The inclusion of fresh forage in the lactating buffalo diet affects fatty acid and sensory profile of mozzarella cheese

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of inclusion of fresh forage in diet for lactating buffalo on properties of mozzarella cheese under intensive farming conditions. Thirty-two buffalo cows were equally allotted into 2 groups fed diets with (fresh group, FRS) or without (control group, CTL) fresh sorghum. The study consisted of 2 trials. In the first one, animals from group FRS were fed a diet containing 10 kg of fresh sorghum (10-FRS diet) that was doubled to 20 kg (20-FRS diet) in the second trial. All diets were isonitrogenous and isoenergetic, and fresh forage accounted for 13.4 and 26.5 of dietary dry matter, respectively, for the 10-FRS and 20-FRS diet. In each trial, milk from the 2 groups was used to produce 3 batches/diet of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana Protected Designation of Origin cheese. Milk yield and composition were not influenced by dietary treatment. The use of 10-FRS diet did not affect any properties of mozzarella. As the inclusion rate of fresh sorghum doubled to 20 kg, an increment of unsaturated fatty acid percentages and a lowering of short-chain and saturated fatty acids were observed. Moreover, the sensory characteristics of mozzarella were modified, although no effects were observed on consumer acceptance. We conclude that the use of green fodder can represent a low-cost feeding strategy to improve the healthiness of buffalo mozzarella under intensive farming conditions with no detrimental effect on consumer blind acceptance.     

Detection and Mitigation of Impulsive Interference on OFDM Signals Based on Spectrum Sensing,Blanking and Symbol Retransmission

The increasing number of wireless devices and systems operating on the same area leads to significant interference problems that need to be solved. This paper deals with detection and mitigation of the interference generated by an impulsive noise source on an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system. The idea proposed here is to overcome the interference problem by exploiting the transmission of two replicas of the symbol affected by interference, that are suitably combined at the receiver after a blanking operation of the corrupted samples. An energy detection based sensing scheme is used to reveal the presence of interference. The proposed method allows to efficiently remove the interference without affecting the useful information and exploiting profitably the diversity gain against noise through the soft combining approach. Performance in terms of bit error rate and throughput is compared with the case without mitigation and with the classical blanking method showing a significant improvement. The reduction of the transmission rate, due to the retransmissions, is well compensated by the improvement of the data reliability that leads to an increase of useful data correctly received.     

A Protocol to Enhance INS1E and MIN6 Functionality—The Use of Theophylline

In vitro research in the field of type I diabetes is frequently limited by the availability of a functional model for islets of Langerhans. This method shows that by the addition of theophylline to the glucose buffers, mouse insulinoma MIN6 and rat insulinoma INS1E pseudo-islets can serve as a model for islets of Langerhans for in vitro research. The effect of theophylline is dose- and cell line-dependent, resulting in a minimal stimulation index of five followed by a rapid return to baseline insulin secretion by reducing glucose concentrations after a first high glucose stimulation. This protocol solves issues concerning in vitro research for type I diabetes as donors and the availability of primary islets of Langerhans are limited. To avoid the limitations of using human donor material, cell lines represent a valid alternative. Many different β cell lines have been reported, but the lack of reproducible responsiveness to glucose stimulation remains a challenge.     

A Numerical/Experimental Study of Nitinol Actuator Springs

This study deals with the numerical modeling, simulation and experimental analysis of shape-memory alloy (SMA) helicoidal springs. An experimental campaign is conducted on both SMA straight wires and helicoidal springs that experienced the same annealing process. Then, we use such experimental results to investigate three phenomenological constitutive models able to represent SMA macroscopic behavior. In particular, after the identification of all the material parameters from experimental results on SMA wires, we inspect the thermo-mechanical behavior of SMA helicoidal springs by comparing numerical predictions to experimental data. Finally, we discuss models capabilities and some aspects characterizing SMA material behavior.     

Large-Scale Patterning of Reactive Surfaces for Wearable and Environmentally Deployable Sensors

Wearable interfaces are central to multiple healthcare and wellness strategies encompassing diet and nutrition, personalized health monitoring, and performance optimization. Specifically, the advent of flexible electronic formats coupled with microfluidic interfaces has resulted in sophisticated conformal devices for biofluid sampling and quantification. Here, a complementary approach is presented to wearable sensing by using a large-scale, conformal, distributed format that relies on the use of biomaterial-based inks to print and stabilize deterministic patterns of biochemical reporters with high resolution. Colorimetric devices can vary in size and a sensing T-shirt based on a colorimetric pattern is developed to illustrate the utility that such formats can add to the wearable interface space. Image analysis allows parameter variation to be tracked in real-time, yielding a map-like format of distributed biophysical response.     

Retrieving the Coassembly Pathway of Composite Cellulose Nanocrystal Photonic Films from their Angular Optical Response

Aqueous suspensions of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are known to self-assemble into a chiral nematic liquid crystalline phase, leading to solid-state nanostructured colored films upon solvent evaporation, even in the presence of templating agents. The angular optical response of these structures, and therefore their visual appearance, are completely determined by the spatial arrangement of the CNCs when the drying suspension undergoes a transition from a flowing and liquid crystalline state to a kinetically arrested state. Here, it is demonstrated how the angular response of the final film allows for retrieval of key physical properties and the chemical composition of the suspension at the onset of the kinetic arrest, thus capturing a snapshot of the past. To illustrate this methodology, a dynamically evolving sol–gel coassembly process is investigated by adding various amounts of organosilica precursor, namely, 1,2-bis(trimethoxysilyl)ethane. The influence of organosilica condensation on the kinetic arrest can be tracked and thus explains the angular response of the resulting films. The a posteriori and in situ approach is general; it can be applied to a variety of additives in CNC-based films and it allows access to key rheological information of the suspension without using any dedicated rheological technique.     

Unraveling Surface Basicity and Bulk Morphology Relationship on Covalent Triazine Frameworks with Unique Catalytic and Gas Adsorption Properties

Activity and selectivity are key features at the basis of an efficient catalytic system for promoting the steam‐ and oxygen‐free dehydrogenation (DDH) of ethylbenzene to styrene. The catalyst stability under severe reaction conditions, the reduction of leaching of its active sites, and their resistance to deactivation phenomena on stream are other fundamental aspects to keep in mind while synthesizing new catalytic materials for the process. Although the recent use of single‐phase (doped or undoped) carbon nanomaterials has significantly contributed to improving this catalysis, the relationship between materials morphology and their chemical surface properties still remains to be addressed. Here, a class of highly microporous, N‐doped covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) with superior activity and stability in the DDH compared to the benchmark systems of the state‐of‐the‐art is reported. Notably, a comparative analysis of their chemico‐physical properties has unveiled the role of the “chemically accessible” surface basicity on the catalyst passivation on stream. Finally, the unique properties of the synthesized CTFs are demonstrated by their excellent H₂ storage capability and CO₂ absorption that rank among the highest reported so far for related systems.