Optimisation of aqueous extraction of gum from durian (Durio zibethinus) seed: A potential, low cost source of hydrocolloid

The main goal of the present study was to investigate the effect of aqueous extraction conditions on the extraction yield and physicochemical properties of the durian seed gum. The studied aqueous extraction variables were water/seed (W/S) ratio (20:1-60:1, w/w), temperature (25.0-85.0 °C), and pH (4.0-10.0). The results indicated that the aqueous extraction variables exhibited the least significant (p < 0.05) effect on oil-holding capacity (OHC). Conversely, they had the most significant (p < 0.05) effect on the span and extraction yield. The current study revealed that the interaction effect of aqueous extraction variables showed the least significant (p < 0.05) effect on the solubility and OHC of durian seed gum. The optimum extraction condition led to the production of durian seed gum with a relatively high extraction yield (56.4%), solubility (27.9%), volume-weighted mean (98.7 μm), span (3.8), water-holding capacity (WHC) (270.6 g water/100 g gum), and OHC (146.5 g oil/100 g gum).     

Syntheses and Characterization of Two New M(II)-5,5′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (M = Cd and Pb) Coordination Polymers and Study of Their Thermal and Electrochemical Properties

Two new cadmium(II) and lead(II)-thiocyanato coordination polymers with 5,5′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (5,5′-dm-2,2′-bpy) as chelating ligands were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR and ¹H NMR spectroscopy and by X-ray crystallography. Thermal and electrochemical properties were also studied as well. These complexes have formed formula [Cd(5,5′-dm-2,2′-bpy)(NCS)₂]_n (1) and [Pb(5,5′-dm-2,2′-bpy)(CH₃COO)(NCS)]_n (2). The coordination numbers of Cd^II in 1 and Pb^II in 2 are six (CdN₄S₂) and seven (PbN₃O₃S₂), respectively. In 2, “stereo-chemically active” electron lone pairs and the coordination spheres were hemidirected. Bridging properties of thiocyanato anions in 1 and 2 created one- and two-dimensional coordination polymers, respectively. The supramolecular features in these complexes were guided and controlled by weak directional intermolecular interactions.     

Adaptive Data Hiding,Using Pixel-Value-Differencing and LSB Substitution

With the development of Internet communications, the security of message sending on the Internet has become very important. This article proposes a new adaptive data hiding method with a large data-embedding capacity for gray-scale images to raise the security of sending a message between sender and receiver in networks. At first, the image is divided into some blocks consisting of two consecutive pixels. If the values of both pixels are small, fewer secret bits will be embedded within the two pixels, otherwise, the difference value of two pixels is calculated, and according to the obtained difference value, the method will estimate the number of embedding bits into LSBs of two pixels. This number is adaptive and depends on the range to which the difference value belongs. A readjusting phase is presented to keep the difference of value pixels in the same range before and after embedding. Experimental results show that our method has increased the capacity of embedding bits in comparison with the several other methods.     

Exopolysaccharide produced by Vibrio neocaledonicus sp. as a green corrosion inhibitor: Production and structural characterization

An exopolysaccharide substances produced by Vibrio neocaledonicus sp. was introduced as a novel green inhibitor against the corrosion of carbon steel in artificial seawater and acidic media. The produced extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) is heterogeneous with composition of polysaccharides, nucleic acids and protein and average molecular weight of 29,572 Da. Adsorption of EPS on the metal surfaces and formation of Fe-EPS complexes acted as a barrier to prevent the oxygen penetration and hindered anodic and cathodic reactions. The inhibitory effect increases with increasing EPS concentration and exposure time. The highest corrosion inhibitory effect (95.1%) was observed for 10 g/L of EPS after 5 days of exposure in seawater. This is the highest inhibitory effect ever been reported by EPSs. While, the optimum concentration of EPS with the highest inhibition efficiency in 1 N H₂SO₄ was 1000 ppm. The influence of different parameters, such as initial pH, growth phase, various nitrogen and carbon sources on the production of EPS and its corrosion inhibitory effect were also investigated. According to results, the optimum culture medium for EPS production is contained artificial seawater including 5% mannitol as carbon source and 0.1% (NH₄)₂SO₄ as nitrogen source at pH = 8. This medium could produce 22.24 g/L EPS during 3 days’ incubation at 30 °C. The corrosion inhibitory efficiency of obtained EPS was 95.97%.     

Nanodiamonds and Their Applications in Cells

Diamonds owe their fame to a unique set of outstanding properties. They combine a high refractive index, hardness, great stability and inertness, and low electrical but high thermal conductivity. Diamond defects have recently attracted a lot of attention. Given this unique list of properties, it is not surprising that diamond nanoparticles are utilized for numerous applications. Due to their hardness, they are routinely used as abrasives. Their small and uniform size qualifies them as attractive carriers for drug delivery. The stable fluorescence of diamond defects allows their use as stable single photon sources or biolabels. The magnetic properties of the defects make them stable spin qubits in quantum information. This property also allows their use as a sensor for temperature, magnetic fields, electric fields, or strain. This Review focuses on applications in cells. Different diamond materials and the special requirements for the respective applications are discussed. Methods to chemically modify the surface of diamonds and the different hurdles one has to overcome when working with cells, such as entering the cells and biocompatibility, are described. Finally, the recent developments and applications in labeling, sensing, drug delivery, theranostics, antibiotics, and tissue engineering are critically discussed.     

Development of a stress-mode sensitive viscoelastic constitutive relationship for asphalt concrete: experimental and numerical modeling

Asphalt binder is responsible for the thermo-viscoelastic mechanical behavior of asphalt concrete. Upon application of pure compressive stress to an asphalt concrete specimen, the stress is transferred by mechanisms such as aggregate interlock and the adhesion/cohesion properties of asphalt mastic. In the pure tensile stress mode, aggregate interlock plays a limited role in stress transfer, and the mastic phase plays the dominant role through its adhesive/cohesive and viscoelastic properties. Under actual combined loading patterns, any coordinate direction may experience different stress modes; therefore, the mechanical behavior is not the same in the different directions and the asphalt specimen behaves as an anisotropic material. The present study developed an anisotropic nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive relationship that is sensitive to the tension/compression stress mode by extending Schapery’s nonlinear viscoelastic model. The proposed constitutive relationship was implemented in Abaqus using a user material (UMAT) subroutine in an implicit scheme. Uniaxial compression and indirect tension (IDT) testing were used to characterize the viscoelastic properties of the bituminous materials and to calibrate and validate the proposed constitutive relationship. Compressive and tensile creep compliances were calculated using uniaxial compression, as well as IDT test results, for different creep-recovery loading patterns at intermediate temperature. The results showed that both tensile creep compliance and its rate were greater than those of compression. The calculated deflections based on these IDT test simulations were compared with experimental measurements and were deemed acceptable. This suggests that the proposed viscoelastic constitutive relationship correctly demonstrates the viscoelastic response and is more accurate for analysis of asphalt concrete in the laboratory or in situ.     

Design of proportional-derivative-type state feedback controllers for congestion control of transmission control protocol networks

A new proportional-derivative-type state feedback controller is proposed for congestion control of transmission control protocol (TCP) networks. An analytical TCP model is adopted. In the proposed control scheme, it is possible to efficiently control the TCP traffic using only the queue length at the router without the need to know the TCP window size which is not available locally. The results are presented in terms of delay-dependent linear matrix inequality. The proposed method is verified by simulation examples using NS software, and the effectiveness and superiority of our method over other control schemes, such as the proportional-integral, random early detection and generalised minimum variancemethods, are also shown.     

OPTIMIZED QUERY FORWARDING FOR RESOURCE DISCOVERY IN UNSTRUCTURED PEER-TO-PEER GRIDS

One of the challenges of resource discovery in unstructured peer-to-peer grid systems is minimizing network traffic. The network traffic arises by query messages that are broadcasted to other peers in order to find the appropriate resources. Blind search methods that are employed in such systems do not work well because every specific query generates high query traffic, which quickly overwhelms the network. Informed search methods usually use recorded history of previous queries to decide where the new queries should be sent. Such methods can reduce network traffic but do not consider the path length. In this study, a method was proposed in which both the path length and network traffic are considered. This approach reduces the hop numbers and prevents massive flooding of query messages. To do this, it selects optimum neighbor peer(s) in order to optimize query forwarding. The proposed approach uses statistical tables that are obtained from recorded history of previous queries. Then a genetic algorithm is applied to these statistical tables to find the optimum neighbor peer(s). The proposed approach showed that query forwarding through the optimum neighbor peer(s) has a greater probability of finding a requested resource with lower hop numbers. This method was compared with random walk and flooding approaches. It was observed that the network traffic remarkably decreased in comparison to a flooding approach, whereas it was similar to the results obtained by a random walk method. Moreover, this method provided a higher success rate in comparison to the random walk approach, whereas it was similar to the results obtained by a flooding method.     

Overlap concentration of an aqueous poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) solution in the dynamic and static states

The overlap concentration of poly(N-vinylcaprolactam)s (PVCLs) of low molecular weights was studied with dynamic and static methods (with viscosity and refractive-index measurements) at three temperatures (25, 30, and 35°C). This concentration, determined by viscometry, was lower than the overlap concentration determined by refractometry. Also, the influence of the temperature and molecular weight on the viscosity and refractive index was investigated, and the opposite effect of the temperature on the viscosity and refractive index of PVCL solutions was observed. The experimental overlap concentration values were compared with those calculated with the Rao, Huggins, and Fuoss equations. The results showed that the Huggins equation is the best equation to describe the dilute solution properties of this polymer. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008