NMR IMAGING, CALORIMETRIC, and MATHEMATICAL MODELING STUDIES of FOOD FREEZING

Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), calorimetry, and temperature measurements were used to monitor cylindrical potato sections frozen at -11C and -42C. MRI showed the advance of the nonsymmetric freezing zone and loss of signal intensity as liquid water turned to ice. Differential calorimetry was used to follow heat removal during transient freezing. Measured times to 95% enthalpy change were 24 min (-42C) and 49 min (-11C), as compared to modeled values of 29 min (-42C) and 100 min (-11C). Times to 95% change in the NMR signal, integrated over the area of the image, were 21 min (-42C) and 56 min (-11C). Changes in NMR signal intensity could be correlated with the amount of unfrozen water remaining after a steady-state had been reached. At -42C, NMR indicated 25% unfrozen water remaining as compared to 26% by calorimetry, and 22% by modeling. At -11C, NMR measured 67% unfrozen water remaining as compared to 48% by calorimetry, and 25% by equilibrium modeling.     

Image coding by multistep, adaptive flux interpolation

The authors describe and discuss the new technique, multistep adaptive flux interpolation (MAFI), and its application to image data for coding. When applied to an image, MAFI produces an output which is also in an image form, but which has a more uniform feature density and a greatly reduced size. MAFI warps the input image by removing those rows and columns which contain a majority of redundant pixels. The side information required for reconstruction is minimal, and the image can be further compressed using conventional coders, making the compression ratio even higher. Because of its warped nature, the MAFI output's statistics are also more consistent with the properties assumed by block-based discrete cosine transform (DCT) methods     

Dynamic programming implementation on array processor architectures

Dynamic Programming (DP) applies to many signal and image processing applications including boundary following, the Viterbi algorithm, dynamic time warping, etc. This paper presents an array processor implementation of generic dynamic programming. Our architecture is a SIMD array attached to a host computer. The processing element of the architecture is based on an ASIC design opting for maximum speed-up. By adopting a torus interconnection network, a dual buffer structure, and a multilevel pipeline, the performance of the DP chip is expected to reach the order of several GOPS. The paper discusses both the dedicated hardware design and the data flow control of the DP chip and the total array.This work was supported in part by the NATO, Scientific and Environmental Affairs Division, Collaborative Research Grant SA.5-2-05(CRG.960201)424/96/JARC-501.     

Zooplankton population in the river tigris: Effects of samarra impoundment

The influences of the Samarra impoundment on the ecology of the downstream sector of the river Tigris are investigated. Zooplankton were collected monthly from July 1987 to July 1988. It was found that zooplankton were most abundant during high river discharges in March. During the month of low river discharge, September, the zooplankton population was greatly reduced immediately below the barrage and remained so to the last downstream station. Several factors seem to explain such differences. The high discharge from the impoundment was found to be the dominating factor and may flush the small backwaters in which zooplankton were abundant, thus increasing the population in the river. Zooplankton species vary in their ability to sustain populations in the river, variations which are due mainly to species-specific characteristics.     

Synthesis and characterisation of carboxylic acid and diphenylphosphine derivatives in the 1,3-diyne series: Spectral properties of polydiacetylene carboxylates

Symmetrically substituted 1,3-diynes containing hydroxyalkyl ( 1a-d ), bromoalkyl ( 1e-h ) (diphenylphosphinyl) ( 1i-k ) and carboxyalkyl ( 2a-d ) substituents have been prepared and characterised; the phosphine derivative ( 1k ) has been converted with alkyl iodides ( RI ; R = Me, Et) into bis(phosphonium) salts ( 1l and m ). During preparation of the diynedioic acid. ( 2a ), the non-centrosymmetrical diyne, HO₂CCH₂C?C—C?C(CH₂)₂OH ( 3 ), was also isolated. ⁶⁰Co γ-Irradiation of diacetylene monomers ( 2a – d ) and 10,12-tricosadiyn-1-oic acid gave the corresponding polydiacetylene derivatives ( 4a – d and 5 ), respectively. Rubidium salts of ( 4c ) and ( 4d ), a barium salt of ( 4c ), and a potassium salt of ( 5 ) were prepared and isolated; soluble potassium salts of the carboxylic acid polymers ( 4 ) were generated in aqueous solution. The effects of changes in pH on the UV/visible absorption spectra of aqueous solutions of selected carboxylic acid polydiacetylenes have been recorded, and are discussed.     

Reaction steady states and stationary states in modelling semi-batch enzyme hydrolysis

Dimensionless material balance equations describing an uninhibited enzyme hydrolysis process in a semi-batch reactor (i.e. fed-batch reactor) are formulated; numerical solution of these equations provided concentration profiles of the enzyme-substrate complex by using published kinetic parameters. The unrestricted values obtained are compared with estimates based separately on the reaction steady state and stationary state assumptions. Results are discussed in terms of the enzyme/substrate inventory used and it is found that the reaction steady state is a satisfactory approximation only when this ratio is sufficiently small. The stationary state may be a better approximation at other values, particularly when enzyme is added to substrate or when an empty tank is being filled. Reaction yields from semi-batch and batch operations are compared. Processing takes longer in the semi-batch operations and complete conversions are only practical in this mode when enzyme is added to substrate.     

Development of Anticandidal Delivery Systems: (I) Anticandidal Activities of Antifungal Agents and Synergistic Combination with Other Drugs

Susceptibility testing with antifungal agents, e. g., minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination, is performed to obtain reliable data that permit selection of the most suitable agents for treatment of an infective condition. To determine the drugs that provide maximum effectiveness against oral candidiasis, the MICs of various antifungal agents were determined. Also, synergism between two chosen antifungal agents was evaluated, and the effect of benzocaine, an anesthetic, and hydrocortisone, an antiinflammatory agent, on their MICs was examined. It was observed that among all the drugs tested, clotrimazole was the most promising candidate for use as an oral local antifungal. The combination of clotrimazole and chlorhexidine resulted in a decrease in the MIC. While the addition of hydrocortisone to this combination resulted in a slight increase in the MIC, the inclusion of benzocaine resulted in a substantial decrease in the MIC of the antifungal agent combination.