Improving water retention of chicken breast meats by CaCl2 combined with pulsed electric fields

Frozen poultry meat is the most widely consumed animal-based food. However, water loss often leads to quality loss of poultry meat. Therefore, the present study sought to investigate the combined effect of calcium chloride (CaCl₂) and pulsed electric fields (PEF) treatment on chicken breast meats and the mechanisms underlying protein degradation. The results showed that the synergistic effect was superior to the single treatment. Compared with the untreated group, the combination of CaCl₂ and PEF increased water holding capacity of chicken breast meats by 16.61% and decreased cooking loss by 28.93%. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) results indicated that the synergistic treatment promoted water molecules' binding capacity in myofibrils of poultry meat, which exhibited higher immobilised water. Additionally, the combination of CaCl₂ and PEF led to increased degradation of proteins of high-molecular weight and surface hydrophobicity of myofibrillar protein. Furthermore, the extension of the protein molecule and microenvironmental changes promoted interaction between protein and water. In conclusion, the synergistic treatment of CaCl₂ and PEF enhanced water retention and improved physicochemical properties of the myofibrillar protein in chicken breast meats.     

Fabrication and Characterization of Highly Oriented Composite Nanofibers with Excellent Mechanical Strength and Thermal Stability

Here, highly‐oriented poly(m‐phenylene isophthalamide)/polyacrylonitrile multi‐walled carbon nanotube (PMIA/PAN‐MWCNT) composite nanofiber membranes with excellent mechanical strength and thermal stability are successfully produced using electrospinning. It is demonstrated that the cooperation of multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and high‐speed rotating collection is beneficial to the acquisition of highly oriented fibers and effectively improves the mechanical strength of the membrane along the orientation direction. Specifically, the tensile stress of poly(m‐phenylene isophthalamide)/polyacrylonitrile (PMIA/PAN) membrane is enhanced significantly from 10.6 to 20.7 MPa, benefiting from the highly oriented alignment of the fibers as well as the reinforcing effect of MWCNTs on the fibers. Furthermore, the stressing process of single fiber and fiber aggregates is carefully simulated, and the influence of MWCNTs on the mechanical properties of PMIA/PAN‐MWCNT membranes is analyzed comprehensively, providing a meaningful auxiliary means for the study of mechanical properties. In addition, the composite nanofiber membrane has the advantages of both PMIA and PAN, possessing high temperature resistance, flame‐retardancy, and chemical stability, for an ideal high‐temperature material. In short, the as‐prepared PMIA/PAN‐MWCNT composite membrane with excellent comprehensive property emerges a promising application in many fields, especially in high‐tech.     

Electro-magneto temperature-dependent vibration analysis of functionally graded-carbon nanotube-reinforced piezoelectric Mindlin cylindrical shells resting on a temperature-dependent,orthotropic elastic medium

Vibration smart control analysis of a temperature-dependent functionally graded-carbon nanotube-reinforced piezoelectric cylindrical shell embedded in an orthotropic elastic medium is investigated. The mixture law is used for obtaining the material properties of the structure. The structure is subjected to a 2D magnetic field. Considering the first-order shear deformation theory, the motion equations are obtained. Based on an analytical method and differential quadrature method, the frequency is calculated. The effects of applied voltage, magnetic field, volume percent, and distribution type of carbon nanotubes, temperature, orthotropic elastic medium, and length to radius ratio of the shell are shown on system frequency.     

Efficient atom localization via probe absorption in an inverted-Y atomic system

The behaviour of atom localization in an inverted-Y atomic system is theoretically investigated. For the atoms interacting with a weak probe field and several orthogonal standing-wave fields, their position information can be obtained by measuring the probe absorption. Compared with the traditional scheme, we couple the probe field to the transition between the middle and top levels. It is found that the probe absorption sensitively depends on the detuning and strength of the relevant light fields. Remarkably, the atom can be localized at a particular position in the standing-wave fields by coupling a microwave field to the transition between the two ground levels.     

HSDN‐GRA: A hybrid software‐defined networking‐based geographic routing protocol with multi‐agent approach

We propose in this paper a Hybrid Software‐Defined Networking‐based Geographical Routing Protocol (HSDN‐GRA) with a clustering approach. It takes into account three different criteria to select the best relay to send data: (1) the contact duration between vehicles, (2) the available load of each vehicle, (3) and the log of encountered communication errors embedded in each cluster head. The multi‐criteria strategy allows the selection of the most reliable vehicles by avoiding communication problems and ensuring connection availability. Once the hybrid control plane has found out the next eligible neighbor, the data plane will be in charge of dividing and sending data. To validate our approach, HSDN‐GRA has been modeled and implemented in JADE, a multi‐agent platform, to be compared to other multi‐agent based protocols. Simulation results show that HSDN‐GRA achieves good performance with respect to the average routing overhead, the packet drop rate, and the throughput.     

Adaptive finite‐time formation tracking control for multiple nonholonomic UAV system with uncertainties and quantized input

An adaptive finite‐time formation tracking control approach is proposed for multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system with quantized input signals in this paper. The UAVs are described by nonholonomic kinematic model and autopilot model with uncertainties. An enhanced hysteretic quantizer is introduced to avoid chattering, and some restrictions are released by using a new quantization decomposition method. Based on backstepping technique and finite‐time Lyapunov stability theory, the adaptive finite‐time controller is designed for the trajectory tracking of the multi‐UAV formation. The nonholonomic constraints are solved by a transverse function. A transformation is introduced to the control input signals to eliminate the quantization effect. Stability analysis proves that the tracking errors can converge to a small neighborhood of the origin within finite time and all the closed‐loop signals are semiglobally finite‐time bounded. The effectiveness of the proposed control approach is validated by simulation and experiment.     

基于改进粗糙集理论的SAR图像目标增强

图像增强在提高SAR图像舰船目标检测精度方面具有十分重要的意义。由于传统算法不能很好地对SAR图像进行目标增强，提出了基于改进粗糙集理论和引力场强度的目标增强算法。通过借鉴引力场相关理论知识，将粗糙集条件属性集中的梯度属性改进为引力场强度属性，从而实现对原图像的目标增强。与其他算法进行了实验比较，结果表明提出的改进算法相比于其他算法更适用于SAR图像特性，能更好地对舰船目标像素进行针对性增强，具备一定的工程应用价值。     

The effect of moderate pulsed electric fields on autolysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the amino acid content in autolysates

The effect of moderate pulsed electric fields (MPEF) strength on autolysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was evaluated in this study. After exposure to MPEF with intensity of 7 kV cm⁻¹ for 4 ms, the integrity of the cell wall was obviously destroyed and the inactivation of S. cerevisiae reached 99.43%. During the subsequent 42-h autolysis process, the release of free α-amino nitrogen of MPEF-treated cells, as well as extracellular protease activity, was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that of untreated cells. Moreover, exposure to 7 kV cm⁻¹ led to an increase of the total amino acid of 149.36%. In particular, the content of aspartic acid and glutamic acid which are important umami flavour precursors increased by 232.55% and 209.40%, respectively. These results indicate that MPEF will be an effective method to accelerate autolysis of S. cerevisiae for obtaining high-quality yeast extract as flavour enhancers and nutrition supplements.     

Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Stimulation in Osteogenesis and Chondrogenesis: Signaling Pathways and Therapeutic Implications

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are the main cell players in tissue repair and thanks to their self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation capabilities, they gained significant attention as cell source for tissue engineering (TE) approaches aimed at restoring bone and cartilage defects. Despite significant progress, their therapeutic application remains debated: the TE construct often fails to completely restore the biomechanical properties of the native tissue, leading to poor clinical outcomes in the long term. Pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) are currently used as a safe and non-invasive treatment to enhance bone healing and to provide joint protection. PEMFs enhance both osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs. Here, we provide extensive review of the signaling pathways modulated by PEMFs during MSCs osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation. Particular attention has been given to the PEMF-mediated activation of the adenosine signaling and their regulation of the inflammatory response as key player in TE approaches. Overall, the application of PEMFs in tissue repair is foreseen: (1) in vitro: to improve the functional and mechanical properties of the engineered construct; (2) in vivo: (i) to favor graft integration, (ii) to control the local inflammatory response, and (iii) to foster tissue repair from both implanted and resident MSCs cells.