Quality characteristics of fermented sausage prepared with soy sauce

Food Science and Biotechnology - The contributions of soy sauce to the quality characteristics of fermented sausages were investigated. The number of lactic acid bacteria in sausages prepared with...     

Inhibitory Effect of N-Acyl Dopamines on IgE-Mediated Allergic Response in RBL-2H3 Cells

Recently, endogenous N-acyl dopamines have been found to show anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. However, the effect of the N-acyl dopamines on allergic responses was not reported. In this study, we investigated whether N-acyl dopamines might inhibit immunoglobulin E-mediated degranulation in RBL-2H3 cells. When RBL-2H3 cells were exposed to palmitoyl dopamine (NP-DA), oleoyl dopamine (NO-DA) or arachidonoyl dopamine (NA-DA) at micromolar levels, all these compounds significantly inhibited the release of β-hexosaminidase, a marker of degranulation, as well as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. In comparison, NP-DA, potently suppressing the release of β-hexosaminidase (IC₅₀, 3.5 μM) and TNF-α (IC₅₀, 2.2 μM), was more potent than NO-DA or NA-DA. Additionally, NP-DA markedly suppressed the formation of prostaglandin E₂, prostaglandin D₂ and leukotriene C₄, corresponding to pro-inflammatory lipid mediators in asthma. In the mechanistic analyses, where the effect of NP-DA on the FcεRI cascade was examined, NP-DA significantly inhibited the phosphorylation and expression of Syk, but not Lyn. And, NP-DA also suppressed phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and Akt. Further, NP-DA decreased the phosphorylation of cPLA₂ and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO), but not cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). Based on these results, it is suggested that NP-DA exert anti-allergic effect on allergic response through suppressing the activation of Syk, ERK1/2, Akt, cPLA₂ and 5-LO. Besides, a strong inhibition of COX-2 activity by NP-DA may be additional mechanism for its anti-allergic action. Such an anti-allergic action of N-acyl dopamines may contribute to further information about biological functions of N-acyl dopamines.     

Growth of BaTiO3 Seed Grains by the Twin-Plane Reentrant Edge Mechanism

Two different types of BaTiO₃ seed particles, normal and twinned seeds of ∼30 μm on the average, were prepared from crushed sintered specimens. Normal seeds were obtained from the usual BaTiO₃ sintered compacts, while twinned seeds containing a double twin were obtained from BaTiO₃ compacts sintered with 2 mol% of SiO₂. The BaTiO₃ powder compacts were again prepared with 5 wt% of seed grains and sintered under various conditions. The microstructural evolution was quite different in the two cases: the growth of normal seed grains was ultimately limited but that of the twinned seeds continued extensively. The observed difference is discussed in terms of the growth mechanism and the atomic structure of interfaces.     

Studies on blown film extrusion. II. Analysis of the deformation and heat transfer processes

Having investigated the elongational flow behavior of polymer melts (part I of this series), we have carried out both theoretical and experimental studies in order to better understand the deformation and heat transfer processes involved in blown film extrusion. For the experimental study, nonisothermal experiments were carried out, using high-density and low-density polyethylenes. Measurements were taken of the axial tension, bubble diameter, and film thickness at a series of extrusion conditions (i.e., flow rate, pressure difference across the film, and take-up speed). For the theoretical study, an analysis was carried out to simulate the blown-film extrusion process, by setting up the force- and energy-balance equations on the blown bubble moving upward. The approach taken in the theoretical study may be considered as an extension of the earlier work by Pearson and Petrie who considered the isothermal operation of Newtonian fluids. In the present study, However, we have considered the nonisothermal operation of power law fluids, whose rheological parameters were determined by an independent experimental study an described in part I of this series. Four highly nonlinear differential equations were solved numerically with the aid of the CDC 360 digital computer, using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. The mathematical model predicts the bubble shape, temperature profile, and film thickness as a function of the distance along the machine axis. Comparison is made of the experimentally observed bubble shapes with the theoretically predicted ones, showing a reasonable agreement.     

The production of a flexible electroluminescent device on polyethylene terephthalate films using transparent conducting carbon nanotube electrode

An inorganic electroluminescent (EL) device on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate and its properties were investigated. The transparent conducting film (TCF) made from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) (CNT-TCF) was employed in the flexible EL device. CNT-TCF was formed by filtration of CNT solution and was transferred to the PET film. It was found that the brightness of the inorganic EL device was strongly dependent on the quality of the CNT composite films. After a 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane treatment of the PET substrate, CNTs uniformly were dispersed and showed a good adhesion to the substrate, and the resulting EL device showed better performance. The flexible EL device showed the brightness of 96.8 cd/m² at 28 kHz and 50 V.     

A framework for automatic creation of motion effects from theatrical motion pictures

Motion effects are the most important physical effects of commercial feature films in the latest cinemas equipped with multi-sensory-effect systems known as 4DX theaters. This paper presents a framework for automatically generating motion effects from a video. We propose a seven-step motion-effect production pipeline based on the concept of structure from motion. In particular, we present the total-variation-based adaptive noise reduction method to remove acceleration noise and introduce methods to estimate the gravity direction from an image. The proposed framework is validated by prototype application to a synthetic video, a commercial feature film, a ride film, and three point-of-view (POV) footages.     

Three-Dimensional Characterization of SiC Particle-Reinforced Al Composites Using Serial Sectioning Tomography and Thermo-mechanical Finite Element Simulation

In this study, a serial sectioning technique was employed in order to visualize the three-dimensional (3D) structure, and to accurately simulate the mechanical and thermal behaviors of SiC particle-reinforced Al composites. Sequential, two-dimensional (2D) optical images of the microstructure were acquired after polishing, and then reconstructed to develop 3D geometries for microstructural analyses and finite element modeling. Experimental compressive and thermal expansion tests were performed for comparison with the finite element method results. The Young’s modulus and thermal expansion coefficient of the composite, predicted using the 3D microstructure-based finite element analyses, were in good agreement with the experimental results. Furthermore, the 3D microstructure-based finite element model showed anisotropic thermal expansion behavior that was previously disregarded in the other models used in this study. Therefore, it was confirmed that the combined approach of serial sectioning and finite element modeling provides a significant improvement over 2D and 3D unit-cell modeling.     

A low power 8-tap digital FIR filter for PRML read channels

This paper presents a low power 8-tap digital Fourier infrared (FIR) filter for partial response signalling with maximum likelihood (PRML) disk-drive read channels. Enhancements on power consumption and speed are achieved by adopting the row compression scheme with a proposed conditional carry selection method. The 8-tap digital FIR filter is fabricated by 0.8µm CMOS technology and occupies by 3.9mm × 1.5mm. The experimental results show that the FIR filter operates up to 180MHz and dissipates 1.4mW MHz^?1 with 3.7V power supply. It is proved that 20% power reduction is readily attainable with the proposed scheme.