Influence of dietary selenium and vitamin E on quality of veal

Three groups of six calves each were fed a milk replacer and a starter concentrate for 15weeks. Calves of the first group received the basal diet containing selenium (Se) and vitamin E at 0.095-0.128mg and 30-33mg per kg of total solids, respectively. Calves of the second group received the basal diet supplemented with Se-enriched yeast to increase dietary Se concentration to 0.50mg/kg. The third group of calves received the latter diet supplemented with vitamin E to increase its concentration to 100mg/kg. There was no effect of diet on growth rate, digestibility of dry matter and Se, chemical composition of meat (M. Longissimus thoracis et lumborum), meat colour and fatty acid profile of meat lipids. The Se supplementation significantly increased Se concentration in muscle from 0.21 to 0.43mg/kg. The activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in muscle and liver tissue of Se-supplemented animals was increased by 56% and 67%, respectively, compared to the control. The combined supplementation of vitamin E and Se significantly improved the lipid stability of meat compared to the control diet, but not compared to the Se-supplemented diet. It can be concluded that dietary Se supplementation increases the concentration of Se and the GSH-Px activity in meat, but has limited potential for improving meat oxidative stability.     

Effect of Moisture Content on Thermal Properties of Porous Building Materials

The thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity of characteristic types of porous building materials are determined in the whole range of moisture content from dry to fully water-saturated state. A transient pulse technique is used in the experiments, in order to avoid the influence of moisture transport on measured data. The investigated specimens include cement composites, ceramics, plasters, and thermal insulation boards. The effect of moisture-induced changes in thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity on the energy performance of selected building envelopes containing the studied materials is then analyzed using computational modeling of coupled heat and moisture transport. The results show an increased moisture content as a substantial negative factor affecting both thermal properties of materials and energy balance of envelopes, which underlines the necessity to use moisture-dependent thermal parameters of building materials in energy-related calculations.     

Zeolite (In)Stability under Aqueous or Steaming Conditions

Zeolites are among the most environmentally friendly materials produced industrially at the Megaton scale. They find numerous commercial applications, particularly in catalysis, adsorption, and separation. Under ambient conditions aluminosilicate zeolites are stable when exposed to water or water vapor. However, at extreme conditions as high temperature, high water vapor pressure or increased acidity/basicity, their crystalline framework can be destroyed. The stability of the zeolite framework under aqueous conditions also depends on the concentration and character of heteroatoms (other than Al) and the topology of the zeolite. The factors critical for zeolite (in)stability in the presence of water under various conditions are reviewed from the experimental as well as computational sides. Nonreactive and reactive interactions of water with zeolites are addressed. The goal of this review is to provide a comparative overview of all-silica zeolites, aluminosilicates and zeolites with other heteroatoms (Ti, Sn, and Ge) when contacted with water. Due attention is also devoted to the situation when partial zeolite hydrolysis is used beneficially, such as the formation of hierarchical zeolites, synthesis of new zeolites or fine-tuning catalytic or adsorption characteristics of zeolites.     

On the Controlled Loading of Single Platinum Atoms as a Co-Catalyst on TiO2 Anatase for Optimized Photocatalytic H2 Generation

Single-atom (SA) catalysis is a novel frontline in the catalysis field due to the often drastically enhanced specific activity and selectivity of many catalytic reactions. Here, an atomic-scale defect engineering approach to form and control traps for platinum SA sites as co-catalyst for photocatalytic H₂ generation is described. Thin sputtered TiO₂ layers are used as a model photocatalyst, and compared to the more frequently used (001) anatase sheets. To form stable SA platinum, the TiO₂ layers are reduced in Ar/H₂ under different conditions (leading to different but defined Ti³⁺-O_v surface defects), followed by immersion in a dilute hexachloroplatinic acid solution. HAADF-STEM results show that only on the thin-film substrate can the density of SA sites be successfully controlled by the degree of reduction by annealing. An optimized SA-Pt decoration can enhance the normalized photocatalytic activity of a TiO₂ sputtered sample by 150 times in comparison to a conventional platinum-nanoparticle-decorated TiO₂ surface. HAADF-STEM, XPS, and EPR investigation jointly confirm the atomic nature of the decorated Pt on TiO₂. Importantly, the density of the relevant surface exposed defect centers—thus the density of Pt-SA sites, which play the key role in photocatalytic activity—can be precisely optimized.     

Design of a Residue Number System Based Linear System Solver in Hardware

This paper is focused on error-free solution of dense linear systems using residual arithmetic in hardware. The designed Modular System uses hardware identical Residual Processors (RP)s for solving independent systems of linear congruences and combines their solutions into the solution of the given linear system. This approach uses the residue number system which is based on the Chinese remainder theorem. In order to efficiently exploit parallel processing and cooperation of the individual components, a hardware architecture of the Modular System with several RPs is designed. In order to verify the proposed architecture, a Xilinx FPGA with a MicroBlaze processor was used. Experimental results are obtained for an evaluation FPGA board with Virtex 6. Results from implementation serve for subsequent theoretical analysis of the system performance for various linear system sizes and further improvement of the system. The proposed system can be useful as a special hardware peripheral or a part of an embedded system for solving large nonsingular systems of linear equations with integer, rational or floating-point coefficients with arbitrary precision.     

How to shoot yourself right with a smartphone?

Virtual Reality - This article presents a new use case of using handheld augmented reality to set up a smartphone camera for taking a self-photograph needed for evaluating the user’s sports...     

Image-based appearance acquisition of effect coatings

Computational Visual Media - Paint manufacturers strive to introduce unique visual effects to coatings in order to visually communicate functional properties of products using value-added,...