The influence of additives on properties of heat‐induced gels from salt‐soluble proteins extracted from goose

Calcium chloride (CaCl₂) and phosphates are important additives to improve product quality during meat processing. Response surface methodology was used to study the influence of CaCl₂ and phosphates on the hardness, water‐holding capacity (WHC) and ultra‐structure of salt‐soluble goose meat protein gels. The results show that the hardness and WHC of salt‐soluble protein gels increased significantly when CaCl₂ concentration was increased and phosphates were added. Scanning electron microscopy showed that tetrasodium pyrophosphate (TSPP) and sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) had a greater impact on the cross‐linking and pore diameter of the gel networks than sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP). At the 0.02 m and 4:3:2 of CaCl₂ concentration and the ratio of TSPP, SHMP and STPP, hardness and WHC values were 114.55 gf and 96.65%, which corresponded to the prediction value of our model. Further results showed that the hardness and WHC of gels reached the maximum with 0.3% of phosphates levels.     

A study on the distinguishing responses of shrinkage and warpage to processing conditions in injection molding

A challenging task in injection molding industry is to minimize shrinkage and warpage (S&W) through optimal setting of molding conditions. In determining the relationship between molding conditions and product dimension, most existing literature considered S&W as a whole entity or focused on only one of them. The intention of this study was to distinguish these two terms, and perform a thorough analysis on the effect of operative conditions on S&W during injection molding process through a combination of experimental and numerical methods. Six process parameters with five levels were examined on a box-shaped product, and the single factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) was adopted in identifying the significance of each variable in the experiment. Results indicated that the effect of processing conditions on shrinkage is different from that on warpage. Specifically, packing pressure affects shrinkage most while packing time is the dominant factor in determining warpage. The reaction of shrinkage to packing pressure is monotonic, whereas the plot of warpage shows a U-shaped variation. A differential treatment of S&W can therefore help to enhance product quality. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

Changes in the phenolic contents and antioxidant activities of citrus peels from different cultivars after in vitro digestion

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of in vitro digestion on the phenolic contents and antioxidant activities of citrus peels. Three different varieties of citrus peels (mandarin, ponkan and red tangerine) were treated with simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and simulated intestinal fluid (SIF). The results showed that the SGF or SIF treatments of the citrus peels did not significantly increase the total phenolic content (TPC) or total flavonoid content (TFC), except for that of the TFC of ponkan peel treated with SGF. However, simulated in vitro digestion did improve the antioxidant activities measured with FRAP and ABTS methods. The effect of SGF was more positive than those of SIF for the FRAP assay, but the opposite was true for ABTS. Notably, both simulated digestion techniques decreased the DPPH free radical scavenging abilities. Simulated digestion in vitro changed the antioxidant activities of the citrus peels.     

拟薄水铝石中硫酸根的存在形式及其对拟薄水铝石性质的影响

A series of pseudo-boehmite samples with their sulfate radicals（SO42-） concentration ranging from 0.9% to 3.0%were prepared by the reaction of NaAlO2 solution on Al2（SO4）3 solution. The existing form of sulfate radicals was investigated.Results have shown that sulfates in pseudo-boehmite included two parts, the soluble sulfate radicals and the insolublesulfate radicals, which accounted for 99% of the total amount of sulfate radicals. XRD, low-temperature N2-adsorption, andTEM were used to characterize the properties of these pseudo-boehmite samples. Results have shown that the relative crystallinityand crystal size of pseudo-boehmite decreased with the increase of sulfate radicals in the support. In the meanwhile,the bound water content in pseudo-boehmite increased. The TEM images of pseudo-boehmite indicated that the pseudoboehmitewas prone to become amorphous hydrated alumina. However, the effect of sulfate content on the specific surfacearea and pore structure of aluminium oxide was insignificant.     

Direct Determination of Energy Band Alignments of Ni/Al2O3/GaN MOS Structures Using Internal Photoemission Spectroscopy

The energy band alignments of Ni/Al₂O₃/GaN heterostructures have been explored by internal photoemission (IPE) and capacitance–voltage (CV) measurements. By performing IPE measurements at both reverse- and forward-bias conditions, the Ni/Al₂O₃ Schottky barrier is found to be 2.9 ± 0.1 eV with the presence of a strong image force lowering effect, while the Al₂O₃/GaN conduction-band offset is determined to be 2.2 ± 0.1 eV and is insensitive to oxide electrical field. CV-based flat-band voltage analysis has further been performed on samples with different oxide thicknesses, not only confirming the IPE-measured band alignment but also revealing the presence of 3.0 × 10¹² cm^-2 net positive charge at the Al₂O₃/GaN interface.     

A Preliminary Study on Robot-Assisted Ankle Rehabilitation for the Treatment of Drop Foot

This paper involves the use of a compliant ankle rehabilitation robot (CARR) for the treatment of drop foot. The robot has a bio-inspired design by employing four Festo Fluidic muscles (FFMs) that mimic skeletal muscles actuating three rotational degrees of freedom (DOFs). A trajectory tracking controller was developed in joint task space to track the predefined trajectory of the end effector. This controller was achieved by controlling individual FFM length based on inverse kinematics. Three patients with drop foot participated in a preliminary study to evaluate the potential of the CARR for clinical applications. Ankle stretching exercises along ankle dorsiflexion and plantarflexion (DP) were delivered for treating drop foot. All patients gave positive feedback in using this ankle robot for the treatment of drop foot, although some limitations exist. The proposed controller showed satisfactory accuracy in trajectory tracking, with all root mean square deviation (RMSD) values no greater than 0.0335 rad and normalized root mean square deviation (NRMSD) values less than 6.7%. These preliminary findings support the potentials of the CARR for clinical applications. Future work will investigate the effectiveness of the robot for treating drop foot on a large sample of subjects.     

Enhanced photocatalytic properties of N–P co-doped TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanosheets with {001} facets

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) co-doped anatase TiO₂ nanosheets were realized by low-temperature self-doping N–TiO₂ followed by high-temperature P doping with foreign precursor. It is found that P doping process can maintain good TiO₂ nanosheets morphology with exposed {001} facets. Chemical state of dopants indicates that N and P atoms replace O on O sites in TiO₂ lattice. Compared with pure TiO₂ and N-doped TiO₂, N–P co-doped TiO₂ nanosheets exhibits stronger optical absorption and higher degradation rate of dye molecules in visible light regime. The enhanced photocatalytic properties are attributed to two factors. On one hand, N–P co-doping can effectively reduce band gap of TiO₂ from 3.20 to 2.48 eV, leading to an enhancement of the absorption in visible light regime. On the other hand, the presence of exposed {001} facets of TiO₂ nanosheets can induce the effective separation of photogenerated electrons and holes in reaction.     

集输管道绝缘接头强度评价方法研究

绝缘接头作为阴极保护系统的关键组件,其安全性与可靠性的研究在不断深入。由于集输系统高温、高压的特点,绝缘接头必然承受由于内压和热胀等导致的弯矩,加之其结构特点,可能会引起泄漏。为此,有必要综合考虑工况条件,研究绝缘接头可承受的安全弯矩值,并形成基于强度的评价方法。根据规范要求,结合管道强度理论,推导了绝缘接头承受弯矩范围的计算公式,提出了对应的绝缘接头强度校核与设计弯矩值选取方法;研究成果为绝缘接头安全设计与强度校核提供了参考与借鉴。     

Forecasting complex group behavior via multiple plan recognition

Group behavior forecasting is an emergent research and application field in social computing. Most of the existing group behavior forecasting methods have heavily relied on structured data which is usually hard to obtain. To ease the heavy reliance on structured data, in this paper, we propose a computational approach based on the recognition of multiple plans/intentions underlying group behavior.We further conduct human experiment to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed approach.