Porous epoxy microparticles prepared by an advanced aqueous method

This paper reports the synthesis of emulsions of epoxy compounds with various ratios of epoxy, polyamide and calcium carbonate by homogenization in water at room temperature. The emulsion is cured at 80 °C, and during curing the small epoxy droplets in the emulsion coalesce. The cured coalesced epoxy droplets contain holes formed due to water trapped inside them and also due to the difference in curing rates between epoxy molecules on the outside versus inside of the coalesced droplets. The porous epoxy particles are obtained when the cured coalesced epoxy droplets are treated with hydrochloric acid to remove the calcium carbonate. The size of the porous epoxy particles and the number of holes formed depends on the curing rate of the epoxy compound.     

IM2PR: interference-minimized multipath routing protocol for wireless sensor networks

With respect to the inherent advantages of multipath routing, nowadays multipath routing is known as an efficient mechanism to provide even network resource utilization and efficient data transmission in different networks. In this context, several multipath routing protocols have been developed over the past years. However, due to the time-varying characteristics of low-power wireless communications and broadcast nature of radio channel, performance benefits of traffic distribution over multiple paths in wireless sensor networks are less obvious. Motivated by the drawbacks of the existing multipath routing protocols, this paper presents an Interference-Minimized MultiPath Routing protocol (IM2PR) which aims to discover a sufficient number of minimum interfering paths with high data transmission quality between each event area and sink node in order to provide efficient event data packet forwarding in event-driven wireless sensor networks. Extensive performance evaluations show that IM2PR presents improvements over the Micro Sensor Multipath Routing Protocol and Energy-Efficient data Routing Protocol as follows: 50 and 70 % in term of packet reception ratio at the sink, 44 and 80 % in term of goodput, 33 and 40 % in term of packet delivery latency, 40 and 57 % in term of energy consumption, 50 and 60 % in term of packet delivery overhead.     

Analysis of potential lard adulteration in chocolate and chocolate products using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, in combination with attenuated total reflectance (ATR) and partial least square (PLS) regression, was used to detect the presence of lard in chocolate formulation. The spectral bands associated with lard, cocoa butter and their blends (ranging from 0% to 15% of lard in cocoa butter) were recorded, interpreted and identified. A semi-quantitative approach is proposed to measure the percent of lard in blends on the basis of spectral data at the frequency region 4000–650 cm⁻¹, using the equation y = 0.9225x + 0.5539. The coefficient of determination (R²) was 0.9872 with a standard error (SE) of 1.305. In this paper, the potential of FTIR spectroscopy as a rapid analytical tool for the quantitative determination of adulterants especially lard, in chocolate, is demonstrated.     

Chemically modified oil palm ash‐filled natural rubber composites and its properties

Chemically modified Oil Palm Ash (OPA)‐filled natural rubber composites were prepared by modifying the functional group of OPA with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) prior to compounding by using laboratory conventional laboratory‐sized two‐roll mills. The functional groups of CTAB‐modified OPA were analyzed by using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and compared with those of non‐modified ones. The CTAB‐modified OPA‐filled NR composites showed shorter scorch time and cure time as compared to those of non‐modified OPA, which was attributed to the new functional groups occurred. The tensile test results showed that the OPA‐filled NR composites with CTAB modification exhibit improvement in tensile strength, tensile modulus, and hardness but lower elongation at break as compared to nonmodified ones. The tensile fractured surface of modified OPA filled NR composites revealed the well embedded and better distribution of CTAB‐modified OPA in NR matrix. The toluene uptake was also found to be lower for the modified OPA‐filled NR composites and showed better rubber–filler interaction; it further showed that surface modification with CTAB could compatibilize the OPA particles and NR matrix. POLYM. COMPOS., 35:691–697, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Biogenic amine changes in barramundi (Lates calcarifer) slices stored at 0 °C and 4 °C

The biogenic amines formation in barramundi (Lates calcarifer) slices kept for 15 days at 0 °C and 4 °C were investigated using nine biogenic amines, total plate counts and biogenic amines formers. Significant differences in biogenic amines concentrations of barramundi slices stored at 4 °C and at 0 °C after 3 days of storage were observed. All amines, except tryptamine, 2-phenylethylamine, tyramine and agmatine in the slices increased with time during storage at both temperatures. At the end of the storage period, histamine concentrations were 82 mg/kg and 275 mg/kg for samples kept at 0 °C and 4 °C, respectively. At day 15, the total plate count was approximately 8.6 log CFU/g for sample kept at 0 °C and 9.7 log CFU/g for samples kept at 4 °C. Histamine-forming bacteria (HFB) in all samples ranged from 5.4 to 6.1 log CFU/g at 0 °C and 4 °C, respectively. The observed shelf-life of barramundi slices were 6–9 days.