Prediction of fluid losses from pork using subjective and objective paleness

Meat paleness in pork Longissimus dorsi (LD) 1 day post-mortem (p-m) was measured subjectively using Japanese Pork Colour Scores (JPCS) and objectively using a Colormet fibre-optic (FO) meat probe (400–700 nm). Water-holding capacity (WHC), fluid loss during thin-slicing, and drip loss were measured in unfrozen and in frozen and thawed (FT) samples. FT caused a decrease in WHC, and an increase in slicing and drip loss (P < 0·001). FO interactance (i) was correlated (P < 0·01) with unfrozen WHC (R = 0·55), with FT WHC (r = −0·45 at 440 nm), with FT slicing loss (R = 0·81), with unfrozen drip loss (R = 0·66), and with FT drip loss (R = 0·61). Objective measurements proved that the development of pork paleness takes several days p-m and that paleness is increased by FT. Where fluid losses were predictable from paleness, the FO probe was superior to subjective evaluation by JPCS.     

Natural frequencies of stepped thickness rectangular plates

This paper presents the natural frequencies of stepped thickness square and rectangular plates together with the mode shapes of vibration. The transverse deflection of a stepped thickness plate is written in a series of the products of the deflection functions of beams parallel to the edges satisfying the boundary conditions, and the frequency equation of the plate is derived by the energy method. By use of the frequency equation, the natural frequencies (the eigenvalues of vibration) and the mode shapes are calculated numerically in good accuracy for square and rectangular plates with edges simply supported or elastically restrained against rotation, having square, circular or elliptical stepped thickness, from which the effects of the stepped thickness on the vibration are studied.     

Studies on the binding of adenylyl-3', 5'-cytidine to ribonuclease

The interaction of adenylyl-3',5'-cytidine (ApC) with ribonuclease-A (RNAase-A) was studied by steady-state kinetics and ultraviolet difference spectroscopy. X-ray difference Fourier synthesis at 4 A resolution was also used to study the binding of ApC to RNAase-S. Unlike well-studied compounds like uridylyl-3',5'-adenosine, ApC binds in an unique way: (1) the cytidine moiety is bound to the B1 and R1 sites, (2) the adenosine moiety protrudes to the solution and is not fixed spatially and (3) the phosphate group is bound to the non-specific site (the "Po site") previously postulated (Sawada, F. and Irie, M. (1969) J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 66, 415--418) as the binding site for the 5'-phosphate of uridine 2',5'-diphosphate or uridine 3',5'-diphosphate. This conclusion is consistent with that derived for adenylyl-3',5' -4-thiouridine based on CD difference spectroscopy (White, M.D., Keren-Zur, M. and Lapidot, Y. (1977) Nucleic Acid Res. 4, 843--851). The "Po site" is most likely the epsilon-amino group of Lys 66.     

Crystal structure of poly(ethylenimine)-hydrogen chloride complex

Linear poly(ethylenimine) was found to form a crystalline complex with hydrogen chloride when poly(ethylenimine) in the state of its anhydrate or hydrates was immersed in concentrated hydrochloric acid or exposed to HCl vapour. The crystal structure of the HCl complex was determined by X-ray diffraction. The crystals are metrically tetragonal with cell constants a = B = 5.06 Å and c (chain axis) = 7.57 Å and the unit cell includes one planar zigzag polymer chain (two monomeric units) and two HCl molecules (the molar ratio is 1:1). The space group of the crystals is, however, not of the tetragonal system: the structure determined can be expressed in terms of any of the following crystal systems and space groups: orthorhombic P222₁, orthorhombic Pcm2₁, orthorhombic Pc2m, and monoclinic P2₁/m (c unique). The Cl···N distance of 3.05 Å strongly indicates that every NH and HCl hydrogen atom participates in hydrogen bondings between nitrogen and chlorine atoms. The HCl complex has a fairly high melting temperature of 265°C, which is about 200°C higher than those of the anhydrate and hydrates.     

Antifungal activity of radicicol against Mucor flavus IFO 9560

The antifungal activity of radicicol against Mucor flavus IFO 9560 was investigated. Radicicol induced bursting of spores during germination and morphological changes of the mycelial tip such as overbranching and swelling during exponential growth. In addition, radicicol showed a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on spore germination. Radicicol also inhibited the incorporation of radioactive precursors into DNA, RNA, protein, and chitin fractions by 20-30%, but not into the lipid fraction. There were no inhibitory effects on either endogenous or exogenous cellular respiration. Moreover, leakage of UV-absorbing, phenol sulfate-positive, or folin reagent-positive materials from the mycelia was not observed at an early stage of growth inhibition. On the other hand, kinetic studies of chitin synthase in the untreated mycelia revealed that radicicol noncompetitively inhibited the enzyme at Ki of 87 microM. Furthermore, upon incubation of the normal mycelia with radicicol in 50 mM KH2PO4-NaOH buffer (pH 6.5) containing 10 mM MgCl2, chitin synthase from the mycelia was inactivated gradually at first, and completely after 24-h incubation. These results suggested that radicicol exhibits the antifungal activity by disturbing cell wall biosynthesis through the inactivation of chitin synthase. However, at an early stage of growth inhibition, radicicol was thought to affect cellular function including nucleic acid and protein syntheses, in addition to the reversible noncompetitive inhibition of chitin synthase.     

Advanced motion control by multi‐sensor‐based disturbance observer

Motion control has been widely used in industry applications. One of the key technologies of motion control is a disturbance observer, which quarries a disturbance torque of a motion system and realizes a robust acceleration control. The disturbance observer can observe and suppress the disturbance torque within its bandwidth. Recent motion systems have begun to spread in society and are required to have the ability to make contact with the unknown environment. Such a haptic motion requires a much wider bandwidth. However, since the conventional disturbance observer attains the acceleration response by the second‐order derivative of position response, the bandwidth is limited because of the derivative noise. This paper proposes a novel structure of a disturbance observer. The proposed disturbance observer uses an acceleration sensor for enlargement of bandwidth. Generally, the bandwidth of an acceleration sensor is from 1 Hz to more than 1 kHz. To cover the DC range, the conventional position sensor‐based disturbance observer is integrated. Thus, the performance of the proposed multisensor based disturbance observer (MSDO) is superior to the conventional one. The MSDO is applied to position control (infinity stiffness) and force control (zero stiffness). The experimental results show the viability of the method proposed. © 2006 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Effect of particle size on flow behaviour and physical properties of semi-ripe plantain (AAB Musa spp) powders

This work was conducted to study the influence of particle size and shape on the flow behaviour of semi-ripe plantain powders. An improved plantain variety (Big Ebanga), two hybrids (FHIA 21 and PITA 3), and a local variety (Corne 1, as reference material) were powdered by successive drying, milling, and sieving into three granulometric classes: unsieved (<500 µm), fine fraction (<180 µm; class 1), and coarse fraction (between 180 and 500 µm; class 2), thus differing in particle size distribution. Physical properties (water activity, particle size distribution, shape factors) were characterised and flow properties (basic flowability energy, compressibility, fluidisability, cohesion, etc.) were investigated using the FT4 powder rheometer. Convexity of unsieved and fine powders was slightly higher than for coarse powders. Fine powders of all plantain varieties were found to have the lowest water activity and the lowest flowability in unconfined conditions. Unsieved and fine powders presented a fluidised state at the end of the FT4 standard aeration test and their minimum fluidisation velocity was low, confirming the good fluidisability of these powders.     

Preparation of RuEu-1212 and RuEu-1222 Large Single-Crystalline Grains by Partial Melting

Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism - Single-crystal growth of rutheno-cuprate materials EuSr2RuCu2O8?δ (RuEu-1212) and (Eu, Ce)2Sr2RuCu2O10?δ (RuEu-1222), where...     

Plywood-like structure of injection-moulded polypropylene

Injection-moulded products having unique structure, in which the direction of molecular orientation in the skin layer is perpendicular to that in the core layer, are developed employing isotactic polypropylene with a nucleating agent. The extraordinary three-layered structure with β trigonal crystal form in the core layer, which shows higher impact strength than the conventional α monoclinic form, leads to high level of toughness. Moreover, an injection-moulded product having five-layered structure is also demonstrated in this paper. Because of the complicated crack propagation nature due to the abrupt change of molecular orientation, which avoids fractured pieces with sharp-edge, the products with plywood-like structure will be employed in various applications to improve the safety.     

Identification of Physiological and Toxic Conformations in Aβ42 Aggregates

Aggregation of the 42‐residue amyloid β‐protein (Aβ42) plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Despite numerous structural studies on Aβ aggregates, the relationship between tertiary structure and toxicity remains unclear. Our proline scanning and solid‐state NMR studies suggested that aggregates both of wild‐type Aβ42 and of E22K‐Aβ42 (one of the mutants related to cerebral amyloid angiopathy) contain two conformers: a major one with a turn at positions 25 and 26, and a minor one with a turn at positions 22 and 23. To identify the toxic conformer, the derivative Aβ42‐lactam(22K–23E), in which the side chains at positions 22 and 23 were covalently linked, was synthesized as a minor conformer surrogate, along with Aβ42‐lactam(25K–26E) as a major conformer surrogate. The Aβ42‐lactam(22K–23E) showed stronger aggregation, neurotoxicity, radical generation, and oligomerization than wild‐type Aβ42, whereas in Aβ42‐lactam(25K–26E) were weak. The transition from the physiological conformation with a turn at positions 25 and 26 to the toxic conformation with a turn at positions 22 and 23 might be a key event in the pathogenesis of AD.