Dietary Supplementation of Tetracarpidium conophorum (African Walnut) Seed Enhances Muscle n‐3 Fatty Acids in Broiler Chickens

The influence of dietary Tetracarpidium conophorum (African Walnut) seed meal (TCSM) on fatty acids, productivity parameters, and physicochemical properties of breast and thigh muscles in broiler chickens are assessed. A total of 180, 28‐d‐old Arbor acre broiler chickens are randomly assigned to dietary treatments containing 0% (control), 2.5%, and 5% w/w TCSM, fed for 28 d, and euthanized. Dietary TCSM reduces (p < 0.05) feed intake, body weight gain (BWG), carcass weight, and abdominal fat. Diet does not affect feed efficiency and hematological parameters. The control birds have higher (p < 0.05) serum total cholesterol and triglycerides than do the supplemented birds. Diet has no effect on pH, water holding capacity, carbonyl and malondialdehyde contents, and organoleptic properties of breast and thigh muscles. The 5% TCSM has higher redness in breast muscle than do other treatments. Dietary TCSM improves (p < 0.05) the concentration of C18:3n‐3 (4.80–8.76% vs 1.56%), C20:5n‐3 (0.54–0.79% vs 0.39%), C22:5n‐3 (0.64–0.89% vs 0.18%), and C22:6n‐3 (0.75–0.97% vs 0.19%), and reduces (p <  0.05) the fat content (2.15–2.45% vs 3.15%) in breast and thigh muscles. Dietary TCSM enhances muscle n‐3 fatty acids without instigating oxidative deterioration, but reduces BWG in broiler chickens. Practical Application: Albeit that broiler meat is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), its omega 6 (n‐6)/omega 3 (n‐3) is >4. Elevated n‐6/n‐3 could have adverse effect on human physiology thereby promoting the pathogenesis of certain diseases. This heightens the need to enhance the n‐3 PUFA content of broiler meat. Dietary TCSM induced up to a fourfold increase in n‐3 PUFA content of the breast and thigh muscles in broiler chickens. Moreover, dietary TCSM induced up to a tenfold decrease in the n‐6/n‐3 of the breast and thigh muscles in broiler chickens. This finding assumes great significance because the health concerns regarding dietary fat are the foremost factors responsible for the bad image suffered by meat. These results provide insights on the potential of TCSM to improve the nutritional quality without compromising the oxidative shelf life, organoleptic traits, and physicochemical properties of broiler meat.     

Chromophore-Free Sealing and Repair of Soft Tissues Using Mid-Infrared Light-Activated Biosealants

Poor strength, infection, leakage, long procedure times, and inflammation limit the efficacy of common tissue sealing devices in surgeries and trauma. Light-activated sealing is attractive for tissue sealing and repair, and can be facilitated by the generation of local heat following absorption of nonionizing laser energy by chromophores. Here, the inherent ability of biomaterials is exploited to absorb nonionizing, mid-infrared (midIR) light in order to engender rapid photothermal sealing and repair of soft tissue wounds. In this approach, the biomaterial simultaneously acts as a photothermal convertor as well as a biosealant, which dispenses the need for exogeneous light-absorbing nanoparticles or dyes. Biomechanical recovery, mathematical modeling, histopathology analyses, tissue strain mapping using digital imaging correlation, and visualization of the biosealant-tissue interface using hyperspectral imaging indicate superior performance of midIR sealing in live mice compared to conventional sutures and glue. The midIR-biosealant approach demonstrates rapid sealing of soft tissues, improves cosmesis, lowers potential for scarring, obviates safety concerns because of the nonionizing light used, and allows adoption of a wide diversity of biomaterials. Taken together, the studies demonstrate a novel advance both in biomaterials for surgical sealing along with the use of nonionizing midIR light, with high potential for clinical translation.     

Second-law-based thermodynamic analysis of two-stage and mechanical-subcooling refrigeration cycles

Thermodynamic analysis of HFC-134a vapor-compression refrigeration cycles is investigated by both the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Second-law analysis is carried out for both two-stage and mechanical-subcooling refrigeration cycles. The analysis is performed on each of the system components to determine their individual contribution to the overall system irreversible losses. It is found that most of the losses are due to a low compressor efficiency. Irreversibilities of expansion valves and condenser are also significant. In addition, it is shown that the optimum inter-stage pressure for two-stage and mechanical-subcooling refrigeration systems is very close to the saturation pressure corresponding to the arithmetic mean of the refrigerant condensation and evaporation temperatures. These results are compared with the existing practice in the industry. Furthermore, theoretical results of a two-stage refrigeration system performance are also compared with experimental values for a CFC-22 system.     

First and second law investigations of a new solar‐assisted thermodynamic cycle for triple effect refrigeration

This investigation is persuaded for the first and second law analyses of a new solar‐driven triple‐effect refrigeration cycle using Duratherm 600 oil (Duratherm Extended Life Fluid, NY, USA) as the heat transfer fluid is performed. The proposed cycle is an integration of ejector, absorption, and cascaded refrigeration cycles that could produce refrigeration output of different magnitude at different temperature simultaneously. Both exergy destruction and losses in each component and hence in the overall system are determined to identify the causes and locations of the thermodynamic imperfection. The effects of some influenced parameters such as hot oil outlet temperature, refrigerant turbine inlet pressure, and the evaporator temperature of ejector and cascaded refrigeration cycle have been observed on the first and second law performances. It is found that maximum irreversibility occurs in central receiver as 52.5% and the second largest irreversibility of 25% occurs in heliostat field. The second law efficiency of the solar driven triple effect refrigeration cycle is 2%, which is much lower than its first law efficiency of 11.5%. Analysis clearly shows that performance evaluation based on the first law analysis is inadequate and hence, more meaningful evaluation must be included in the second law analysis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Auto-recognition and part model complexity quantification of regular-freeform revolved surfaces through delta volume generations

Engineering with Computers - Vast research works implementing feature-based technology have successfully been devoted. However, work on recognition of revolved regular-freeform surfaces is still...     

Infrared absorption spectroscopy and fluctuations induced conductivity (FIC) analysis of Be-doped TlBa2Ca2Cu3O10−δ superconductor

Be-doped TlBa₂(Ca_2−yBe_y)Cu₃O_10−δ (y=0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0) superconductor bulk samples were synthesized by solid state reaction and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), dc-resistivity {ρ (Ω cm)}, and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) absorption spectroscopy. Fluctuations induced conductivity (FIC) analysis is carried out on temperature dependent dc-resistivity data of as-prepared and oxygen post-annealed TlBa₂(Ca_2−yBe_y)Cu₃O_10−δ superconductor samples by using Aslamazov–Larkin (AL) and Lawrence–Doniach (LD) models for excess conductivity. Different microscopic parameters such as zero temperature coherence length along c-axis {ξ_c(0)}, inter-layer coupling (J), inter-grain coupling (α), critical exponent (λ_D) and dimensionality of fluctuations are calculated for understanding the role of Be-doping on superconducting properties of TlBa₂(Ca_2−yBe_y)Cu₃O_10−δ samples. The cross-over temperature (T_o) is shifted towards higher temperature values with the increase of Be contents in TlBa₂(Ca_2−yBe_y)Cu₃O_10−δ samples. The increase in ξ_c(0) and J after Be-doping at Ca sites shows the improvement of inter-plane coupling in TlBa₂(Ca_2−yBe_y)Cu₃O_10−δ samples. The increase in zero resistivity critical temperature {T_c(R=0) (K)} up to y=0.5 and then decrease for y=0.75, 1.00 fixed the Be-doping level for optimum increase of superconducting properties of TlBa₂(Ca_2−yBe_y)Cu₃O_10−δ samples. The appreciable changes in all the microscopic parameters extracted from the FIC analysis and the increase in relative intensity of almost all the oxygen phonon modes indicate the oxygen diffusion in the unit cell after oxygen post-annealing the samples. The oxygen diffusion can take place at both inter-granular and intra-granular sites, which increase the superconducting volume fraction by improving the grains size, inter-grain connectivity and carrier density.     

Performance analysis of an industrial waste heat‐based trigeneration system

The thermodynamic performance of an industrial waste heat recovery‐based trigeneration system is studied through energy and exergy efficiency parameters. The effects of exhaust gas inlet temperature, process heat pressure, and ambient temperature on both energy and exergy efficiencies, and electrical to thermal energy ratio of the system are investigated. The energy efficiency increases while electrical to thermal energy ratio and exergy efficiency decrease with increasing exhaust gas inlet temperature. On the other hand, with the increase in process heat pressure, energy efficiency decreases but exergy efficiency and electrical to thermal energy ratio increase. The effect of ambient temperature is also observed due to the fact that with an increase in ambient temperature, energy and exergy efficiencies, and electrical to thermal energy ratio decrease slightly. These results clearly show that performance evaluation of trigeneration system based on energy analysis is not adequate and hence more meaningful evaluation must include exergy analysis. The present analysis contributes to further information on the role of exhaust gas inlet temperature, process heat pressure, ambient temperature influence on the performance of waste heat recovery‐based trigeneration from a thermodynamic point of view. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the feasibility of community-scale photovoltaic-powered reverse osmosis desalination systems for remote locations

This paper presents a generalized methodology to evaluate the feasibility of photovoltaic-powered reverse osmosis (PVRO) systems for small, remote communities in challenging environments. The economic feasibility is determined by comparing the cost of water from a photovoltaic reverse osmosis system with the cost of water obtained using conventional diesel-powered reverse osmosis. For PVRO systems, the feasibility is a function of location due to variation in solar resource, water type, system demand and local governmental policies. A series of sample cases were analyzed to demonstrate the method. Analysis for community-scale seawater reverse osmosis systems was carried out for various locations using Geographic Information System (GIS) data. A site-specific analysis has been completed for seawater and brackish water reverse osmosis systems. It was found that photovoltaic-powered reverse osmosis is feasible for the majority of remote locations with a large solar resource.     

Characterization of vanadyl phthalocyanine based surface-type capacitive humidity sensors

This study presents the fabrication and characterization of novel surface-type capacitive humidity sensors using vanadyl phthalocyanine (VOPc) as the active material. The devices, which comprise three different thicknesses,have been fabricated using the thermal evaporation technique. A thin film of VOPc is deposited on thoroughly cleaned glass substrates with pre-pattemed Ag electrodes. The capacitive effect of the samples under humidity has been in-vestigated. Comparison of the samples with different thicknesses shows that the thinnest device seems more sensitive towards humidity. The humidity dependent capacitance properties of the sensor make it beneficial for use in commercial hygrometers.