Quantitative evaluation of resveratrol enrichment induced by UV stimulus in harvested grapes

A mathematical model was proposed to quantitatively describe resveratrol induction in harvested grapes. In the model, k₁ and k₂ were defined, which were the reaction rate constants for induction during direct UV irradiation and for the time-delayed induction after removing UV irradiation, respectively. During storage after UV irradiation, k₂ decreased with time, whereas k₁ remained constant. The portion induced by the direct irradiation effect was much more than that induced by the time-delayed effect. When UV energy of 610.2 mJ/cm² was applied to ‘Gerbong’ grapes with an initial resveratrol content of 1.15 μg/g, their contents were 8.99 and 9.20 μg/g at day 1 and 6 during storage at 0°C, respectively. In the same situation, resveratrol content of 8.99 μg/g improved to 10.56 μg/g during storage at 20°C. This approach which enriched a health-functional compound through the modulation of metabolism after harvest might be a valueadding method for fresh food industry.     

Lithium phenolate complexes for an electron injection layer in organic light-emitting diodes

We synthesized π-conjugated lithium phenolate complexes, lithium 2-(2-pyridyl)phenolate (LiPP), lithium 2-(2′, 2′′-bipyridine-6′-yl)phenolate (LiBPP), and lithium 2-(isoquinoline-1′-yl)phenolate (LiIQP). These complexes showed lower sublimation temperatures of 305–332 °C compared to 717 °C of LiF. The organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) using these complexes as an electron injection layer exhibited high efficiencies which are comparable to that of the device using LiF. Especially, a 40-nm thick film of LiBPP or LiPP was effective as an electron injection material, providing low driving voltages, while such a thick film of LiF serves as a complete insulator, resulting in high driving voltages.     

Dose dependent effects of lycopene enriched tomato-wine on liver and adipose tissue in high-fat diet fed rats

The functional effects of tomato-wine with varying lycopene content on high-fat diet (HFD) fed rats are unknown. Male Sprague–Dawley rats (n = 50) were randomly divided into five groups and fed a HFD (35% kcal fat) with ethanol (7.2% kcal alcohol), tomato-wine with varying lycopene content (0.425, 1.140 or 2.045 mg% lycopene) or an isocaloric control diet for 6 weeks. Morphological, toxicological and metabolic analysis was conducted in liver, adipose, plasma and faeces. Body weight gain, adipose and liver weight was reduced in HFD fed rats administered tomato-wine with varying lycopene content, although tomato-wine with higher lycopene was more effective. The anti-obesity effect of tomato wine appears to be partially mediated through the inhibition of fatty acid synthesis and lipid droplet formation. Furthermore, tomato-wine appears to have an anti-atherogenic effect via augmentation of plasma HDL-C levels. The present findings suggest tomato-wine fortified with lycopene may be an effective anti-obesity agent.     

Magnetic and microwave absorbing properties of Ti and Co substituted M-hexaferrites in Ka-band frequencies (26.5 ~ 40 GHz)

Magnetic and microwave absorbing properties of M-hexaferrites have been investigated in Ka-band frequencies (26.5 ~ 40 GHz) with substitution of Ti⁺⁴ and Co⁺² ions for Fe⁺³ sites. The powders of composition BaFe_12-2xTi_xCo_xO₁₉ were prepared by conventional ceramic processing, where the substitution ratio x was varied from 0.0 to 2.0. With the calcined powders, polycrystalline bulk and composite sheet samples were prepared for the evaluation of magnetic and microwave absorbing properties. VSM measurements indicate that the saturation magnetization and coercivity of the M-hexaferrites decrease with the substitution of Ti and Co, which is attributed to the reduction in crystal anisotropy field by changing of easy-axis of magnetization from c-axis to basal plane. Ferromagnetic resonance frequency with the peak magnetic loss is decreased sensitively with the substitution of Ti and Co, which is well consistent with ferromagnetic resonance theory. Theoretical estimation of matching frequency and matching thickness for zero wave reflection is made using the solution map of impedance matching. A wide bandwidth of microwave absorption is predicted in the composite samples containing the ferrite powders of x = 0.5 in Ka-band frequencies.     

Very thin spin-coated silver films via transparent silver ink for surface plasmon resonance sensor applications

We fabricated very thin silver films with thicknesses of 20 nm, 40 nm, and 60 nm on a prism using a spin coating method for surface plasmon resonance (SPR) image sensor module applications. An aqueous silver ionic complex solution was spin-coated and then thermally cured for 10 minutes at 150 degrees C in an oven. The spin-coated solid silver films possessed silver crystallinity. The prism modules with the 20-nm-, 40-nm- and 60-nm-thick thin silver films were applied to an SPR image sensor system. The coefficients of determination for the 20-nm-, 40-nm- and 60-nm-thick silver films were 0.923, 0.990 and 0.989, respectively when standard ethanol solutions with 0.1% intervals in the range of 20.0% to 20.5% were applied. The correlation is high-performed and the coefficients of determination are as close as 1. The spin coating method of very thin silver films for SPR image sensor modules is expected to be a very cost-effective solution because the films can be formed at a low temperature in a short period of time without requiring a vacuum system.     

A Fault Location Algorithm Based on Circuit Analysis for Untransposed Parallel Transmission Lines

This paper proposes a fault-location algorithm for ultra-high-voltage untransposed parallel transmission lines that only use the voltages and currents at the local end. The proposed algorithm uses the voltage equation for the faulted phase of the faulted line. The equation contains the fault distance, fault resistance, and fault current. To obtain the fault current, Kirchhoff's voltage law is applied on the loops of three phases consisting of the faulted line and the adjacent parallel line. The fault current can be represented in terms of the fault distance. Inserting the fault current into the voltage equation results in an equation that contains only two parameters (i.e., the fault distance and fault resistance). The fault distance is estimated by solving the equation. Test results indicated that the algorithm accurately estimates the fault distance regardless of the fault resistance and mutual coupling effects.     

Temperature effects of pad conditioning process on oxide CMP: Polishing pad, slurry characteristics, and surface reactions

Temperature effects were investigated on the improvement of silicon dioxide (oxide) chemical mechanical polishing performances including removal rate and surface morphology by controlling the pad conditioning temperature. The characteristics of silica slurry including potential of hydrogen (pH), conductivity, particle size, and zeta potential were changed by the frictional heat of the polishing process and the remaining heat after a high-temperature pad conditioning process. These changed slurry properties made the oxide surface hydro-carbonate to be removed easily. The slurry residues in pores and grooves of the polishing pad were also clearly removed by the high-temperature pad conditioning process. These clear pores and enlarged grooves made the slurry attack the oxide surface. The planarity of the oxide film was improved by the use of a little softened pad after the high-temperature pad conditioning process.     

Electrochemical corrosion effects and chemical mechanical polishing characteristics of tungsten film using mixed oxidizers

In this paper, the effects of mixed oxidizers on tungsten-chemical mechanical polishing (W-CMP) process were studied using three different kinds of oxidizers such as Fe(NO₃)₃, KIO₃ and H₂O₂. Moreover, the interaction between the tungsten film and the oxidizer was discussed by potentiodynamic polarization test, in order to compare the CMP performances and electrochemical behavior of the tungsten film as a function of mixed oxidizers. The potentiodynamic polarization results indicated that the corrosion current densities of the 5 wt% H₂O₂ and 5 wt% H₂O₂ + 5 wt% Fe(NO₃)₃ were higher than the other mixed oxidizers. Such an electrochemical corrosion effect implies that slurries with the highest removal rate have a high dissolution rate at lower pH. Therefore, we conclude that W-CMP performances are strongly dependent on the kind of oxidizers and the amounts of oxidizer additive.