binding of the Epstein-Barr virus to human platelets causes the release of transforming growth factor-beta

Human platelets bear on their surface complement receptor type II (CR2), which is also the receptor for the EBV. Although the cross-linking of these receptors causes activation and aggregation of platelets, no immunologic consequence of the potential binding of EBV to these receptors on human platelets has ever been described. We report here that binding of EBV to human platelets causes the release of TGF-beta from the latter. Both infectious and UV-inactivated noninfectious viral particles can mediate this release. Anti-CR2 mAb OKB7, which blocks the binding of EBV to CR2, also blocks the EBV-mediated release of TGF-beta. Furthermore, platelets recovered from the initial incubation no longer release TGF-beta upon subsequent incubation with EBV. Since TGF-beta is a potent immunosuppressive agent, its release from platelets upon binding of EBV may play a role in the pathogenesis of EBV-associated diseases.     

Some pharmacologic and toxicologic studies on Rhazya stricta decne in rats, mice and rabbits

1. This work examines some in vivo and in vitro pharmacologic and toxicologic effects of extracts of Rhazya stricta, a medicinal plant in the United Arab Emirates. 2. R. stricta extracts at doses of 0.1-10 mg reduced the mean arterial blood pressure (MBP) of anesthetized rats in a dose-dependent manner. The depressor effect was partially sensitive to atropine (5 microM). Although the MBP was reduced by 50% by both doses of extracts, the normal electrocardiogram pattern and the heart rate remained unaltered. 3. Acute treatment of rats with the lyophilized extract at doses of 4 g/kg produced a significant rise in insulin concentration. In streptozotocin-diabetic rats loaded orally with glucose (1 g/kg), R. stricta at doses of 8 g/kg produced significant decreases in plasma glucose concentration at 0.5 and 1 h after treatment. 4. Chronic treatment of rats and mice for 28 days with the lyophilized extract of R. stricta did not affect the plasma glucose or insulin concentration or any of the hematological or biochemical indices measured. 5. The extracts of R. stricta (0.5-4 g/kg) dose-dependently decreased the gastrointestinal transit time in mice by 4-50%. 6. The butanolic extract of R. stricta (1 and 2 g/kg) significantly reduced the carrageenan-induced increase in raw paw edema 3 and 4 h after the extract administration. 7. The rectal temperatures of normothermic and pyrexic rats were reduced significantly 0.5 and 1 h after administration of butanolic R. stricta at doses of 1 and 2 g/kg. 8. The butanolic extract of R. stricta at doses of 1 and 2 g/kg significantly increased the reaction time on the hot plate 30 and 60 min after administration to rats. 9. At concentration < 0.05 mg/ml (bath concentration), lyophilized water and butanol extracts of R. stricta potentiated the twitch responses induced by indirect electrical stimulation in the rat phrenic nerve diaphragm preparation. The responses were inhibited by concentrations > 0.05 mg/ml. Neostigmine (2 x 10(-4)M) did not alter these effects of the extracts. 10. R. stricta extracts dose-dependently decreased the force of contraction and heart rate of the isolated rabbit heart. Atropine (1 x 10(-5)M) had no effect on the inhibitory activity of these extracts. The lyophilized water extract (> 10 mg) and butanol extract (> 5 mg) produced irreversible inhibition and disturbances in the force of contraction and heart rate.     

Synthesizing Energy-Efficient Embedded Systems with LOPOCOS

In this paper, we introduce the LOPOCOS (Low Power Co-synthesis) system, a prototype CAD tool for system level co-design. LOPOCOS targets the design of energy-efficient embedded systems implemented as heterogeneous distributed architectures. In particular, it is designed to solve the specific problems involved in architectures that include dynamic voltage scalable (DVS) processors. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how LOPOCOS can support the system designer in identifying energy-efficient hardware/software implementations for the desired embedded systems. Hence, highlighting the necessary optimization steps during design space exploration for DVS enable architectures. The optimization steps carried out in LOPOCOS involve component allocation and task/communication mapping as well as scheduling and dynamic voltage scaling. LOPOCOS has the following key features, which contribute to this energy efficiency. During the voltage scaling valuable power profile information of task execution is taken into account, hence, the accuracy of the energy estimation is improved. A combined optimization for scheduling and communication mapping based on genetic algorithm, optimizes simultaneously execution order and communication mapping towards the utilization of the DVS processors and timing behaviour. Furthermore, a separation of task and communication mapping allows a more effective implementation of both task and communication mapping optimizationsteps. Extensive experiments are conducted to demonstrate the efficiency of LOPOCOS. We report up to 38% higher energy reductions compared to previous co-synthesis techniques for DVS systems. The investigations include a real-life example of an optical flow detection algorithm.