Characterisation and Assessment of the Role of Barley Malt Endoproteases During Malting and Mashing1

Barley malt endoproteases (EC.3.4.21) develop as multiple isoforms mainly during grain germination and pass through kilning almost intact. Thermostability, under simulated mashing conditions, varied from low to high depending on the substrate used in the assay. This suggests that individual enzymes respond differently to heat exposure and to protein substrates. The optimal pH with haemoglobin was pH 3.5, with hordein pH 4 and with glutelin pH 5. The optimal temperature with hordein was 40°C, with glutelin 50°C and with haemoglobin 60°C. These differences suggest that it is not possible to comprehensively characterise all malt endoproteases under one set of assay conditions. In brewing, most of the barley protein degradation (> 70 %) occurs during malting. But some proteinases remain active during mashing and contribute to wort soluble proteins and free amino nitrogen. Their contribution to all malt EBC mash total free amino nitrogen was 25 % in Schooner (Australian) and 30 % in Morex (USA). The importance of proteolytic activity during mashing and the possibility that the levels may not be adequate, at high solid adjunct ratios, are acknowledged.     

A post-growth processing methodology to achieve barium strontium titanate thin films with low dielectric loss and high tunability for reconfigurable tunable devices

Ba_0.60Sr_0.40TiO₃ (BST) thin films, grown via RF-sputtering and the metalorganic solution deposition (MOSD) techniques, were post-growth annealed via conventional thermal annealing (CTA) and UV-photon irradiation annealing. With respect to the conventional thermal annealed films the UV-photon irradiation annealed films possessed improved structural properties and dielectric response. The optimization of the UV-photon irradiation annealing process parameters (using RF-sputtered BST films) was achieved via a detailed set of iso-thermal/chronal annealing experiments. The optimized UV-process parameters, applied to MOSD synthesized BST films revealed further enhanced dielectric response, i.e., 23% reduction in tan δ with sustained tunability of 42%. The improvements in the material properties of the UV-photon irradiation annealed BST thin films are attributed to stoichiometry and structural changes enabled through the UV-photon irradiation annealing process.     

Modeling and analysis of QPSK/TDMA burst-mode link analyzer bycomputer simulation

The authors describe modeling and simulation of a nonlinear QPSK/TDMA (quadrature phase-shift keyed/time-division multiple access) digital satellite channel and burst-mode link analyzer (BMLA), using novel computational and least-squares (LS) approaches on a VAX 11/780 computer. The BMLA is applied to channel equalization. Some simulation results are given, including results on the BMLA with LS algorithm and on the effects of nonlinearity and quantization wordlength. Emphasis is placed on the introduction of the BMLA/LS to impulse response extraction, and on the comparison and evaluation of the test results, which confirm the possibility of the BMLA/LS applications in a digital communication channel and confirm this simulation system as a powerful tool for QPSK/TDMA link analysis and channel equalization     

Products formed in an aged concrete

At a dam in Australia the concrete shows a widespread reaction that has caused surface cracking, and possibly a tightening up of gates that control the flow of water through diversion tunnels. The reaction has produced reaction rims to the aggregate, a crystallization of zeolite A-like material within the aggregate and in pores in the concrete, in addition to the precipitation of amorphous alkali-silicate hardened gel in other concrete pores. The hardened gel is sometimes associated with trona and is metastable. It tends to transform into zeolite A-like material or analcite. The reaction products are low in alumina and high in silica. Possible reaction mechanisms are discussed.     

The ASDEX upgrade digital video processing system for real-time machine protection

This paper describes the design, implementation, and operation of the Video Real-Time (VRT) diagnostic system of the ASDEX Upgrade plasma experiment and its integration with the ASDEX Upgrade Discharge Control System (DCS). Hot spots produced by heating systems erroneously or accidentally hitting the vessel walls, or from objects in the vessel reaching into the plasma outer border, show up as bright areas in the videos during and after the reaction. A system to prevent damage to the machine by allowing for intervention in a running discharge of the experiment was proposed and implemented. The VRT was implemented on a multi-core real-time Linux system. Up to 16 analog video channels (color and b/w) are acquired and multiple regions of interest (ROI) are processed on each video frame. Detected critical states can be used to initiate appropriate reactions – e.g. gracefully terminate the discharge. The system has been in routine operation since 2007.     

Global fault localization using induced voltage alteration

Advances in integrated circuit technology have made failure site localization extremely challenging. Charge-induced voltage alteration (CIVA), low energy CIVA (LECIVA), light-induced voltage alteration (LIVA), Seebeck effect imaging (SEI) and thermally-induced voltage alteration (TIVA) are five recently developed failure analysis techniques which meet the challenge by rapidly and non-destructively localizing interconnection defects on ICs. The techniques take advantage of voltage fluctuations in a constant current power supply as an electron or photon beam is scanned across an IC. CIVA and LECIVA are scanning electron microscopy techniques that yield rapid localization of open interconnections. LIVA is a scanning optical microscopy (SOM) method that yields quick identification of damaged semiconductor junctions and determines transistor logic states. SEI and TIVA are SOM techniques that rapidly localize open interconnections and shorts respectively. LIVA, SEI, and TIVA can be performed from the backside of ICs by using the proper photon wavelength. This paper describes the CIVA, LECIVA, LIVA, TIVA, and SEI techniques in terms of the physics of signal generation, general data acquisition system required, and imaging results displaying the utility of each technique for localizing interconnection defects.     

Instrumentation for space

The primary drivers for space instruments are the environment and survivability, support assets, delivery cost, and lack of accessibility. Survivability deals primarily with environments, such as launch and depressurization, extremes of temperature, high vacuum, radiation, and hypervelocity impacts. The cost to deployment is directly coupled to launch services, which are inherently expensive. These costs are nonlinear functions of the mass and volume of satellite payloads. The “user interfaces” for space-borne instruments are high-cost assets because they include mission operations centers, satellite hacking station(s), and ground networks. All of these issues demand high reliability