Zein-based anti-browning cling wraps for fresh-cut apple slices

The usage of cling wraps is emerging as an easy and cost-effective approach to protect fresh-cut fruits and vegetables from dust, whilst improving visual appeal on retail counters. This study focused on developing an alternate, protein-based packaging material as a food grade cling wrap for food packaging applications. Zein-based cling wraps were produced, and their physical and mechanical characteristics were evaluated and compared with conventionally used chitosan biopolymer films and commercial synthetic polymer films. Antioxidant potential of the prepared films was studied, and the effectiveness of the developed films as anti-browning cling wraps was evaluated using studies conducted on fresh-cut apple slices at ambient conditions. Anti-browning effects were in par with polymeric counterparts; however, zein cling wraps could better prevent weight loss in apple slices. Zein-based films can be adopted as biodegradable food grade cling wraps as an alternative to chitosan and synthetic polymeric materials.     

Flammenpyrolytische Silikatbeschichtung bei Normaldruck als Alternative zu Vakuumverfahren. Combustion CVD of silica as an alternative method to vakuum treatment

In advancement of Pyrosil®‐technology a new kind of precursor delivery was developed, build and tested on real substrates. A Lab‐demonstrator was build to demonstrate the resources of the technology.     

End‐Capping as a Method for Improving Carrier Injection in Electrophosphorescent Light‐Emitting Diodes

The electronic properties, carrier injection, and transport into poly(9,9‐dioctylfluorene) (PFO), PFO end‐capped with hole‐transporting moieties (HTM), PFO–HTM, and PFO end‐capped with electron‐transporting moieties (ETM), PFO–ETM, were investigated. The data demonstrate that charge injection and transport can be tuned by end‐capping with HTM and ETM, without significantly altering the electronic properties of the conjugated backbone. End‐capping with ETM resulted in more closely balanced charge injection and transport. Single‐layer electrophosphorescent light‐emitting diodes (LEDs), fabricated from PFO, PFO–HTM and PFO–ETM as hosts and tris[2,5‐bis‐2′‐(9′,9′‐dihexylfluorene)pyridine‐κ²NC_3′]iridium(III ), Ir(HFP)₃ as the guest, emitted red light with brightnesses of 2040 cd m^–2, 1940 cd m^–2 and 2490 cd m^–2 at 290 mA cm^–2 (16 V) and with luminance efficiencies of 1.4 cd A^–1, 1.4 cd A^–1 and 1.8 cd A^–1 at 4.5 mA cm^–2 for PFO, PFO–HTM, and PFO–ETM, respectively.     

Determination of mechanical properties of thin films: a theoretical feasibility study

The aim of this work was to determine the principal mechanical parameters of a thin film on a substrate, i.e. Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, intrinsic stress, and coefficient of linear thermal expansion. First, standard experiments possibly suitable for this purpose were investigated theoretically. The margin of error of the mechanical parameters determined was estimated as dependent on the geometrical conditions, substrate properties, and error in the respective measurements. In addition, the homogeneity and stability of the parameters were taken into account, for instance inhomogeneity of the film thickness and possible modification of substrate parameters during film growth. To obtain meaningful results, the accuracy of the measurements as well as the homogeneity and stability of several geometrical and physical parameters in general must be extremely high. However, the experimental conditions were found to fulfill these requirements.     

Reverse short channel effects in high-k gated nMOSFETs

Anomalous threshold voltage roll-up behavior, commonly referred as reverse short channel effect (RSCE), has been observed in high-k (HfO₂ on SiON buffer, Al₂O₃ on SiON buffer) gated submicron nMOSFETs, while the SiO₂ or SiON control samples show normal short channel effect (SCE) behavior. The possible causes such as inhomogeneous channel doping profile and gate oxide thickness variation near S/D ends have been ruled out. The results indicate that interface trap density that dependents on channel length is the main cause of the RSCE observed here. In addition, oxide charge also plays a role.     

On-line corrosion monitoring in geothermal district heating systems. II. Localized corrosion

Corrosion monitoring in district heating systems has traditionally been performed by using off-line methods, such as weight loss. The disadvantage is that the method is very slow, especially in low-corrosive environments, and that it only provides information about the past corrosion (accumulated over period of time). The purpose of the work is to test on-line monitoring methods in geothermal hot water in the district heating system in Reykjavik, Iceland. Geothermal water poses certain problems with regards to corrosion monitoring due to low conductivity, high pH and the presence of sulphide. These conditions make the geothermal environment low corrosive. However, a quality control is needed, especially since the sulphide causes the steel pipes to be more vulnerable towards localized corrosion. The methods used in this study were: linear polarization resistance (LPR), harmonic analysis (HA), electrochemical noise (EN) and zero resistance ammetry (ZRA). The Pitting Factor was measured with EN and showed promising results for measuring-localized corrosion on-line. A crevice corrosion cell also gave good results but had a low lifetime. However, the results of a galvanic corrosion cell (Fe/Cu) proved more difficult to interpret since they were dependent both on the dissolved oxygen and the sulphide level.