Plastic fats with zero trans fatty acids by interesterification of mango,mahua and palm oils

Speciality plastic fats with no trans fatty acids suitable for use in bakery and as vanaspati are prepared by interesterification of blends of palm hard fraction (PSt) with mahua and mango fats at various proportions. It was found that the interesterified samples did not show significant differences in solid fat content (SFC) after 0.5 or 1 h reaction time. The blends containing PSt/mahua (1:1) showed three distinct endotherms, indicating a heterogeneity of triacylglycerols (TG), the proportions of which altered after interesterification. The SFC also showed improved plasticity after interesterification. Similar results were observed with other blends of PSt/mahua (1:2). These changes in melting behavior are due to alterations in TG composition, as the trisaturated‐type TG were reduced and the low‐melting TG increased after interesterification. The blends containing PSt/mango (1:1) showed improvement in plasticity after interesterification, whereas those containing PSt/mango (2:1) were hard and showed high solid contents at higher temperature and hence may not be suitable for bakery or as vanaspati. The blends with palm and mahua oils were softer and may be suitable for margarine‐type products. The results showed that the blends of PSt/mahua (1:1, 1:2) and PSt/mango (1:1) after interesterification for 1 h at 80 °C showed an SFC similar to those of commercial hydrogenated bakery shortenings and vanaspati. Hence, they could be used in these applications in place of hydrogenated fats as they are free from trans acids, which are reported to be risk factors involved in coronary heart disease. For softer consistency like margarine applications, the blends containing palm oil and mahua oil are suitable.     

Knowledge representation using interval-valued fuzzy formal concept lattice

Formal concept analysis (FCA) is a mathematical framework for data analysis and processing tasks. Based on the lattice and order theory, FCA derives the conceptual hierarchies from the relational information systems. From the crisp setting, FCA has been extended to fuzzy environment. This extension is aimed at handling the uncertain and vague information represented in the form of a formal context whose entries are the degrees from the scale [0, 1]. The present study analyzes the fuzziness in a given many-valued context which is transformed into a fuzzy formal context, to provide an insight into generating the fuzzy formal concepts from the fuzzy formal context. Furthermore, considering that a major problem in FCA with fuzzy setting is to reduce the number of fuzzy formal concepts thereby simplifying the corresponding fuzzy concept lattice structure, the current paper solves the problem by linking an interval-valued fuzzy graph to the fuzzy concept lattice. For this purpose, we propose an algorithm for generating the interval-valued fuzzy formal concepts. To measure the weight of fuzzy formal concepts, an algorithm is proposed using Shannon entropy. The knowledge represented by formal concepts using interval-valued fuzzy graph is compared with entropy-based-weighted fuzzy concepts at chosen threshold.     

Specialty Fats Enriched with Behenic and Medium Chain Fatty Acids from Palm Stearin by Lipase Acidolysis

Structured lipids containing behenic and medium chain (MC) fatty acids were prepared from palm stearin using 1,3-specific lipase-catalyzed acidolysis. Incorporation of MC and behenic acids was affected by proportion of substrate, type of fatty acids, reaction time, addition of water and quantity of lipase. It was found that incorporation of caproic acid was less compared to other longer chain fatty acids. Caprylic, capric and behenic acids shared similar incorporation (up to 32 %), which increased with the amount of fatty acids added and the time of reaction. The incorporation of these acids increased with addition of 1 % moisture and the increasing amount of enzyme from 5 to 10 % at the beginning of the reaction. Incorporating behenic and MC fatty acids, reduced palmitic and oleic acids considerably from palm stearin, the extent being the same as those incorporated. However, the reduction of linoleic acid was marginal. The solid fats content of the modified palm stearin containing MC and behenic acids were reduced at all temperatures due to a reduction in higher molecular weight triglycerides and an increasing proportion of lower chain triglycerides. The modified products of palm stearin with added capric and behenic acids were similar to commercial bakery shortenings and those with added capric acid were like salad or cooking oils or butter in melting characteristics.     

Phenothiazine conjugated bipyridine as ancillary ligand in Ru(II)-complexes for application in dye sensitized solar cell

A new high molar extinction coefficient ruthenium(II)-bipyridine complex “cis-Ru(4,4′-bis((E)-2-(10-decyl-10H-phenothiazin-3-yl)vinyl)-2,2′-bipyridine)(4,4′-dicarboxylic acid-2,2′-bipyridine)(NCS)₂ PTZ1″ was synthesized through conjugation of phenothiazine unit with bipyridine and characterized by FT-IR, ¹H-NMR and ESI-MASS spectroscopes. Absorption measurements and time dependent-density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations show increased spectral response for the ancillary ligand and the corresponding complex. The dye upon anchoring onto mesoporous nanocrystalline TiO₂ solar cells exhibited solar-to-electric energy conversion efficiency (η) of 3.77% short-circuit photocurrent density (J_SC) = 7.79 mA/cm², open-circuit voltage (V_OC) = 640 mV, fill factor = 0.750) under air mass 1.5 sunlight, the reference Z907 and HRS1sensitized solar cells, fabricated and evaluated under identical conditions exhibited η-value of 7.02% (J_SC = 15.25 mA/cm², V_OC = 650 mV, fill factor = 0.705) and 3.05% (J_SC = 8.20 mA/cm², V_OC = 610 mV, fill factor = 0.620) respectively. The lower film absorption of PTZ1on TiO₂ surface could be probably due to larger molecular diameter and planarity of phenothiazine prone to aggregate in solution as well as on TiO₂ surface. The DFT calculations show that the first three HOMOs of PTZ1 have t2g character as observed in case of Z907, while HOMO-4 and HOMO-5 have π-orbitals with major component on phenothiazine moieties of L1.     

Novel macro-microporous gelatin scaffold fabricated by particulate leaching for soft tissue reconstruction with adipose-derived stem cells

The restoration of body contours as shaped by adipose tissue remains a clinical challenge specifically in patients who have experienced loss of contour due to trauma, surgical removal of tumours or congenital abnormalities. We have developed a novel macro-microporous biomaterial for use in soft tissue re-bulking and augmentation. Alginate beads provided the pore template for the construct. Incorporation, and subsequent dissolution, of the beads within a 7 % (w/v) gelatin matrix, produced a highly porous scaffold with an average pore size of 2.01 ± 0.08 mm. The ability of this scaffold to support the in vitro growth and differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) was then investigated. Histological analysis confirmed that the scaffold itself provided a suitable environment to support the growth of ADSCs on the scaffold walls. When delivered into the macropores in a fibrin hydrogel, ADSCs proliferated and filled the pores. In addition, ADSCs could readily be differentiated along the adipogenic lineage. These results therefore describe a novel scaffold that can support the proliferation and delivery of ADSCs. The scaffold is the first stage in developing a clinical alternative to current treatment methods for soft tissue reconstruction.     

Development of chemically interesterified healthy coconut oil blends

Edible vegetable oil blends, such as coconut:linseed; coconut:safflower; coconut:sunflower; coconut:rice‐bran oils; in the ratio of 70:30 and 60:40 v/v and pure coconut oil (CNO) were interesterified using sodium methoxide 0.5% and subsequently refined to prepare nutritionally superior flowable CNO blends which remained liquid even at sub‐zero temperatures. The slip melting point of chemically interesterified fats could not be determined as they are liquified just after removing from freezing chamber in comparison with the slip melting point of 21.5–26.5 °C for their uninteresterified counterparts. These interesterified fats were liquid and flowable at 6 °C for more than 4 h in a cooling chamber and their solidification temperature ranged between ?2.0 and ?5.5 °C. Free fatty acids showed an increasing trend from 0.35% to 2.0% resulting in decrease in triglycerides After refining these oil blends showed values similar to their controls. However, iodine value of interesterified and uninteresterified oils were close to each other. Differential scanning calorimetry showed the onset of crystallisation at lower temperatures and lower solid fat content for interesterified fats. A nutritionally superior combination of CNO blend which is flowable at low temperature could be prepared.     

Polypyridyl Ru(II)-sensitizers with extended π-system enhances the performance of dye sensitized solar cells

New polypyridyl ruthenium(II) complexes “cis-Ru(4,4′-dimesityl-2,2′-bipyridine) (Ln) (NCS)₂ H102” and “cis-Ru(4,4′-bis(2,3,6-tri-isopropylphenyl)-2,2′-bipyridine) (Ln) (NCS)₂ H105”, where Ln = 4,4′-dicarboxylic acid-2,2′-bipyridine; were synthesized and successfully applied to sensitization of nano-crystalline TiO₂ based solar cells (DSSCs). The DSSCs of H102 and H105 fabricated from 0.16 cm² TiO₂ electrodes exhibited broader comparable photocurrent action spectra with almost identical solar-to-electrical energy conversion efficiency (η) as compared to N719 sensitizer. The incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) values of 98% and 95% were obtained for H102 and H105 sensitizers respectively. Under 1 sun condition, η-values of 8.39% (short-circuit photocurrent (J_SC) = 16.4 mA/cm², open-circuit photo voltage (V_OC) = 692 mV, fill factor = 0.734), 8.76% (J_SC = 16.3 mA/cm², V_OC = 735 mV, fill factor = 0.734) and 9.12% (J_SC = 16.1 mA/cm², V_OC = 745 mV, fill factor = 0.753) were obtained for H102, H105 and N719 sensitizers respectively.     

Lateral compression of tubes and tube-systems with side constraints

The quasi-static diametral compression of a tube constrained so that its horizontal diameter cannot increase is considered both theoretically and experimentally. The relationship between the behaviour of a single tube and a nest of tubes is examined experimentally and the role of “closed” system in energy absorption is discussed.     

Moisture sorption characteristics of milk<Emphasis Type="Italic"> burfi</Emphasis>, an traditional Indian sweet,using sugar substitutes

Moisture sorption data are useful in choosing suitable packaging material having a desirable water vapour barrier property in addition to determining the stability of the product. The sorption isotherms of milk burfi, one of the important Indian traditional milk-based sweets, using sugar and sugar substitutes were determined. The product was prepared replacing sugar with sorbitol, maltodextrin (MD)+polydextrose (PD), and PD alone, along with aspartame to give an equi-sweetness level compared to sugar. The isotherms followed typical sigmoidal shape, characteristic of sugar-rich products. The curve for burfi with sorbitol shifted to the left compared to that of sugar, whereas for those prepared with MD+PD or PD, the curves are similar to that of burfi made with sugar. Several models were chosen to fit sorption behaviour and the Guggenheim-Anderson-De Boer model showed a better fit compared to other models.     

Effect of triglycerides containing 9,10-dihydroxystearic acid on the solidification properties of sal (Shorea robusta) fat

Components affecting solidification properties of sal (Shorea robusta) fat have been studied. Triglycerides containing 9,10-dihydroxystearic acid (DHS-TGs) present to about 3% have been found to affect the supercooling property of sal fat at as low a level as 2%. The DHS-TGs were composed of 57.5% stearic, 5.8% arachidic, 6% palmitic and 30.5% 9,10-dihydroxystearic acids. As DHS-TGs are soluble in acetone, solvent fractionation using acetone improved the supercooling capacity of stearin while that of the olein fraction was not affected. When the fat was subjected to dry fractionation at 35 C, DHS-TGs, due to their high melting nature, were removed to a greater extent in the form of stearin, thereby improving the supercooling capacity of the olein.