Table of Contents

Abstract: The influence of limited proteolysis of soy protein concentrate on proteinextractability, the composition of the extractable proteins, their emulsifying properties andsome nutritional properties were investigated. Traditional concentrate (alcohol leachedconcentrate) was hydrolyzed using trypsin and pepsin as hydrolytic agents. Significantdifferences in extractable protein composition between traditional concentrate and theirhydrolysates were observed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and by SDSPAGE.All hydrolysates showed better extractability than the original protein concentrate,whereas significantly better emulsifying properties were noticed at modified concentratesobtained by trypsin induced hydrolysis. These improved properties are the result of twosimultaneous processes, dissociation and degradation of insoluble alcohol-induced proteinaggregates. Enzyme induced hydrolysis had no influence on trypsin-inibitor activity, andsignificantly reduced phytic acid content.

Abstract: Patient vital sign monitoring within hospitals requires the use of non-invasivesensors that are hardwired to bedside monitors. This set-up is cumbersome, forcing thepatient to be confined to his hospital bed thereby not allowing him to move around freelywithin the hospital premises. This paper addresses the use of wireless sensor networks formonitoring patient vital sign data in a hospital setting. Crossbow MICAz motes have beenused to design a robust mesh network that routes patient data to a remote base station withinthe hospital premises. A hospital care giver can have access to this data at any point in timeand doesn’t have to be physically present in the patient’s room to review the readings. Thenetwork infrastructure nodes are self-powered and draw energy from overhead 34Wfluorescent lights via solar panels. The sensor nodes can be interfaced to a variety of vitalsign sensors such as electrocardiograms (ECGs), pulse-oximeters and blood pressure (BP)sensors. In order to verify a completely functioning system, a commercial BP/heart-ratemonitor (BPM) was interfaced to a wireless sensor node. The sensor node controls the BPMto initiate a reading, then collects the data and forwards it to the base station. An attractivegraphical user interface (GUI) was designed to store and display patient data on the basestation PC. The set-up was found to be extremely robust with low power consumption.

Abstract: This paper presents a full 3D study of a shielded ECT sensor. The spatialresolution and effective sensing field are obtained by means of Finite Element Methodbased simulations and are the compared to a conventional sensor's characteristics. Aneffective improvement was found in the sensitivity in the pipe cross-section, resulting inenhanced quality of the reconstructed image. The sensing field along the axis of the sensoralso presents better behaviour for a shielded sensor.

Abstract: An electronic tongue for the qualitative analysis of aqueous solutions of salts hasbeen developed. The following set of electrodes was used: RuO₂, Ag, and Cu in thick-filmtechnology and Au, Pb, Zn and Ni as small bars of the corresponding metal. The response ofthe designed “electronic tongue” was tested on a family of samples containing pure salt andcomplex mixtures. The electrodes were used as potentiometric un-specific sensors and thee.m.f. of each electrode in contact with a certain aqueous solution was used as input signalfor a PCA analysis. The study showed that the set of electrodes were capable to discriminatebetween aqueous solutions of salts basically by their different content in anions and cations(the anions SO4^2-, Cl^-, PO₄H^2-, CO₃H^-, NO^3- and cations Na⁺ and K⁺ were studied). In orderto better analyze the basis for the discrimination power shown by the electronic tongue, aquantitative analysis was also envisaged. A fair estimation of the concentrations of thedifferent ions in the solutions studied appeared to be possible using this electronic tonguedesign.Keywords:

Abstract: The improvement of electrochemical detection of meloxicam is presented bymodification of a glassy carbon electrode with anionic layer of cysteic acid providingelectrostatic accumulation of the analyte onto the electrode surface. The modificationformed by electrochemical oxidation of L-cysteine was performed by cycling potential incysteine solution. The anodic peak current obtained at 1.088 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) byvoltammetry was linearly dependent on the meloxicam concentration in the range of 4.3 ×10^-8 ~ 8.5 × 10^-6 M in the B-R buffer solution (0.04 M, pH 1.86) with a correlationcoefficient of 0.999. The detection limit (S/N = 3) is 1.5 × 10^-9 M. The low-cost modifiedelectrode shows good sensitivity, selectivity and stability and has been applied to thedetermination of meloxicam in pharmaceutical formulation and spiked serum withsatisfactory results. The electrochemical reaction mechanism of meloxicam was discussed.

Abstract: Thin films of tin oxide were deposited by electron beam evaporation. The effectsof the sensor biasing voltage and film thickness on the CO-sensing of tin oxide thin filmswere investigated. The films were characterized using X-ray diffraction and X-rayphotoelectron spectroscopy All the films were found to be amorphous. The current-voltagecharacteristic of the sensor in air has shown that semiconductor-metal interface formsSchottky barrier. It was found that the CO-sensing properties depend on the sensor biasingvoltage and film thickness. For lower biasing voltages the sensitivity was much higher thanfor the higher voltages. It was found that the sensitivity of the films to CO increased withthe film thickness.