Monitoring of chicken meat freshness by means of a colorimetric sensor array

A new optoelectronic nose to monitor chicken meat ageing has been developed. It is based on 16 pigments prepared by the incorporation of different dyes (pH indicators, Lewis acids, hydrogen-bonding derivatives, selective probes and natural dyes) into inorganic materials (UVM-7, silica and alumina). The colour changes of the sensor array were characteristic of chicken ageing in a modified packaging atmosphere (30% CO(2)-70% N(2)). The chromogenic array data were processed with qualitative (PCA) and quantitative (PLS) tools. The PCA statistical analysis showed a high degree of dispersion, with nine dimensions required to explain 95% of variance. Despite this high dimensionality, a tridimensional representation of the three principal components was able to differentiate ageing with 2-day intervals. Moreover, the PLS statistical analysis allows the creation of a model to correlate the chromogenic data with chicken meat ageing. The model offers a PLS prediction model for ageing with values of 0.9937, 0.0389 and 0.994 for the slope, the intercept and the regression coefficient, respectively, and is in agreement with the perfect fit between the predicted and measured values observed. The results suggest the feasibility of this system to help develop optoelectronic noses that monitor food freshness.     

Convergent Synthesis of Near‐Infrared Absorbing, “Push–Pull”, Bisthiophene‐Substituted,Zinc(II) Phthalocyanines and their Application in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Zinc(II) phthalocyanine dyes that contain triarylamine‐terminated bisthiophene and hexylbisthiophene groups have been synthesized by a convergent approach by using carboxytriiodo–ZnPc as a precursor. Further transformation of the iodo groups by a Pd‐catalyzed reaction allowed easy preparation of further extended π‐conjugated carboxy–ZnPcs. These dyes have been used as sensitizers in dye‐sensitized solar cells, which exhibit a panchromatic response and moderate overall efficiencies.     

Donor‐π‐Acceptors Containing the 10‐(1,3‐Dithiol‐2‐ylidene)anthracene Unit for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Two donor–acceptor molecular tweezers incorporating the 10‐(1,3‐dithiol‐2‐ylidene)anthracene unit as donor group and two cyanoacrylic units as accepting/anchoring groups are reported as metal‐free sensitizers for dye‐sensitized solar cells. By changing the phenyl spacer with 3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) units, the absorption spectrum of the sensitizer is red‐shifted with a corresponding increase in the molar absorptivity. Density functional calculations confirmed the intramolecular charge‐transfer nature of the lowest‐energy absorption bands. The new dyes are highly distorted from planarity and are bound to the TiO₂ surface through the two anchoring groups in a unidentate binding form. A power‐conversion efficiency of 3.7 % was obtained with a volatile CH₃CN‐based electrolyte, under air mass 1.5 global sunlight. Photovoltage decay transients and ATR‐FTIR measurements allowed us to understand the photovoltaic performance, as well as the surface binding, of these new sensitizers.     

A convex representation of totally balanced games

We analyze the least increment function, a convex function of n variables associated to an n-person cooperative game. Another convex representation of cooperative games, the indirect function, has previously been studied. At every point the least increment function is greater than or equal to the indirect function, and both functions coincide in the case of convex games, but an example shows that they do not necessarily coincide if the game is totally balanced but not convex. We prove that the least increment function of a game contains all the information of the game if and only if the game is totally balanced. We also give necessary and sufficient conditions for a function to be the least increment function of a game as well as an expression for the core of a game in terms of its least increment function.     

A benchmark library and a comparison of heuristic methods for the linear ordering problem

The linear ordering problem consists of finding an acyclic tournament in a complete weighted digraph of maximum weight. It is one of the classical NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems. This paper surveys a collection of heuristics and metaheuristic algorithms for finding near-optimal solutions and reports about extensive computational experiments with them. We also present the new benchmark library LOLIB which includes all instances previously used for this problem as well as new ones.     

Epicompletion in Frames with Skeletal Maps, IV: *-Regular Frames

Earlier work has shown that there is a monoreflection ψ of the category of compact normal, joinfit frames with skeletal frame maps in the subcategory consisting of strongly projectable frames. This article extends the domain of ψ to the *-regular frames. The saturation nucleus s is a reflection with respect to weakly closed frame maps, in the subcategory of subfit frames. Moreover, s·ψ = ψ·s, on compact normal, joinfit frames with skeletal, weakly closed frame maps, and s·ψ is an epireflection, but not a monoreflection, in the subcategory of strongly projectable, regular frames, all of which are epicomplete.     

Aggregation Pathways of the Amyloid β(1-42) Peptide Depend on Its Colloidal Stability and Ordered β-Sheet Stacking

Amyloid β (Aβ) fibrils are present as a major component in senile plaques, the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Diffuse plaques (nonfibrous, loosely packed Aβ aggregates) containing amorphous Aβ aggregates are also formed in brain. This work examines the influence of Cu(2+) complexation by Aβ on the aggregation process in the context of charge and structural variations. Changes in the surface charges of Aβ molecules due to Cu(2+) binding, measured with a ζ-potential measurement device, were correlated with the aggregate morphologies examined by atomic force microscopy. As a result of the charge variation, the "colloid-like" stability of the aggregation intermediates, which is essential to the fibrillation process, is affected. Consequently, Cu(2+) enhances the amorphous aggregate formation. By monitoring variations in the secondary structures with circular dichroism spectroscopy, a direct transformation from the unstructured conformation to the β-sheet structure was observed for all types of aggregates observed (oligomers, fibrils, and/or amorphous aggregates). Compared to the Aβ aggregation pathway in the absence of Cu(2+) and taking other factors affecting Aβ aggregation (i.e., pH and temperature) into account, our investigation indicates that formations of amorphous and fibrous aggregates diverge from the same β-sheet-containing partially folded intermediate. This study suggests that the hydrophilic domain of Aβ also plays a role in the Aβ aggregation process. A kinetic model was proposed to account for the effects of the Cu(2+) binding on these two aggregation pathways in terms of charge and structural variations.     

Enhanced sonochemical degradation of azure B dye by the electroFenton process

The degradation of azure B dye (C₁₅H₁₆ClN₃S; AB) has been studied by Fenton, sonolysis and sono-electroFenton processes employing ultrasound at 23 kHz and the electrogeneration of H₂O₂ at the reticulated vitreous carbon electrode. It was found that the dye degradation followed apparent first-order kinetics in all the degradation processes tested. The rate constant was affected by both the pH of the solution and initial concentration of Fe²⁺, with the highest degradation obtained at pH between 2.6 and 3. The first-order rate constant decreased in the following order: sono-electroFenton > Fenton > sonolysis. The rate constant for AB degradation by sono-electroFenton is ∼10-fold that of sonolysis and ∼2-fold the one obtained by Fenton under silent conditions. The chemical oxygen demand was abated ∼68% and ∼85% by Fenton and sono-electroFenton respectively, achieving AB concentration removal over 90% with both processes.