An Effective Approach for High‐Efficiency Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells by Using Bifunctional DNA Molecules Modified Photoanode

This paper firstly reports the effect of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules extracted from chickpea and wheat plants on the injection/recombination of photogenerated electrons and sensitizing ability of dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). These high‐yield DNA molecules are applied as both linker bridging unit as well as thin tunneling barrier (TTB) at titanium dioxide (TiO₂ )/dye interface, to build up high‐efficient DSSCs. With its favorable energy levels, effective linker bridging role, and double helix structure, bifunctional DNA modifier shows an efficient electron injection, suppressed charge recombination, longer electron lifetime, and higher light harvesting efficiency, which leads to higher photovoltaic performance. In particular, a photoconversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.23% is achieved by the binary chickpea and wheat DNA‐modified TiO₂ (CW@TiO₂) photoanode. Furthermore, time‐resolved fluorescence spectroscopy measurements confirm a better electron transfer kinetics for DNA‐modified TiO₂ photoanodes, implying a higher electron transfer rate (k_ET). This work highlights a great contribution for the photoanodes that are linked with DNA molecule, which act as both bridging unit and TTB to control the charge recombination and injection dynamics, and hence, boost the photovoltaic performance in the DSSCs.     

SNR bounds of FSO links and its evaluation for selected beams

We formulate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for free-space optical links. Upon inserting typical operating parameters, it is seen that SNR well approximates to the inverse of aperture averaged scintillation parameter. By adopting a common source beam power of 10 mW, we select three different source sizes of Gaussian, annular Gaussian (AG), and cosh-Gaussian beams. We then evaluate the SNR of these beams. Our results indicate that when fixed aperture opening is used, fully and partially coherent beams yield almost the same SNR performance. On the other hand, however, focusing and lowering wavelength of operation appear to be quite instrumental in improving the SNR performance. In this context, medium-sized AGB seems to exhibit the best performance.     

Pomegranate peel phenolics: Microencapsulation,storage stability and potential ingredient for functional food development

In this study, we investigated the effects of microencapsulation conditions on product quality of pomegranate peel phenolics. Our results indicate an optimum air inlet temperature of 160 °C and 1/1 (w/w) or 1/3 (w/w) for phenolics/maltodextrin ratio. No differences were observed amongst the maltodextrins used for coatings. There were also no statistically significant differences in phenolic content of microcapsules for the storage periods of 90 days at 4 °C (p > 0.05). We also evaluated the resultant microencapsulated phenolics for enrichment of the functional properties of regular ice cream used as model food in our studies. Addition of pomegranate peel phenolics at 0.5 and 1.0% (w/w) showed significant improvement of the antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of the enriched ice creams compared with control sample. Antioxidant activity as EC₅₀ and α-glucosidase inhibitory as IC₅₀ of 1.0% phenolic enriched ice creams were 133.3 and 22.9 μg/mL, respectively. More than 75% of the panellists accepted the phenolic enriched ice creams in sensory evaluation, which lends supports to such products for commercial introduction to the general public with the potential as functional foods.     

Anticonvulsant activity of furanocoumarins and the essential oil obtained from the fruits of Heracleum crenatifolium

The anticonvulsant activity of furanocoumarins, coumarin mixture and the essential oil obtained from the fruits of Heracleum crenatifolium was examined against maximal electroshock (MES)-induced seizures in mice. Bergapten showed significant anticonvulsant activity. The furanocoumarins isolated from the fruits of the plant were identified using thin-layer chromatography, melting points and spectroscopic methods (IR, MS, ¹H NMR) as isobergapten (1), pimpinellin (2), bergapten (3), isopimpinellin (4), sphondin (5) and byak-angelicol (6). The essential oil content of the fruits were found as 5.5%. Twenty-two compounds representing 99.3% of the essential oil obtained from the fruits of H. crenatifolium were determined and the major components were identified as octanol and octyl acetate (3.1% and 88.4% respectively) by GC and GC–MS.     

Acrylamide Formation in Foods during Thermal Processing with a Focus on Frying

This paper summarizes the current state of knowledge on acrylamide formation in foods during thermal processing. The main pathway of acrylamide formation in foods is linked to the Maillard reaction, and in particular, the amino acid asparagine. Effects of several factors related to food composition and processing conditions on the formation levels of acrylamide, and also, other quality characteristics in thermally processed foods are discussed in detail. From a process control point of view, it is also addressed that there is a need to develop viable models for the estimation of acrylamide contents in heated foods during the stages of process design and optimization. Fried potato products, as one of the most encountered category of thermally processed foods, are specifically emphasized for acrylamide formation, potential ways of mitigation, and modeling its formation during frying.     

枯草芽孢杆菌选育及发酵大豆粕工艺条件研究

以紫外诱变所得枯草芽孢杆菌B1–2发酵大豆粕生产大豆多肽,通过单因子及正交试验确定最佳发酵条件,结果表明:发酵培养基中含9%大豆粕、2%麸皮,利用培养24h枯草芽孢杆菌B1–2菌株作为菌种,在初始pH7.5,温度35℃~40℃,接种量8%条件下发酵64h,大豆粕水解度可从初始条件17.80%提高至21.06%,相比条件优化前水解度提高18%。     

Effects of UV-C Light Processing on Some Quality Characteristics of Grape Juices

White and red grape juices (GJs) were subjected to ultraviolet C (UV-C) light as a non-thermal preservation technology using a coiled tube UV-C reactor with nine lamps. The effects of UV-C light on microbial (total aerobic count and yeast and mould count) and some chemical quality characteristics (total phenolics, antioxidant capacity, anthocyanin and polymeric colour, etc.) of white and red GJs were investigated. The results were compared with control (untreated) and heat-treated juice samples. Single-pass UV-C treatment (12.6 J/mL) of white and red GJs resulted in 3.51 and 3.59 log reductions in total aerobic count and, 2.71 and 2.89 log reductions in yeast and mould counts, respectively. The microbial loads of both GJs were completely eliminated after two passes through the reactor (25.2 J/mL). After UV-C and heat treatments, there were no significant changes in antioxidant capacity, total phenolics, titratable acidity, soluble solids and pH of white and red GJs (P?>?0.05). The losses in monomeric anthocyanins were 6.1% and 8.7% after UV-C treatment of 12.6 and 25.2 J/mL doses, respectively. However, anthocyanin level of red GJ was significantly affected by the heat treatment with an 11.8% loss (P?<?0.05). The percent polymeric colour of the red GJ with heat treatment was significantly higher compared to the colour with the UV-C treatment.     

Antioxidant activity of protein extracts from heat-treated or thermally processed chickpeas and white beans

In this study, antioxidant activities of water-soluble protein extracts from chickpeas and white beans were investigated. The area under the curve (AUC) values of lyophilized crude protein extracts (dialyzed or undialyzed) from thermally processed (121 °C for 20 min) or heat-treated (90 °C for 20 min) chickpeas (73–91 μmol trolox/g) and white beans (39–67 μmol trolox/g) indicated a higher free radical-scavenging capacity and thermostability for chickpea proteins than for white bean proteins. The thermal processing also increased the Fe⁺²-chelating capacity of lyophilized chickpea crude protein extracts 1.8-fold whereas it caused a 2.3-fold reduction in the Fe⁺²-chelating capacity of lyophilized white bean crude protein extracts. Dialysis increased the protein content of lyophilized chickpea extracts 1.5–2-fold but it did not affect the protein content of lyophilized white bean extracts significantly. Ammonium sulfate precipitation was not effective for selective precipitation of antioxidant proteins. However, it improved the free radical-scavenging capacity of lyophilized protein extracts from thermally processed chickpeas and white beans by almost 25% and 100%, respectively. DEAE-cellulose chromatography, indicated the presence of five (A₁–A₅) and three (B₁–B₃) antioxidant protein fractions in heat-treated and thermally processed chickpea protein extracts, respectively, and can be used for the partial purification of antioxidant proteins. The results of this study showed the good potential of chickpea proteins as thermostable natural food antioxidants.