Visible transmission spectroscopy for the assessment of egg freshness

The objective of this research was to investigate the feasibility of visible transmission spectroscopy for the non‐destructive assessment of the freshness of an individual egg. A total of 600 intact white‐shelled eggs of the same flock (Lohmann, 40 weeks of age) were measured. To obtain a considerable variation in freshness, groups consisting of 60 eggs were stored (18 °C, 55% RH) for 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 days. The non‐destructive spectral measurements were compared with the two most widely used destructive freshness parameters, namely Haugh units and albumen pH. A partial least squares (PLS1) model was built in order to predict Haugh units and pH of the albumen based on the transmission spectra. The correlation coefficients between the predicted value and the measured value were 0.842 and 0.867 for Haugh unit and pH of the albumen, respectively. These results show that the light transmission spectrum of an egg provides quantitative information about egg freshness. Relevant information concerning egg freshness is restricted to the interval between 570 and 750 nm. Furthermore, the models obtained for both destructive parameters were strikingly similar, indicating that Haugh unit and pH have the same physico‐chemical background. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Solubilisation and Degradation of Wheat Gluten Proteins by Barley Malt Proteolytic Enzymes

Solubilisation and degradation of wheat gluten proteins by barley malt proteolytic enzymes (BMPE) was investigated with a model buffer system at pH 4.0 and pH 5.6, representing optimal pH for proteolysis and a pH value typical for beer brewing conditions respectively. Under the experimental conditions, incubation of commercial wheat gluten with BMPE solubilised 70% and 20% of the gluten proteins at pH 4.0 and pH 5.6 respectively. Gel permeation chromatography profiles and SDS‐PAGE showed that wheat gluten proteins were more degraded by BMPE at pH 4.0 than at pH 5.6. In a laboratory scale barley malt brewing experiment, proteins of worts, prepared with and without wheat gluten, were characterised. Results comparable to those in the model buffer system at pH 5.6 were obtained, which indicated that BMPE indeed solubilise wheat gluten during mashing, but that further degradation is rather limited under these conditions.     

Electrospun poly(aspartic acid) gel scaffolds for artificial extracellular matrix

Biocompatible synthetic polymer gel scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine were prepared by reactive electrospinning. Protein‐like nano‐ and microfibres from chemically crosslinked polysuccinimide were obtained. Fibrous poly(aspartic acid) gels with size similar to that of extracellular matrix were obtained by hydrolysis of the polysuccinimide gel fibres. The effects of process parameters on fibre morphology (diameter, swelling degree) and chemical structure were investigated. Sub‐micrometre‐sized biocompatible fibrous scaffolds from a poly(amino acid) is a novel approach with great promise in several biomedical applications due to the tailor‐made synthetic nature, extreme purity and possibility of production on a large scale. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry     

Zwitterionic‐Coated “Stealth” Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications: Recent Advances in Countering Biomolecular Corona Formation and Uptake by the Mononuclear Phagocyte System

Nanoparticles represent highly promising platforms for the development of imaging and therapeutic agents, including those that can either be detected via more than one imaging technique (multi‐modal imaging agents) or used for both diagnosis and therapy (theranostics). A major obstacle to their medical application and translation to the clinic, however, is the fact that many accumulate in the liver and spleen as a result of opsonization and scavenging by the mononuclear phagocyte system. This focused review summarizes recent efforts to develop zwitterionic‐coatings to counter this issue and render nanoparticles more biocompatible. Such coatings have been found to greatly reduce the rate and/or extent of non‐specific adsorption of proteins and lipids to the nanoparticle surface, thereby inhibiting production of the “biomolecular corona” that is proposed to be a universal feature of nanoparticles within a biological environment. Additionally, in vivo studies have demonstrated that larger‐sized nanoparticles with a zwitterionic coating have extended circulatory lifetimes, while those with hydrodynamic diameters of ≤5 nm exhibit small‐molecule‐like pharmacokinetics, remaining sufficiently small to pass through the fenestrae and slit pores during glomerular filtration within the kidneys, and enabling efficient excretion via the urine. The larger particles represent ideal candidates for use as blood pool imaging agents, whilst the small ones provide a highly promising platform for the future development of theranostics with reduced side effect profiles and superior dose delivery and image contrast capabilities.     

Adaptive and optimal difference operators in image processing

Differential operators are essential in many image processing applications. Previous work has shown how to compute derivatives more accurately by examining the image locally, and by applying a difference operator which is optimal for each pixel neighborhood. The proposed technique avoids the explicit computation of fitting functions, and replaces the function fitting process by a function classification process using a filter bank of feature detection templates. Both the feature detectors and the optimal difference operators have a specific shape and an associated cost, defined by a rigid mathematical structure, which can be described by Gröbner bases. This paper introduces a cost criterion to select the operator of the best approximating function class and the most appropriate template size so that the difference operator can be locally adapted to the digitized function. We describe how to obtain discrete approximates for commonly used differential operators, and illustrate how image processing applications can benefit from the adaptive selection procedure for the operators by means of two example applications: tangent computation for digitized object boundaries and the Laplacian of Gaussian edge detector.     

Capturing the environment, a metafrontier approach to the drinking water sector

Environmental factors add complexity to the comparison between specific activities or entire entities. Decision making units with an inferior performance are tempted to invoke that their organization is "different" from the others in the data set. By reinterpreting and extending the metafrontier literature, we propose an all-embracing concept to fully capture the operational environment. We suggest the "Group Specific Technical Efficiency" as a new measure to assess the overall efficiency of a utility while allowing for environmental differences. A real-world example of drinking water utilities from five different countries illustrates the concept.     

Effect of electrolyte composition on the dynamics of hydrogen gas bubble evolution at copper microelectrodes

The dynamics of hydrogen gas bubble evolution at copper microelectrodes in H2SO4 and HCl solutions of various compositions have been studied by means of galvanostatic polarization experiments and simultaneous video taping. As long as the solution contains acid only, gas evolution is dominated by the growth of a single bubble at the electrode at any one time. The transients in H2SO4 solutions exhibit regular sustained relaxation oscillations that can be distinctly related to events occurring at the cathode. The electrode response in HCl solutions is somewhat noisier and shows much larger cathodic polarization and oscillation frequency and amplitude, presumably due to an interaction between Cl– and the copper surface. Additions of Na2SO4 and NaCl to these solutions promote the nucleation and growth of numerous small bubbles at any one time and the diminishing of the oscillations of the electrode potential. The addition of thiourea to 2.0 m H2SO4 does not destroy the single bubble growth characteristic of acid-only solutions, but increases the cathodic overpotential at all organic levels with a maximum occurring at about 0.13 mm thiourea. Oscillation frequency and amplitude, and bubble departure diameter all show a similar dependence on thiourea concentration to that of overpotential.     

Quantitation of Ink Transferred During Pharmaceutical Printing Operations Using Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy

The identification of solid dosage forms is often achieved through printing with a non-toxic ink. Due to product purity requirements, a method to quantify the amount of ink applied to tablets and capsules is of interest to the pharmaceutical industry.

The following presentation investigated the use of inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) as a direct method of quantifying the amount of ink on a tablet. Because the ink used contained an iron oxide pigment of known composition, quantitation of the iron content could be used to measure the amount of ink transferred to the tablet.

The quantitative results obtained using ICP-AES were in agreement with calculated values for the volume of ink in the gravure roll. Tablets exposed to “double printing” were easily detected by the ICP-AES method.