Effect of partial substitution of wheat flour with resistant starch on physicochemical,sensorial and nutritional properties of breadsticks

This study determined the physicochemical, sensorial and nutritional properties of breadsticks to which a resistant starch (RS)-rich ingredient was incorporated by partial substitution, that is, 40%–70%, of hard wheat flour in the control recipe. Wheat flour substitution at the levels exceeding 50% lightened the colour while decreasing the moisture content and hardness of breadsticks, which was explainable by the microstructure. Changes in properties of breadsticks also affected the suitability of its sensory attributes, particularly colour and texture. Breadsticks, of which half of wheat flour was substituted, contained less protein and calories but higher carbohydrate than the control formula. Such flour substitution increased RS content closed to its effective dose of 15 g in a 45-g serving, which led to approximately 15% reduction in in vitro glycaemic index. Therefore, incorporating effective dose of RS in breadsticks could be performed, without causing substantial changes in product quality, by partial substitution of wheat flour.     

Alcohol-triggered silk fibroin hydrogels having random coil and β-turn structures enhanced for cytocompatible cell response

Alcohol additive is one of the stimulants that induces the fast gelation of silk fibroin solution. Based on our previous report, different alcohol types influence the gelation kinetic and the properties of resulting silk fibroin hydrogels. Here, the effects of alcohol concentrations on the silk fibroin gelation and cell response were reported. All fibroin hydrogels prepared with various alcohol additives showed cell biocompatibility, especially the fibroin hydrogel prepared with 10 wt % n-butanol. Results on the mechanical properties of hydrogels, n-butanol additive enhanced a higher compressive modulus up to ~ 22 times in comparison to non-alcoholic fibroin hydrogel. Fourier transform infrared analysis and peak deconvolution showed a possible formation of more β-turn linkage and random coil structure of fibroin segments in alcoholic fibroin hydrogel. So, the micro-segmental structure of fibroin hydrogel caused the higher compressive modulus, prolonged deformation of the hydrogels, and efficient cell growth on the fibroin hydrogel. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48731.     

3,12-Dimethoxy-7,8-dicyano-[5]helicene as a novel emissive material for organic light-emitting diode

3,12-Dimethoxy-7,8-dicyano-[5]helicene (DDH) was introduced as a novel emissive material for organic light-emitting diode. It shown good thermal stability and no glass transition temperature was observed. The LUMO, HOMO and energy band gap (?3.3, ?5.9 and 2.6 eV) of this compound were determined using cyclic voltammetry technique. Fluorescence quantum yield of DDH in chloroform is 0.27. The turn-on voltage of OLEDs with a configuration of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/DDH/Ca/Al was not a function of DDH thickness in a range of 60–100 nm. The best OLED, in which DDH thickness was 100 nm, exhibited a turn-on voltage of 3.7 V with maximum brightness of 1587 cd/m² at 8.0 V and 281 mA/cm². The maximum current efficiency and power efficiency were 0.64 cd/A and 0.29 lm/W, respectively. The CIE coordinates of the OLED electroluminescence, however, appeared to depend on the applied voltage as they were (0.38,0.47) at 5.0 V and (0.51,0.44) at 8.0 V.     

The development of injectable gelatin/silk fibroin microspheres for the dual delivery of curcumin and piperine

The objective of this study was to develop the microspheres from gelatin (G) and silk fibroin (SF) aimed to be applied for the controlled release of curcumin and piperine. The glutaraldehyde-crosslinked G/SF microspheres at various weight blending ratios (100/0, 70/30, 50/50, and 30/70) were successfully fabricated by water in oil emulsion technique. The microspheres prepared from all compositions were in a round shape with homogeneous size distribution both in the dried (194–217 μm) and swollen states (297–367 μm). When subjected in collagenase solution at physiological condition, the G microspheres gradually degraded within 14 days while the blended G/SF microspheres, particularly at 50/50 and 30/70, were not degraded. For the release application, the microspheres were loaded with curcumin and/or piperine. It was found that the microspheres composed of SF tended to entrap curcumin and piperine with the high entrapment and loading efficiencies, possibly due to their hydrophobic interactions. The G/SF microspheres, particularly at the ratios of 50/50 and 30/70, released curcumin and piperine in a sustained manner both for the single and dual release systems. The controlled dual release of curcumin and piperine from the G/SF microspheres would prolong their half-life, provide the optimal concentrations for therapeutic effects at a target site, and improve the bioavailability of curcumin. These novel injectable microspheres dually releasing curcumin and piperine would be introduced for the treatment of diseases without the need of operation.     

Potential technique for tiny crystalline detection in lycopene-loaded SLN and NLC development

Context: The advantage of solid nanocarriers like solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) or nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) is related to some degree of crystalline characteristics of the lipid. However, the detection of tiny content of crystalline structure in such nanoparticles is difficult.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore a potential method for detection of low degree of crystalline characteristics of lycopene-loaded SLN and NLC.

Methods: Crystalline characteristics investigation was done by polarized light microscope (PLM), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM).

Results and discussion: It was found that high crystalline characteristics as anisotropic molecular organization crystal of pure orange wax and lycopene could be investigated by PLM, DSC and WAXS. Low crystallinity of lycopene-loaded SLN and NLC could not be detected by those techniques. Electron diffraction mode of TEM showed potential detection of tiny crystalline characteristics of such systems. The diffraction pattern of lycopene-loaded SLN and NLC exhibited obvious zero order laue zone indicating an isotropic fine grained polycrystalline of the nanoparticles.

Conclusion: It could be concluded that TEM is a promising method for detection of low-level crystallinity of solid nanocarriers.     

Case Depth Measurement of Induction Hardening Using Image Processing

INDUCTION HARDENING of medium carbon steel iswidely used to produce automotive parts,agriculturalequipment and other machines.Inductor with highfrequency electric current was used as a heater totransform microstructure of steel surface into Austenite.Then water was sprayed on the heated steel.Austenitetransformed into Martensite.Area of microstructuralchange was considered to be case depth that was animportant parameter to be controlled in productionprocess.The standard procedure to de…     

The Effect of Metal Ratios in Graphene-Supported PdCoNi Anodic Electrocatalysts on Catalytic Property for Enhanced Methanol Electrooxidation

The various metal ratios of PdCoNi/G nanocomposites (PdCoNi/G 6:1:1, 6:3:3, 6:4.5:1.5, 6:1.5:4.5, and 6:9:9) supported on graphene were synthesized using a chemical reduction of metal compounds and graphite oxide with a strong reducing agent under N₂ conditions without calcinations to improve the electrocatalytic performance for methanol electrooxidation. SEM, EDX, XRD, XPS, and XANES were used to study the physical and chemical properties of all electrocatalysts. The composition of PdCoNi/G electrocatalysts was in the form of palladium metal, cobalt oxides, and nickel oxide. The electrocatalysis activity of methanol oxidation in 1 M KOH was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. It was found that PdCoNi/G (6:1:1) nanocomposite enhanced the catalytic activity. The relative potential showed the highest current density (17.27 mA/cm²) and negative potential (??0.065 V) in the catalyst studies. In addition, PdCoNi/G (6:1:1) nanoncomposite presented the best intermediate poisoning tolerance for the methanol oxidation of all synthesized electrocatalysts. These confirmed that PdCoNi/G (6:1:1) is very promising for applications in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC).

Graphical Abstract

Schematic illustration of the synthesis of PdCoNi metal nanocomposites (various metal ratios) supported on graphene (a) oxidation of graphite to GO and (b) reduction between GO and metal compounds with NaBH₄ as a reducing agent.

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Optimizing the modified fuzzy ant-miner for efficient medical diagnosis

The advantage of efficient searches belonging to ant-miner over several other approaches leads to prominent achievements on rules mining. Fuzzy ant-miner, an extension of the ant-miner provides a fuzzy mining framework for the automatic extraction of fuzzy rules from labeled numerical data. However, it is easily trapped in local optimal, especially when it applies to medical cases, where real world accuracy is elusive; and the interpretation and integration of medical knowledge is necessary. In order to relieve such a local optimal difficulty, this paper proposes OMFAM which applies simulated annealing to optimize fuzzy set parameters associated with a modified fuzzy ant-miner (MFAM). MFAM employs attributes and training case weighting. The proposed method, OMFAM was experimented with six critical medical cases for developing efficient medical diagnosis systems. The performance measurement relates to accuracy as well as interpretability of the mined rules. The performance of the OMFAM is compared with such references as MFAM, fuzzy ant-miner (FAM), and other classification methods. At last, it indicates the superiority of the OMFAM algorithm over the others.     

Toughening of polybenzoxazine by alloying with urethane prepolymer and flexible epoxy: A comparative study

The toughness of polybenzoxazine can effectively be improved by alloying with isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI)‐based urethane prepolymers (PU) or with flexible epoxy (EPO732). The experimental results, i.e., flexural testing and dynamic mechanical analysis, reveal that the toughness of the alloys of the rigid polybenzoxazine and the PU or the EPO732 systematically increases with the amount of either toughener, due to the addition of more flexible molecular segments in the polymer hybrids. The curing temperature of the benzoxazine resin (bisphenol A‐aniline type [BA‐a]) at about 225°C shifts to a higher value when the fraction of BA‐a in either alloy decreases. Interestingly, the enhancement in the glass transition temperature (T_g) of BA‐a/PU alloys is clearly observed, i.e., T_g of the BA‐a/PU alloys are significantly higher (T_g beyond 200°C) than those of the parent resins, i.e., 165°C for BA‐a and ?70°C for PU. However, this characteristic is not observed in the BA‐a/EPO732 alloy systems. The enhanced T_g of the BA‐a/PU alloy at a 70/30 mass ratio is found to be 220°C, while that of BA‐a/EPO732 at the same mass ratio is observed to be only 95°C, which further decreases as the content of epoxy fraction increases. Furthermore, the degradation temperature based on 5% weight loss in the thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) thermograms of the BA‐a/PU alloys is found to improve with the presence of the PU, though the opposite trend is observed in the BA‐a/EPO732 systems. The char yield of both alloy systems is steadily enhanced with the increased benzoxazine content because the char yield of the polybenzoxazine is inherently higher than that of the two tougheners. Therefore, the polybenzoxazine alloys with the IPDI‐based urethane prepolymer, e.g., the 70/30 BA‐a/PU, are a promising system for a tough, high thermal stability polymeric network, suitable for both bulk and composite matrix applications. POLYM. ENG. SCI. 45:288–296, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers.