Theasaponin E1 destroys the salt tolerance of yeasts

Cells of Zygosaccharomyces rouxii in a medium containing a high concentration of NaCl were killed during incubation for 2-4 h with a low concentration of a mixture of saponins from tea seeds (TSS). The higher the concentration of NaCl in the medium, the higher the inhibitory effect of TSS on the growth of the yeast. The above inhibitory effect of TSS on the growth of the yeast was not observed when cells were incubated in hypertonic media composed of nonionic substances such as sugars. The ATPase activity of plasma membrane preparations from the yeast cells was slightly affected by the addition of TSS. It is shown that TSS facilitates leakage of glycerol from the yeast cells under NaCl-hypertonic conditions. The major inhibitor in the mixture of saponins was isolated and identified as theasaponin E1. Its isomer, theasaponin E2, did not have any effect on the salt tolerance of Z. rouxii or Saccharomyces cerevisiae.     

Interpolation of LSP coefficients using recurrent neural networks

To reduce the bit rate in very low bit rate speech coding, recurrent neural networks (RNNs) were applied to interpolate LSP coefficients, and it was possible to increase the duration of interpolation to ~100 ms. Simulation of coding was carried out, and the proposed method outperformed the other interpolation methods below a bit rate of 300 bit/s     

A New Segment Quantization Using Lempel–Ziv Algorithm and Its Application to Quantization of Line Spectral Frequencies

A new segment quantization method using the Lempel-Ziv algorithm is proposed, and it is applied to quantize line spectral frequency parameters in speech codec. The proposed segment quantizer can save four bits per frame, compared with the ITU-T G.729 speech codec (18 bits/frame), without degradation of subjective or objective speech quality     

Suppression effects of active power filter on harmonics of distribution system including capacitors

Voltage distortion of 6.6-kV distribution systems has been increasing recently especially in commercial areas. Harmonic currents of certain orders are amplified and voltage distortions are generated by the resonance between system impedance and static capacitor under the leading power factor condition. This paper describes the results of a test on suppression effects on model systems and an actual system. The effect of the use of an active power filter on the resonant harmonics of the system including capacitor was verified.     

Combined rectifying system including double-series capacitor-smoothed diode rectifier and series active filter

This paper proposes a new rectifying system consisting of a series active filter and a double-series three-phase 12-pulse diode rectifier. The supply current in the proposed system has a sinusoidal wave shape because the series active filter suppresses the current harmonics produced by the diode rectifier. Since almost no 5th and 7th harmonics are produced by the double-series 12-pulse diode rectifier, the required peak rating of the series active filter is only 7% of the diode rectifier. In this paper, the control scheme and operating characteristics of the series active filter are theoretically and experimentally discussed. A novel conception that connection of a parallel capacitor to each diode of the rectifier makes a great contribution to reducing the required rating of the series active filter is also presented and verified by some experimental results. © 1997 Scripta Technica, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 120(1): 85–94, 1997     

Theasaponin E1 destroys the salt tolerance of yeasts

Cells of Zygosaccharomyces rouxii in a medium containing a high concentration of NaCl were killed during incubation for 2–4 h with a low concentration of a mixture of saponins from tea seeds (TSS). The higher the concentration of NaCl in the medium, the higher the inhibitory effect of TSS on the growth of the yeast. The above inhibitory effect of TSS on the growth of the yeast was not observed when cells were incubated in hypertonic media composed of nonionic substances such as sugars. The ATPase activity of plasma membrane preparations from the yeast cells was slightly affected by the addition of TSS. It is shown that TSS facilitates leakage of glycerol from the yeast cells under NaCl-hypertonic conditions. The major inhibitor in the mixture of saponins was isolated and identified as theasaponin E₁. Its isomer, theasaponin E₂, did not have any effect on the salt tolerance of Z. rouxii or Saccharomyces cerevisiae.     

Effects of Docosahexaenoic Acid Content in Triacylglycerol on Human Taste Perception

ABSTRACT: To elucidate the contribution of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in triacylglycerol to tuna oil specific taste effects, suppression of bitterness and enhancement of umami, we conducted sensory analysis employing an oil-in-water emulsion prepared with taste substances and the oils differed in the DHA content. The tuna oil specific taste effects were linearly dependent on DHA content. The increase of DHA in oil also linearly enhanced umami and flavor (continuity and richness) of synthetic tuna extract. These results indicate that DHA, a major fatty acid of tuna oil, greatly contributes to tuna oil specific effects on basic tastes and flavor.     

Compensation characteristics of shunt active and series active power filters

Active power filters have been used in practice to suppress the harmonic interference in power systems. To compensate for harmonic currents of loads, active power filters usually are connected to power systems in parallel with the loads. These filters, which are called shunt active filters here, are very effective for loads that can be considered as current sources, such as thyristor rectifiers with large dc reactances. Many papers have covered the shunt active filters applied to these current-source loads, however, none has discussed characteristics of the shunt active filters when they are applied to voltage-source loads. On the other hand, since more and more diode rectifiers with capacitive dc filters have recently been used, harmonics generated by them have become an issue. The diode rectifier with capacitive dc filters behaves as a voltage source rather than a current source. When a shunt active filter is applied to such a diode rectifier, the current injected from the shunt active filter may flow into the diode rectifier. As a result, harmonics of the source current cannot be reduced effectively, and harmonic current flowing into the diode rectifier increases greatly. This paper presents the aforementioned problem of shunt active filters analytically and experimentally. Then a series active filter is proposed to suppress the harmonic current of the diode rectifiers. The features, operating conditions, and considerations of shunt active filters and series active filters are described analytically and demonstrated experimentally. Taking a diode rectifier with capacitive dc filter as a typical voltage-source load, compensation characteristics of shunt active filters and series active filters are discussed by experiment and simulation. The validity of the series active filters is illustrated experimentally.