Knowledge,attitudes and self-reported practices of food service staff regarding food hygiene in Edirne,Turkey

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and practices among food service staff with regards to food hygiene in hospitals in Edirne, Turkey, and to provide baseline data for implementing HACCP in hospital food services by carrying out a questionnaire by a face-to-face interview. The current study shows that food service staff in Edirne hospitals have insufficient knowledge regarding the basics of food hygiene. And also revealed a discrepancy between attitudes and practices towards food hygiene. There is an immediate need for continuous training among food handlers regarding safe food handling practices.     

FTIR spectroscopic characterization of irradiated hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.)

Radiation induced molecular changes in macromolecular components of hazelnut tissues were investigated by mid-Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Irradiation dose of 1.5 kGy (low) and 10 kGy (high) were applied. The changes in frequency, signal intensity and intensity ratio of IR bands revealed that the unsaturated lipid concentration increased for low dose treated samples whereas it decreased and peroxidation appeared at high dose treatment. The low dose irradiation treatment, slightly increased the total lipid content whereas it dramatically decreased for high dose treatment. A slight increase in the lipid to protein ratio was observed for low dose treatment, whilst this ratio significantly decreased for high dose treatment. In addition, the high dose γ-irradiation caused alterations in the structure of hazelnut proteins, as cross-linking and aggregation occured in protein molecules. These results indicate that FTIR spectroscopy can be successfully used to monitor food irradiation.     

The effects of acetate ions (CH3COO) on electrochemical behavior of copper in chloride solutions

The corrosion behavior of copper has been investigated in presence of acetate ions, at various temperatures in highly corrosive chloride solution. For this aim, potentiodynamic and EIS (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) measurements were used. Corrosion rates have been determined by extrapolating the polarization curves. The role of temperature, ionic species and the effect of oxide film formation have been interpreted in aspect of anodic and cathodic processes rate. Thermodynamical properties ΔG (free enthalpy), ΔH (enthalpy), ΔS (entropy) and E_a (activation energy) values have been evaluated with help of current–potential measurement results. The experimental results showed that acetate ions have decreased the corrosion rate of copper in chloride containing solutions of pH 8.5. It was also shown that the acetate ions could provide protection behavior at elevated temperatures. The changes in thermodynamic properties showed that acetate ions formed stable and protective complex which physically adsorbed on the surface. The ΔG value decreased and E_a values increased in presence of acetate ions.     

Optical properties of sol–gel dip-coated Ta2O5 films for electrochromic applications

Amorphous Ta₂O₅ films were prepared by sol–gel dip process on different substrates. The dip-coating technique was used to prepare amorphous Ta₂O₅ films by hydrolysis and condensation of tantalum ethoxide, Ta(OC₂H₅)₅, precursor. Stable coating solutions were prepared using acetic acid as a chelating ligand and catalyzer. Single layer and multi-layered Ta₂O₅ films were fabricated at a dipping rate of 107 mm/min. The microstructure, stoichiometry and optical properties of these films were investigated as a function of the film thickness. Room temperature CV measurements clearly revealed a protonic conductor behavior for Ta₂O₅ films. Optical properties such as refractive index, extinction coefficient and optical band gap value of the Ta₂O₅ films were calculated from optical transmittance measurements. It was found that the refractive index and extinction coefficient values were affected by the thickness of the coatings. The refractive index at a wavelength of 550 nm increased from 1.70 to 1.72 with increasing film thickness. The optical band gap value (3.75±0.12 eV) of the coating was unaffected by the film thickness. These results indicate that sol–gel-deposited Ta₂O₅ films have a promising application as proton conductors in electrochromic devices.     

Speciation and distribution of alkali,alkali earth metals and major ash forming elements during gasification of fuel cane bagasse

Gasification of fuel cane bagasse, the waste residue from fuel cane, a hybrid of wild and commercial clones of sugar cane, was carried out in a novel 50 kWe air-blown autothermal downdraft gasifier. The speciation and distribution of alkali, alkali earth metals and major ash forming elements during gasification were investigated to evaluate the extent of volatilisation of these elements into the syngas and to determine the likely impact on syngas fuelled solid oxide fuel cell systems. Also assessed was the potential for defluidisation of the fuel bed due to agglomerate and deposit formation. Chemical fractionation studies showed that 30% of the potassium was captured by aluminosilicates and was retained in the ash, thereby reducing the alkali loading in the syngas and that more than 50% of the alkali earth metals were released to the syngas. In contrast, although the major ash forming elements were transformed from acid insoluble to acid soluble forms during gasification they remained hard bound in the ash and less than 30% of each one was released into the gas phase. The composition of clinkers and agglomerates produced during gasification was investigated by SEM-EDX and XRD which confirmed the presence of the eutectic systems KAlSi₂O₆–SiO₂, KAlSi₂O₆–CaMgSi₂O₆–SiO₂ and CaMgSi₂O₆–NaAlSi₃O₈. A preliminary model of the distribution behaviour during gasification of the ash forming elements has been developed.     

Discharge estimation in compound channels with fixed and mobile bed

Two-dimensional (2-D) formulae for estimating discharge capacity of straight compound channels are reviewed and applied to overbank flows in straight fixed and mobile bed compound channels. The predictive capabilities of these formulae were evaluated using experimental data obtained from the small-scale University of Birmingham channel. Full details of these data and key references may be found at the following www.flowdata.bham.ac.uk (university website). 2-D formulae generally account for bed shear, lateral shear, and secondary flow effects via 3 coefficients f, λ and Γ In this paper, the secondary flow term (Γ) used within the 2-D methods analysed here is ignored in all applications. Two different 2-D formulae almost give practically the same results for the same data when the secondary flow term is ignored. For overall test cases, the value of dimensionless eddy viscosity λ used in 2-D formulae was kept at 0·13 as recommended for open channels. 2-D formulae gave good predictions for most of the data sets studied in comparison with the traditional 1-D methods, namely the Single Channel Method (SCM) and the Divided Channel Method (DCM). The accuracy of predictions of 2-D formulae was increased by calibrating of λ value where the calibration was needed. For overall data, the average errors for each method were Lateral Division Methods (LDMs), with λ value of 0·13, 2·8%, DCM 14·3% and SCM −26·8%. The average error was 0·5% for LDMs with the calibrated values of λ     

Polymerization and characterization of acrylonitrile with γ‐methacryloxypropyltrimethoxy‐silane grafted bentonite clay

Novel natural clay–polymer hybrid materials are prepared from natural bentonite that was modified with silane‐coupling agent, γ‐methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (A‐174), and acrylonitrile. By changing the molar ratio of acrylonitrile in the initial monomer feed, several clay–hybrid materials were prepared. The structure and thermal stability of hybrid materials were investigated by various methods. The A‐174‐modified bentonite was dispersed in a solution of acrylonitrile in toluene. In this system, radical polymerization in the presence of AIBN was carried out. Product formed at the particle surface was either physically bound by entanglement or chemically bound by covalent bonding to the silane. In this way, core–shell morphology was obtained with an inorganic core and a polymer shell. The results showed that bonding at the surface of bentonite took place by hydrolytic cleavage of methoxy groups of A‐174 with hydroxy groups of bentonite. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 84: 164–171, 2002; DOI 10.1002/app.10289     

An improved LMI-based approach for stability of piecewise affine time-delay systems with uncertainty

The stability problem for uncertain piecewise affine (PWA) time-delay systems is investigated in this article. It is assumed that there exists a known constant time delay in the system and the uncertainly is norm-bounded. Sufficient conditions for the stability of nominal systems and the stability of systems subject to uncertainty are derived using the Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional with a triple integration term. This approach handles switching based on the delayed states (in addition to the states) for a PWA time-delay system, considers structured as well as unstructured uncertainty and reduces the conservativeness of previous approaches. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated by comparing with the existing methods through numerical examples.     

Profiling of in vitro neurobiological effects and phenolic acids of selected endemic Salvia species

The ethyl acetate and methanol extracts from 16 Salvia L. species were screened for their inhibitory activity against acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase, lipoxygenase, and tyrosinase; the enzymes linked to neurodegeneration. Their antioxidant activity was also tested using DPPH radical scavenging, metal-chelation, and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. Total flavonoid content of the extracts was determined by AlCl₃ reagent, while HPLC technique was applied for analysis of various phenolic acids in the extracts. The extracts exerted weak cholinesterase and tyrosinase inhibition, and remarkable inhibition against lipoxygenase (13.07 ± 2.73-74.21 ± 5.61%) at 100 μg ml⁻¹. The methanol extracts showed higher antioxidant activity in DPPH radical scavenging and FRAP assays. The extracts were analyzed for their gallic, protocateuchic, p-hydroxy-benzoic, vanillic, caffeic, chlorogenic, syringic, o- and p-coumaric, ferulic, rosmarinic, and tr-cinnamic acid contents and the methanol extract of Salvia ekimiana (153.50 mg 100 g⁻¹) was revealed to be the richest in terms of rosmarinic acid.