Development of low-alcohol isotonic beer by interrupted fermentation

Alcohol-free beer with isotonic properties is getting more popular and its production can be carried out by different production strategies; however, interrupted fermentation is still a challenge. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a low-alcohol isotonic beer (<0.5% v/v) by interrupted fermentation. Moreover, the major objective is to compare the developed product to commercial beverages (sports drinks, ‘Pilsen' regular beer, alcohol-free beers and low-alcohol isotonic beer). The beverages were evaluated based on pH, alcohol content (% v/v), total titratable acidity (mEq L⁻¹), osmolality (mOsmol kg⁻¹), bitterness International Bitterness Units, colour European Brewery Convention, total phenolic compounds (mg L⁻¹ gallic acid), reducing and total sugars (%) and Na and K contents (mg L⁻¹). The developed low-alcohol isotonic beer presented characteristics similar to sports drinks, with the advantage of being richer in phenolic compounds and suitable osmolality. Despite salts were added in its formulation, the grades attributed to all beers employed in the sensory evaluation, as well as the purchase intention did not present significant differences.     

An automated treatment planning strategy for highly noncoplanar radiotherapy arc trajectories

Radiation therapy is a technology-driven cancer treatment modality that has experienced significant advances over the last decades, due to multidisciplinary contributions that include engineering and computing. Recent technological developments allow the use of noncoplanar volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), one of the most recent photon treatment techniques, in clinical practice. In this work, an automated noncoplanar arc trajectory optimization framework designed in two modular phases is presented. First, a noncoplanar beam angle optimization algorithm is used to obtain a set of noncoplanar irradiation directions. Then, anchored in these directions, an optimization strategy is proposed to compute an optimal arc trajectory. The computational experiments considered a pool of twelve difficult head-and-neck tumor cases. It was possible to observe that, for some of these cases, the optimized noncoplanar arc trajectories led to significant treatment planning quality improvements, when compared with coplanar VMAT treatment plans. Although these experiments were done in a research environment treatment planning software (matRad), the conclusions can be of interest for a clinical setting: automated procedures can simplify the current treatment workflow, produce high-quality treatment plans, making better use of human resources and allowing for unbiased comparisons between different treatment techniques.     

An application of chemometric techniques to analyze the effects of the wave function modifications on the intermolecular stretching frequencies of the hydrogen-bonded complexes

Factorial design and principal component models are used to determine how ab initio H-bond stretching frequencies depend on characteristics of the molecular orbital wave functions of acetylene–HX, ethylene–HX and cyclopropane–HX π-type hydrogen complexes with X=F, Cl, CN, NC and CCH. The results obtained for the three sets of complexes show that factorial design and principal component analyses complement each other. Factorial design calculations clearly show that these frequencies are affected mostly by inclusion of electron correlation on the calculation level. On average, their values are increased by about 25 cm⁻¹ due to a change from the Hartree–Fock (HF) to Möller–Plesset 2 (MP2) level. Valence, diffuse and polarization main effects as well as valence–diffuse, diffuse–correlation and polarization–correlation interaction effects are also important to better describe a factorial model to the H-bond stretching frequencies of these hydrogen complexes. This simplified model has been successful in reproducing the complete ab initio results, which correspond to two hundred and forty calculations. Principal component analyses applied only to hydrogen-bonded complexes whose experimental frequencies are known, has revealed that the six-dimensional original space can be accurately represented by a bidimensional space defined by two principal components. Its graphical representation reveals that the experimental intermolecular stretching frequencies are in closest agreement with the MP2/6–31+G and MP2/6–311+G ab initio results.     

The effect of a solid additive on rolling fatigue life

Behaviour of a series of lubricant oils and the effect of a non stoichiometric inorganic compound, as solid extreme pressure additive, on rolling fatigue life are studied using the rolling four-ball accelerated service simulation test proposed by Barwell and Scott. The results show, in all tested cases, the remarkable efficacy of this type of additive. The Total Acidity Number (tan) was found to increase with performance time for the case of the base lubricant, while for the oils with additives, it remained at its constant low value. This led to a proposal of a possible mechanism of the additive performance in the rolling process.     

Nanocrystalline TiO2 photosensitized with natural polymers with enhanced efficiency from 400 to 600 nm

TiO₂ sensitization for solar applications requires not only efficient but also stable and inexpensive sensitizers. Different condensed tannins extracted from bark wastes of tropical wood trees were studied as possible sensitizers of TiO₂. These natural polymers adhere strongly to the TiO₂ even from aqueous solutions. Absorption spectra are presented for 1 mM aqueous sensitizing solutions prepared with lyophilized condensed tannins which absorb light in the visible range. Spectral photocurrent measurements and I–V characterization show that no bias is required for electron injection to the TiO₂ from all studied condensed tannins. Incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) analysis indicates that surface complexation originates absorption bands with different electron injection efficiencies. These play a dominant role in determining IPCE spectral shape. We propose that surface modification by the sensitizer changes the surface trap density, thereby decreasing recombination losses.     

Swoop: A Web Ontology Editing Browser

In this paper, we describe Swoop, a hypermedia inspired Ontology Browser and Editor based on OWL, the recently standardized Web-oriented ontology language. After discussing the design rationale and architecture of Swoop, we focus mainly on its features, using illustrative examples to highlight its use. We demonstrate that with its Web-metaphor, adherence to OWL recommendations and key unique features, such as Collaborative Annotation using Annotea, Swoop acts as a useful and efficient Web Ontology development tool. We conclude with a list of future plans for Swoop, that should further increase its overall appeal and accessibility.     

Functions for relative maximization

We introduce functions for relative maximization in a general context: the beta and alpha applications. After a systematic study of different kinds of regularities, we investigate how to approximate certain values of these functions using periodic orbits. We also show that the differential of an alpha application determines the asymptotic behavior of the optimal trajectories.     

Creep of PVDF monofilament sutures: service performance prediction from short-term tests

Isothermal short-term creep of poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) monofilament sutures was determined at several temperatures between 10 and 90 °C under the stress of 10 MPa. Long term service performance was predicted for 10 decades of time. The compliance master curve as a function of time fits a hyperbolic sine equation. The temperature shift factor as a function of the temperature a_T (T) is accurately represented by a general equation based on free volume. A simple relationship between the two parameters of the equation is explored. The viscoelasticity of PVDF is also seen in dynamic mechanical analysis performed at the frequency of 1 Hz. The origin of the viscoelastic character well present in the deformability of the PVDF in service is due to the occurrence of the α_c relaxation that is active at ∼50 °C (E″ peak at 1 Hz).     

XPS studies of directly fluorinated HDPE: problems and solutions

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) applied to the study of fluorinated polymer surfaces presents several problems related both to peak assignment and to degradation. In this work, we analyse extensively the question of XPS peak assignments in this kind of surfaces. We conclude that in this kind of surfaces using binding energy differences between fluorine and carbon is better than using absolute binding energies. Also a useful relation between fluorine photoelectron energy vs. polymer composition expressed through the atomic ratio fluorine/carbon (F/C) was found. A protocol for data treatment is proposed and applied to a XPS study of the degradation induced by X-ray on high-density polyethylene surfaces modified by direct fluorination. Results obtained for the degradation, namely the atomic ratio F/C obtained by two different methods, combined with angle resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS) were used to study the fluorine concentration profile in depth, producing self-consistent results.