Microbiological spoilage of vacuum and modified atmosphere packaged Vietnamese Pangasius hypophthalmus fillets

This study investigated the identity, growth and metabolite production of micro-organisms causing spoilage of Pangasius hypophthalmus fillets packaged in air, vacuum and modified atmospheres (MAP) (MAP 1: 50%CO(2)-50%N(2) and MAP 2: 50%CO(2)-50%O(2)) during storage at 4 °C. Based on the time it took for psychrotrophic total colony counts to exceed 7 log cfu g(-1), the shelf life of the fillets packaged in air, vacuum, MAP 1 and MAP 2 was estimated to be 7, 10, 12 and 14 days respectively. The longest lag phases were observed in the samples packaged in MAP 2 (50%CO(2)-50%O(2)). In the fillets packaged in air and under vacuum, the dominant flora identified by partial 16S rDNA sequencing at the end of the shelf life generally consisted of Gram-negative bacteria mostly belonging to the genera Serratia and Pseudomonas. In contrast, lactic acid bacteria (Carnobacterium maltaromaticum and Carnobacterium divergens) and Brochothrix thermosphacta were identified as the dominant spoilage flora in the samples packaged under the two MAPs investigated. By means of solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry (SPME GC-MS) analysis, volatile organic compounds in the headspace of the samples at the end of the shelf life were identified for each packaging condition. Based on these results, a selective ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) method was developed to quantify the production of volatile metabolites during storage of the fillets. The results of these analyses indicated that several compounds contributed to the bacterial spoilage of Pangasius fillets e.g., ethanol, 2,3-butanediol, diacetyl, acetoin, ethyl acetate, acetic acid and sulfur compounds. It also emerged that the production of these compounds was dependent on the packaging condition applied.     

Establishment of a simple method for measurement of chronic blood flow in uterine artery of pregnant cows

Blood flow to the gravid uterine horn of seven multiparous Holstein cows (mean +/- SD, BW = 625.5 +/- 82.4 kg; age = 4.7 +/- 1.7 yr; parity = 2.9 +/- 1.1 yr) was measured from d 225 of gestation to parturition using transit-time ultrasonic blood flow probes placed around the middle uterine artery. Surgery was conducted on d 215 of gestation. The cows were sedated with xylazine and local anesthesia (procaine or bupivacain hydrochloride) during surgery. The surgical operations were conducted at the flank of standing cows. A transit time ultrasonic flow probe ("S" series, diameter 12 or 14 mm, Transonic Systems Inc., Ithaca, NY) was fitted surgically around the uterine artery of each cow. Surgery was completed within 2 h of anesthesia, and the animals recovered rapidly following surgery. Uterine blood flow (UBF, L/min) was recorded at 10-s intervals for 1395 min; these values were averaged to determine UBF. Cows exhibited normal gestation lengths (279.1 +/- 7.4 d), gave birth to normal healthy calves (birth weight = 40.6 +/- 6.6 kg), and had no retained placentas. The UBF increased significantly (P < 0.01) from d 225 (6.67 +/- 2.47) to d 249 (8.23 +/- 2.89) of gestation, but the latter UBF was similar to that of d 266 (8.38 +/- 2.70). The increased UBF after d 225 indicates increased demand of nutrients of fetus with the progress of gestation. The range of mean UBF varied widely among individual cows from 4.1 L/min to 12.2 L/min. Our method is useful for chronic measurement of UBF in cows for nutritional or physiological studies and does not require sophisticated facilities or special surgical technique.     

Effect of pH,Temperature and Reaction Time on Calcium Binding by Hydroxypropyl Rice Starches

Calcium binding by both native and hydroxypropyl starches was studied in aqueous media under different pH, temperature and reaction times at various calcium: starch ratios. Calcium binding was markedly influenced by pHs and temperatures of the reaction mixture. Reaction times did not show marked influence on calcium binding. Maximum calcium binding was observed in alkaline pH and at lower temperature. Most of the calcium bound within the first 20 minutes. Thus, alkaline pH and lower temperature is more favourable for calcium binding by both native and hydroxypropyl rice starches compared to acidic pH and higher temperatures.     

Electrodes based on nano-tree-like vanadium nitride and carbon nanotubes for micro-supercapacitors

Vanadium nitride(VN) was deposited by DC-sputtering on a vertically aligned carbon nanotube(CNTs)template for the purpose of nano-structuration. This led to the fabrication of hierarchically composite electrodes consisting of porous and nanostructured VN grown on vertically aligned CNTs in a nano-treelike configuration for micro-supercapacitor application. The electrodes show excellent performance with an areal capacitance as high as 37.5 m F cm~(-2) at a scan rate of 2 mV s~(-1) in a 0.5 MK_2SO_4 mild electrolyte solution. Furthermore, the capacitance decay was only 15% after 20,000 consecutive cycles. Moreover,the capacitance was found to increase with VN deposit thickness. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses of the electrodes before and after cycling suggest that the oxide layers that form at the VN surface is the responsible for the redox energy storage in this material. Such electrodes can compete with other transition metal nitride based electrodes for micro-supercapacitors.     

An efficient evolutionary algorithm to optimize the Choquet integral

Information fusion is an essential part of nearly all systems whose goal is to derive decisions from multiple sources. Often, a fusion solution has parameters and the goal is to learn them from data. Herein, we propose efficient evolutionary algorithm (EA) operators to facilitate learning the Choquet integral (ChI). Whereas many EAs provide a way to solve complex, unconstrained optimization tasks, most tend to perform relatively poor in light of constraints. Recently, a few EA-based approaches to optimizing the ChI have appeared. Namely, these methods focus on fixing the values of variables so conditions are met or feasible candidate pairs are identified for steps such as crossover. Herein, we introduce a new set of transparent operators that are guaranteed to naturally preserve constraints, thus eliminating the need to resort to costly evaluations and fixing of constraint violations. In particular, our method scales well to large numbers of inequality constraints, something that prior work does not. The proposed algorithm, coined efficient ChI genetic algorithm (ECGA), is evaluated on several synthetic data sets and it is compared with state-of-the-art algorithms. In particular, we show benefits in terms of solutions found and the time it takes to find such an answer.     

Tensile behavior change depending on the varying tungsten content of W–Ni–Fe alloys

Tungsten heavy alloys (WHAs) are metal–metal composites consisting of nearly pure spherical tungsten particles embedded in a Ni–Fe–W or Ni–Co–W or Ni–Cu–W ductile matrix. In this dual phase alloy, there are several complicated relations between the ductile matrix and hard tungsten particles. The aim of this research was to examine the effect of varying tungsten content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of tungsten heavy alloys. The microstructural parameters (grain size, connectivity, contiguity and solid volume fraction) were measured and were found to have a significant effect on the mechanical properties of tungsten-based heavy alloys. The result shows that the binding strength between the W and the matrix phase has a major influence on the ductility of tungsten-based alloys. The larger this binding force is, the better the ductility is.     

Study of cation distribution for Cu–Co nanoferrites synthesized by the sol–gel method

Nano sized polycrystalline soft ferrite particles with composition Cu_1−xCo_xFe₂O₄ (x =0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9) were synthesized by the sol–gel technique. The existence of well-defined single cubic spinel structure was confirmed in all the samples by X-ray diffraction. The crystallite size found by XRD varied from 14.8 to 34.0 nm. The microstructure was also characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Slight expansion of the unit cell was detected with the increase of Cobalt concentration, which may be attributed due to larger ionic radius of Co²⁺. Lattice parameter ranged from 8.34 Å to 8.37 Å for Co²⁺ from 0.1–0.9. The distribution of cations amongst A- and B-sites of the lattice was estimated by X-ray diffraction by using the R-factor technique. The results showed that both Cu²⁺ and Co²⁺ ions occupy mainly the B-site while Fe³⁺ ions were equally distributed among A- and B-sites. The data obtained from cation distribution analysis was used to determine the magnetic moment for each sample and VSM studies were also carried out to validate these calculations. Magnetic measurements showed that the saturation magnetization (Ms) and coercivity (Hc) increased with increasing cobalt content.     

Preparation of Rayon Fiber-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites by Extrusion Techniques

Hybrid composites from rayon fibers (～2–5 cm size) and polypropylene (PP) were fabricated by using an extruder. Fibre content of the composite was varied from 5–30% by weight and physico-mechanical properties of the composites were measured. Surface morphology as observed by SEM showed good interface adhesion between rayon and PP matrix. Furthermore inclusion of rayon (up to 15% fiber inclusion) in the composite increased tensile, bending and hardness properties. As the fiber content in the composite increased more than 15%, physico-mechanical properties decreased due to the decrease of fiber matrix adhesion. The change of tensile properties due to environmental aging was carried out by keeping the composite under soil for 1 month and tensile properties were measured periodically. The aging result suggests that composites retained about 75% of its original tensile and bending strength even after 1 month soil burial. The modified fibers were also used for the study. As such the fibers were treated with vinyl-trimethyoxysilane and methanol solution and irradiated under UV before being used with PP in extruder. The results showed retardation of the physico-mechanical properties for composites obtained from irradiated rayon fibers than the composites fabricated from non irradiated rayon fibers.