Effect of high hydrostatic pressure pretreatment on flavour and physicochemical properties of freeze-dried carambola slices

Ripe carambolas are hard to store and transport, while freeze-dried ones are easy to store. However, its long production time leads to higher costs. This study shows that high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatment could shorten the freeze-drying time of carambola slices. After HHP treatment (25–250 MPa), the drying time of the fresh sample can be shortened by 33.3–44.4% and the distribution of water and pigment in tissues is much uniform. With the increment of the pressure, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and hydroxyl radical scavenging rate are increased. At 250 MPa, the total phenolic content (TPC) increased from 11.34 to 13.36 mg GAE g⁻¹, and the total flavonoid content (TFC) of the control sample was increased from 10.77 to 12.73 mg RE g⁻¹. Compared with the untreated sample, HHP treatment can enhance the flavour and shorten the freeze-drying time. This work guides the application of HHP technology for drying food processing.     

Removal of imidacloprid and acetamiprid from tea infusions by microfiltration membrane

Removal of imidacloprid and acetamiprid in tea infusions by microfiltration membrane using dead‐end model was investigated in the present study. The results showed that microfiltration significantly promoted the removal of both pesticides (P < 0.05) in tea infusions. Furthermore, the extent of removal was strongly influenced by the pore size of membrane, operational pressure and the concentrations of tea infusions. The initial concentration of imidacloprid and acetamiprid showed no significant effect on their removal rates. The maximum removal rates were 79.7% for imidacloprid and 81.9% acetamiprid. The changes in major chemical components of tea infusions after microfiltration were evaluated. The results indicated that microfiltration caused no considerable changes in total polyphenols and total free amino acids, and small but statistically significant losses (6.3–18.0%) of eight catechins and three methylxanthines when filtration volume reached to 200 mL. The present study validated the application of microfiltration as a potentially feasible and promising method for the removal of imidacloprid and acetamiprid residues from tea infusions.     

Gurum Seeds: A Potential Source of Edible Oil

Cucurbitaceae family seeds are mostly discarded as agro-industrial wastes. Gurum (Citrullus lanatus var. colocynthoide) is an underutilized wild cucurbit plant, closely related to desert watermelon, which is grown abundantly in some African countries. Gurum seeds can play a significant role in health and nutrition due to their high oil content. This review describes the nutritional composition of gurum seeds and their oil profile. Gurum seeds are a good source of oil (27–35.5%), fiber (26–31%), crude protein (15–18%), and carbohydrates (14–17%). Gurum seeds oil is extracted by supercritical CO₂ (SFE), screw press, and solvent extraction techniques. The gurum seeds oil is composed of unsaturated fatty acids with a high proportion of linoleic acid (C18:2) and oleic acid (C18:1). Gurum seeds oil contains various bioactive compounds, such as tocopherols, phytosterols, and polyphenols. It is reported that solvent extraction gives a higher yield than the screw press and SFE, but the SFE is preferred due to safety issues. More studies are required for producing better quality gurum seeds oil by using novel extraction techniques that can increase oil yield.     

乙基纤维素/蓝莓花青素浸泡型标签对牛奶新鲜度的指示

目的 旨在研发一款可浸泡在液体中的食品级牛奶新鲜度指示标签,让消费者简单方便且直观地了解牛奶的实时品质。方法 以乙基纤维素为聚合物基材,蓝莓花青素为pH敏感染料,吐温80和甘油为增塑剂制备出标签。通过比色分析、溶胀率、迁移测试、接触角、傅里叶变换红外光谱分析、扫描电镜(SEM)对指示标签进行表征,再将标签用于牛奶新鲜度监测,探究牛奶菌落总数、pH与指示标签总色差的关系。结果 花青素添加量为乙基纤维素质量分数10%的指示标签在pH缓冲液中的指示效果最佳;乙基纤维素和花青素通过氢键较好地结合使标签耐水性较好,可浸泡于液体中;迁移测试证明标签与牛奶接触不会造成安全问题;牛奶菌落总数、pH值与指示标签总色差存在相关性。结论 花青素添加量为乙基纤维素质量分数10%的指示标签在新鲜牛奶中显示为浅紫色,在变质牛奶中显示为粉色。该浸泡型指示标签在指示牛奶新鲜度上有良好应用价值和开发前景。     

响应面优化荔枝酒混菌发酵工艺的研究

以酒精含量为指标,筛选发酵性能最好的混菌酵母组合.通过Plackett-Burman试验设计筛选出影响荔枝酒发酵工艺的3个主要因素.响应面优化确定了混菌发酵荔枝酒的最佳工艺参数:发酵温度17.86℃,pH3.47,接种量9.74％(V/V),酒精含量达12.53％(V/V).对比分析了混菌发酵与单菌发酵荔枝酒中主要风味成分的变化.结果表明:混菌发酵降低了有机酸总量,使酒体协调性增加,增加的氨基酸总量赋予了荔枝酒较高的营养价值;混菌发酵的荔枝酒感官评分高于单菌发酵.     

On a generalised plane strain crack problem for inhomogeneous anisotropic elastic materials

A generalised plane strain crack problem is considered for a class of inhomogeneous anisotropic elastic materials. The problem is reduced to a boundary integral equation involving hypersingular integrals. The boundary integral equation may be solved numerically using standard procedures. Some crack problems for a particular inhomogeneous material are considered in detail and the stress intensity factors are obtained in order to assess the effect of the anisotropy and inhomogeneity on the stress field near the crack tips.     

Efficiency of acetic acid and formic acid as a catalyst in catalytical and mechanocatalytical pretreatment of barley straw

In this study, the potential of organic acids (formic acid, acetic acid) in a catalytical and mechanocatalytic conversion of lignocellulosic barley straw to valuable sugars is explored using sulfuric acid as a reference. Acid-catalyzed hydrolysis has been carried out with acid-impregnated samples as well as unmodified barley straw. In the mechanocatalytical approach, pretreatment consists of impregnation with the acid catalyst and mechanical treatment by ball milling following chemical hydrolysis. Straw samples and residues were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) whereas hydrolysate analysis was based on total reducing sugar (TRS) determination following the DNS method and capillary electrophoresis (CE) analysis. The results indicated that acetic acid and formic acid are rather mild acids yielding low TRS levels compared to the reference acid. Mechanocatalytical pretreatment slightly increased TRS yields, but not significantly. Strikingly, sulfuric acid showed an efficient conversion efficiency yielding almost 45% of TRS. Furthermore, this study provided evidence for the acetylation of straw components when acetic acid was used as catalyst. Alkali hydrolysis induced the de-esterification, but revealed no significant increase of TRS yields.     

Process parameters design of a three-dimensional and five-directional braided composite joint based on finite element analysis

This paper presents an analytical method for designing the configuration of composite joint with three-dimensional (3D) five-directional braided composites. Based on the analysis of 3D braided structure characteristics, the elastic properties of the 3D five-directional braided composites were determined by the volume averaging method. The effects of the braiding angle and fiber volume fraction on the elastic constants of the braided composites were also discussed. Finite element analysis on the load capacity of the 3D five-directional braided composite joint was implemented using the software ANSYS Workbench 14.0. The influence of braiding angle on the stress, strain and deformation of the composite joint under tensile loading were calculated. The results show that when the fiber volume fraction of the 3D five-directional braided preform is given, the equivalent stress of the composite joint decreases monotonically as the braiding angle increases, while the normal stress, maximum principal stress and total deformation firstly decreases and then increases. Based on the finite element analysis, we found that at the fiber volume fraction of 60%, the braiding angle within the range of 30–35° are the optimum processing parameters for the 3D five-directional braided composite joint structure that used in the tensile load 320 N condition.     

Macaroon-like FeCo2O4 modified activated carbon anode for enhancing power generation in direct glucose fuel cell

Macaroon-like FeCo₂O₄ nanomaterial was prepared and used as electrocatalyst in direct glucose alkaline fuel cell (DGAFC), which exhibited high catalytic activity towards glucose oxidation reaction. Maximum power density of 35.91 W m⁻² was achieved in the DGAFC equipped with a FeCo₂O₄ modified activated carbon (AC) anode, which was almost 151% higher than the control. Physical and electrochemical characterizations were performed to provide further understanding of the origin of its high activity. Our results show that the introduction of FeCo₂O₄ into the AC anode remarkably increase the exchange current density and reduce the charge transfer resistance. It is supposed that there is a synergistic effect between Fe (III) and Co (III), which accelerates electron transfer from glucose to external circuits. This study will promote the development of cost effective and environmentally benign catalysts for electrochemical energy applications.