Valorisation of grape pomace (cv. Muscat) for development of functional cookies

Fruit juice industries and wineries generate considerable amount of grape pomace as waste from fresh grapes. However, the nutritional assets of grape pomace that include antioxidants, mainly polyphenols, should not be neglected, and be further processed in developing food supplements. In this study, grape pomace (cv. Muscat) was found to be indeed nutrient-rich. This pomace was subsequently employed in development of grape pomace cookies, as a functional snack. The characterisation of the grape pomace cookies delineated their healthfulness in terms of antioxidant potential, and storability in terms of higher shelf life, at 6% w/w in cookie dough. The present study highlights the importance of utilising a wasted bioresource in adding functional value to a common food that otherwise is only a fat-rich snack.     

Next-generation cybersecurity through a blockchain-enabled federated cloud framework

Minimizing the breach detection gap (BDG) for cyber-attacks is a big concern for all organizations and governments. Cyber-attacks are discovered daily, many of which have gone undetected for days to years before the victim organizations detect and deploy the cyber defense. Cyber defense solutions are advancing to combat risks and attacks from traditional to next-generation advanced defense protection solutions. However, many individuals, organizations and businesses continue to be hit by new waves of global cyber-attacks. In this paper, we present a blockchain-enabled federated cloud computing framework that uses the Dempster–Shafer theory to reduce BDG by continuously monitoring and analyzing the network traffics against cyber-attacks. We evaluate the proposed approach using numerical results, and the proposed approach outperforms the traditional approaches.     

Synthesis,characterization and electrochemical evaluation of anticorrosion property of a tetrapolymer for carbon steel in strong acid media

A novel tetrapolymer(TP) consisting of carboxylate, sulphonate, phosphonate and sulfur dioxide based comonomers was synthesized using Butler cyclopoymerization technique. The synthesized tetrapolymer was characterized using FTIR,1 H-NMR,~(13)CNMR and elemental analysis. The performance of the tetrapolymer as a corrosion inhibitor for St37 carbon steel in 15% HCl and 15% H_2SO_4 acid media was assessed using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS), linear polarization resistance(LPR), potentiodynamic polarization(PDP) and electrochemical frequency modulation(EFM) techniques. The influence of addition of a small amount of KI on the corrosion inhibition efficiency of TP was also assessed. Results obtained showed that the tetrapolymer moderately inhibited the corrosion of St37 steel in the acid media with protection efficiency of 79.5% and 61.1% at the optimum concentration of 1000 mg·L~(-1) studied in HCl and H_2SO_4 media respectively. On addition of 5 mmol·L~(-1) KI to the optimum tetrapolymer concentration, the protection efficiency was upgraded to 90.6% and 93.5% in HCl and H_2SO_4 environment, respectively. The enhanced performance of the polymer in the presence of KI is due to synergistic action deduced from synergism parameter(S1) which was found to be greater than unity.The tetrapolymer afforded the corrosion inhibition of St37 steel in the acid media by virtue of adsorption of the polymer molecules on the steel surface which was confirmed by ATR-FTIR analysis of the adsorbed film extracted from the steel surface. TP + KI formed complex with St37 steel surface in H_2SO_4 solution but not in HCl solution.     

Simulations of photodegradation of toluene and formaldehyde in a monolith reactor using computational fluid dynamics

In this study, simulations were conducted on a monolith reactor for the photodegradation of toluene and formaldehyde. The monoliths in the reactor were treated as porous zones and the photocatalytic oxidation occurring on the monolith surfaces was modeled using Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetics. A discrete ordinates model was used to simulate the light intensity with a novel approach, which involved an adjustable parameter—the absorption coefficient of the channel wall, for modeling the local light intensity across the porous media. The advantage of this approach was that despite its simplicity, it was able to capture and visualize the local light profile across the monolith channels and to integrate it into the reaction kinetics. Although it required a trial‐and‐error to determine the correct value of the channel wall absorption coefficient, the proposed model achieved a reasonable agreement between the simulation results and published experimental data. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011     

Simulations of Bubble Column Reactors Using a Volume of Fluid Approach: Effect of Air Distributor

Two‐ and three‐dimensional numerical simulations have been performed on a laboratory scale bubble column reactor using a volume‐of‐fluid approach. The effect of hole‐size and superficial gas velocity on the bubble size distribution and their trajectories has been investigated on a 20 cm diameter and 1 m high cylindrical reactor. All simulations were performed in a transient manner using a FLUENT solver. Surface tension between two phases has been modelled as a body force with a constant value. Turbulence was modelled using the k‐? turbulence approach. A comparison between simulation predictions and the reported experimental studies has shown a good agreement.     

Glucose Concentration in Cell Culture Medium Influences the BRCA1-Mediated Regulation of the Lipogenic Action of IGF-I in Breast Cancer Cells

Hyperglycaemia is a common metabolic alteration associated with breast cancer risk and progression. We have previously reported that BRCA1 restrains metabolic activity and proliferative response to IGF-I anabolic actions in breast cancer cells cultured in high glucose. Here, we evaluated the impact of normal physiological glucose on these tumour suppressive roles of BRCA1. Human breast cancer cells cultured in normal physiological and high glucose were treated with IGF-I (0–500 ng/mL). Cellular responses were evaluated using immunoblotting, co-immunoprecipitation, and cell viability assay. As we previously reported, IGF-I induced ACCA dephosphorylation by reducing the association between BRCA1 and phosphorylated ACCA in high glucose, and upregulated FASN abundance downstream of ACCA. However, these effects were not observed in normal glucose. Normal physiological glucose conditions completely blocked IGF-I-induced ACCA dephosphorylation and FASN upregulation. Co-immunoprecipitation studies showed that normal physiological glucose blocked ACCA dephosphorylation by increasing the association between BRCA1 and phosphorylated ACCA. Compared to high glucose, the proliferative response of breast cancer cells to IGF-I was reduced in normal glucose, whereas no difference was observed in normal mammary epithelial cells. Considering these results collectively, we conclude that normal physiological glucose promotes the novel function of BRCA1 as a metabolic restraint of IGF-I actions. These data suggest that maintaining normal glucose levels may improve BRCA1 function in breast cancer and slow down cancer progression.     

One-pot synthesis of Bi-Ni nanowire and nanocable arrays by coelectrodeposition approach

ABSTRACT: A novel and convenient one-pot electrodeposition approach has been developed for precisely controlled fabrication of large-scale Bi-Ni nanowire and nanocable arrays. Using porous anodic aluminum oxide as a shape-directing template, by simply changing the electrochemical deposition mode, desired Bi-Ni hybrid nanowires and Bi-Ni core-shell nanocables have been obtained in the CV and CC modes, respectively. The structure, morphology, and composition of the as-prepared samples were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, elemental mapping, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry.     

THE COMPARISON OF DISTURBANCE REJECTION PROPERTIES OF ONE-POINT CONTROL SCHEMES FOR ETBE REACTIVE DISTILLATION

The performance of an ETBE reactive distillation column was evaluated by using dynamic simulations under open-loop operation and one-point control schemes for controlling the ETBE purity. In multiloop process control, the choice of the control scheme can have a profound effect on the disturbance rejection properties so that some standard control schemes, namely, LV, DV, LB and (L/D)V, were investigated. It is shown that open-loop operation is not acceptable because no correction can be made so that the process objectives could not be satisfied. The disturbance rejection properties could be increased with a one-point control scheme. The LV scheme has the 'best' disturbance rejection properties among the control schemes studied for feed disturbances.     

Targeting water utilities for the threshold problem without waste discharge

Increasing water scarcity and stringent environmental regulation have necessitated effective water conservation policies. Pinch analysis has been proved as one of the powerful tools to locate targets of waste water minimization. Two earlier water pinch targeting methods known as Water Cascade Analysis and Material Recovery Pinch Diagram have focused on the “threshold problems”. However, these methodologies have not systematically analyzed the introduction of external utility. In this work, three scenarios are proposed for this reason. The “Infeasible Threshold Problem” is addressed prior to employing external utility through the proposed scenarios. By systematically analyzing this specific problem, it is revealed that existing Water Cascade Analysis method cannot locate correct infeasible targets. Some adjustments are proposed to deal with this drawback. Moreover, to illustrate the applicability of proposed scenarios, Water Cascade Analysis and Material Recovery Pinch Diagram approaches are utilized for addressing a literature problem as a case study. It is shown that harvesting the impure fresh water source with a higher quality, in the “threshold problem with zero discharge”, leads to more pure fresh water saving.