Study of oil uptake and some quality attributes of potato chips affected by hydrocolloids

The use of coating agents is one effective way to reduce oil absorption in fried products. Reducing the fat content of fried foods by application of coatings is an alternative solution to comply with both health concerns and consumer preferences. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of hydrocolloids as coating agent on the quantity of oil uptake and on sensory attributes of potato chips. The effect of the coating composition showed that the minimum fat content was related to 1% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), 0.5% xanthan, 0.3% guar and 1% xanthan with 21.2, 21.7, 22.4 and 24.8%, respectively, and the highest of fat content was related to blank sample (non-coated), 2% tragacanth, 0.5% guar gum with 49.4, 41.7 and 33.2% of oil content, respectively (p <0.05). The most effective coating agent reduced the oil uptake by 57.03, 55.94, 54.67 and 49.71%, respectively (p <0.05). Sensory evaluation showed that the best color was related to 1% CMC, 0.3% guar and 2% tragacanth, and with respect to flavor evaluation the best flavor was observed in tragacanth 2%, CMC 0.5% and CMC 0.1%, and the best texture referred to tragacanth 2%, CMC 0.5% and CMC 1%. In sensory evaluation, all coated chips got high scores compared with blank (non-coated chips) samples (p <0.05).     

Vanadium pentoxide: Synthesis and characterization of nanorod and nanoparticle V2O5 using CTAB micelle solution

Using a surfactant-mediated method (surfactant based on cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide, CTAB) V₂O₅ nanorod and nanoparticles have been successfully prepared. Morphologies of V₂O₅ nanostructures can be controlled by applying different precursors and by varying reaction conditions within the CTAB soft template. With ammonium metavanadate and sulfuric acid as precursors, nanoparticles are synthesized in the size range of 45–160 nm. Precursors of vanadyl sulfate hydrate and sodium hydroxide yield vanadium pentoxide nanorods with diameters of 30–90 nm and lengths of 260–600 nm. The resulting products are characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), variable pressure scanning electron microscopy (VPSEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Temperature programmed reduction (TPR) is included to test catalytic performance. The results show that V₂O₅ nanoparticles and nanorods achieve better catalytic performance compared to bulk V₂O₅, i.e. lower onset temperature, workability at lower temperatures, and higher H₂ consumption (μmol/g).     

Ignition and Charring of PVC-Based Electric Cables

Fire Technology - The ignition of four different PVC-based electric cables was studied using cone calorimeter and the influence of the charring phenomenon on ignition was investigated. The...     

Effect of residues from a burnt oil refinery on the compaction parameters and strength of clayey sand

Soil contamination by petroleum contaminants and their derivatives has harmful effects on the environment, including groundwater and marine contamination and on the geotechnical properties of the soil. It decreases the soil strength, bearing capacity of foundations, and slope and trench stability. Petroleum contaminants can also alter the structure of cohesive granular soil. The present study examined the effect of acidic sludge and dirt filter contaminants from a burnt oil refinery on the compaction parameters and strength of clayey sand. Proctor compaction and direct shear tests were performed on soil samples containing 0%, 3%, 6%, and 9% of these pollutants. Direct shear tests were performed at different depths and stresses on soil samples from sandy soil contaminated with the residue from a burnt oil refinery. The results showed that with approximately 4 to 5% increase in pollution, the maximum dry soil unit weight increases and decreases with the addition of more contaminants. Also, the friction and dilatancy angles of the soil decreased. The sample containing 9% pollutants recorded the most significant decrease in these values. The effect of surface-active agents on acidic sludge caused an increase in the Van der Waals force between the particles, resulting in an increase in soil cohesion. Contamination with 47.7% SiO₂ from the dirt filter increased the soil cohesion parameter. Under similar experimental and loading conditions, an increase in the acidic sludge and dirt filter contents decreased the soil shear strength and dilatancy angle.

     

The effect of ethane on the performance of commercial polyphenylene oxide and Cardo-type polyimide hollow fiber membranes in CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>/CH<Subscript>4</Subscript> separation applications

Impurities such as hydrogen sulfide, water vapor and heavy hydrocarbons in natural gas have considerable effects on the membrane performance. Small amounts of condensable and polymer soluble components in the feed gas cause swelling or plasticization of glassy membranes, leading to a reduction in membrane selectivity. In the present research the influence of ethane was investigated on the permeance and selectivity of two commercially available hollow fiber membranes, namely Cardo-type polyimide and PPO hollow fibers for CO₂/CH₄ separations. It was concluded that the gas mixture permeation rate was increased in the presence of C₂H₆. However, the CO₂/CH₄ separation factors remained almost the same in the presence and absence of the C₂H₆.     

Low-power highly linear UWB CMOS mixer with simultaneous second- and third-order distortion cancellation

A 3.1-4.8 GHz mode-1 UWB CMOS mixer that utilizes simultaneous second- and third-order distortion cancellation is presented. The scheme is based on a new derivative superposition, employing PMOS as an auxiliary FET to cancel the second- and the third-order nonlinear currents of common-source transconductance in the mixer and gives rise to low-distortion operation for a broad range of gate-source voltage. Full Volterra series analysis of the proposed transconductance is reported to examine the effectiveness of the new technique. Simulations in a 0.13 μm CMOS technology demonstrate that IIP3 and IIP2 of the proposed mixer have 18 and 10 dB improvements, respectively, compared with conventional Gilbert-type mixer with the same power consumption. The robustness of the technique has been verified by Monte Carlo analysis. The mixer has a gain of 12 dB and noise figure of 13 dB, while drawing only 2.5 mA from 1.2 V supply voltage.     

A low-overhead and reliable switch architecture for Network-on-Chips

This paper proposes and evaluates Low-overhead, Reliable Switch (LRS) architecture to enhance the reliability of Network-on-Chips (NoCs). The proposed switch architecture exploits information and hardware redundancies to eliminate retransmission of faulty flits. The LRS architecture creates a redundant copy of each newly received flit and stores the redundant flit in a duplicated flit buffer that is associated with the incoming channel of the flit. Flit buffers in the LRS are equipped with information redundancy to detect probable bit flip errors. When an error is detected in a flit buffer, its duplicated buffer is used to recover the correct value of the flit. In this way, the propagation of the erroneous flits in NoC is prevented without any need to credit signals and, retransmission buffers. Using an HDL-based NoC simulator, the LRS is compared to two other widely used reliability enhancement methods: the Switch-to-Switch (S2S) and the End-to-End (E2E) methods. The simulation results show that the LRS consumes less power and provides higher performance compared to those of the E2E and S2S methods. More importantly, unlike the E2E and the S2S methods, the LRS has constant overheads, which makes it applicable in all working conditions. To validate the comparison, an analytical performance and reliability model is developed for the LRS, S2S and E2E methods. The results of the model match those obtained from the simulations while the proposed model is significantly faster.     

Urban Water Management Using Fuzzy-Probabilistic Multi-Objective Programming with Dynamic Efficiency

This paper introduces a new multi-objective optimization model for integrated urban water management. The model, based on compromise programming, is applied for the case of Tabriz city in Iran. The water demand of this city is rapidly growing and because of the limited resources, water supply is now more vulnerable to any mismanagement. Therefore the model attempts to optimize the water supply plan of city concerning three main objectives of maximizing the water supply, minimizing the cost and minimizing the environmental hazards. Due to the vagueness in defining the first objective, it is modeled by using the fuzzy set theory. Further, the uncertainty in satisfying some constraints is tackled by using the chance constraint approach. The decision variables are the extent of water withdrawal from the city aquifer, three different water transfer schemes and also the extent of demand management by leaks detection and pipes rehabilitation. Then the fuzzy-probabilistic multi-objective model is solved by considering the new idea of dynamic efficiency in the utility of decision maker and the results provide the optimum water supply in the planning horizon. The model results in robust solutions in which the demand management option dominates the new water transfer. Implementing the results of this model supports the environmental conservation and sustainable development.     

4D Printing of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC): A Detailed Analysis of Microstructure,Programming, and Shape Memory Performance

In this research, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with excellent shape-memory effects is 4D printed via fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology. An experimental procedure for successful 3D printing of lab-made filament from PVC granules is introduced. Macro- and microstructural features of 3D printed PVC are investigated by means of wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) techniques. A promising shape-memory feature of PVC is hypothesized from the presence of small close imperfect thermodynamically stable crystallites as physical crosslinks, which are further reinforced by mesomorphs and possibly molecular entanglement. A detailed analysis of shape fixity and shape recovery performance of 3D printed PVC is carried out considering three programming scenarios of cold (T_g −45 °C), warm (T_g −15 °C), and hot (T_g +15 °C) and two load holding times of 0 s, and 600 s under three-point bending and compression modes. Extensive insightful discussions are presented, and in conclusion, shape-memory effects are promising,ranging from 83.24% to 100%. Due to the absence of similar results in the specialized literature, this paper is likely to fill a gap in the state-of-the-art shape-memory materials library for 4D printing, and provide pertinent results that are instrumental in the 3D printing of shape-memory PVC-based structures.     

Carbon Nanotube (10, 0) and Silicon Nanotube (7, 0) as a Novel Material for Drug Delivery of Substituted Eugenols as Antioxidant Drugs

Silicon - The potential of CNT(10, 0) and SiNT(7, 0) and their metal doped CNT(10, 0) and SiNT(7, 0) to adsorb the NH2, OH and Ethyl eugenols are examined. The antioxidant potential of NH2-, OH-...