Magnetoelectric coupling in ordered arrays of multilayered heteroepitaxial BaTiO₃/CoFe₂O₄ nanodots

Fully epitaxial BaTiO(3)/CoFe(2)O(4) ferroelectric/ferromagnetic multilayered nanodot arrays, a new type of magnetoelectric (ME) nanocomposite with both horizontal and vertical orderings, were fabricated via a stencil-derived direct epitaxy technique. By reducing the clamping effect, ferroelectric domain modification and distinct magnetization change proportional to different interfacial area around the BaTiO(3) phase transition temperatures were found, which may pave the way to quantitative introducing of ME coupling at nanoscale and build high density multistate memory devices.     

Antenna design strategy and demonstration for software-defined radio (SDR)

Antennas are a key enabling technology for software-defined radio (SDR). Although software is extremely flexible, SDR??s potential is limited by antenna size and performance. In this paper, we review typical antenna miniaturization techniques and fundamental theories that limit antenna size and performance including operational bandwidth, gain (or range), and radiation pattern. Possible antenna design strategies are discussed to meet the desired specifications in SDR based on observations from the limit theories. The application of strategies to enable multiband (resonant), continuous multiband (frequency independent), and instantaneous, ultra-wideband antennas are discussed qualitatively. Advantages, disadvantages, and design trade-off strategies for different types of antennas are compared from a system-level perspective. A design example for a compact ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna is presented for a software-defined platform. The example involves a direct-conversion radio developed in Wireless@VT that uses a Motorola RFIC having a 100 MHz?C6 GHz operational frequency range with a 9 kHz?C20 MHz channel bandwidth. The example antenna covers frequencies from 450 MHz to 6 GHz instantaneously with approximately 5-dBi realized gain over a finite-size ground plane, including return loss and omni-directional coverage.     

Analytical and functional characterization of microcystins [Asp3]MC-RR and [Asp3,Dhb7]MC-RR: consequences for risk assessment?

The microcystin (MC) producing P. rubescens occurs in pre-alpine lakes and may impact fishery success, bathing, and raw water quality. P. rubescens extracts, characterized via LC-MS, contained the two MC-RR variants [Asp3]MC-RR and [Asp3,Dhb7]MC-RR. The protein-phosphatase-inhibition assay (cPPIA with phosphatases 1 and 2A) in its capability to quantify [Asp3]MC-RR, [Asp3,Dhb7]MC-RR, and MC-RR was compared to HPLC-DAD and anti-Adda-ELISA. The IC50 values (PP1 and PP2A) determined for MC-LR, MC-RR, and [Asp3]MC-RR were in the same range (1.9-3.8 and 0.45-0.75 nM). A 50-fold higher concentration of [Asp3,Dhb7]MC-RR (29.8 nM) was necessary to inhibit the PP2A by 50%. The PP1-IC50 of [Asp3,Dhb7]MC-RR was 22-fold higher (56.4 nM) than those of the other MCs, suggesting that specific structural characteristics are responsible for its weaker PPI capacity. Western blots demonstrated that [Asp3,Dhb7]MC-RR does not covalently bind to PP1. [Asp3,Dhb7]MC-RR has comparable in vivo LD50 values to MC-RR, despite a far lower PP-inhibiting capacity, suggesting that toxicodynamic and toxicokinetic characteristics of [Asp3,Dhb7]MC-RR are responsible for its high in vivo toxicity. The data demonstrate that cPPIA analysis of [Asp3,Dhb7]MC-RR-containing samples prevent reliable MC determination and lead to underestimation of potential toxicity.     

Direct measurement of mass transfer around a single bubble by micro-PLIFI

In this paper, an original direct and non-intrusive technique using Planar Laser Induced Florescence with Inhibition (PLIFI) is proposed to quantify the local mass transfer around a single spherical bubble rising in a quiescent liquid. The new set-up tracks the mass transferred in the bubble wake for a plane perpendicular to the bubble trajectory instead of a parallel plane as in previous works, thus avoiding optical reflection problems. A spherical bubble is formed in a glass column containing fluorescent dye. A camera with a microscopic lens is placed underneath the column to record cross-sections of the transferred oxygen. A high-speed camera is located far from the column to simultaneously record the bubble position, size, shape and velocity. The dissolved gas inhibits the fluorescence so that oxygen concentration fields can be measured. From this, a calculation method is developed to determine mass transfer on the micro-scale. Experimental results are compared to the Sherwood numbers calculated from the Frössling and Higbie models used for fully contaminated and clean spherical bubbles, respectively. Results show that all experimental Sherwood numbers occur between the two models, which gives credence to the measurements. The new technique is then developed for bubble diameters ranging from 0.7 to 2 mm in six hydrodynamic conditions (1<Re<10², 10²<Sc<10⁶).     

Rule-based agents for the semantic web

Artificial agents, subsuming both robots and software agents, represent a new paradigm in software engineering and artificial intelligence. Depending on the technologies used in their implementation, they may exhibit various skills; in particular, they may act more or less autonomously, they may be able to learn and to adapt to a changing environment, and they may be able to pursue their goals pro-actively. An artificial agent is called rule-based, if its behaviour and/or its knowledge is expressed by means of rules. In this paper, we discuss a general architecture for rule-based agents and how it can be realized with the help of semantic web languages. We also show how such agents can go live on the web by presenting an implementation in Mandarax, a Java rule platform. The concept and implementation are complemented by a running example, the portfolio agent.     

Investigations into acrylamide precursors in sterilized table olives: Evidence of a peptic fraction being responsible for acrylamide formation

Formation of acrylamide from commercial model peptides containing protein-bound aspartic acid, alanine and methionine, respectively, at 200 °C and different times in the absence of any carbonyl sources, was demonstrated by HPLC–MS/MS analyses. Further experiments using a more complex model system based on olive water, i.e., the aqueous fraction of olive pulp from untreated and lye-treated green olives, were performed. After partial fractionation of olive water by solid-phase extraction, only peptides/proteins containing fractions, being devoid of free asparagine, generated significant amounts of acrylamide during less harsh heat treatment (121 °C for 30 min). In contrast, acrylamide was not detected after heating the same fraction under identical thermal conditions when previously subjected to acid hydrolysis. Consistently, significant amounts of acrylamide were released after heating the albuminous precipitate resulting from acetone precipitation of olive water. These results strongly support the role of peptides/proteins as precursors of acrylamide formation in sterilized olives.     

Opinion on the use of plasma processes for treatment of foods*

The working group “Food technology and safety” of the DFG Senate Commission on Food Safety (SKLM) advises on new technologies concerning food processing. Treatment with plasma is a newly developed process, which is currently used only on a pilot scale in Europe. The novel plasma treatment technology is experimentally applied to consumer goods. There are also potential applications in the food sector, e.g. to inactivate microorganisms on food surfaces. There is still insufficient information on concomitant physical and chemical processes and changes induced in the food. On May 25th 2012, the SKLM issued a first statement on plasma treatment of foods in German. The English version was agreed on December 14th 2012.     

Growth and characterization of non-c-axis-oriented SrBi2Ta2O9 epitaxial thin films on Si(100) substrates with SrRuO3 bottom electrodes

Abstract

We have successfully grown non-c-axis-oriented epitaxial ferroelectric SrBi₂Ta₂O₉ (SBT) films with (116) and (103) orientations on Si(100) substrates using epitaxial (110)- and (111)-oriented SrRuO₃ (SRO) bottom electrodes, respectively. The SRO orientations have been induced by coating the Si(100) substrates with epitaxial YSZ(100) and MgO(111)/ YSZ(100) buffer layers, respectively. All films were sequentially grown by pulsed laser deposition. Specific in-plane orientations of the epitaxial SBT films were found, which are in turn determined by specific in-plane orientations of the epitaxial SRO bottom electrodes. These include a diagonal rectangle-on-cube epitaxy of SRO(110) on YSZ(100) and a triangle-on-triangle epitaxy of SRO(111) on MgO(111).