Farmers' preferences for adopting on-farm concentration of raw milk: Results from a discrete choice experiment in Germany

Milk concentrates are used in the manufacturing of dairy products such as yogurt and cheese or are processed into milk powder. Processes for the nonthermal separation of water and valuable milk ingredients are becoming increasingly widespread at farm level. The technical barriers to using farm-manufactured milk concentrate in dairies are minimal, hence the suspicion that the practice of on-farm raw milk concentration is still fairly uncommon for economic reasons. This study, therefore, set out to investigate farmers' potential willingness to adopt a raw milk concentration plant. The empirical analysis was based on discrete choice experiments with 75 German dairy farmers to identify preferences and the possible adoption of on-farm raw milk concentration. The results showed that, in particular, farmers who deemed the current milk price to be insufficient viewed on-farm concentration using membrane technology as an option for diversifying their milk sales. We found no indication that adoption would be impeded by a lack of trustworthy information on milk processing technologies or capital.     

Co?N graphene encapsulated cobalt catalyst for H2O2 decomposition under acidic conditions

Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) has been listed as one of the 100 most important chemicals in the world. However, huge amount of residual H₂O₂ is hard to timely decomposed into O₂ and H₂O under acidic condition, easily resulting in explosion hazard. Here, we reported a core–shell structure catalyst, that is graphene with Co N structure encapsulated Co nanoparticles. Co N graphene shell serves as the active site for the H₂O₂ decomposition, and Co core further enhance this decomposition. Benefiting from it, the H₂O₂ decomposition were close to 100% after 6 cycles without pH adjustment, which increased 6 orders of magnitude compared with no catalyst. At the same time, the O₂ generation reached 99.67% in 2 h with little metal leaching, and ·OH has been greatly inhibited to only 0.08%. This work can cleanly remove H₂O₂ with little deep oxidation and protect the process of H₂O₂ utilization to achieve a safer world.     

Thermal shock effects on the impact resistance,tolerance and flexural strength of alumina based oxide/oxide ceramic matrix composites

In this study the effects of thermal shock on the impact damage resistance, damage tolerance and flexural strength of Nextel 610/alumina silicate ceramic matrix composites were experimentally evaluated. Composite laminates with balanced and symmetric layup were gradually heated to 1200°C in an air-based furnace and held for at least 30 min before being removed and immersed in water at room temperature. The laminates were then subjected to low velocity impacts via a hemispherical steel impactor. The resultant damage was characterized non-destructively, following which the laminates were subjected to compression tests. Three-point bend tests were also performed to evaluate the effect of thermal shock on the flexural strength and related failure modes of the laminates. Thermally shocked laminates showed smaller internal damage and larger external damage areas in comparison to their pristine counterparts. For the impact energy and resultant damage size considered, the residual compressive strengths for the thermally shocked and pristine laminates were similar.     

In Vivo Simultaneous Analysis of Gene Expression by Dual-Color Luciferases in Caenorhabditis elegans

Both fluorescent and luminescent observation are widely used to examine real-time gene expression patterns in living organisms. Several fluuorescent and luminescent proteins with specific optical properties have been developed and applied for simultaneous, multi-color observation of more than two gene expression profiles. Compared to fluorescent proteins, however, the application of multi-color luminescent imaging in living organisms is still limited. In this study, we introduced two-color luciferases into the soil nematode C. elegans and performed simultaneous analysis of two gene expression profiles. Using a green-emitting luciferase Eluc (emerald luciferase) and red-emitting luciferase SLR (stable luciferase red), the expression patterns of two genes were simultaneously observed in single animals from embryonic to adult stages over its whole life span. In addition, dual gene activities were observed at the single embryo level, with the simultaneous observation of morphological changes. These are the first application of a two-color luciferase system into a whole animal and suggest that precise relationship of expression patterns of multiple genes of interest can be analyzed over the whole life of the animal, dependent on the changes in genetic and/or environmental conditions.     

Use of Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) for Monitoring Experimental Helicobacter pylori Infection and Related Inflammatory Response in Guinea Pig Model

Infections due to Gram-negative bacteria Helicobacter pylori may result in humans having gastritis, gastric or duodenal ulcer, and even gastric cancer. Investigation of quantitative changes of soluble biomarkers, correlating with H. pylori infection, is a promising tool for monitoring the course of infection and inflammatory response. The aim of this study was to determine, using an experimental model of H. pylori infection in guinea pigs, the specific characteristics of infrared spectra (IR) of sera from H. pylori infected (40) vs. uninfected (20) guinea pigs. The H. pylori status was confirmed by histological, molecular, and serological examination. The IR spectra were measured using a Fourier-transform (FT)-IR spectrometer Spectrum 400 (PerkinElmer) within the range of wavenumbers 3000–750 cm⁻¹ and converted to first derivative spectra. Ten wavenumbers correlated with H. pylori infection, based on the chi-square test, were selected for a K-nearest neighbors (k-NN) algorithm. The wavenumbers correlating with infection were identified in the W2 and W3 windows associated mainly with proteins and in the W4 window related to nucleic acids and hydrocarbons. The k-NN for detection of H. pylori infection has been developed based on chemometric data. Using this model, animals were classified as infected with H. pylori with 100% specificity and 97% sensitivity. To summarize, the IR spectroscopy and k-NN algorithm are useful for monitoring experimental H. pylori infection and related inflammatory response in guinea pig model and may be considered for application in humans.     

AP2M1 Supports TGF-β Signals to Promote Collagen Expression by Inhibiting Caveolin Expression

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is important for normal development and disease states, including inflammation and fibrosis. To understand the complex regulation of ECM, we performed a suppressor screening using Caenorhabditis elegans expressing the mutant ROL-6 collagen protein. One cuticle mutant has a mutation in dpy-23 that encodes the μ2 adaptin (AP2M1) of clathrin-associated protein complex II (AP-2). The subsequent suppressor screening for dpy-23 revealed the lon-2 mutation. LON-2 functions to regulate body size through negative regulation of the tumor growth factor-beta (TGF-β) signaling pathway responsible for ECM production. RNA-seq analysis showed a dominant change in the expression of collagen genes and cuticle components. We noted an increase in the cav-1 gene encoding caveolin-1, which functions in clathrin-independent endocytosis. By knockdown of cav-1, the reduced TGF-β signal was significantly restored in the dpy-23 mutant. In conclusion, the dpy-23 mutation upregulated cav-1 expression in the hypodermis, and increased CAV-1 resulted in a decrease of TβRI. Finally, the reduction of collagen expression including rol-6 by the reduced TGF-β signal influenced the cuticle formation of the dpy-23 mutant. These findings could help us to understand the complex process of ECM regulation in organism development and disease conditions.     

Cryptographic Lightweight Encryption Algorithm with Dimensionality Reduction in Edge Computing

Edge Computing is one of the radically evolving systems through generations as it is able to effectively meet the data saving standards of consumers, providers and the workers. Requisition for Edge Computing based items have been increasing tremendously. Apart from the advantages it holds, there remain lots of objections and restrictions, which hinders it from accomplishing the need of consumers all around the world. Some of the limitations are constraints on computing and hardware, functions and accessibility, remote administration and connectivity. There is also a backlog in security due to its inability to create a trust between devices involved in encryption and decryption. This is because security of data greatly depends upon faster encryption and decryption in order to transfer it. In addition, its devices are considerably exposed to side channel attacks, including Power Analysis attacks that are capable of overturning the process. Constrained space and the ability of it is one of the most challenging tasks. To prevail over from this issue we are proposing a Cryptographic Lightweight Encryption Algorithm with Dimensionality Reduction in Edge Computing. The t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding is one of the efficient dimensionality reduction technique that greatly decreases the size of the non-linear data. The three dimensional image data obtained from the system, which are connected with it, are dimensionally reduced, and then lightweight encryption algorithm is employed. Hence, the security backlog can be solved effectively using this method.