Autochthonous white grape pomaces as bioactive source for functional jams

Seeds and skins from grape pomaces of Pecorello and Mantonico cv underwent extraction (ultrasound–assisted or maceration), in order to obtain added-value ingredients for the production of a functional pear jam. The antioxidant features of the extracts were tested by in vitro colorimetric assays. Among seeds, Mantonico by maceration (MSC) showed the best results, as well as Mantonico by ultrasound-assisted extraction (MBs) among skin extracts. The selected extracts were fully characterised by NMR and MS techniques, confirming the presence of many polyphenols, flavonoids and tannins among others. Pectin was then derivatised by the grafting procedure with the active molecules of MBs and MSC. The latter produced the best antioxidant polymer also without toxicity evaluated using Caco-2 cells and was used for the jam preparation. The functional pear jam showed improved antioxidant performances in comparison with its non-functional counterparts as well as its maintenance over time (15 days).     

Amaranth functional cookies exert potential antithrombotic and antihypertensive activities

In this study, amaranth flour was used as an ingredient to prepare gluten-free cookies. The production process and attributes of amaranth cookies were characterised, and the potential use of amaranth flour as a functional ingredient was analysed. Cookies exhibited a non-uniform reddish brown colour and a cookie factor ratio of 4.5 ± 0.6. Storage studies indicated that after 3 weeks at room temperature cookies presented slight variations in the texture. Simulated gastrointestinal digestion of this product was able to release peptides capable of exerting potential antithrombotic and antihypertensive activities, IC₅₀ values of 0.22 ± 0.04 and 0.23 ± 0.03 mg mL⁻¹ protein, respectively. This work demonstrates for the first time that food made with amaranth flour exerts potential antithrombotic and antihypertensive activity. In conclusion, these amaranth cookies could be an alternative way of incorporating potentially health beneficial products for people who choose a conscious diet, including coeliac or vegan consumers.     

Effects of Sr2+ substitution on the crystal structure,Raman spectra,bond valence and microwave dielectric properties of Ba3-xSrx(VO4)2 solid solutions

The effects of Sr²⁺ substitution for Ba²⁺ on microwave dielectric properties and crystal structure of Ba_3-xSr_x(VO₄)₂ (0 ≤ x ≤ 3, BSVO) solid solution were investigated. Such Sr²⁺ substitution contributes to significant reduction in sintering temperature from 1400 °C to 1150 °C. Both permittivity (∑_r) and quality factor (Q × f) values decreased with increasing x value, which was determined to be related with the descending values of average polarizability and packing fraction, whereas the increase in τ_f value was explained by the decreased average VO bond length, A-site bond valence. BSVO ceramics possessed encouraging dielectric performances with ∑_r = 12.2–15.6 ± 0.1, Q × f = 44,340 - 62,000 ± 800 GHz, and τ_f = 24.5–64.5 ± 0.2 ppm/°C. Low-temperature sintering was manipulated by adding B₂O₃ as sintering additive for the representative Sr₃V₂O₈ (SVO) ceramic and only 1 wt.% B₂O₃ addition successfully contributed to a 21.7% decrease in sintering temperature to 900 °C, showing good chemical compatibility with silver electrodes, which render BSVO series and SVO ceramics potential candidates in multilayer electronic devices fabrication.     

基于Bert预训练模型的虚假新闻文本检测

虚假新闻剥夺了人们获取真相的权利,也给社会和国家带来了许多危害。文中以虚假新闻文本为例,分析和验证了多种预训练语言模型在虚假新闻文本分类上的分类效果。经实验证明,相较于其他语言模型,Bert预训练语言模型取得了较好的结果,预测准确率为86.97%,召回率为88.12%,F1值为87.54%。     

Supercharged Proteins and Polypeptides

Electrostatic interactions play a vital role in nature. Biomacromolecules such as proteins are orchestrated by electrostatics, among other intermolecular forces, to assemble and organize biochemistry. Natural proteins with a high net charge exist in a folded state or are unstructured and can be an inspiration for scientists to artificially supercharge other protein entities. Recent findings show that supercharging proteins allows for control of their properties such as temperature resistance and catalytic activity. One elegant method to transfer the favorable properties of supercharged proteins to other proteins is the fabrication of fusions. Genetically engineered, supercharged unstructured polypeptides (SUPs) are just one promising fusion tool. SUPs can also be complexed with artificial entities to yield thermotropic and lyotropic liquid crystals and liquids. These architectures represent novel bulk materials that are sensitive to external stimuli. Interestingly, SUPs undergo fluid–fluid phase separation to form coacervates. These coacervates can even be directly generated in living cells or can be combined with dissipative fiber assemblies that induce life-like features. Supercharged proteins and SUPs are developed into exciting classes of materials. Their synthesis, structures, and properties are summarized. Moreover, potential applications are highlighted and challenges are discussed.     

Bangla language modeling algorithm for automatic recognition of hand-sign-spelled Bangla sign language

Because of using traditional hand-sign segmentation and classification algorithm,many diversities of Bangla language including joint-letters,dependent vowels etc.and representing 51 Bangla written characters by using only 36 hand-signs,continuous hand-sign-spelled Bangla sign language(BdSL)recognition is challenging.This paper presents a Bangla language modeling algorithm for automatic recognition of hand-sign-spelled Bangla sign language which consists of two phases.First phase is designed for hand-sign classification and the second phase is designed for Bangla language modeling algorithm(BLMA)for automatic recognition of hand-sign-spelled Bangla sign language.In first phase,we have proposed two step classifiers for hand-sign classification using normalized outer boundary vector(NOBV)and window-grid vector(WGV)by calculating maximum inter correlation coefficient(ICC)between test feature vector and pre-trained feature vectors.At first,the system classifies hand-signs using NOBV.If classification score does not satisfy specific threshold then another classifier based on WGV is used.The system is trained using 5,200 images and tested using another(5,200×6)images of 52 hand-signs from 10 signers in 6 different challenging environments achieving mean accuracy of 95.83%for classification with the computational cost of 39.972 milliseconds per frame.In the Second Phase,we have proposed Bangla language modeling algorithm(BLMA)which discovers all"hidden characters"based on"recognized characters"from 52 hand-signs of BdSL to make any Bangla words,composite numerals and sentences in BdSL with no training,only based on the result of first phase.To the best of our knowledge,the proposed system is the first system in BdSL designed on automatic recognition of hand-sign-spelled BdSL for large lexicon.The system is tested for BLMA using hand-sign-spelled 500 words,100 composite numerals and 80 sentences in BdSL achieving mean accuracy of 93.50%,95.50%and 90.50%respectively.     

Theoretical investigation of anisotropic mechanical and thermal properties of ABO3 (A=Sr,Ba; B=Ti,Zr, Hf) perovskites

As promising TBC (thermal barrier coating) candidates, perovskite oxides own designable properties for their various options of cations and structural diversity, but limited comprehensions of structure‐property relationship delay their engineering applications. In this work, mechanical/thermal properties of ABO₃ (A=Sr, Ba; B=Ti, Zr, Hf) perovskites and their anisotropic nature are predicted employing density functional theory. Their theoretical minimum thermal conductivities range from 1.09 to 1.74 W·m^?1·K^?1, being lower than Y₂O₃ partially stabilized ZrO₂. Reduced thermal conductivities up to 16% along particular directions are reached after considering thermal conductivity anisotropy. All compounds own high hardness while SrZrO₃, SrHfO₃, and BaHfO₃ possess well damage tolerance. We found that small electronegativity discrepancy leads to big anisotropy of chemical bond, Young's/shear moduli and thermal conductivities, together with good damage tolerance. These results suggest that the next generation TBCs with extra low thermal conductivity should be achieved through combining material design and orientation‐growth tailoring.     

Possible origin of ferromagnetism in antiferromagnetic orthorhombic-YFeO3: A first-principles study

Rare-earth orthoferrites (RFeO₃) are well-known for the antiferromagnetic ground state. However, some of the recent experimental results suggest that the few members of RFeO₃ family possess ferromagnetism. In the present investigation we report the possible origin of ferromagnetism in antiferromagnetic YFeO₃ using density functional theory. For this purpose, we have considered pure as well as self-doping in YFeO₃ i.e. by considering the point defect at Y, Fe and O sites. Our finding suggests that the point defects in YFeO₃ results in the mixed-valence state of Fe, which may result in ferromagnetism through Zener double exchange mechanism.