Characteristics of tiger nut milk: effects of milling

A standard method for the extraction of tiger nut milk has been introduced. It has been shown that, although milling duration improves the yield of tiger nut milk solids and its nutrient composition, there is a quantifiable loss of nutrient in the pressing residue during milk extraction. Milling duration improved the colloidal stability of the milk against creaming during 16 h of storage. A higher milling intensity resulted in the aggregation of biological polymers which resulted in colloidal destabilisation. Milling improved the lightness and stability and reduced browning rate of the tiger nut milk during storage. This report is important for the production of tiger nut milk of consistent and comparable characteristics. Milling has been introduced as a processing method for the qualitative and quantitative modulation of the properties of tiger nut milk. It is recommended to develop further strategies to improve the colloidal stability of tiger nut milk as a beverage.     

Combination of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and nonlinear methods to analyze the copolymerization of phosphonic acid derivatives

We demonstrate in this study that the combination of modern inline monitoring methods [here: inline nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)] with simulations gains more exact and profound kinetic results than previously used methods like linearization without that combination. The ¹H-NMR spectroscopic data (more than 100 data points) are used to construct the copolymerization diagram. The reactivity ratios are obtained applying the van Herks nonlinear least square method. The examination of the radical copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) with (2-{[2-(ethoxycarbonyl)prop-2-en-1-yl]oxy}ethyl) phosphonic acid (ECPPA) as important adhesive monomer used in dentistry yields reactivity ratios of r_HEMA = 1.83; r_ECPPA = 0.42. The copolymerization diagram reflects nonideal, non-azeotropic copolymerization. The sequence distribution of the obtained by Monte Carlo simulation indicates the generation of statistical copolymers. As an important finding, it is demonstrated that the repeating units responsible for etching and adhesion are arranged over the whole polymer chain, which is necessary to achieve proper functionality. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 48256.     

ENHANCING THE CREATIVITY OF REENGINEERING Techniques for Making IS More Creative

Industries in the US continue to lose ground in international competition. If IS is to help change that trend, it will have to become more creative. Creativity improvement programs are being introduced in other areas of the company— now is the time for IS organizations to follow suit.     

Development and characterization of a biocompatible OH-modified copolymer based on polyurethane

Different polyurethanes were synthesized by varying the diol as well as the diisocyanate components and chain extenders. Polyurethanes with OH-groups were obtained by photo- and thermoinitiation of the radical polymerization of hydroxy alkyl acrylates in the presence of the polyurethanes. The polymers were evaluated with respect to their biocompatibility by measuring the cell spreading, the rates of DNA- and protein synthesis and the swelling behaviour. The differences in the surfaces and the bulks between the selected basic polyurethane and the functionalized modification were determined and characterized by XPS, FTIR-ATR and ¹³C-FT-NMR-spectroscopy. The mechanical data of Tecoflex EG 60D® and Pellethane 2363–80AE® were compared with the data of the synthesized polyurethanes.     

Sub‐Micron Anisotropic InP‐based III–V Semiconductor Material Deep Etching for On‐Chip Laser Photonics Devices

Two InP‐based III–V semiconductor etching recipes are presented for fabrication of on‐chip laser photonic devices. Using inductively coupled plasma system with a methane free gas chemistry of chlorine and nitrogen at a high substrate temperature of 250 °C, high aspect ratio, anisotropic InP‐based nano‐structures are etched. Scanning electron microscopy images show vertical sidewall profile of 90° ± 3°, with aspect ratio as high as 10. Atomic Force microscopy measures a smooth sidewall roughness root‐mean‐square of 2.60 nm over a 3 × 3 μm scan area. The smallest feature size etched in this work is a nano‐ring with inner diameter of 240 nm. The etching recipe and critical factors such as chamber pressure and the carrier plate effect are discussed. The second recipe is of low temperature (?10 °C) using Cl₂ and BCl₃ chemistry. This recipe is useful for etching large areas of III–V to reveal the underlying substrate. The availability of these two recipes has created a flexible III–V etching platform for fabrication of on‐chip laser photonic devices. As an application example, anisotropic InP‐based waveguides of 3 μm width are fabricated using the Cl₂ and N₂ etch recipe and waveguide loss of 4.5 dB mm^?1 is obtained.

     

Nano-structured solid oxide fuel cell design with superior power output at high and intermediate operation temperatures

A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with a thin-film yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte was developed and tested. This novel SOFC shows a similar multilayer set-up as other current anode-supported SOFCs and is composed of a Ni/8YSZ anode, a gas-tight 8YSZ electrolyte layer, a dense Sr-diffusion barrier layer and a LSCF cathode. To increase the power density and lower the SOFC operating temperature, the thickness of the electrolyte layer was reduced from around 10 μm in current cells to 1 μm, using a nanoparticle deposition method. By using the novel 1 μm electrolyte layer, the current density of our SOFC progressed to 2.7, 2.1 and 1.6 A/cm² at operation temperatures of 800, 700 and 650°C, respectively, and out-performs all similar cells reported to date in the literature. An important consideration is also that cost-effective dip-coating and spin-coating methods are applied for the fabrication of the thin-film electrolyte. Processing of 1 μm layers on the very porous anode substrate material was initially experienced as very difficult and therefore 8YSZ nanoparticle coatings were developed and optimized on porous 8YSZ model substrates and transferred afterwards to regular anode substrates. In this paper, the preparation of the novel SOFC is shown and its morphology is illustrated with high resolution SEM pictures. Further, the performance in a standard SOFC test is demonstrated.     

Patient views of adverse events: comparisons of self-reported healthcare staff attitudes with disclosure of accident information

In the present paper, we report results of surveys in 2003 in Japan and Denmark about patients' views about adverse events, focusing on the actions of healthcare staff involved in a medical accident. Results show that patients were more likely to indicate negative expectations to a doctor's reactions after a medical accident when asked in general terms than when asked in relation to concrete case stories. When asked in general terms, 66% (47%) of Japanese (Danish) respondents expected that doctors sometimes hold back on providing information to patients about a medical accident, while 37% (7%) did so when asked about a concrete, mild-outcome case. We examine some possible reasons for the relatively high level of distrust of Japanese patients, and we discuss whether the seemingly lower level of disclosure in Japan than in Denmark and the negative stories in the Japanese press may have an impact. We also suggest some implications for introducing a patient-centred or customer-centred approach to risk management in healthcare and other domains.     

Identification of Candidate Biomarker and Drug Targets for Improving Endometrial Cancer Racial Disparities

Racial disparities in incidence and survival exist for many human cancers. Racial disparities are undoubtedly multifactorial and due in part to differences in socioeconomic factors, access to care, and comorbidities. Within the U.S., fundamental causes of health inequalities, including socio-economic factors, insurance status, access to healthcare and screening and treatment biases, are issues that contribute to cancer disparities. Yet even these epidemiologic differences do not fully account for survival disparities, as for nearly every stage, grade and histologic subtype, survival among Black women is significantly lower than their White counterparts. To address this, we sought to investigate the proteomic profiling molecular features of endometrial cancer in order to detect modifiable and targetable elements of endometrial cancer in different racial groups, which could be essential for treatment planning. The majority of proteins identified to be significantly altered among the racial groups and that can be regulated by existing drugs or investigational agents are enzymes that regulate metabolism and protein synthesis. These drugs have the potential to improve the worse outcomes of endometrial cancer patients based on race.     

Molecular Subtyping of Invasive Breast Cancer Using a PAM50-Based Multigene Expression Test-Comparison with Molecular-Like Subtyping by Tumor Grade/Immunohistochemistry and Influence on Oncologist’s Decision on Systemic Therapy in a Real-World Setting

In intermediate risk hormone receptor (HR) positive, HER2 negative breast cancer (BC), the decision regarding adjuvant chemotherapy might be facilitated by multigene expression tests. In all, 142 intermediate risk BCs were investigated using the PAM50-based multigene expression test Prosigna® in a prospective multicentric study. In 119/142 cases, Prosigna® molecular subtyping was compared with local and two central (C1 and C6) molecular-like subtypes relying on both immunohistochemistry (IHC; HRs, HER2, Ki-67) and IHC + tumor grade (IHC+G) subtyping. According to local IHC, 35.4% were Luminal A-like and 64.6% Luminal B-like subtypes (local IHC+G subtype: 31.9% Luminal A-like; 68.1% Luminal B-like). In contrast to local and C1 subtyping, C6 classified >2/3 of cases as Luminal A-like. Pairwise agreement between Prosigna® subtyping and molecular-like subtypes was fair to moderate depending on molecular-like subtyping method and center. The best agreement was observed between Prosigna® (53.8% Luminal A; 44.5% Luminal B) and C1 surrogate subtyping (Cohen’s kappa = 0.455). Adjuvant chemotherapy was suggested to 44.2% and 88.6% of Prosigna® Luminal A and Luminal B cases, respectively. Out of all Luminal A-like cases (locally IHC/IHC+G subtyping), adjuvant chemotherapy was recommended if Prosigna® testing classified as Prosigna® Luminal A at high / intermediate risk or upgraded to Prosigna® Luminal B.     

Growth and exopolysaccharide yield of Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus DSM 20081 in batch and continuous bioreactor experiments at constant pH

Some Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus strains are able to synthesize exopolysaccharides (EPS) and are therefore highly important for the dairy industry as starter cultures. The aim of this study was to investigate the nutritional requirements for growth and EPS production of Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus DSM 20081. A medium was developed from a semi-defined medium (SDM) in which glucose was replaced by lactose and different combinations of supplements (nucleobases, vitamins, salts, sodium formate and orotic acid) were added. Constant pH batch fermentation with the modified medium resulted in an EPS yield of approximately 210 mg glucose equivalents per liter medium. This was a 10-fold increase over flask cultivation of this strain in SDM. Although not affecting cell growth, the mixture of salts enhanced the EPS synthesis. Whereas EPS production was approximately 12 mg/g dry biomass without salt supplementation, a significantly higher yield (approximately 20 mg/g dry biomass) was observed after adding the salt mixture. In continuous fermentation, a maximal EPS concentration was obtained at a dilution rate of 0.31/h (80 mg EPS/L), which corresponded to a specific EPS production of 49 mg/g dry biomass.