Yeasts found in vineyards and wineries

Wine is a complex beverage, comprising thousands of metabolites that are produced through the action of a plethora of yeasts and bacteria during fermentation of grape must. These microbial communities originate in the vineyard and the winery and reflect the influence of several factors including grape variety, geographical location, climate, vineyard spraying, technological practices, processing stage and season (pre‐harvest, harvest, post‐harvest). Vineyard and winery microbial communities have the potential to participate during fermentation and influence wine flavour and aroma. Therefore, there is an enormous interest in isolating and characterising these communities, particularly non‐Saccharomyces yeast species to increase wine flavour diversity, while also exploting regional signature microbial populations to enhance regionality. In this review we describe the role and relevance of the main non‐Saccharomyces yeast species found in vineyards and wineries. This includes the latest reports covering the application of these species for winemaking; and the biotechnological characteristics and potential applications of non‐Saccharomyces species in other areas. In particular, we focus attention on the species for which molecular and genomic tools and resources are available for study. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geometrical modelling of angle warp interlock fabrics

A geometrical modelling approach has been developed which predicts all the necessary geometrical parameters for multilayer angle warp interlock weaves. The model requires tow and weaver data as input and gives fabric thickness, warp and weft crimp angle, areal weight and fibre volume fraction (FVF) as outputs. In order to validate the model we have woven three angle warp interlock woven reinforcements, having same number of total layers, on a conventional loom, using carbon multifilament tows in warp and glass multifilament tows in weft. The depth of the binder (maximum number of layers traversed by the binding warp in vertical plane) was maximum for the first variant (5). The binder tow traversed all the five layers so that this variant is termed as through-the-thickness angle interlock. For the second variant it was reduced to an intermediate level (3), whereas for the third one it was minimum (2) so as to conceive a layer-to-layer interlock structure. The geometry of such woven reinforcements can be categorised in terms of crimp amplitude and cross-sectional shape of the warp and weft tows. These two vary with the structure of the woven fabric and weaving parameters, ultimately influencing the areal weight, size of the unit cell and FVF of the fabric reinforcement. Results obtained show that the modelling approach can be successfully applied to calculate necessary fabric geometry parameters from minimum number of manufacturer and weaver data.     

Silica retention in the Iron Gate I reservoir on the Danube River: the role of side bays as nutrient sinks

There are longstanding concerns about the environmental impacts of super‐dams such as Iron Gate I, the Danube River's largest hydropower scheme. Iron Gate I is suspected of trapping up to 80% (～590 000 tons per year) of dissolved silica in the form of sedimenting diatom frustules and 30 000 000 tons per year of suspended solids. This study, however, indicates that (i) conditions are unfavorable for primary production in Iron Gate I except for the small quiescent center of Orsova Bay, and the diatom production is much too low for the suspected silica uptake; (ii) Orsova Bay is the most important sediment trap as resuspension does not occur, with ～1% (82 000 tons per year) suspended solids retention, and (iii) also the only significant silica trap, with ～0.2% (1000 tons per year) retention. It is most conservatively estimated that no more than 5% of dissolved silica can be retained by the Iron Gate I reservoir, and therefore the earlier estimate of the huge retention can definitely be ruled out. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of coffee cut-stems (CCS) as raw material for fuel ethanol production

Coffee cut-stems (CCS) represent a promising candidate for fuel ethanol production in tropical countries because of their high availability and high biomass yield per hectare. In this work, pretreatment of this agricultural residue with dilute sulfuric acid and liquid hot water (LHW) was integrated in the simulation and economic assessment of the process for fuel ethanol production. High reducing sugars concentration and ethanol yields were obtained with the LHW pretreatment at a high energy cost. Acid pretreatment is still one of the most applied technologies for lignocellulosic materials due to its efficiency and lower energy consumption. For the determination of the pollution environmental impact index of the process with and without cogeneration system, the Waste Reduction Algorithm (WAR) was used. Thus, the high lignin and low water contents of the coffee cut-stems signified a high potential for energy cogeneration.     

Polymerase chain reaction products (PCR) on “DNA barcode zone” resolved by temporal temperature gradient electophoresis: A tool for species identification of mixed meat specimens – A technical note on preliminary results

The capability of PCR-TTGE to detect meat species in mixed animal samples was investigated as a necessary step in developing a method where the identification will be performed matching on the “DNA barcode” zone the sequences of resolved PCR products obtained from a limited set of “universal” primers. Exemplary mixtures from five important meat species were analyzed. At this stage more PCR reactions have to be applied on a sample but this should be easily improved using primers simultaneously (as a “cocktail”) in a single reaction.     

An FPGA implementation of the AES-Rijndael in OCB/ECB modes of operation

Implementation in one FPGA of the AES-Rijndael in Offset Codebook (OCB) and Electronic Codebook (ECB) modes of operation was developed and experimentally tested using the Insight Development Kit board, based on Xilinx Virtex II XC2V1000-4 device. The circuit was designed to provide simultaneous data privacy and authenticity in applications which require small area such as wireless LANs, cellular phones, and smart cards. The experimental clock frequency was equal to 50 MHz and translates to the throughputs of 493 Mbit/s for block size and key size of 128 bits, respectively. The circuit combines the efficiency of OCB authentication with the high security of Rijndael encryption/decryption algorithms, offering an authenticated encryption/decryption scheme.     

Sequence–Structure–Property Relationships of Recombinant Spider Silk Proteins: Integration of Biopolymer Design,Processing, and Modeling

The mechanical properties of spider silks drive interest as sources of new materials. However, there remains a lot to learn regarding the relationships between sequence, structure, and mechanical properties. In order to predict the types of sequence–functional relationships, synthesis–characterization–computation are integrated using recombinant spider silk‐like block copolymers. Two designs are studied, both with origins from the spider Nephila clavipes. These proteins are studied both experimentally and in silico to understand the relationships between sequence chemistry, processing, structure, and materials function. Films formed from the two proteins are thoroughly characterized. In parallel, molecular modeling is used to assess the propensity of the two sequences to form β‐sheets or crystalline structures. The results demonstrate that the modeling predicts the structural differences between the two silk‐like polymers and these features can also be related to differences in functional outcomes. With this example of relating sequence design (hydrophobic–hydrophilic domains), experiment (genetic design and synthesis), processing (film and fiber formation) and modeling (predictions of crystallinity), synergy among these methods is demonstrated for predictable material outcomes. This approach offers a robust discovery path when looking towards next generation approaches to targeted materials outcomes.     

Dependability modeling of real-time systems using stochastic reward nets

Dependability modeling plays a major role in the design, validation and maintenance of real-time computing systems. Typical models provide measures such as mean time to failure, reliability and safety as functions of the component failure rates and fault/error coverage probabilities. In this paper we propose a modeling technique that allows the coverage to be dependent upon the local (i.e. embedded at task level) and global (i.e. available at system level) fault/error detection and recovery mechanisms. This approach also ensures important savings in terms of the simulation time required for deriving the coverage probabilities. Stochastic. reward nets are employed as a unique dependability modeling framework. For illustrating the usefulness of this technique we analyze dependability of a railroad control computer.     

Measuring the uniqueness and variety of analog circuit design features

Analog circuit design activity is currently a less formalized process, in which the main source for innovation is the designer's ability to produce new designs by combining basic devices, sub-circuits, and ideas from similar solutions. There are few systematic methods that can fuse and transform the useful features of the existing designs into new solutions. Moreover, most automated circuit synthesis tools are still limited to routine tasks, like transistor sizing and layout design. Developing new design techniques that can combine the existing design features requires metrics that describe the uniqueness and variety of the features. This paper evaluates for analog circuits two such general-purpose metrics proposed in [1] and [2]. Three case studies are discussed on using the metrics to characterize the design features of current mirrors, transconductors, and operational amplifiers. The two metrics and the presented study is useful in producing an overall characterization of analog circuit features. This can help in enhancing the circuit design process, training of young designers, and developing new automated synthesis tools that can explore more solution space regions that are likely to include novel design features.