Disulphide bonds in wheat gluten: further cystine peptides from high molecular weight (HMW) and low molecular weight (LMW) subunits of glutenin and from γ-gliadins

Glutenin was prepared from gluten of the wheat variety Rektor by extraction of gliadin with aqueous ethanol. It was cleaved successively into soluble peptides by the enzymes trypsin and thermolysin. Separation of the peptide mixtures was performed by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) on Sephadex G25 and reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) on ODS-Hypersil. Cystine peptides were detected by differential chromatography of the samples prior to and after reduction. After isolation by multi-step RP-HPLC, the cystine peptides were reduced. The resulting cysteine peptides were alkylated with 4-vinylpyridine, separated by RP-HPLC and sequenced by means of the Edman degradation. The isolated cystine peptides represented a considerable portion of the total cysteine in glutenin: four out of seven cysteine residues of HMW subunits, and eight out of nine cysteine residues of LMW subunits are documented by at least one cystine peptide. Most of the peptides corresponded to known sequences of gluten protein components. From the structures of some tryptic peptides, inter- and intramolecular disulphide bonds for HMW subunits of glutenin have been proven. Cystine peptides from the thermolytic digest have been assigned to LMW subunits of glutenin and toγ-gliadins. Other peptides have been closely related to partial sequences of these protein components. The results have allowed several conclusions about the arrangement of intra- and intermolecular disulphide bridges in gluten proteins.     

Bridging the gap between sensory evaluation and market research

There is much to be gained from an integration of sensory evaluation and market research to provide a full understanding of the overall evaluation and acceptance of food. This can be achieved if research paradigms and practical applications are broadened to address key issues: the choice of appropriate research subjects, the use of realistic foods and of more complex and realistic environments, the appropriate selection of sensory methods, and the consideration of contextual influences. Improved research paradigms will contribute to our theories of how human eating is controlled and, hence, to the use of this information in product development and biomedical applications.     

Accelerated Ionic Motion in Amorphous Memristor Oxides for Nonvolatile Memories and Neuromorphic Computing

Memristive devices based on mixed ionic–electronic resistive switches have an enormous potential to replace today's transistor‐based memories and Von Neumann computing architectures thanks to their ability for nonvolatile information storage and neuromorphic computing. It still remains unclear however how ionic carriers are propagated in amorphous oxide films at high local electric fields. By using memristive model devices based on LaFeO₃ with either amorphous or epitaxial nanostructures, we engineer the structural local bonding units and increase the oxygen‐ionic diffusion coefficient by one order of magnitude for the amorphous oxide, affecting the resistive switching operation. We show that only devices based on amorphous LaFeO₃ films reveal memristive behavior due to their increased oxygen vacancy concentration. We achieved stable resistive switching with switching times down to microseconds and confirm that it is predominantly the oxygen‐ionic diffusion character and not electronic defect state changes that modulate the resistive switching device response. Ultimately, these results show that the local arrangement of structural bonding units in amorphous perovskite films at room temperature can be used to largely tune the oxygen vacancy (defect) kinetics for resistive switches (memristors) that are both theoretically challenging to predict and promising for future memory and neuromorphic computing applications.     

Simulations and experiments for optimal deployment of an RFID‐based location‐aware system

The proliferation of communication and mobile computing devices and local‐area wireless networks has cultivated a growing interest in location‐aware systems and services. An essential problem in location‐aware computing is the determination of physical locations. RFID technologies are gaining much attention, as they are attractive solutions to indoor localization in many healthcare applications. In this paper, we propose a new indoor localization methodology that aims to deploying RFID technologies in achieving accurate location‐aware undertakings with real‐time computation. The proposed algorithm introduces means to improve the accuracy of the received RF signals. Optimal settings for the parameters in terms of reader and reference tag properties were investigated through simulations and experiments. The experimental results indicate that our indoor localization methodology is promising in applications that require fast installation, low cost and high accuracy. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interfacial reactions between a Pb-Free solder and die backside metallizations

The interfacial reactions between Sn-3.0 Ag-0.7 Cu solder and backside metallizations on two semiconductor devices, field-effect transistors (FET) and diode, are studied. The metallizations on both devices were vacuum evaporated Ti/Ni/Ag. The intermetallic compounds (IMC) formed near the diode/solder and FET/solder joints during reflow, and the interdiffusion processes during solid state aging are characterized by the quantitative energy dispersive x-ray analysis and the x-ray mapping technique in a scanning electron microscope. Two different intermetallic compounds are found near the diode/solder interface. Both are in the form of particles, not a continuous layer, and are referred to as IMC-I and IMC-II. IMC-I corresponds to Ni₃Sn₄, with Cu atoms residing on the Ni sublattice. It is uncertain whether IMC-II is Cu₆Sn₅ or a Cu-Ni-Sn ternary phase. Near the as-reflowed FET/solder interface, both isolated scallops and a skeleton-like layer of Ni₃Sn₄ are observed. The primary microstructural dynamics during solid-state aging are the coarsening of IMCs and the reactions involving the Ni-and Ti-layer with Sn and Au. While the reaction with the Ni-layer yields only Ni₃Sn₄ intermetallic, the reaction involving the Ti-layer suggests the formation of Ti-Sn and Au-Sn-Ti intermetallics. The latter is due to the diffusion of Au from the substrate side to the die side. It is postulated that the kinetics of the Au-Sn-Ti layer is primarily governed by the diffusion of Au through the Ni₃Sn₄ layer by a grain boundary mechanism.     

Long time reliability study of soldered flip chips on flexible substrates

Due to the requirements of new light, mobile, small and multifunctional electronic products the density of electronic packages continues to increase. Especially in medical electronics like pace makers the minimisation of the whole product size is an important factor. So flip chip technology becomes more and more attractive to reduce the height of an electronic package. At the same time the use of flexible and foldable substrates offers the possibility to create complex electronic devices with a very high density. In terms of human health the reliability of electronic products in medical applications has top priority.In this work flip chip interconnections to a flexible substrate are studied with regard to long time reliability. Test chips and substrates have been designed to give the possibility for electrical measurements. Solder was applied using conventional stencil printing method. The flip chip contacts on flexible substrates were created in a reflow process and underfilled subsequently.The assemblies have been tested according to JEDEC level 3. The focus in this paper is the long time reliability up to 10,000 h in thermal ageing at 125 °C and temperature/humidity testing at 85 °C/85% relative humidity as well as thermal cycling (0 °C/+100 °C) up to 5000 cycles. Daisy chain and four point Kelvin resistances have been measured to characterise the interconnections and monitor degradation effects.The failures have been analysed in terms of metallurgical investigations of formation and growing of intermetallic phases between underbump metallisation, solder bumps and conductor lines. CSAM was used to detect delaminations at the interfaces underfiller/chip and underfiller/substrate respectively.     

An evaluation of the soxtec system for oil determination in soybeans

The Soxtec System and the AOCS method were compared for oil determination in soybeans, and no significant difference was found between the two methods. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and standard deviation for individual samples were higher for the Soxtec, but this was attributable to the regrinding step used. The study suggests that the Soxtec System is faster and just as accurate as the AOCS method.     

The role of nonuniform dielectric permittivity in the determination of heterojunction band offsets by C–V profiling through isotype heterojunctions

Up to now, C–V profiling through isotype heterojunctions has been performed assuming a uniform dielectric permittivity throughout the heterostructure. We extend the interpretation of C–V data to the case of a semiconductor with position-dependent dielectric permittivity, and we show that the variation of the dielectric permittivity across an isotype heterojunction interface has no effect on the determination of the heterojunction band discontinuity and the interface charge density.