TRAM: Technique for resource allocation and management in fog computing environment

The Journal of Supercomputing - The traditional cloud computing technology provides services to a plethora of applications by providing resources. These services support numerous industries for...     

Utilisation Potential of Feijoa Fruit Wastes as Ingredients for Functional Foods

Feijoa fruits have high antioxidant activity as they contain significant concentrations of polyphenols (PPs), carotenoids and vitamins. This study evaluates the colour, pH, total soluble solids (TSS), pectin fibre content, total extractable PP content (TEPC) and total antioxidant activity of the extracts generated from the fruit wastes (primarily skin and some flesh) remaining after feijoa flesh consumption. Extractions were conducted at room temperature and 50 °C using accelerated solvent extraction technology and different extraction media [water, acidified water (containing citric acid, pH?3.5), and 30, 50 and 80 % (v/v) aqueous ethanol solutions]. Results show that the composition and properties of the extracts depend on the extraction media and, to a lesser extent, on the extraction temperature. The 80 % ethanolic extract was bright green in colour. The water and acidified water extracts showed more browning than the ethanolic extracts, suggesting possible detrimental sensory impacts for food applications. The TSS decreased in the order of 80, 50 and 30 % ethanolic and water extracts. The 50 % ethanolic extract had the highest TEPC and antioxidant activity at both extraction temperatures, which was supported by high performance liquid chromatography analyses. The extracts produced with solutions containing less ethanol, especially water extracts, had higher pectin contents. The UA content of the extract produced using water alone was the highest (5.56 % as GalA) at 20 °C, whilst that produced using 30 % ethanol solution was the highest (3.90 % as GalA) at 50 °C. Higher extraction temperature (50 °C) resulted in lower pectin contents. These results demonstrate the potential of feijoa waste extracts, especially 50 and 80 % ethanolic extracts, as ingredients for functional food applications.     

Evaluation of the extraction efficiency for polyphenol extracts from by‐products of green kiwifruit juicing

The health benefits of fruits are attributable in part to their bioactive components such as phenolics and pectic polysaccharides. By‐products derived from kiwifruit processing can be a good source of such bioactive compounds. Extracts were produced using different concentrations of ethanol in water (0%, 30%, 50%, 74% and 96% v/v) from by‐products (skin, residue and pulp) of the green‐fleshed kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa‘Hayward’) juicing process. The amounts of phenolic compounds and uronic acid (UA) as well as the phenolic composition in each extract were determined. Results show that different by‐products contained different concentrations of phenolics and pectic polysaccharides. Based on total phenolic contents, 96% v/v ethanol appeared to be the best extraction medium. The 30% or 74% ethanolic dilution was the second best medium for phenolic extraction from skin and pulp/residue, respectively. Water was a good medium for extracting satisfactory quantities of phenolics as well as the highest concentration of pectic polysaccharides. Phenolic profiling by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to detect individual phenolic compounds in an extract. Results using HPLC showed that alkali pre‐treatment has improved the extraction efficiency of phenolics as a function of alkali concentration, fruit tissue type, extraction media, by‐product preparation method, and class of polyphenols. As a result more efficient methods for both extraction and characterisation of polyphenols could be evaluated.     

Rapid removal of lead(II) ions from water using iron oxide–tea waste nanocomposite – a kinetic study

Lead (Pb) ions are a major concern to the environment and human health as they are contemplated cumulative poisons. In this study, facile synthesis of magnetic iron oxide–tea waste nanocomposite is reported for adsorptive removal of lead ions from aqueous solutions and easy magnetic separation of the adsorbent afterwards. The samples were characterised by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform‐infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and Braunner–Emmet–Teller nitrogen adsorption study. Adsorptive removal of Pb(II) ions from aqueous solution was followed by ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectrophotometry. About 95% Pb(II) ion removal is achieved with the magnetic tea waste within 10 min. A coefficient of regression R ²  ≃ 0.99 and adsorption density of 18.83 mg g⁻¹ was found when Pb(II) ions were removed from aqueous solution using magnetic tea waste. The removal of Pb(II) ions follows the pseudo‐second‐order rate kinetics. External mass transfer principally regulates the rate‐limiting phenomena of adsorption of Pb(II) ions on iron oxide–tea waste surface. The results strongly imply that magnetic tea waste has promising potential as an economic and excellent adsorbent for the removal of Pb(II) from water.Inspec keywords: visible spectra, scanning electron microscopy, mass transfer, ultraviolet spectra, X‐ray diffraction, nanocomposites, lead, adsorption, magnetic separation, iron compounds, nanofabrication, Fourier transform infrared spectraOther keywords: FeO, Pb, time 10.0 min, X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform‐infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, adsorbent, magnetic separation, rapid removal, Braunner–Emmet–Teller nitrogen adsorption, iron oxide–tea waste surface, magnetic tea waste, aqueous solution, adsorptive removal, magnetic iron oxide–tea waste nanocomposite, lead(II) ions     

High precision measurements of non-mass-dependent effects in nickel isotopes in meteoritic metal via multicollector ICPMS

We measured the Ni isotopic composition of metal from a variety of meteorite groups to search for variations in the 60Ni abundance from the decay of the short-lived nuclide 60Fe (t(1/2) = 1.49 My) and for possible nucleosynthetic effects in the other stable isotopes of Ni. We developed a high-yield Ni separation procedure based on a combination of anion and cation exchange chromatography. Nickel isotopes were measured on a single-focusing, multicollector, inductively coupled mass spectrometer (MC-ICPMS). The external precision on the mass-bias-corrected 60Ni/58Ni ratio (+/-0.15 epsilon; 2sigma) is comparable to similar studies using double-focusing MC-ICPMS. We report the first high-precision data for 64Ni, the least abundant Ni isotope, obtained via MC-ICPMS. The external precision on the mass-bias-corrected 64Ni/58Ni ratio (+/-1.5 epsilon; 2sigma) is better than previous studies using thermal ionization mass spectrometry. No resolvable excesses relative to a terrestrial standard in the mass-bias-corrected 60Ni/58Ni ratio were detected in any meteoritic metal samples. However, resolvable deficits in this ratio were measured in the metal from several unequilibrated chondrites, implying a 60Fe/56Fe ratio of approximately 1 x 10(-6) at the time of Fe/Ni fractionation in chondritic metal. A 60Fe/56Fe ratio of (4.6 +/- 3.3) x 10(-7) is inferred at the time of Fe/Ni fractionation on the parent bodies of magmatic iron meteorites and pallasites. No clearly resolvable non-mass-dependent anomalies were detected in the other stable isotopes of Ni in the samples investigated here, indicating that the Ni isotopic composition in the early solar system was homogeneous (at least at the level of precision reported here) at the time of meteoritic metal formation.     

Oxygen plasma assisted end-opening and field emission enhancement in vertically aligned multiwall carbon nanotubes

This paper highlights the changes in micro-structural and field emission properties of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) via oxygen plasma treatment. We find that exposure of very low power oxygen plasma (6 W) at 13.56 MHz for 15–20 min, opens the tip of vertically aligned CNTs. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images were used to identify the quality and micro-structural changes of the nanotube morphology and surfaces. Raman spectra showed that the numbers of defects were increased throughout the oxygen plasma treatment process. In addition, the hydrophobic nature of the VACNTs is altered significantly and the contact angle decreases drastically from 110° to 40°. It was observed that the electron field emission (EFE) characteristics are significantly enhanced. The turn-on electric field (ETOE) of CNTs decreased from ∼0.80 V μm⁻¹ (untreated) to ∼0.60 V μm⁻¹ (oxygen treated). We believe that the open ended VACNTs would be immensely valuable for applications such as micro/nanofluidic based filtering elements and display devices.     

Flexible configuration for seamless supply chains: Directions towards decision knowledge sharing

Supply chain excellence has a real huge impact on business strategy. Building supply chains (SC_s) as flexible system represents one of the most exciting opportunities to create value (e.g., seamless SC_s). This requires integrated decision making amongst autonomous chain partners with effective decision knowledge sharing among them. The key to success lies in knowing which decision has more impact on the supply chains performance. Knowledge sharing has immense potential to create expedient opportunities and thus retain greater value for supply chains. In this context, knowledge management (KM) can be used as an effective approach to achieve knowledge sharing and decision synchronization among supply chain partners. To maximize competitive advantage, concept of seamless supply chains is emerging with KM as key enabler. Thus, there is a need to develop demo models that can encourage chain members towards collaborative-knowledge sharing in the SC_s. This paper depicts the application of one such model based on decision knowledge sharing (DKS) for improved supply chains management. We study the impact of DKS (both partial and full DKS configuration in SC) and then compare the performance with information sharing (IS) and forecasting. By exploiting DKS and flexibility in supply chains structures better performance can be achieved. The paper develops the demo models on various supply chains scenario like (1st, 2nd and 3rd stage SC_s, forecasting, IS and DKS (full and partial). The partial and full DKS based flexibility configurations of SC_s are considered for simulation experimentation. A simulation model of a supply chains based on flexible framework is developed for demo purposes. The key results are highlighted along with the respective industry implications. Our research is continuing in this direction.     

Taguchi's Method Analysis of an FMS Under Review-Period-Based Operational Controls: Identification of Control Periodicity

Flexibility of flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) has been considered as an effective tool to compete in the present manufacturing environment. Enormous research efforts have been made to harness the benefits of flexibility through superior control strategies. While modeling flexibility and control strategies, researchers have mostly assumed an information system that can provide real-time control. Literature qualitatively reports that the real-time control can be highly capital intensive and difficult to achieve. This paper focuses on FMS operating under review-period (RP)-based control and presents a combined study of routing flexibility (RF), control strategies, and information system under Taguchi's method using simulation. RP-based control for FMS has been compared with real-time control. This paper contributes an approach for the decision maker to study the performance of an FMS operating under RP control and to identify the periodicity (time interval) of RP that will not deteriorate its performance in comparison to real-time control. It also helps the decision maker to reach a tradeoff between RP-based control and real-time control. The results show that RP-based control can be effectively implemented on an FMS having lower RF level. RP-based control can outperform real-time control with a superior control strategy and smaller RP size. The results under Taguchi's method suggest that the RF and control strategy should have maximum relative percentage contributions in FMS performance, whereas contribution of the RP (information system) should be minimum. Increasing the relative percentage contribution of the information system may deteriorate the performance of FMS. The information system is needed as a catalyst to facilitate the contributions of other factors in improving the FMS performance and not its own contribution     

Analysis of non-circular gas bearings including skewed axes

The steady state performance characteristics of non-circular gas bearings with journal bearing axes parallel and skewed are presented. The incremental finite element formulation suggested by Reddi and Chu was extended to obtain results for elliptical and three-lobe bearings. The validity of the method was checked with the results obtained by Pinkus.