Antimicrobial activity of the essential oils of Turkish plant spices

The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils of nine plant spices (savory, laurel, oregano, basil, cumin, seafennel, myrtle, pickling herb, and mint) were tested at three concentrations (1, 10, and 15%) and tested on various microorganisms (Salmonella typhimurium, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Yersinia enterocolitica, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida rugosa, Rhizopus oryzae and Aspergillus niger). The results showed that the essential oils tested varied in their antimicrobial activity. Individual or combinations of plant essential oils may provide an efficacious mixture for the inactivation of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms, and to achieve adequate shelf-life of foods.     

Physical Properties of Starch from Cavendish Banana Fruit

Starch was isolated from green Cavendish bananas after sodium hydroxide treatment, and its physical properties as they affected its potential acceptance as a food ingredient were measured and compared with those of corn, waxy corn, waxy corn diphosphate, acetylated waxy corn diphosphate, potato, and tapioca starches. Banana starch granules had a moisture content of 15.5%, an amylose content of 19.5% on a dry weight basis, and were highly irregular in shape and size, with the mode of characteristic length falling at 15 μm. The gelatinization range was 70.1 °C to 74.6 °C. Scanning electron micrography showed that in water the granules underwent surface cracking at 65 °C and progressively greater swelling, deformation, and erosion between 70 °C and 90 °C. At 95 °C, 6% banana starch paste in a Brabender Amylograph had a viscosity four times that of corn starch paste of the same concentration, and viscosity decreased rather slowly with stirring. The paste was somewhat longer than that of corn starch, but appreciably shorter than tapioca starch paste. Gelled banana starch was nearly as strong as corn starch, and also was nearly as opaque and reflective.     

Jitter performance of neural network equivalent MPSK schemes over microwave channels

In this paper a new microwave channel model with realizable and practical parameters is defined for indoor mobile communication. The emphasis is on the jitter and error performance of trellis-coded MPSK and neural network equivalent systems over microwave channels with no channel state information (CSI) and no side information on the phase noise process. Analytical upper bounds are derived using the Chernoff bounding technique combined with a modified generating functional approach. It is shown that the neurocomputing results confirm the analytical results. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trellis-coded quantization/modulation over mobile satellite channels with imperfect phase reference

In this paper the bit error performance of trellis-coded quantization/modulation (TCQ/TCM) schemes is derived taking into account the quantization noise over mobile satellite channels with imperfect phase reference. The analytical upper bounds are obtained using the Chernoff bounding technique combined with the modified generating functional approach with no channel state information and no side information on the phase noise process. As an example, 8PSK combined TCQ/TCM is investigated for satellite mobile communication channels with imperfect phase reference. It is shown that the quantization noise effect increases at high signal-to-noise ratio values. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigation of antibacterial and antifungal properties of tufting carpets containing metal composite yarns

In this research, antimicrobial (antibacterial and antifungal) properties of tufting carpets containing metal/texturized polyester composite yarns were investigated. Carpet contains different yarn groups such as pile yarns, ground warps and wefts. Backing fabric’s warp and weft yarns are suitable for gaining antimicrobial activity because of their placement and low usage amount. Thus, textured polyester yarns were commingled with copper, stainless steel metal wires and silver metalized polyamide yarn. Backing fabrics were produced with four different placements by composite yarns. Antibacterial activity tests were applied to carpet samples according to AATCC 100 standard against K. pneumoniae and S. aureus bacteria. AATCC 30 – Part 3 standard was used for determining antifungal activity against A. niger. Results show that the antibacterial activity increases with increasing in the amount of metal composite yarn in unit area. Carpet samples which include copper or metalized silver composite yarn in all warps showed antibacterial activity about 99%. Moreover, antifungal activity can be provided against A. niger when copper and metalized silver composite yarn is used in all warps of carpet samples.     

Ingested Ketone Ester Leads to a Rapid Rise of Acetyl-CoA and Competes with Glucose Metabolism in the Brain of Non-Fasted Mice

The role of ketone bodies in the cerebral energy homeostasis of neurological diseases has begun to attract recent attention particularly in acute neurological diseases. In ketogenic therapies, ketosis is achieved by either a ketogenic diet or by the administration of exogenous ketone bodies. The oral ingestion of the ketone ester (KE), (R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate, is a new method to generate rapid and significant ketosis (i.e., above 6 mmol/L) in humans. KE is hydrolyzed into β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB) and its precursor 1,3-butanediol. Here, we investigate the effect of oral KE administration (3 mg KE/g of body weight) on brain metabolism of non-fasted mice using liquid chromatography in tandem with mass spectrometry. Ketosis (Cmax = 6.83 ± 0.19 mmol/L) was obtained at Tmax = 30 min after oral KE-gavage. We found that βHB uptake into the brain strongly correlated with the plasma βHB concentration and was preferentially distributed in the neocortex. We showed for the first time that oral KE led to an increase of acetyl-CoA and citric cycle intermediates in the brain of non-fasted mice. Furthermore, we found that the increased level of acetyl-CoA inhibited glycolysis by a feedback mechanism and thus competed with glucose under physiological conditions. The brain pharmacodynamics of this oral KE strongly suggest that this agent should be considered for acute neurological diseases.     

Use of boron oxide and boric acid to improve flame retardancy of an organophosphorus compound in neat and fiber reinforced polyamide‐6

The aim of this study was to investigate the usability of boron oxide and boric acid to enhance flame retardancy of (aluminum diethyl phosphinate)‐type organophosphorus compound in polyamide‐6 and its 15 wt% of short (glass fiber)‐reinforced composite. Materials were compounded by melt‐mixing method via a twin‐screw extruder, and the specimens for testing and analyses were shaped by injection and compression‐molding. For the neat polyamide‐6 specimens, mass loss cone calorimetry analyses indicated that replacement of a certain amount of aluminum diethyl phosphinate with boron oxide or boric acid could result in significant improvements in many flame‐retardancy parameters. For instance, the suppression in peak heat release rate value of polyamide‐6 could be as much as 84% or 86% for boron oxide and boric acid, respectively, whereas it was only 32% when aluminum diethyl phosphinate was used alone. Char microscopy, thermogravimetric analyses, X‐ray diffraction, and evolved gas analyses revealed that the main contribution of boron oxide and boric acid to the barrier mechanism of aluminum diethyl phosphinate was the formation of additional glassy boron oxide layers and boron phosphate layers. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 22:300–310, 2016. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Ag44(SR)30(4-): a silver-thiolate superatom complex

Intensely and broadly absorbing nanoparticles (IBANs) of silver protected by arylthiolates were recently synthesized and showed unique optical properties, yet question of their dispersity and their molecular formulas remained. Here IBANs are identified as a superatom complex with a molecular formula of Ag(44)(SR)(30)(4-) and an electron count of 18. This molecular character is shared by IBANs protected by 4-fluorothiophenol or 2-naphthalenethiol. The molecular formula and purity is determined by mass spectrometry and confirmed by sedimentation velocity-analytical ultracentrifugation. The data also give preliminary indications of a unique structure and environment for Ag(44)(SR)(30)(4-).