Grape seed removal: effect on phenolics,chromatic and organoleptic characteristics of red wine

Winemakers are interested in wines with low bitterness and astringency, and therefore, there is a preference for a higher presence of skin proanthocyanidins in wines. However, the information regarding the effect of reducing or eliminating seed proanthocyanidins from the must or fermenting wine on the characteristics of finished wines is scarce. For this reason, we elaborated a wine using Monastrell grapes from which the seeds had been removed and compared it with a control wine (CW) made from intact grapes. The anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin concentration and profile, and the chromatic and sensory characteristics were studied. The absence of seed proanthocyanidins did not affect anthocyanin concentration, although the proanthocyanidin concentration was 40% lower than in the CW. The copigmentation (CA) study showed that both wines had a similar extent of CA phenomena although colour intensity was higher when seed proanthocyanidins were present. The panellist evaluated the wines elaborated without seeds as being fruitier, less astringent and with an overall higher quality.     

SMOL: a systemic methodology for ontology learning from heterogeneous sources

Organizations are demanding an efficacious knowledge management. Consequently, they are increasing their system innovation investments to turn information into useful knowledge for decision making obtained from heterogeneous Knowledge Sources (KSOs) such as databases, documents, and even ontologies. Methodological Resources (MRs) for the required knowledge discovering and recovering purposes have gradually become more elaborated and mature in the framework of Knowledge Engineering. Particularly, in the Ontology Learning (OL) field, there is a lack of integrated and open methodologies that could involve all the optional KSOs. In this sense, a systemic perspective is introduced combining MRs associated to diverse KSOs to improve the quality of an integral and continuous Knowledge Acquisition (KA) process. The main contributions provided by this work are on one hand, a novel Systemic Methodology for OL (SMOL) from heterogeneous KSOs which is applied for a case study and on the other hand, an evaluation of SMOL.     

Development of semitransparent wood‐polymer composites

A new material has been developed consisting of pieces of wood embedded within a matrix of acrylic polymer, resulting in a transparent or semitransparent wood‐based product. This material presents quite appealing aesthetic features, thereby opening new possibilities for decorative applications. Because acrylic and methacrylic monomers are in the liquid state at room temperature, it is possible to introduce wood (in the current case, walnut wood) into a mixture of acrylic (hydroxypropyl acrylate) and/or methacrylic monomers (methyl methacrylate and 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) along with a plasticizer (dioctyl phthalate) in the presence of a chemical initiator (benzoyl peroxide). A transparent polymeric matrix with dispersed wood is then obtained through bulk free‐radical polymerization. Introducing this reaction mixture along with pieces of wood into a mold results in a wood‐polymer composite. A 2^4?1 experimental fractional factorial design was implemented to study the importance of the composition of these materials on several relevant properties. The sheets produced were characterized by tensile testing, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, thermal gravimetric analysis, and heat deflection temperature. The models obtained for predicting each property pointed to valuable insights regarding the influential constituents. In particular, our results suggested that monomers to be used in future applications of this material should be selected in terms of their cost and the desired flexibility for the final product, not in terms of their polarity. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Fatty acid composition of egg yolk phospholipid fractions following feed supplementation of Lohmann Brown hens with humic-fat preparations

The effect of feed supplementation with humic-fat preparations on the fatty acid composition of egg yolk phospholipid fractions was studied. The Lohmann Brown was the experimental hen strain and two feeding mixtures were applied – the standard feed and the mixture supplemented with humic-fat preparations. The fatty acid profile of yolk lipids was significantly affected (P = .05) by the supplementation of feed and total increase of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) was established. A different distribution of n-3 PUFA in egg yolk lipid fractions was observed: α-linolenic acid (18:3) was found in the triacylglycerol fraction, whereas docosahexaenoic acid (22:6) was detected in the phospholipid fractions. Supplementation of the hen’s diet with humic-fat preparations resulted in the production of n-3 enriched eggs with decreased n-6/n-3 ratio in all phospholipid fractions in comparison to the eggs from the control group.     

The effect of oxygen implantation on the corrosion and electrochemical properties of iron

Using the method of recording anode potentiodynamic curves in neutral and mildly alkaline borate buffer solutions, the corrosion and electrochemical behavior of iron-armco samples bombarded with oxygen ions is studied. It is shown by the method of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy that, during such bombardment, implantation of oxygen into the surface layers of iron occurs. Therein, iron oxides of variable composition and various forms of adsorbed and absorbed oxygen are formed. These oxygen formations contribute to transfer of the iron surface to a more corrosion-resistant, passive state.     

Cloning of Candida albicans SEC14 gene homologue coding for a putative essential function

The yeast SEC14 gene product is required for the transport of proteins from the Golgi complex. We have cloned the homologous Candida albicans SEC14 gene (CaSEC14) by functional complementation of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae thermosensitive mutant, sec14. Some putative TATA boxes have been identified in CaSEC14 and, contrary to S. cerevisiae SEC14, no introns were found in the Candida homologue. Sequence analysis revealed that CaSec14p is a 301 amino acid protein, 67% identical to S. cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis Sec14p, and 61% identical to the 300 amino-terminal residues of Yarrowia lipolytica Sec14p. Hydrophatic profile analysis of CaSec14p suggests a soluble protein without transmembrane domains, as has been described for the S. cerevisiae counterpart. While it was easy to disrupt one allele of SEC14 in C. albicans, repeated attempts to disrupt the second allele were unsuccessful, thus suggesting that the gene could be essential for vegetative growth in C. albicans. The sequence has been deposited in the EMBL data library under Accession Number X81937.     

Intracellular silver accumulation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii upon exposure to carbonate coated silver nanoparticles and silver nitrate

The intracellular silver accumulation ({Ag}(in)) upon exposure to carbonate coated silver nanoparticles (AgNP, 0.5-10 μM, average diameter 29 nm) and silver nitrate (20-500 nM) was examined in the wild type and in the cell wall free mutant of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii at pH 7.5. The {Ag}(in) was measured over time up to 1 h after a wash procedure to remove silver ions (Ag(+)) and AgNP from the algal cell surface. The {Ag}(in) increased with increasing exposure time and with increasing AgNP and AgNO(3) concentrations in the exposure media, reaching steady-state concentrations between 10(-5) and 10(-3) mol L(cell)(-1). According to estimated kinetic parameters, high Ag(+) bioconcentration factors were calculated (>10(3) L L(cell)(-1)). Higher accumulation rate constants were assessed in the cell wall free mutant, indicating a protective role of the cell wall in limiting Ag(+) uptake. The bioavailability of AgNP was calculated to be low in both strains relative to Ag(+), suggesting that AgNP internalization across the cell membrane was limited.     

Development of a Failure Model for the Adhesively Bonded Tubular Single Lap Joint

The accurate calculation of the stresses and torque capacities of adhesively bonded joints is not possible without understanding the failure phenomena of the adhesive joints and the nonlinear behavior of the adhesive.

In this paper, an adhesive failure model of the adhesively bonded tubular single lap joint with steel-steel adherends was proposed to predict the torque capacity accurately.

The model incorporated the nonlinear behavior of the adhesive and the different failure modes in which the adhesive failure mode changed from bulk shear failure, via transient failure, to interfacial failure between the adhesive and the adherend, according to the magnitudes of the residual thermally-induced stresses from fabrication.