Anti-oxidant content of different coloured sweet peppers, white, green, yellow, orange and red (Capsicum annuum L.)

Five different coloured sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum cv. Signal), white, green, yellow, orange and red were analysed for total carotenoids, α‐tocopherol, sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose), organic acids (citric and ascorbic acids) and anti‐oxidant properties. The mature fruits, ‘Signal Red’, ‘Signal Orange’ and ‘Signal Yellow’ contained higher carotenoids, α‐tocopherol, sugars and organic acids than the immature fruits, ‘Signal Green’ and ‘Signal White’. Among the mature fruits, ‘Signal Red’ was the highest in total carotenoids [9.15 mg (100 g)^?1 of fresh weight] while ‘Signal Orange’ was the highest in α‐tocopherol [5.40 mg (100 g)^?1 of fresh weight]. ‘Signal Red’ and ‘Signal Orange’ contained the most sugars and organic acids. The suppression of 2,2′‐azobis (2,4‐dimethylvaleronitrile) (AMVN)‐induced oxidation of methyl linoleate by the acetone extracts from the coloured sweet peppers resulted as follows: ‘Signal Red’ > ‘Signal Orange’ ≈ ‘Signal Yellow’ > ‘Signal Green’ ≈ ‘Signal White’. The order of 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activities of the acetone extracts was similar to that of suppression of methyl linoleate oxidation.     

Pursuit‐Escape Particle Swarm Optimization

This paper presents a new Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) with pursuit and escape behavior. This method takes a cue from the behaviors of schools of sardines and pods of killer whales. When the sardines are attacked by the killer whales, they would behave unusually, that is, the sardines would escape from the killer whales, and on another front, the killer whales would pursue the sardines. By this method, particles are divided into two categories called the pursuit‐particles and the escape‐particles, having interactions with each other. They play the key roles of intensification and diversification, respectively. This allows the particles to avoid local optimal solutions and find a global optimal one, and also achieve an appropriate balance between diversification (global search) and intensification (local search) during the search. Then, the proposed method is validated through numerical simulations using several functions which are well‐known as the optimization benchmark problems by comparing them to powerful methods such as SAPPO, LDIWM, and CFM. Copyright © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Enlargement of viewing area of stereoscopic full-color LED display by use of a parallax barrier

In a stereoscopic full-color LED display by use of a parallax barrier, we discuss optimization of the viewing area, which depends on the width of the black regions between LEDs. Although conventional stereoscopic displays use a parallax barrier to permit the viewer to view stereoscopic images without any special glasses, their viewing area is restricted by crosstalk and the disappearing of pixels. Widening of the viewing area is examined by use of full-color panels with black regions having different widths. The optimum aperture ratio of the parallax barrier is obtained by analyzing the viewing area. An enlarged viewing area has been demonstrated by use of a 3-in-1 chip LED panel that has wider black regions than ordinary LED lamp cluster panels.     

STEAM DRYING OF SINTERED SPHERES OF GLASS BEADS

Superheated steam drying of sintered spheres of glass beads with different diameters is investigated to reveal the effects of the gravitational force on drying rates. In a previous study, the drying rate curves of small samples with coarse glass beads in which the frictional resistance to flow of water and the effect of the gravitational force are negligible, were predicted by an evaporation zone model.In the present investigation, the drying rate curves of sintered spheres of glass beads with diameters ranging from 1.53×10^-2m to 4.99×lO^-2m are experimentally and theoretically obtained, and also the capillary pressure curves are measured by use of Haines' apparatus. The drying rate curves of large samples in which the effect of the gravitational force can not be negligible, are compared with those for small samples and the difference among these curves is discussed in terms of the moisture distributions which are estimated from the evaporation zone model with the observed capillary pressure curves.     

A 10-b 50 MS/s 500-mW A/D converter using a differential-voltagesubconverter

A BiCMOS A/D converter using a “differential voltage subconverter,” which directly converts a voltage difference of complementary analog inputs to a digital code, is described. Fully differential architecture has advantages in immunity of common-mode error and in reduction of supply voltage. This differential-voltage subconverter realizes the fully differential A/D conversion without using interpolation technique. This subconverter is free from CR delay caused in the ladder resistors. Circuit techniques for high-accuracy conversion with single 5-V power supply, such as compensation technique for VBE modulation in emitter degeneration amplifier, are also described. A 10-b A/D converter is fabricated in a 0.8-μm BiCMOS process with f_T of 9 GHz. It successfully operates at 50 MS/s with 500-mW power consumption and with 5-V single supply