Finite-Difference Time-Domain Simulation of Fractal-Like Microlens Arrays for High Outcoupling Efficiency of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes.

The outcoupling efficiencies (OCEs) of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) were studied for a fractal-like two-dimensional structure consisting of three layers of semicircular microlens on a glass substrate using a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The OCE with only one semicircular microlens layer was 29.5%, 1.75 times larger than that of the basic OLED. Additional layers with smaller diameters on the first layer did not improve the OCE. The OCE remained constant or slightly decreased with the increase of the number of layers. Two possible origins of this result were suggested; first, the possibility that the escaped light enters the nearby microlens becomes higher with the introduction of an additional protruded layer; second, the Mie scattering effect becomes important with the decrease of the diameter of the semicircular microlens from 20 µm to 0.8 µm. An additional FDTD simulation was performed for the OLED with only one microlens array as a function of the diameter. The OCE decreased approximately monotonously with the decrease of the diameter from 20 µm to 0.2 µm. In particular, the OCE became lower than that of the basic OLED when the diameter decreased from 0.5 µm to 0.2 µm. This is consistent with the observation that smaller fractal-like structures on the large microlens array did not further enhance the OCE.

Effect of Black Rice Powder on the Quality Properties of Pork Patties.

Physicochemical properties of pork patties formulated with black rice powder were investigated. Moisture contents of samples containing black rice powder were significantly higher than that of the control (p<0.05). Protein, fat, and ash contents increased with increasing black rice powder content. Uncooked and cooked pH values of samples increased with increasing black rice powder content. Lightness and yellowness of samples decreased with increasing concentration of black rice powder. Redness of cooked samples containing black rice powder was significantly lower than that of the control (p<0.05). Water holding capacity and cooking yield of samples increased with increasing black rice powder concentration. Diameter and thickness reduction ratio of samples decreased with increasing black rice powder content. Sensory evaluation of samples showed no significant difference between samples. Thus, black rice powder improved the quality of pork patties.

Novel chimeric peptide with enhanced cell specificity and anti-inflammatory activity.

An antimicrobial peptide (AMP), Hn-Mc, was designed by combining the N-terminus of HPA3NT3 and the C-terminus of melittin. This chimeric AMP exhibited potent antibacterial activity with low minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs), ranging from 1 to 2 µM against four drug-susceptible bacteria and ten drug-resistant bacteria. Moreover, the hemolysis and cytotoxicity was reduced significantly compared to those of the parent peptides, highlighting its high cell selectivity. The morphological changes in the giant unilamellar vesicles and bacterial cell surfaces caused by the Hn-Mc peptide suggested that it killed the microbial cells by damaging the membrane envelope. An in vivo study also demonstrated the antibacterial activity of the Hn-Mc peptide in a mouse model infected with drug-resistant bacteria. In addition, the chimeric peptide inhibited the expression of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cytokines in RAW 264.7 cells by preventing the interaction between LPS and Toll-like receptors. These results suggest that this chimeric peptide is an antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory candidate as a pharmaceutic agent.

Quality Evaluation of Chicken Nugget Formulated with Various Contents of Chicken Skin and Wheat Fiber Mixture.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of various mixtures of the chicken skin and wheat fiber on the properties of chicken nuggets. Two skin and fiber mixtures (SFM) were prepared using the following formulations; SFM-1: chicken skin (50%), wheat fiber (20%), and ice (30%); and SFM-2: chicken skin (30%), wheat fiber (20%), and ice (50%). Chicken nugget samples were prepared by adding the following amounts of either SFM-1 or SFM-2: 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10%. The water content for samples formulated with SFM-1 or SFM-2 was higher than in the control (p<0.05), and increased with increasing the concentrations of SFM-1 and SFM-2. The addition of SFM-1 and SFM-2 had no significant effect on the pH of the samples. The lightness value of uncooked chicken nuggets was higher than that of cooked chicken nuggets for all the samples tested. Chicken nuggets formulated with SFM-1 and SFM-2 displayed higher cooking yields than the control sample. The hardness of the control sample was also lower than the samples containing SFM-1 and SFM-2. The sensory evaluation showed no significant differences between the control and the samples containing SFM. Therefore, the incorporation of a chicken skin and wheat fiber mixture improved the quality of chicken nuggets.

Quality Characteristics of Marinated Chicken Breast as Influenced by the Methods of Mechanical Processing.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of various marination processes on the quality characteristics of chicken breast prepared with chicken feet gelatin and wheat fiber. The chicken feet gelatin was swollen with hydrochloric solution (0.1 N HCl, pH 1.31±0.02) and dehydrated by freeze-drying. The composition (w/w) of the marinade was water (10%), soy sauce (12%), phosphate (0.3%), wheat fiber (1.5%), and chicken feet gelatin (1.5%). Three samples of chicken breast were manufactured with Tumbler (only tumbler), Tenderizer (tenderizer and tumbler), and Injector (injector and tumbler). The water content of the Injector sample was significantly higher than those of the Tumbler and Tenderizer samples (p<0.05). During heating, the lightness of all chicken breasts increased and the redness decreased. The tumbling and cooking yield of the Injector sample were significantly higher than those of the Tumbler and Tenderizer samples (p<0.05). The shear force of the Tenderizer sample was significantly lower than that of the Tumbler and Injector samples (p<0.05). No significant differences, except for color, were observed in the sensory analysis of the samples. Thus, the proper selection of mechanical processing is important to improve the quality characteristics of marinated chicken breast, considering the types of final products.

Noise, sign problems, and statistics.

We show how sign problems in simulations of many-body systems can manifest themselves in the form of heavy-tailed correlator distributions, similar to what is seen in electron propagation through disordered media. We propose an alternative statistical approach for extracting ground state energies in such systems, illustrating the method with a toy model and with lattice data for unitary fermions.