Effects of direct current magnetic field treatment time on the properties of pork myofibrillar protein

This study investigated the effects of direct current magnetic field (DC-MF) treatment time (1, 3, 5, 8 h) on properties of porcine myofibrillar protein (MP). Gel water-holding capacity increased from 83.40% to 87.20% when DC-MF-treatment time changed from 1-h to 8-h. The 3-h treatment time of DC-MF was found to promote MP unfolding, rearrangement and aggregation, leading to the loss of total sulfhydryl, the increase of reactive sulfhydryl, surface hydrophobicity, turbidity as well as the formation of MP clusters and the greater degree of crosslinking as compared with 0-h treatment, thus a firmer and more ordered MP gel network for trapping more water. However, excessive DC-MF treatment (8-h) weakened DC-MF effect on MP aggregation as well as gel network and texture. This study has shed light on the effects of DC-MF treatment time on MP properties and provides useful information for the application of DC-MF in the food industry.     

Evaluation of antibacterial protein with antioxidant activity from Rahnella aquatilis L103 and its effect on beef during refrigerated storage

A strain, Rahnella aquatilis L103, which was isolated from the soil around the roots of mushrooms, produced antibacterial protein though fermentation. This protein has broad antibacterial spectrum towards gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The protein has a significant antioxidant capacity on scavenging ABTS^+· (82.5%, 120 μg mL⁻¹), DPPH^· (64.1%, 600 μg mL⁻¹) and OH^· (60.1%, 750 μg mL⁻¹) as well. The protein was considered to be safe within concentration of 150 μg mL⁻¹ as shown by MTT results and was applied to beef refrigerated preservation. The treatment group presented lower total viable counts (TVC), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA), meanwhile, higher sensory score and longer shelf life (2 days) compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The results indicated that the protein under safe concentration was beneficial to beef preservation.     

Preparation and characterisation of a novel copper‐imprinted polymer based on β‐cyclodextrin copolymers for selective determination of Cu2+ ions

A novel ion‐imprinted polymer (IIP) using (6‐O‐butene diacid ester)‐β‐cyclodextrin (β‐CD‐MAH) as the functional monomer and copper ions as the template was developed for Cu²⁺ sensing. First, reactive β‐cyclodextrin (β‐CD) monomers with vinyl carboxylic acid functional groups were synthesised and were co‐polymerised with styrene via radical polymerisation. Then, the β‐CD copolymers were complexed with Cu²⁺ in order to obtain the IIP. The imprinting effect was realised by removing the template ions from the imprinted polymer. The structure, composition and morphology of the IIP were characterised by Fourier transform IR spectroscopy, energy‐dispersive spectroscopy and field‐emission SEM. The adsorption capacity was investigated by UV–visible spectroscopy in batch operation mode. The maximum adsorption capacity for the Cu²⁺ template ions was 28.91 mg g^?1, and the adsorption selectivity was clearly illustrated from the increased sorption affinity towards Cu²⁺ ions over other competing ions. The adsorption was affected by the pH of the aqueous medium, and enhanced adsorption capacity was observed at pH 5. The prepared IIP could be used 10 times after its regeneration without significant loss of the adsorption capacity. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

Removal of copper(II) from aqueous solution using chemically modified fruit peels as efficient low-cost biosorbents

Fruit peels, which are common agricultural byproducts, have been extensively used as abandoned or low-cost biosorbents to remove heavy metals. In this study, dragon fruit peel (DFP), rambutan peel (RP), and passion fruit peel (PFP) were used to remove Cu(II) ions from an aqueous solution. Concentrations of the adsorbed metal ions were determined using the atomic absorption spectroscopic method. Adsorption experiments were performed with different adsorbent dosages, pH values, contact times, and initial copper concentrations. The optimum set of conditions for biosorption of Cu(II) ions was found to be an adsorbent dosage of 0.25 g, a contact time of 180 min, an initial concentration of 100 mg/L, a pH value of 4 for RP and PFP, and a pH value of 5 for DFP. The adsorption conformed with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The adsorption data were consistent with the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models, but the best fit was with the Langmuir model. The Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacity values of DFP, RP, and PFP were calculated to be 92.593, 192.308, and 121.951 mg/g, respectively. RP showed a higher adsorption capacity of Cu(II) ions than PFP and DFP for all parameters. The results indicate that these biosorbents might be used to effectively adsorb Cu(II) ions from wastewater treatment plants.     

Synthesis of strontium (Sr) doped hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanorods for enhanced adsorption of Cr (VI) ions from wastewater

The development of high-efficiency adsorbents for heavy metal ion removal from wastewater is highly desirable and challenging due to their synthesis complexity and low adsorption capacities. Herein, we reported the synthesis of strontium (Sr) doped hydroxyapatite (HAp) for the increased Cr (VI) adsorption. The effects of pH, temperature, and time on adsorption performances were studied. As a result, the Sr-HAp nanorods can achieve a Cr (VI) adsorption capacity of 443 mg/g, which is significantly higher than that of HAp nanorods (318 mg/g). To better understand the adsorption mechanism, the Langmuir isotherm model was established. The modeling results indicated that Langmuir monolayer chemical adsorption contributed to the efficient Cr (VI) ion removal for Sr-HAp nanorods adsorbents. The surface area and surface functional groups (O–H) contributed to the different Cr (VI) adsorption capacities between HAp and Sr-HAp.     

The Marine Polysaccharide Ulvan Confers Potent Osteoinductive Capacity to PCL-Based Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering Applications

Hybrid composites of synthetic and natural polymers represent materials of choice for bone tissue engineering. Ulvan, a biologically active marine sulfated polysaccharide, is attracting great interest in the development of novel biomedical scaffolds due to recent reports on its osteoinductive properties. Herein, a series of hybrid polycaprolactone scaffolds containing ulvan either alone or in blends with κ-carrageenan and chondroitin sulfate was prepared and characterized. The impact of the preparation methodology and the polysaccharide composition on their morphology, as well as on their mechanical, thermal, water uptake and porosity properties was determined, while their osteoinductive potential was investigated through the evaluation of cell adhesion, viability, and osteogenic differentiation of seeded human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells. The results verified the osteoinductive ability of ulvan, showing that its incorporation into the polycaprolactone matrix efficiently promoted cell attachment and viability, thus confirming its potential in the development of biomedical scaffolds for bone tissue regeneration applications.     

Estimation of maximum available capacity of lithium-ion battery based on multi-view features extracted from reconstructed charging curve

A new method is developed in the paper to estimate the maximum available capacity which is an important basis for indicating the State of Health (SOH) of lithium-ion batteries. Firstly, a data reconstruction approach is proposed to pre-process the acquired data to suppress the influence of measurement noise and reduce the negative impact on estimation precision when measuring equipment adopts different sampling frequencies. Then, the variation trend of the incremental capacity curve obtained based on the reconstructed data with the battery aging is analyzed, and a health indicator (HI) including multi-view features is put forward to characterize the battery degradation more comprehensively. The multi-view features are coming from the capacity increment curve versus voltage and time, including the maximum value of the capacity increment curve, the voltage corresponding to the maximum value, other values surrounding the maximum value and so on. Finally, Support Vector Regression is used to establish a model between the extracted HI and the maximum available capacity, and two types of open source data are used to verify the performance. The experimental results show that the data reconstruction method and multi-view health indicator proposed in the paper can obtain high precision estimation results.     

A1与A2 β-酪蛋白酸奶产品特性的比较

探究分别含有A1、A2两种β-酪蛋白牛乳制成的搅拌型和凝固型酸奶产品特性的区别。持水力结果表明，A1 β-酪蛋白酸奶（凝固型和搅拌型）的持水力大于69%，A2 β-酪蛋白酸奶（凝固型和搅拌型）的持水力大于65%。质构特性的结果显示，凝固型酸奶差距更为明显，A1 β-酪蛋白酸奶的硬度和稠度分别比A2 β-酪蛋白酸奶高41.4%和59.8%。此外，A1 β-酪蛋白酸奶黏性优于A2 β-酪蛋白酸奶。流变学特性与微观结构结果显示，A1 β-酪蛋白酸奶的滞后回路面积较A2 β-酪蛋白酸奶小14.6%，说明A2 β-酪蛋白制成的酸奶结构更易于被破坏，网状结构更为稀疏。本实验为A2 β-酪蛋白牛乳在酸奶制品的应用及实际生产提供一定理论支持。     

Closed form solution for predicting the horizontal capacity of masonry portal frames through limit analysis and comparison with experimental test results

The paper deals with the problem of evaluating the in-plane seismic capacity of unreinforced masonry portal frame, which can be considered the basic structural element in historical buildings. In particular, the Limit Analysis approach is used to provide simplified “closed form” expressions of the horizontal collapse multiplier, also taking into account the eventual contribution of steel tie rods. Both sliding shear and shear diagonal cracking are also considered in order to take into account the shear failure modes of the pier walls.The proposed formulations have been used for performing an extensive parametric analysis, with the aim of studying the effect of both geometry and vertical/horizontal loading distributions on the portal horizontal strength. Furthermore, the influence of the steel tie-rods has been addressed in order to understand their effectiveness on the portal seismic capacity.A comparison with the results of experimental tests on full-scale portal frames is also provided in terms of in-plane collapse multiplier and failure mechanism aimed to validate the proposed “closed form” expressions.Major outcome of this study is a simple rule of thumb, which can be used for the straightforward assessment of the horizontal strength of simple masonry structures, and for verifying the results of more complex structural analyses such as the nonlinear static analysis.     

阴极电泳漆槽液MEQ值的容量法检测

介绍了乙醇法测阴极电泳漆槽液MEQ值的方法。用乙醇对阴极电泳漆槽液进行溶解,通过人工滴定法记录氢氧化钠标准溶液的用量,得到槽液p H与氢氧化钠消耗量的函数。利用相关软件绘图并进行数据处理,再根据公式便可计算出槽液MEQ值。此外还对四氢呋喃法和乙醇法测MEQ值的准确性和难易程度等进行了比较。