Potential of pulsed electric field to control Aspergillus parasiticus,aflatoxin and mutagenicity levels: Sesame seed quality

Seed processing technologies are essential for seed safety and functionality through protection of physicochemical quality, pathogen inactivation, aflatoxin detoxification and alleviation of mutagenicity. Design of a pilot-scale unit of pulsed electric fields (PEF) to treat sesame seeds with respect to quality parameters, Aspergillus parasiticus inactivation and aflatoxin reduction as well as alleviation of aflatoxin mutagenicity were prompted in this study. PEF energy ranged from 0.97 to 17.28 J achieved maximum reductions of peroxide value and acidity number of 67.4 and 85.7%, respectively, and did not change color L*, a*, b* and hue values. A 60% reduction of A. parasiticus counts occurred at the maximum PEF energy. Aflatoxins G1, G2, B1, and B2 contents decreased by 94.7, 92.7, 86.9, and 98.7%, respectively. Except for the samples treated by 2.16 J with 100 μg/plate and by 6.80 J with 10 μg/plate, PEF treatment provided elimination of aflatoxin mutagenity. It is concluded that PEF treatment can be used to treat sesame seeds with preservation of physicochemical properties, inactivation of A. parasiticus and decomposition of aflatoxins with reduced mutagenicity.     

Estimated anthropometric measurements of Turkish adults and effects of age and geographical regions

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the anthropometric characteristics of the Turkish population by geographical region, age and gender. A survey of 4205 samples consisting of 2263 male and 1942 female civilian subjects was done in the year of 2007. It contains data from all seven geographical regions of Turkey and from all age groups. In the study, height and weight of the subjects were measured by age. Then, these data were used for estimating anthropometric measurements of the Turkish population. The main result of this study is the anthropometric measurements table for Turkey which shows 37 measurements that are commonly used in industry. The anthropometric measurements that are used to make the designs fit human shape and the human/machine or human/environment interface should be updated through time due to changing body types over time (secular trends) due to numerous factors. In this study, we not only update these variables, which are 30 years old, but also investigate the age and region effects on stature and weight of Turkish population.Relevance to industry: During the design phase of a product, incorporating anthropometric information would yield more efficient designs, which are more user friendly, safer and enable higher performance and productivity. So the anthropometric measurements table that is extracted from this study can be used by industry to produce better human oriented products for Turkish population.     

Recent developments in microgrids and example cases around the world—A review

Climate change concerns due to the rising amounts of the carbon gas in the atmosphere have in the last decade or so initiated a fast pace of technological advances in the renewable energy industry. Such developments in technology and the move towards cleaner sources of energy have made distributed generation (DG) from renewable resources more desirable. However, it is a known fact that rising penetrations of DG can have adverse impacts on the grid structure and its operation. The microgrid concept is a solution proposed to control the impact of DG and make conventional grids more suitable for large scale deployments of DG. Covering many aspects of the power systems and power electronics fields, microgrids have become a very popular research field. This paper reviews the background and the concept of a microgrid, the current status of the literature, on-going research projects, and the relevant standards. It also presents a review of the microgrid pilot projects around the world in further detail and discusses the potential avenues for further research.     

High uptake and fixation ability of BC monolayer for CO and NO toxic gases: a computational analysis

Two-dimensional (2D) monolayers have opened a new door for further studies in search of multifunctional materials. In addition to the interesting properties that these monolayers exhibit on their own, these properties can be tuned by doping, creating defects or adatom adsorption processes. Recent research has focused on determining in what technological areas these monolayers can be used. Boron carbide (BC) is a new single layer material that has been shown to be stable from the boron-doped graphene family, but its uses, such as its sensing, uptaking and fixation ability of toxic gases, have not been fully determined yet. This study is a step taken in order to fill the gap in this field. Adsorption of CO and NO molecules on the BC monolayer has been investigated by using first principles DFT methods. After structural optimization, the adsorption energies have been computed for the model systems. Electronic properties of stable structures have been determined by introducing the total and partial DOS plots and charge distributions. Our results revealed that BC monolayer successfully adsorbed CO and NO toxic gases. Thus, useful information was provided for possible applications of a base material, such as detection, uptake, and fixation of toxic gases.

     

Correction to: High uptake and fixation ability of BC monolayer for CO and NO toxic gases: a computational analysis

Journal of Materials Science -     

Use of zinc borate as the third component of a traditional brominated flame retardant system in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene

Because zinc borate is an effective smoke suppressant and cheaper than antimony trioxide, the main aim of this study was to investigate usability of zinc borate as the third component of a traditional binary Br/Sb₂O₃ system in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. Limiting oxygen index, UL‐94, and mass loss cone calorimeter studies indicated that almost all flame retardancy parameters were kept when certain percentages of antimony trioxide were replaced with zinc borate. Residue analysis revealed that the predominant flame retardancy mechanism of the traditional system was gas phase action, whereas zinc borate contributes especially in the condensed phase action by forming thicker and stronger char layer. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contribution of nanoclays to the performance of traditional flame retardants in ABS

The purpose of this study was to investigate contribution of nanoclays to the flame retardancy performance of a traditional brominated flame retardant compound with various combinations of antimony trioxide and zinc borate. The matrix polymer acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) was compounded by melt mixing in a laboratory size twin‐screw extruder. X‐ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy revealed that nanoclay silicate layers were mainly intercalated with certain level of exfoliation in ABS matrix. Flammability analysis investigated by mass loss calorimeter, limiting oxygen index, and UL‐94 tests indicated that use of nanoclays improved all flame retardancy parameters significantly. For instance, the increase in the limiting oxygen index was up to 32% O₂, while the suppression in peak heat release rate value was as much as 82%, of course in each specimen the highest rating of V‐0 in UL‐94 test was obtained. Thermogravimetric and other residue analyses pointed out that these contributions were especially due to the condensed phase flame retardancy mechanism of nanoclay which contributes stronger and carbonaceous char formation acting as a barrier to heat and flammable gases and retarding volatilization via tortuous pathway. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Computational fluid flow solution over endothelial cells inside the capillary vascular system

Computational blood flow analysis through glycocalyx located over the endothelial cells in human capillary vascular system is performed. Stable numerical schemes are developed for obtaining approximate solutions to the mixed problem to the partial differential equation with variable space operator to model the blood flow. Numerical techniques are developed by applying a procedure of the solution to the linear difference equation with matrix coefficients. The flow equations inside the core flow region and porous region are established. Discretization is done and the flow velocities in both regions are calculated. The effect of the flow over the glycocalyx is investigated. The wall shear stresses and the drag force over the glycocalyx are calculated. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accelerated versus standard corneal collagen cross-linking in pediatric keratoconus patients: 24 months follow-up results

Purpose

To compare the 24 month visual, refractive, topographic and aberrometric results of the accelerated and standard corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) in pediatric keratoconus patients.

Physicochemical Characteristics,Antioxidant Activity,Organic Acid and Sugar Contents of 12 Sweet Cherry (Prunus Avium L.) Cultivars Grown in Turkey

Physical characteristics, antioxidant activity and chemical constituents of 12 cultivars (Prunus avium L.) of sweet cherry (Belge, Bing, Dalbasti, Durona di Cesena, Lambert, Merton Late, Starks Gold, Summit, Sweetheart, Van, Vista, and 0–900 Ziraat) were investigated. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed among tested cultivars for pH, total soluble solid, hardness, color parameters, antioxidant activities and pomological measurements (P < 0.05). The color parameters were important tools for the determination of fruit maturity and anthocyanin contents. Belge cultivar showed the highest levels of total phenolic and anthocyanin, while Starks Gold contained the lowest level of anthocyanins. The darker cultivars, measured by ABTS^+?, DPPH^? and FRAP, exhibited higher antioxidant activities than the lighter ones. Bing (42.78 g/kg) and Sweetheart (40.53 g/kg) cultivars contained higher levels of malic acid, which was the most intense organic acid in sweet cherries. Four different sugars were observed in the samples and their concentrations ordered as glucose > fructose >> sucrose > xylose. Sugar alcohol in the cherries was represented by sorbitol (more than 90%) and its concentration varied between 13.93 and 27.12 g/kg. As a result significant differences were observed among the physical properties and chemical constituents of the cherry cultivars.