Antioxidant capacity of extra-virgin olive oils

In this study, the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) of vegetable oils was investigated using a spectrofluorometric method, which measures the protection of the phenolic substances of the oil on the β-phycoerythrin fluorescence decay in comparison with Trolox. More than 97% of the phenolic substances was extracted from the oil using methanol, and the methanolic extract was then used for the ORAC and the total phenolics assay. We found a significant correlation between ORAC values of different olive oils and the total amount of phenolics. For extra-virgin olive oils, maximal ORAC values reached 6.20±0.31 μmol Trolox equivalent/g, while refined and seed oils showed values in the 1–1.5 μmol Trolox equivalent/g range. Our method is useful to assess the quality of olive oils and to predict, in combination with the rancidity tests, their stability against oxidation.     

Evaluation of PAH: DNA Adduct Formation in Rats Fed Coal Tar-Contaminated Diets

Previous studies have demonstrated that mouse lung is a target organ for the tumorigenic and genotoxic effects of coal tar. The present study evaluated PAH:DNA adduct formation in lung, liver, forestomach, and mammary gland of female CD rats fed various types of coal tar-contaminated diets. Coal tar-contaminated soil, an organic extract of contaminated soil, neat coal tar, and diets containing only B[ a ]P were evaluated. Ingestion of coal tar diets resulted in detectable levels of DNA adducts in lung and forestomach tissue. These adducts were primarily derived from benzo[ c ]fluorene and B[ a ]P. The adduct derived from benzo[ c ]fluorene was the most predominant. No adducts were detected in liver and mammary gland under the conditions employed in this study. The formation of a benzo[ c ]fluorene-derived DNA adduct in rat lung following coal tar exposure is consistent with previous studies performed with mice.     

Zentrale Verwaltung von Gesundheitskarten im stationären Krankenhausumfeld – Das IQ-Medi-LOG-Produkt als Alternative zu gematik-Konzepten

The mandatory introduction of Health Professional Cards (HPC) in the German health care system induces major challenges for IT infrastructures as well as organisational structures in hospitals. This paper presents a new approach for integrating HPCs in hospital processes and infrastructures that is realized in the product IQ-Medi-LOG. The objective is to leverage efficiency and effectiveness potentials associated with the electronic health cards and to enable entirely new services in hospitals. Using a conceptual comparison the authors are able to show the advantages of this concept. In closing they outline further areas of application and future development trends.     

Accurate extraction of the mechanical properties of thin films by nanoindentation for the design of reliable MEMS

Traditional procedures for the extraction of mechanical properties of thin films by nanoindentation measurements have shown problems in terms of accuracy and in the ability to support sophisticated constitutive models. In this paper, an inverse modeling procedure based on finite element analysis is presented to solve these limitations. Finite element simulation is used to predict the relationships between the indentation load and depth. The developed approach is applied to extract the viscoplastic properties of aluminum single grain, the viscoelastic properties of acrylic resin films, and the residual strain in stainless steel.     

A combined morphologic and molecular approach for characterizing fungal microflora from a traditional Italian cheese (Fossa cheese)

Phenotypic and genotypic methods were used to identify filamentous fungi that characterize traditional Italian Fossa cheese and its ripening environment. After ageing for 60 days at a dairy, it was ripened for an additional three months in a pit. In the fully ripened cheese, moulds ranged from 3 to 3.4 log cfu g^?1 and Penicillium was the prevalent species. Pit environmental fungi ranged from 530 to 750 cfu m^?3 (air) and from 130 to 340 cfu cm^?2 (surfaces). The dominant pit strains were Alternaria spp., Aspergillus spp., Cladosporium spp. and Penicillium spp. Phylogenetic analyses of 18S rRNA gene and ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 regions highlighted Penicillium camemberti, Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus versicolor as traceable species occurring in both the cheese and pit environment, suggesting their involvement in the development of typical Fossa cheese characteristics. This approach may be used for the identification of microflora on other cheese varieties to better understand the fungal contribution in cheese ripening.     

Energy Efficient Wireless Networks Towards Green Communications

Wireless networks have become an essential part of the modern life. However, currently, 3% of the world-wide energy is consumed by the ICT infrastructures which causes about 2% of the world-wide CO₂ emissions. The transmitted data-volume increases rapidly and wireless communications are used extensively while network design rules have practically ignored the energy efficient network design approach to limit CO₂ emissions. This approach is currently named Green Communications. Significant energy savings in mobile networks can be expected by defining and standardizing energy efficiency metrics and combining energy aware flexible radios and networks. This paper discusses several techniques such as cross layer approach, multiple antennas, cell size reduction and cognitive radio, from the system-wide energy efficiency point of view, outlining challenges and open issues.     

Fast moving horizon state estimation for discrete-time systems with linear constraints

Fast moving horizon state estimation for nonlinear discrete-time systems affected by disturbances is addressed by means of imperfect optimization at each time instant based on few iterations of the gradient, conjugate gradient, and Newton algorithms. Linear constraints on the state vector are taken into account through a projection on the subspace associated with such constraints. The stability of the estimation error for the resulting scheme is proved under suitable conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is showcased via simulation results in comparison with moving horizon estimation based on complete optimization and extended Kalman filtering.     

Influence of the (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3–BaTiO3 lead-free piezoceramic geometries on the power generation of energy harvesting devices

In this work, we report the harvested energy of lead-free 0.94(Bi_0.5Na_0.5)TiO₃-0.06BaTiO₃ bulk ceramics using two different geometries (rectangular plate and disk). These ceramics were obtained by the solid-state reaction method and their good ferroelectric properties were reported. The samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman microspectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis, whereas ferroelectric and dielectric properties were evaluated by means of ferroelectric hysteresis loops and impedance spectroscopy studies. A cantilever-based harvester was proposed to evaluate the performance of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting (PEH). The morphological influence on the voltage generation was experimentally and numerically studied by the Finite Element Method (FEM). Several cases for plate and disk-shaped piezoelectric ceramics were simulated under a constant volume restriction. Results showed a great influence of the morphology on the electromechanical response of the system. In particular, the plate featured a higher voltage generation than the disk.     

Mechanism of lustre formation in scheelite-based glazes

This work elucidates the mechanism responsible for the lustre effect of scheelite-based glazes for single-firing wall tiles. The surface decoration is obtained with a thin film composed of a Si–Ca–Zn–Al–K–B frit and 10 wt% WO₃ on zircon-engobed substrates for single-firing wall tiles (maximum temperature of 1130 °C for 50 min). The observed lustre effect is sub-adamantine and pearlescent. It is sub-adamantine because scheelite nanocrystals at the surface, with a relatively high refractive index (n = 1.93), cause considerable reflection of light. The lustre is also weakly pearlescent because the nano-crystals oriented with the (004) plane parallel to the surface give interference with the underlying glassy layer (n ≈ 1.5), where randomly dispersed scheelite crystals occur. This model apparently applies to the glazes decorated with ceria, although the latter exhibits iridescence due to the high refractive index of ceria (n = 2.05) which yields stronger interference effect with the underlying glassy substrate.