Extruded Moringa Leaf–Oat Flour Snacks: Physical,Nutritional, and Sensory Properties

Expanded snacks based on Moringa (Moringa oleifera) leaf powder (MLP) and oat flour were produced using a lab-scale twin-screw extruder. Four levels of MLP (0, 15, 30, and 45%, dry blend basis) and three levels of in-barrel moisture content (19, 22, and 26%, wet basis) were studied. Expansion of extrudates decreased as MLP level increased. On the other hand, expansion was positively affected by in-barrel moisture for all treatments with MLP. The role of MLP and in-barrel moisture in modifying phase transition, water binding, and gas-holding capacity of the extrusion melt was evaluated and related to product properties.     

Failure Analysis of AISI-304 Stainless Steel Styrene Storage Tank

This paper presents the failure analysis of AISI-304 stainless steel tank that was fabricated by welding and used for the storage of styrene monomers. After about 13 years of satisfactory operation, significant cracking was observed adjacent to the weld joints and in base plate near tank foundation. Weld repair was by shielded gas arc welding using AISI 308 stainless steel filler wire. The failed base plate was replaced with the new AISI 304 base plate of same thickness. After a short period of time, seepage was observed along the weld bead. Upon nondestructive testing cracks were found in the heat-affected zone and in the base plate. The failure investigation was carried out on welded and base plate samples using spectroscopy, optical and scanning electron microscopy, fractography, SEM–EDS analysis, microhardness measurements, tensile and impact testing. The results revealed transgranular cracks in the HAZ and base plate, and the failure was attributed due to stress corrosion cracking. Cracks initiated as a result of combined action of stresses developed during welding and the presence of a chloride containing environment due to seawater. It was further observed that improper welding parameters were employed for weld repair which resulted in sensitization of the structure and postweld heat treatment to remove weld sensitization and minimize the residual stresses was not done.     

Comparative studies of four different phenolic compounds on in vitro antioxidative activity and the preventive effect on lipid oxidation of fish oil emulsion and fish mince

Antioxidative activities of different phenolic compounds (catechin, caffeic acid, ferulic acid and tannic acid) at various levels were determined by different assays. Among all the phenolic compounds tested, tannic acid exhibited the highest 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activities and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). Nevertheless, catechin showed the highest metal chelating activity (P < 0.05), whereas caffeic acid had the highest lipoxygenase (LOX) inhibitory activity (P < 0.05). The impact of different phenolic compounds at a level of 100 mg/l on lipid oxidation of menhaden oil-in-water emulsion and mackerel mince was investigated. Tannic acid showed the highest efficacy in retardation of lipid oxidation for both model systems as evidenced by the lower peroxide value (PV), conjugated diene (CD) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) values. This was also related with the lower non-heme iron content in tannic acid treated samples. Tannic acid was therefore considered as the most potential natural antioxidant for controlling oxidation of fish oil-in-water emulsion and fish mince, whereas ferulic acid seemed to possess the lowest preventive effect on lipid oxidation.     

Utilization of moringa oleifera and nanofiltration membrane to treat palm oil mill effluent (POME)

The palm oil mill effluent imposes environmental issues because of natural and supplement substance. This waste has a significant amount of biological oxygen demand, total suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, and turbidity. Moringa oleifera seeds′ performance analysis as natural coagulants during the pretreatment stage of palm oil mill effluent before it is filtered through commercial nanofiltration membrane is the focus of the current study. The untreated palm oil mill effluent has 2,410 mg/L biological oxygen demand, 3,900 mg/L chemical oxygen demand, 865 NTU turbidity, 41,900 mg/L total suspended solids, and 4.61 pH. The significant reduction occurred in the feed parameters viz., 91.7 % for biological oxygen demand, 83.0 % for chemical oxygen demand, 67.7 % for total dissolved solids, and 72.8 % for turbidity after the pretreatment; however, the pH increased to 4.88. Design expert® was used to design the experiments and optimize the palm oil mill effluent pretreatment process via a one-factor experimental design. The optimized solution has a 0.994 desirability index. Finally, it was concluded that with ever-tightening environmental standards, moringa oleifera could provide a cheap, green, and potential natural alternative to the existing coagulants employed to treat the palm oil mill effluent.     

Variable chemical process and radiative nonlinear impact on magnetohydrodynamics Cross nanofluid: An approach toward controlling global warming

Solar energy is the basic source of renewable energy, and it is being used for controlling global pollution/warming. As the Cross nanofluid is very useful for cooling solar devices, in this paper analysis of the global warming effect is investigated by incorporating the nonlinear thermal radiation over the exponentially extendable surface because it plays a major role related to solar energy absorption of nanofluid. Furthermore, the mathematical modeling of Cross nanofluid involving magnetic effect and diffusion is discussed by using the fact of chemical reaction. Chemical reaction finds astonishing applications in pollution studies, chemical processing equipment, and polymer production. As a result of this study, it is noticed that more magnetized conducting fluid controls the motion of fluids for both cases of shear thinning and shear thickening. Brownian motion parameter Nb affects the rate of the random motion of nanoparticles. Increased Nb temperature also increases due to these random movements of nanoparticles. That is the reason why pollutant nanoparticles spread in air as a result of global warming increase.     

Special issue on towards advancements in machine learning for exploiting large-scale and heterogeneous repositories

Neural Computing and Applications -     

Membrane Rigidity-Tunable Fusogenic Nanosensor for High Throughput Detection of Fusion-Competent Influenza A Virus

The emergence of fatal viruses that pose continuous threats to global health has fueled the intense effort to develop direct, accurate, and high-throughput virus detection platforms. Current diagnostic methods, including qPCR and rapid antigen tests, indicate how much of the virus is present, whether small fragments or whole viruses. However, these methods do not indicate the probability of the virus to be active, capable of interacting with host cells and initiating the infection cycle. Herein, a sialic acid-presenting fusogenic liposome (sLipo–Chol) nanosensor with purposefully modulated membrane rigidity to rapidly detect the fusion-competent influenza A virus (IAV) is developed. This nanosensor possesses virus-specific features, including hemagglutinin (HA) binding and HA-mediated membrane fusion. It is explored how the fusogenic capability of sLipo–Chol with different membrane rigidities impacts their sensing performance by integrating Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) pairs into the bilayers. The addition of an intact virus led to instant FRET signal changes, thus enabling the direct detection of diverse IAV subtypes—even in avian fecal samples—within an hour at room temperature. Therefore, the sensing approach, with an understanding of the cellular pathogenesis of influenza viruses, will aid in developing bioinspired nanomaterials for evolution into nanosystems to detect infection-competent viruses.     

Energy optimization in a smart community grid system using genetic algorithm

A smart community grid is an electrical network, which connects several producers, consumers, and prosumers to share energy in an intelligent and secure way. The main challenges of smart community grid are demand response, demand bidding, dynamic electricity tariffs, demand-side management, and prosumers handling. The current state-of-the-art smart grid decision making is focused on consumers and producers behavior while the aim of this research is to achieve prosumer's different goals in an optimized and intelligent way. A genetic algorithm (GA)-based solution is proposed to share energy in an optimized way without affecting the prosumers' preferences. Six prosumers smart community grids data sets are used to validate the performance of the proposed system. The results show that the proposed method significantly improves the loss of energy sharing without compromising the user's preferences.     

New insights into the cholesterol esterase- and lipase-inhibiting potential of bioactive peptides from camel whey hydrolysates: Identification,characterization, and molecular interaction

Novel antihypercholesterolemic bioactive peptides (BAP) from peptic camel whey protein hydrolysates (CWPH) were generated at different time, temperature, and enzyme concentration (%). Hydrolysates showed higher pancreatic lipase- (PL; except 3 CWPH) and cholesterol esterase (CE)-inhibiting potential, as depicted by lower half-maximal inhibitory concentration values (IC₅₀ values) compared with nonhydrolyzed camel whey proteins (CWP). Peptide sequencing and in silico data depicted that most BAP from CWPH could bind active site of PL, whereas as only 3 peptides could bind the active site of CE. Based on higher number of reactive residues in the BAP and greater number of substrate binding sites, FCCLGPVPP was identified as a potential CE-inhibitory peptide, and PAGNFLPPVAAAPVM, MLPLMLPFTMGY, and LRFPL were identified as PL inhibitors. Molecular docking of selected peptides showed hydrophilic and hydrophobic interactions between peptides and target enzymes. Thus, peptides derived from CWPH warrant further investigation as potential candidates for adjunct therapy for hypercholesterolemia.