Modeling incidence of lipid and sodium chloride contents on sorption curves of gelatin in the high humidity range

Water mobility and availability are predominant factors in controlling organoleptic and biological quality in food. To characterize and quantify the role of protein macromolecular mesh, sodium chloride and fat on the water retention in the high humidity range, sorption isotherms were measured at 20 °C. A specific method was used which provides rapid equilibrium and many experimental points in comparison with the standard saturated salt solution method. Experiments were carried out on gelatin gels to which either sodium chloride (0-45% w/w on an anhydrous gelatin basis) or vegetal hydrogenated fat (0-50% w/w on total sample mass) was added. Desorption isotherms of 40 points each were measured for each sample for a_w values in a range from 0.60 to 0.99. Results precisely show the specific behavior of water in a protein-sodium chloride mix for a_w values between 0.65 and 0.75. Water activity was then predicted from sample composition. Good agreement with measurements was obtained (1) assuming no incidence of lipids on water-holding capacity and (2) adapting a Ross-type model considering crystallization and introducing an interaction factor related to sodium chloride content.     

Thermal stability study of SDC/Na2CO3 nanocomposite electrolyte for low-temperature SOFCs

The novel core–shell nanostructured SDC/Na₂CO₃ composite has been demonstrated as a promising electrolyte material for low-temperature SOFCs. However, as a nanostructured material, stability might be doubted under elevated temperature due to their high surface energy. So in order to study the thermal stability of SDC/Na₂CO₃ nanocomposite, XRD, BET, SEM and TGA characterizations were carried on after annealing samples at various temperatures. Crystallite sizes, BET surface areas, and SEM results indicated that the SDC/Na₂CO₃ nanocomposite possesses better thermal stability on nanostructure than pure SDC till 700 °C. TGA analysis verified that Na₂CO₃ phase exists steadily in the SDC/Na₂CO₃ composite. The performance and durability of SOFCs based on SDC/Na₂CO₃ electrolyte were also investigated. The cell delivered a maximum power density of 0.78 W cm⁻² at 550 °C and a steady output of about 0.62 W cm⁻² over 12 h operation. The high performances together with notable thermal stability make the SDC/Na₂CO₃ nanocomposite as a potential electrolyte material for long-term SOFCs that operate at 500–600 °C.     

Emission rates and characterization of aerosols produced during the spreading of dewatered class B biosolids

This study measured aerosol emission rates produced during the spreading of dewatered class B biosolids onto agricultural land. Rates were determined in multiple independent experimental runs by characterizing both the source aerosol plume geometry and aerosol concentrations of PM10, total bacteria, heterotrophic plate count bacteria (HPC), two types of biosolids indicator bacteria, endotoxin, and airborne biosolids regulated metals. These components were also measured in the bulk biosolids to allow for correlating bulk biosolids concentrations with aerosol emission rates and to produce reconstructed aerosol concentrations. The average emission rates and associated standard deviation for biosolids PM10, total bacteria, HPC, total coliforms, sulfite-reducing Clostridia, endotoxin, and total biosolids regulated metals were 10.1 +/- 8.0 (mg/s), 1.98 +/- 1.41 x 10(9) (no./s), 9.0 +/- 11.2 x 10(7) (CFU/s), 4.9 +/- 2.2 x 10(3) (CFU/ s), 6.8 +/- 3.8 x 10(3) (CFU/s), 2.1 +/- 1.8 x 10(4) (EU/s), and 36.9 +/- 31.8 (microg/s) respectively. Based on the land application rates of spreaders used in this study, an estimated 7.6 +/- 6.3 mg of biosolids were aerosolized for every 1 kg (dry weight) applied to land. Scanning electron microscopy particle size distribution analysis of the aerosols revealed that greater than 99% of the emitted particles were less than 10 microm and particle size distributions had geometric mean diameters and standard deviations near 1.1 +/- 0.97 microm. The demonstrated correlations of bulk biosolids concentrations with aerosol emission rates, and the reconstruction of aerosol concentration based on PM10 and bulk biosolids concentration provide a more fundamental, bulk biosolids-based approach for extending biosolids aerosol exposure assessment to different land application scenarios and a broader range of toxins and pathogens.     

Mycotoxins in Bovine Milk and Dairy Products: A Review

This paper presents a literature review of the occurrence of several mycotoxins in bovine milk and dairy products, because it is the main type of milk produced and marketed worldwide. Mycotoxins are produced by different genera of filamentous fungi and present serious health hazards such as carcinogenicity and mutagenicity. Under favorable growth conditions, toxigenic fungi produce mycotoxins which contaminate the lactating cow's feedstuff. During metabolism, these mycotoxins undergo biotransformation and are secreted in milk. Data show that there is a seasonal trend in the levels of mycotoxins in milk, with these being higher in the cold months probably due to the prolonged storage required for the cattle feeds providing favorable conditions for fungal growth. Good agricultural and storage practices are therefore of fundamental importance in the control of toxigenic species and mycotoxins. Although aflatoxins (especially aflatoxin M₁) are the mycotoxins of greater incidence in milk and dairy products, this review shows that other mycotoxins, such as fumonisin, ochratoxin A, trichothecenes, zearalenone, T‐2 toxin, and deoxynivalenol, can also be found in these products. Given that milk is widely consumed and is a source of nutrients, especially in childhood, a thorough investigation of the occurrence of mycotoxins as well the adoption of measures to minimize their contamination of milk is essential.     

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.     

BDN-GWMNN: Internet of Things (IoT) Enabled Secure Smart City Applications

Nowadays, next-generation networks such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and 6G are played a vital role in providing an intelligent environment. The development of technologies helps to create smart city applications like the healthcare system, smart industry, and smart water plan, etc. Any user accesses the developed applications; at the time, security, privacy, and confidentiality arechallenging to manage. So, this paper introduces the blockchain-defined networks with a grey wolf optimized modular neural network approach for managing the smart environment security. During this process, construction, translation, and application layers are created, in which user authenticated based blocks are designed to handle the security and privacy property. Then the optimized neural network is applied to maintain the latency and computational resource utilization in IoT enabled smart applications. Then the efficiency of the system is evaluated using simulation results, in which system ensures low latency, high security (99.12%) compared to the multi-layer perceptron, and deep learning networks.

     

Novel Cost Efficient Resource Allocation Technique Based on Deadline and Budget Constraints for Edge Users

Wireless Personal Communications - The edge computing paradigm has experienced quick development in recent years. This paradigm is featured by pushing the storage and computational resources closer...     

The effects of peroxide content on the wear behavior, microstructure and mechanical properties of peroxide crosslinked ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene used in total hip replacement

The wear of the ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) acetabular components and wear debris induced osteolysis are the major causes of failure in total hip replacements. Crosslinking has been shown to improve the wear resistance of UHMWPE by producing a network structure, resisting the plastic deformation of the surface layer. In this study organic peroxides were used to crosslink two different types of UHMWPE resins, using hot isostatic pressing as the processing method. The effects of peroxide content on the different properties were investigated, along with the effect of the crosslink density on the wear behavior. An increase in peroxide content decreases the melting point and the degree of crystallinity, which results in a decrease in the yield strength. The ultimate tensile strength remains essentially unchanged. The molecular weight between crosslinks decreases with an increase in the peroxide content and reaches a saturation limit at around 0.3–0.5 weight percent peroxide, its value at the saturation limit is a function of the virgin resin used for processing. The wear rate decreases linearly with the increase in crosslink density.     

3D printed polylactide-based zirconia-toughened alumina composites: fabrication,mechanical, and in vitro evaluation

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) has been a commonly used technique in the fabrication of geometrically complex biodegradable scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Generally, either individual polylactide (PLA) or its combination with calcium phosphates or bioglass has been employed to design scaffolds through the principles of FDM. In this study, FDM protocol has been employed to design 3D printed PLA/zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA). A series of PLA/ZTA combinations have been attempted to determine the feasibility of the resultant in filament extrusion and their subsequent capacity to obtain a stable 3D printed component. A maximum of 80 wt.% PLA and 20 wt.% ZTA has been determined as an optimum combination to yield a stable 3D structure beyond which an enhanced ZTA content in the PLA matrix yielded a fragile filament that lacked effectiveness in 3D printing. 5 and 10 wt.% of ZTA addition in the PLA matrix produced a better 3D design that reasonably displayed good mechanical properties. Depending on the ceramic content, a homogeneous dispersion of the constituent elements representative of ZTA has been determined throughout the PLA matrix. Simulation studies through finite element analysis (FEA) exhibited good corroboration with the test results obtained from the mechanical studies.