Kinetics of sensory quality changes in soymilk during thermal processing,by parametric and non‐parametric data analyses

Soymilk was subjected to various heat treatments at 90, 120 and 140 °C for various lengths of time. The colour and flavour of the soymilk samples were evaluated by a sensory panel consisting of eight semi‐trained assessors on (1) a 9‐unit hedonic scale, with analysis based on the assumption that the units are equidistant, and (2) a 15‐point hedonic ‘Smiley’ pictorial scale, the results being analysed non‐parametrically. The proportion (%) of ratings higher than or equal to/higher than the overall median of the samples was used as a rigorous estimate of product quality. These values were used to determine the colour and flavour changes in heated soymilk and their temperature dependence. The Z‐values derived from the parametric and non‐parametric analyses were in close agreement, ranging from 31 to 33 °C and from 30 to 32 °C for colour and flavour respectively. © 2000 Society of Chemical Industry     

Extensive restriction site polymorphism at the human phenylalanine hydroxylase locus and application in prenatal diagnosis of phenylketonuria

A total of 10 restriction site polymorphisms have been identified at the human phenylalanine hydroxylase locus using a full-length human phenylalanine hydroxylase cDNA clone as a hybridization probe to analyze human genomic DNA. These polymorphic patterns segregate in a Mendelian fashion and concordantly with the disease state in various PKU kindreds. The frequencies of the restriction site polymorphisms at the human phenylalanine hydroxylase locus among Caucasians are such that the observed heterozygosity in the population is 87.5%. Thus, most families with a history of classical phenylketonuria can take advantage of the genetic analysis for prenatal diagnosis and carrier detection of the hereditary disorder.     

Noninvasive Transdermal Vaccination Using Hyaluronan Nanocarriers and Laser Adjuvant

Vaccines are commonly administered by injection using needles. Although transdermal microneedles are less invasive promising alternatives, needle‐free topical vaccination without involving physical damage to the natural skin barrier is still sought after as it can further reduce needle‐induced anxiety and is simple to administer. However, this long‐standing goal has been elusive since the intact skin is impermeable to most macromolecules. Here, we show an efficient, noninvasive transdermal vaccination by employing two key innovations: the use of hyaluronan (HA) as vaccine carriers and non‐ablative laser adjuvants. Conjugates of a model vaccine ovalbumin (OVA) and HA—HA–OVA conjugates—induced more effective maturation of dendritic cells in vitro, compared to OVA. Following topical administration in the skin, HA–OVA conjugates penetrated into the epidermis and dermis in murine and porcine skins, as revealed by intravital microscopy and fluorescence assay. Topical administration of HA‐OVA conjugates significantly elevated both humoral and mucosal antibodies, with peak levels at four weeks. An OVA challenge at week eight elicited strong immune‐recall responses. With pretreatment of the skin using non‐ablative fractional laser beams as adjuvant, strong immunization was achieved with much reduced doses of HA–OVA (1 mg kg^–1 OVA). Our results demonstrate the potential of the noninvasive patch‐type transdermal vaccination platform.     

Frequency-resolved optical gating using cascaded second-ordernonlinearities

We demonstrate frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) using cascaded second-order nonlinearities (up-conversion followed by down-conversion). We describe two different cascaded second-order beam geometries-self-diffraction and polarization-gate-which are identical to their third-order nonlinear-optical cousins, except that they use second-harmonic-generation crystals instead of (weaker) third-order materials. Like the corresponding third-order processes, these new versions of FROG yield the same intuitive traces, uniquely determine the pulse intensity and phase (without direction-of-time ambiguity), and yield signal light at the input-pulse wavelength (which simplifies the required spectral measurements). Most importantly, however, we show that these techniques are significantly more sensitive than the corresponding third-order FROG methods, conveniently allowing, for the first time, the unambiguous measurement of ultrashort ~1-nJ pulses, that is, unamplified Ti:sapphire oscillator pulses     

Spatially Probed Plasmonic Photothermic Nanoheater Enhanced Hybrid Polymeric–Metallic PVDF‐Ag Nanogenerator

Surface plasmon‐based photonics offers exciting opportunities to enable fine control of the site, span, and extent of mechanical harvesting. However, the interaction between plasmonic photothermic and piezoresponse still remains underexplored. Here, spatially localized and controllable piezoresponse of a hybrid self‐polarized polymeric‐metallic system that correlates to plasmonic light‐to‐heat modulation of the local strain is demonstrated. The piezoresponse is associated to the localized plasmons that serve as efficient nanoheaters leading to self‐regulated strain via thermal expansion of the electroactive polymer. Moreover, the finite‐difference time‐domain simulation and linear thermal model also deduce the local strain to the surface plasmon heat absorption. The distinct plasmonic photothermic–piezoelectric phenomenon mediates not only localized external stimulus light response but also enhances dynamic piezoelectric energy harvesting. The present work highlights a promising surface plasmon coordinated piezoelectric response which underpins energy localization and transfer for diversified design of unique photothermic–piezotronic technology.     

The slot-coupled hemispherical dielectric resonator antenna with a parasitic patch: applications to the circularly polarized antenna and wide-band antenna

The aperture-coupled hemispherical dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with a parasitic patch is studied rigorously. Using the Green's function approach, integral equations for the unknown patch and slot currents are formulated and solved using the method of moments. The theory is utilized to design a circularly polarized (CP) DRA and a wide-band linearly polarized (LP) DRA. In the former, the CP frequency and axial ratio (AR) can easily be controlled by the patch location and patch size, respectively, with the impedance matched by varying the slot length and microstrip stub length. It is important that the AR will not be affected when the input impedance is tuned, and the CP design is therefore greatly facilitated. For the wide-band LP antenna, a maximum bandwidth of 22% can be obtained, which is much wider than the previous bandwidth of 7.5% with no parasitic patches. Finally, the frequency-tuning characteristics of the proposed antenna are discussed. Since the parasitic patch can be applied to any DRAs, the method will find applications in practical DRA designs.     

COMBUSTION AND HEAT TRANSFER IN COMPARTMENT FIRES

Field modeling that incorporates increasingly complex representations of the physical and chemical processes for compartment fires warrants a detailed evaluation. Detailed quantitative comparisons of our predicted velocity and temperature fields against established the computed results of Lewis, Moss, and Rubini and the experimental data of Steckler, Quintiere, and Rinkinen of a single compartment fire are in good agreement. The prospect of using a flamelet-based combustion model is encouraging. Here, more detailed chemistry can be incorporated, especially that used to predict toxic CO concentrations. This, together with the discrete ordinates radiation method, offers potential in building fire prediction.     

Photonic crystal fibre based all-optical modulation format conversions between NRZ and RZ with hybrid clock recovery from a PRZ signal

Several all-optical modulation format-converting schemes are described for non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ) modulation formats that make use of spectral filtering of either self-phase modulation (SPM) or cross-phase modulation (XPM) broadened signal spectrum in a highly-nonlinear dispersion-flattened photonic-crystal fibre. Format conversions have been performed between the most widely used modulation formats - NRZ and RZ. In addition, a hybrid clock recovery scheme is proposed to obtain the data rate of the NRZ signal for NRZ-to-RZ format conversion. All format-converting schemes are based on the extraction of the spectral components in a nonlinear phase modulation broadened signal spectrum. In NRZ-to-RZ format conversion, a periodic pulse train, at a repetition rate similar to the NRZ data rate, is used as a control that induces a nonlinear phase shift to the NRZ probe signal and broadens its spectrum. The spectral components, contributed by different time instances of the control pulse, can be extracted as the converted RZ signal output. In RZ-to-NRZ format conversion, the RZ signal serves as a control that induces a nonlinear phase shift to a continuous wave probe light, where a logic-inverted NRZ signal can be extracted by filtering out the chirped components. Format conversions between NRZ and RZ signals at 9.95328 GB/s (OC-192) are demonstrated. As the proposed optical signal-processing schemes make use of the fibre nonlinearity (SPM/XPM), it is possible to extend it to a high-speed operation <160 Gb/s. Therefore the proposed format-converting schemes can serve as a format converter between the optical time-division multiplexed networks and the wavelength division multiplexed networks     

A perturbation-incremental scheme for studying Hopf bifurcation in delayed differential systems

A new method, called perturbation-incremental scheme (PIS), is presented to investigate the periodic solution derived from Hopf bifurcation due to time delay in a system of first-order delayed differential equations. The method is summarized as three steps, namely linear analysis at critical value, perturba- tion and increment for continuation. The PIS can bypass and avoid the tedious calculation of the center manifold reduction (CMR) and normal form. Meanwhile, the PIS not only inherits the advantages of t...