Zein-based anti-browning cling wraps for fresh-cut apple slices

The usage of cling wraps is emerging as an easy and cost-effective approach to protect fresh-cut fruits and vegetables from dust, whilst improving visual appeal on retail counters. This study focused on developing an alternate, protein-based packaging material as a food grade cling wrap for food packaging applications. Zein-based cling wraps were produced, and their physical and mechanical characteristics were evaluated and compared with conventionally used chitosan biopolymer films and commercial synthetic polymer films. Antioxidant potential of the prepared films was studied, and the effectiveness of the developed films as anti-browning cling wraps was evaluated using studies conducted on fresh-cut apple slices at ambient conditions. Anti-browning effects were in par with polymeric counterparts; however, zein cling wraps could better prevent weight loss in apple slices. Zein-based films can be adopted as biodegradable food grade cling wraps as an alternative to chitosan and synthetic polymeric materials.     

Liquid phase exfoliated WS2 nanosheet-based gas sensor for room temperature NO2 detection

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - Layered transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials possess novel and unique semiconducting properties when exfoliated into thin sheets...     

Impact of the electromagnetic flow of an MHD Casson fluid over an oscillating porous plate

This study deals with the effect of electric force and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) of the transient state on natural convection flow past an oscillating vertical plate. In addition to this, thermal radiation and porous media are also examined in the Casson fluid flow. The Poisson-Boltzmann equation is employed to show the electric potential character within the fluid region, which is put into a linear form by the implementation of Debye–Hückel linearization. It is possible to compute the precise solution to the governing equations using the Laplace transform approach. The expression of fluid velocity, fluid concentration, and temperature are exposed graphically, and numerical results for Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are also derived for vital pertinent flow constraints. Increasing electroosmosis parameters strongly boosts fluid velocity. The nonnegative values of the Helmholtz–Smoluchowski velocity highly induce the axial velocity and the negative value decelerates. With increasing radiation strength and Prandtl number, the fluid's temperature distribution diminishes. These more intricate electrokinetic rheological flows associated with electroosmotic separators, such as biomedical absorbers, are illuminated by these models.     

rGO Sheets/ZnFe2O4 Nanocomposities as an Efficient Electro Catalyst Material for I3−/I− Reaction for High Performance DSSCs

In this paper, Reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO)/ZnFe₂O₄ (rZnF) nanocomposite is synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method and employed as a counter electrode (CE) material for tri-iodide redox reactions in Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) to replace the traditional high cost platinum (Pt) CE. X-ray diffraction analysis and High resolution Transmission electron microscopy, clearly indicated the formation of rZnF nanocomposite and also amorphous rGO sheets were smoothly distributed on the surface of ZnFe₂O₄ (ZnF) nanostructure. The rZnF-50 CE shows excellent electro catalytic activity toward I₃^? reduction, which has simultaneously been confirmed by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and Tafel polarization measurements. A DSSC developed by rZnF-50 CE (η?=?8.71%) obtained quite higher than the Pt (η?=?8.53%) based CE under the same condition. The superior performances of rZnF-50 CE due to addition of graphene in to Spinel (ZnF) nanostructure results in creation of highly active electrochemical sites, fast electron transport linkage between CE and electrolyte. Thus it’s a promising low cost CE material for DSSCs.

     

Comparative analysis of Cu/blood and Cu–CuO/blood nanofluids on a peristaltic flow governed by an asymmetric channel

Contraction and expansion play a crucial role in biomedical applications, such as heart pumping, ovum in the feminine fallopian vessel, blood fluid transport, and so forth. Inspired by these features, the present effort concentrates on the consequences of a thermal slip in the peristalsis of Cu/blood and Cu–CuO/blood nanofluids in asymmetric flow formation. Hence, the microrotation influence of blood flow is considered here. Heat transported through the channel due to perpendicular flow buoyancy effects is also studied. The special effects of thermal radiation, nanoparticle shape, and heat source/sink parameters on the flow are studied in the proposed model. The MATLAB BVP4c condition is utilized to achieve the numerical solutions of the transformed system of nonlinear coupled differential equations. The most important outcome of the present analysis is an enhancement in the evaluation study of the Cu/blood and Cu–CuO/blood nanofluids on the axial velocity, axial spin velocity, pressure gradient, and temperature distributions in the asymmetric channel. Also, another important outcome is observed that the Cu–CuO blood nanofluid strongly has dominated the Cu/blood nanofluid in axial spin velocity.     

Seed Oil Based Zinc Bioactive Polymers: Synthesis, Characterization and Biological Studies

Zinc containing oil based polyesteramide resins were synthesized by condensation polymerization reaction between castor/soyabean oil derived castor/soyabean fatty amide diol (HECA/HESA), Zn (OH)₂ and adipic acid. The conventional spectroscopic techniques such as FTIR, ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR have been used to establish the structure of the polymers. Standard laboratory methods were used to study the physicochemical characteristics like acid value, hydroxyl value, saponification value, iodine value, specific gravity, and viscosity. The thermal behaviour of the polymers was analyzed by using thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). In vitro antifungal (anticandidial) activity of the polymers was studied against C. albicans ATCC-10261, C. glabrata ATCC-90030 and C. tropicalis ATCC-750, respectively. Antibacterial activity against Gram positive (S. subtillis) and Gram negative bacteria (E. coli and S. typhi) was also examined. For more accuracy, growth curve studies were carried out with the polymer SZ showing higher biological activity against E. coli by using conventional spectrophotometer. The result showed that the polymers have potent anticandidial and antibacterial activities.     

Molecular recognition of geometrical isomers in montmorillonite

cis-alkenes are hydrogenated preferentially followed by trans-alkenes sequentially from the mixture of geometrical isomers by the montmorillonitebipyridylpalladium(II) acetate catalyst. Such molecular recognition in montmorillonite is unusual and remarkable, and forms an advanced model to enzymes.IICT Communication No. 3187.     

Ubiquitin-Specific Protease 29 Regulates Cdc25A-Mediated Tumorigenesis

Cell division cycle 25A (Cdc25A) is a dual-specificity phosphatase that is overexpressed in several cancer cells and promotes tumorigenesis. In normal cells, Cdc25A expression is regulated tightly, but the changes in expression patterns in cancer cells that lead to tumorigenesis are unknown. In this study, we showed that ubiquitin-specific protease 29 (USP29) stabilized Cdc25A protein expression in cancer cell lines by protecting it from ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation. The presence of USP29 effectively blocked polyubiquitination of Cdc25A and extended its half-life. CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knockdown of USP29 in HeLa cells resulted in cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase. We also showed that USP29 knockdown hampered Cdc25A-mediated cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of cancer cells in vitro. Moreover, NSG nude mice transplanted with USP29-depleted cells significantly reduced the size of the tumors, whereas the reconstitution of Cdc25A in USP29-depleted cells significantly increased the tumor size. Altogether, our results implied that USP29 promoted cell cycle progression and oncogenic transformation by regulating protein turnover of Cdc25A.     

Estimation of fuzzy memberships from histograms

Based on the conclusions drawn in the bijective transformation between possibility and probability, a method is proposed to estimate the fuzzy membership function for pattern recognition purposes. A rational function approximation to the probability density function is obtained from the histogram of a finite (and sometimes very small) number of samples. This function is normalized such that the highest ordinate is one. The parameters representing the rational function are used for classifying the pattern samples based on a max-min decision rule. The method is illustrated with examples.