Effects of dietary black cumin seed (Nigella sativa L.) on performance,egg traits,egg cholesterol content and egg yolk fatty acid composition in laying hens

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to determine the effects of dietary black cumin seed on performance, egg traits, egg cholesterol content and egg yolk fatty acid composition in laying hens during a 12 week period. For this purpose a total of 160 Lohmann Brown laying hens 36 weeks of age were allocated to four dietary treatments with one control group and three treatment groups. Black cumin seed (Nigella sativa L.) was used at the level of 5, 10 and 15 g kg^?1 in the diets of the first, second and third treatment groups, respectively. RESULTS: Dietary treatments did not significantly affect body weight, feed intake, egg production, egg quality characteristics and blood parameters. Diets containing 10 and 15 g kg^?1 black cumin seed increased egg weight (P < 0.01), improved feed efficiency (P < 0.01) and decreased egg yolk cholesterol, saturated fatty acids (% of total fatty acid methyl esters) and the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids (P < 0.05) compared to the diet of control group. CONCLUSION: Dietary black cumin seed at the level of 10 and 15 g kg^?1 had beneficial effects on egg weight, feed efficiency, egg cholesterol content and egg yolk fatty acid composition. Therefore it can be used at the level of 10 and 15 g kg^?1 in the diets of laying hens. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Extrusion of poly(ether imide) foams using pressurized CO2: Effects of imposition of supercritical conditions and nanosilica modifiers

Foams of an engineering plastic, poly(ether imide), were extruded using a single screw extruder employing pressurized CO₂ as the blowing agent. The porosity, pore size distributions, and the density of the foams were especially affected by the pressure drop, the pressure loss rate, and temperature at the die. Significant increases in porosity and pore size and corresponding decreases in density were observed when the pressure imposed on CO₂ became greater than the critical pressure values of CO₂ (i.e., the temperature was always greater than the critical temperature of the CO₂ in the extruder and the die). The viscoelastic material functions of the extruded foams depended especially on the density of the foam, with the elastic modulus increasing with density. The incorporation of nanosilica particles in the 0.08–0.6% by weight range increased only the density of the foam and did not provide any benefits in controlling of the nucleation rate and the pore size distribution, presumably due to their poor dispersibility and agglomerated state in the single screw extruder. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:2064–2074, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Combustion performance and kinetics of oil shales

In this research, combustion performance and kinetics of two Turkish oil shales were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetry (TGA/DTG), and thermogravimetry–mass spectrophotometry (TG–MS) techniques at three different heating rates (10, 30, and 50°C/min). The combustion reaction occurred in two different regions and the corresponding mass loss of oil shales was calculated. Activation energies of oil shale samples are calculated using three different methods and the results are discussed from the viewpoint of the origin and grade of the samples.     

Synthesis of manganese (IV) oxide at activated carbon on reduced graphene oxide sheets via laser irradiation technique for organic binder-free electrodes in flexible supercapacitors

We report a novel, green, scalable technique to synthesize binder-free, high-purity conductive composite comprising activated carbon (AC), manganese dioxide nanorods (MnO₂), and reduced graphene oxide sheets (rGO) for flexible supercapacitors with outstanding electrochemical performance. UV pulsed laser irradiation of GO-based composite dispersion (AC/GO or MnO₂@AC/GO) in ethanol aqueous medium was used to induce a photocatalytic reduction of GO and simultaneous anchor AC particles or AC loaded MnO₂ nanorods (MnO₂@AC) on the reduced GO sheets (rGO) at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. rGO sheets serve as a large surface area, conductive binder to enhance the ion adsorption, electrical conductivity, and mechanical flexibility of supercapacitor electrodes. This laser-induced photocatalytic reduction method was used to prepare two different rGO-based colloidal composites AC/rGO (CG) and MnO₂@AC/rGO (MCG). The prepared rGO-based colloidal composites were used to fabricate symmetric supercapacitors (CG//CG and MCG//MCG) and asymmetric supercapacitors (MCG//CG) in which MCG is the positive electrode and CG is the negative one. All prepared rGO-based supercapacitors demonstrated significant improvement in their electrochemical performance compared with rGO-free AC based supercapacitors. The enhancement in the electrochemical properties of rGO-based supercapacitors could be attributed to the intrinsic characteristics of rGO, such as high surface area, excellent electrical conductivity, and super mechanical flexibility. Our approach is a one-step, scalable, cost-effective synthesis technique to produce all binder-free AC/rGO based composites for flexible energy-storage devices.     

Fruit juice–alcohol mixture analysis using machine learning and electronic nose

The aim of this study is to analyze the raw data collected from a fruit juice–alcohol mixture (a fruit juice–alcohol mixture and a fruit juice–multiple alcohol mixture) and the Halal authentication of a fruit juice–alcohol mixture with electronic nose. Machine learning techniques such as naïve Bayesian classifier, K‐nearest neighbors (K‐NN), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), decision tree, artificial neural network (ANN), and support vector machine (SVM) were used to classify the feature of these collected raw data. There are three types of classification: the first one is a fruit juice and an alcohol mixture type; the second is a fruit juice and multiple alcohol mixture types, and the third is a Halal authentication of a fruit juice and alcohol mixture. We aimed at making cocktails with more successful results on the first two types of classification in the work. Also, we focused on Halal authentication of fruit juice–alcohol mixture in the third classification. © 2016 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.