Evaluation of pre-rigor injection of beef with proteases on cooked meat volatile profile after 1day and 21days post-mortem storage

This research was carried out to determine the effects of pre-rigor injection of beef semimembranosus muscle with nine proteases from plant and microbial sources, on the volatile profile of cooked beef after 1 day and 21 days post-mortem (PM) storage using Solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis. A total of 23 aldehydes, 5 ketones, 3 furans, 8 nitrogen and sulphur compounds, 4 alkanes, 7 alcohols and 6 terpenes were detected. Eleven volatile compounds characteristic of ginger flavour were detected in zingibain-treated meat. Benzaldehyde significantly increased (p<0.05) only in kiwifruit juice (KJ), fungal 31 protease and Asparagus protease (ASP) treated samples from 1day to 21days PM storage. A significant increase (p<0.05) in 3-methylbutanal was observed in KJ, bacterial and fungal protease treated samples at 21days PM storage. Treatments with bromelain, papain, ASP, actinidin, and KJ (except KJ 21days) proteases resulted in flavour profiles closer to that of the control beef sample.     

Analysis of pork adulteration in commercial meatballs targeting porcine-specific mitochondrial cytochrome b gene by TaqMan probe real-time polymerase chain reaction

A test for assessing pork adulteration in meatballs, using TaqMan probe real-time polymerase chain reaction, was developed. The assay combined porcine-specific primers and TaqMan probe for the detection of a 109 bp fragment of porcine cytochrome b gene. Specificity test with 10 ng DNA of eleven different species yielded a threshold cycle (Ct) of 15.5 ± 0.20 for the pork and negative results for the others. Analysis of beef meatballs with spiked pork showed the assay can determine 100-0.01% contaminated pork with 102% PCR efficiency, high linear regression (r(2) = 0.994) and ≤ 6% relative errors. Residuals analysis revealed a high precision in all determinations. Random analysis of commercial meatballs from pork, beef, chicken, mutton and goat, yielded a Ct between 15.89 ± 0.16 and 16.37 ± 0.22 from pork meatballs and negative results from the others, showing the suitability of the assay to determine pork in commercial meatballs with a high accuracy and precision.     

Nonlinear Propagation of Ion-Acoustic Shock waves in Dissipative Electron–Positron–Ion Plasmas with Superthermal Electrons and Relativistic Ions

A weakly nonlinear analysis is carried out to derive the appropriate Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers-like equation for small, but finite amplitude, ion-acoustic waves in a dissipative plasma consisting of relativistic ions, Maxwell–Boltzmann distributed positrons and superthermal electrons. Our results show that in a such plasma, ion-acoustic shock waves, the spatial patterns of which are significantly modified by the relativistic and dissipative effects, may exist. Interestingly, we found that because of ion kinematic viscosity, an initial solitonic profile develops into a shock wave. This later evolves towards a monotonic profile (dissipation–dominant case) as the electrons deviate from their thermodynamic equilibrium. As the relativistic character of the plasma becomes important, the shock wave amplitude decreases. Our investigation may be taken as a prerequisite for the understanding of the shock-waves observed in the ionosphere and the auroral acceleration regions. We recall that when a high energy cosmic ray interacts with the earth’s atmosphere, it may produce an electron–positron pair with enormous velocities. The data obtained during the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) flight permitting to probe the radiation belts in the Earth’s innermost magnetosphere provided an evidence of the presence of positrons.     

Cryptanalysis of mCrypton—A lightweight block cipher for security of RFID tags and sensors

mCrypton is a 64‐bit lightweight block cipher designed for use in low‐cost and resource‐constrained applications such as RFID tags and sensors in wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we investigate the strength of this cipher against related‐key impossible differential cryptanalysis. First, we construct two 6‐round related‐key impossible differentials for mCrypton‐96 and mCrypton‐128. Then, using these distinguishers, we present 9‐round related‐key impossible differential attacks on these two versions. The attack on mCrypton‐96 requires 2^59.9 chosen plaintexts, and has a time complexity of about 2^74.9 encryptions. The data and time complexities for the attack on mCrypton‐128 are 2^59.7 chosen plaintexts and 2^66.7 encryptions, respectively. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The production of biohydrogen by a novel strain Clostridium sp. YM1 in dark fermentation process

In view of increasing attempts for the production of renewable energy, the production of biohydrogen energy by a new mesophilic bacterium Clostridium sp. YM1 was performed for the first time in the dark fermentation. Experimental results showed that the fermentative hydrogen was successfully produced by Clostridium sp. YM1 with the highest cumulative hydrogen volume of 3821 ml/L with a hydrogen yield of 1.7 mol H₂/mol glucose consumed. Similar results revealed that optimum incubation temperature and pH value of culture medium were 37 °C and 6.5, respectively. The study of hydrogen production from glucose and xylose revealed that this strain was able to generate higher hydrogen from glucose compared to that from xylose. The profile of volatile fatty acids produced showed that hydrogen generation by Clostridium sp. YM1 was butyrate-type fermentation. Moreover, the findings of this study indicated that an increase in head space of fermentation culture positively enhanced hydrogen production.     

Experimental study of argon dilution effects on NO x emission in a non-premixed flame in comparison with nitrogen

The effects of nitrogen and argon dilution on NO _X emission of turbulent propane-air non-premixed flame in a furnace are experimentally investigated. Dilution is an effective process in reducing NO _X emission, since diluents cause an increase in the mass flow of the fuel, and consequently the temperature in the combustion chamber and NO _X emission decreases. We measured NO _X emission and temperature for a wide range of dilution and equivalence ratios. The results show that nitrogen dilution is more effective than argon dilution in reducing NO _X emission. In addition, both dilutions caused the yellow color of the non-premixed flame to turn blue, which indicates more complete combustion and better mixing of fuel and oxidant.     

Preparation and Characterization of PAn-HPC/Fe3O4 and PAn-HPC/Fe2O3 Nanocomposite Using Hydroxypropylcellulose as a Steric Stabilizer

Nanocomposite of polyaniline containing Fe₃O₄ and Fe₂O₃ was synthesized by a chemical method using hydroxypropylcellulose as a steric stabilizer. The characteristics of product such as, morphology, conductivity, and particle size were studied. The results indicate that, these properties were dependent on the surfactant, amount and type of metallic oxide. When the concentration of Fe₂O₃ and Fe₃O₄ increased from 1 to 5 g/L, in PAn/Fe₂O₃ and PAn/Fe₃O₄ composites the conductivity decreased from 1.2 × 10^?6 to 1.1 × 10^?8 and 2.8 × 10^?6 to 1.1 × 10^?8S/cm, respectively, while the particle size of nanocomposite increased from 96 to 110, and 97 to 115 nm, respectively.     

Saffron Drying with a Heat Pump–Assisted Hybrid Photovoltaic–Thermal Solar Dryer

Saffron is the most expensive spice and Iran is the largest producer of this crop in the world. Saffron quality is profoundly affected by the drying method. Recent research has shown that hybrid photovoltaic–thermal solar power systems are more efficient in comparison with individual photovoltaic and thermal systems. In addition, heat pump dryers are highly energy efficient. Furthermore, they are suitable for heat-sensitive crops such as saffron. Therefore, in the present study, the performance of a hybrid photovoltaic–thermal solar dryer equipped with a heat pump system was considered for saffron drying, in order to obtain a high-quality product and reduce fossil fuel consumption. The effect of air mass flow rate at three levels (0.008, 0.012, and 0.016 kg/s), drying air temperature at three levels (40, 50, and 60°C), and two different dryer modes (with and without the heat pump unit) on the operating parameters of the dryer was investigated. The results of the investigation showed that total drying time and energy consumption decreased as air flow rate and drying air temperature increased. Applying a heat pump with the dryer led to a reduction in the drying time and energy consumption and an increase in electrical efficiency of the solar collector. The average total energy consumption was reduced by 33% when the dryer was equipped with a heat pump. Maximum values for electrical and thermal efficiency of the solar collector were found to be 10.8 and 28%, respectively. A maximum dryer efficiency of 72% and maximum specific moisture extraction rate (SMER) of 1.16 were obtained at an air flow rate of 0.016 kg/s and air temperature of 60°C when using the heat pump.     

Flow rank based probabilistic fair scheduling for wireless ad hoc networks

Fair scheduling is an ideal candidate for fair bandwidth sharing and thereby achieving fairness among the contending flows in a network. It is particularly challenging for ad hoc networks due to infrastructure free operation and location dependent contentions. As there is no entity to serve coordination among nodes, we need a mechanism to overcome inherent unreliability of the network to provide reduced collision and thereby higher throughput and adequate fair allocation of the shared medium among different contending flows. This paper proposes a flow rank based probabilistic fair scheduling technique. The main focus is to reduce the collision probability among the contending flows while maintaining the prioritized medium access for those flows, which ensures a weighted medium access control mechanism based on probabilistic round robin scheduling. Each flow maintains a flow-table upon which the rank is calculated and backoff value is assigned according to the rank of the flow, i.e., lower backoff interval to lower ranked flow. However, flow-table instability due to joining of a new flow, partially backlogged flow, hidden terminal and partially overlapped region exhibits a challenging problem that needs to be mitigated for our mechanism to work properly. We take appropriate measures to make the flow-table stabilized under such scenarios. Results show that our mechanism achieves better throughput and fairness compared to IEEE 802.11 MAC and existing ones.