Effects of sodium alginate coating containing Mentha spicata essential oil and cellulose nanoparticles on extending the shelf life of raw silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) fillets

Food Science and Biotechnology - The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of sodium alginate (SA) coatings containing Mentha spicata essential oil (MSO; 0.5 and 1%) and cellulose...     

Hybrid Bernstein Block–Pulse functions for solving system of fractional integro-differential equations

This paper deals with the numerical solution of system of fractional integro-differential equations. In this work, we approximate the unknown functions based on the hybrid Bernstein Block–Pulse functions, in conjunction with the collocation method. We introduce the Riemann–Liouville fractional integral operator for the hybrid Bernstein Block–Pulse functions. This operator will be approximated by the Gauss quadrature formula with respect to the Legendre weight function and then it is utilized to reduce the solution of the fractional integro-differential equations to a system of algebraic equations. This system can be easily solved by any usual numerical methods. The existence and uniqueness of the solution have been discussed. Moreover, the convergence analysis of this algorithm will be shown by preparing some theorems. Numerical experiments are presented to show the superiority and efficiency of proposed method in comparison with some other well-known methods.     

Reduced‐order modeling of lead‐acid battery using cluster analysis and orthogonal cluster analysis method

Real‐time fast simulation of lead‐acid battery (LAB) plays an important role in monitoring, control, optimization, and many other engineering fields. Hence, any improvement toward a reduction in computational time of LAB simulation while maintaining the accuracy of results is of practical interest. Reduced‐order modeling (ROM) is one of the promising tools, which is computationally cost‐effective along with producing accurate results. In this study, ROM is employed in a transient one‐dimensional simulation of LABs within discharge to investigate the variation of battery parameters, eg, cell voltage, acid concentration, and state of charge (SoC). Accordingly, three reduced‐order models are implemented, namely, proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), cluster analysis (CA), and orthogonal cluster analysis (OCA), wherein the latter one is a new hybrid model of POD and CA methods proposed in the present work. The results reveal that ROM of LAB reduces the simulation time significantly (speed‐up factor about 7‐12) and provide good consistency comparing with previous experimental and numerical studies (less than 1% relative error for cell voltage, acid concentration, and SoC). In addition, the results indicate that the new hybrid method inherits the advantages of both POD and CA methods, ie, enhances the speed of POD method by 8% to 24% and accuracy of CA method by 17% to 65%.     

Forming limit diagram of aluminum/copper bi-layered tubes by bulge test

Chemo-mechanical-grinding (CMG) is a hybrid process which integrates chemical reaction and mechanical grinding between abrasives and workpiece into one process. It has been successfully applied into manufacturing process of silicon wafers where both geometric accuracy and surface quality are required. This paper aims to study the potential of CMG process in manufacturing process of single crystal sapphire wafers. The basic material removal mechanism in terms of chemical effect and mechanical effect in CMG process has been analysed based on experiment results of two different kinds of CMG wheels. The experiment results suggest that chromium oxide (Cr₂O₃) performs better than silica (SiO₂) in both material removal rate (MRR) and surface quality. It also reveals that, no matter under dry condition or wet condition, CMG is with potential to achieve excellent surface quality and impressive geometric accuracy of sapphire wafer. Meanwhile, test result by Raman spectrum shows that, by using Cr₂O₃ as abrasive, the sub-surface damage of sapphire wafer is hardly to be detected. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) tells that the sub-surface damage, about less than 50 nm, might remain on the top surface if chemical effect is not sufficient enough to meet the balance with mechanical effect in CMG process.     

Nutlin‐3a and Cytokine Co‐loaded Spermine‐Modified Acetalated Dextran Nanoparticles for Cancer Chemo‐Immunotherapy

The combination of chemo‐ and immunotherapy represents one promising strategy to overcome the existent challenges in the present‐day anticancer therapy. Here, spermine‐modified acetalated dextran nanoparticles (Sp‐AcDEX NPs), co‐loaded with the non‐genotoxic molecule Nutlin‐3a (Nut3a), and the cytokine granulocyte–macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF), are developed to induce cancer cell death and create a specific antitumor immune response. These polymeric NPs release Nut3a in a pH dependent fashion and induce endosomal escape. Due to Nut3a, the loaded NPs exert specific toxicity toward wild‐type p53 cancer cells while avoiding toxicity in immune cells. Furthermore, the NPs show intrinsic immune adjuvancy on monocyte derived‐dendritic cells, upregulating the expression of cell surface CD83 and CD86 costimulatory markers. Finally, it is examined that by inducing MCF‐7 breast cancer cell death and acting as immune adjuvants, the NPs can downregulate the expression of IL‐10 and upregulate IL‐1β, leading to proliferation of CD3⁺ and cytotoxic CD8⁺ T cells. Overall, the study suggests that Sp‐AcDEX NPs loaded with Nut3a and GM‐CSF is a promising system for chemo‐immunotherapy, capable of inducing tumor cell death and stimulating immune response.     

Nanoporous Ag and Pd foam: Redox induced fabrication using electrochemically deposited nanoporous Cu foam with no need to any additive

A simple, rapid and green method for fabrication of nanoporous metal (Ag and Pd) foams using electrochemically deposited nanoporous copper foam is presented. Ideally direct electrochemical formation of Ag and Pd foam structures without any additive reagent does not lead to a desired result; however, indirect fabrication starting from electrochemically fabricated Cu foam seems promising. Highly porous copper foam is fabricated electrochemically at a copper sheet and in turn serves as a hard template and a redox inducer for the deposition of Ag or Pd. The redox induced replacement of copper foam with Ag or Pd is done via simple immersion of as-fabricated nanoporous copper foam in cation aqueous solutions of Ag or Pd. The surface morphology of the as-fabricated foam is characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), EDX and X-ray diffraction. The hydrogen evolution reaction is investigated as an example to demonstrate the electrocatalytic ability of as-fabricated foams.     

The effect of hydrodynamic parameters on probability of bubble–particle collision and attachment

In this study the dependence of the impeller speed on the particle size variation was investigated on the quartz particles using laboratory mechanical flotation cell. Maximum recovery was obtained at 1100 rpm. For either more quiescent (impeller speed <900 rpm) or more turbulent (impeller speed >1300 rpm) conditions, flotation recovery decreased steadily. Furthermore, amount of collision probabilities is calculated using various equations. According to this study, maximum collision probability was obtained around 48.35% with impeller speed of 1100 rpm, air flow rate of 15 l/h and particle size of 545 μm and minimum collision probability was obtained around 2.43% with impeller speed of 700 rpm, air flow rate of 15 l/h and particle size of 256 μm. Maximum attachment probability was obtained around 44.16% with impeller speed of 1300 rpm, air flow rate of 75 l/h and particle size of 256 μm. With using some frothers such as poly propylene glycol, MIBC and pine oil, probability of collision increased, respectively. Maximum collision probability was obtained around 65.46% with poly propylene glycol dosage of 75 g/t and particle size of 545 μm.