Tracer diffusion of 63Ni in Ni3(Al,Ge) ternary intermetallic compound

Radio-tracer diffusion measurements of ⁶³Ni have been performed in Ni₇₅Al_xGe_25−x ternary intermetallic compounds at various temperatures. The tracer diffusivity was found to depend exponentially on the Ge content of the alloy. These compounds are ordered with the L1₂ structure, where the Ni atom diffusion proceeds mainly via Ni sublattice site jumps. The change of the diffusivity can be attributed to the change in vacancy concentration on the Ni sublattice as well as to the composition dependence of the saddle-point energy of the diffusion jumps.     

Verifying the geographical origin of poultry: The application of stable isotope and trace element (SITE) analysis

Stable isotope and elemental analysis, together with statistical processing of the resultant data has been used to determine the geographical origin of poultry and hence provide a means to verify poultry labels originating from major producing countries/regions. Multivariate statistical analysis has demonstrated that 18 variables, including carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen stable isotope ratios and elemental concentrations of magnesium, thallium, rubidium and molybdenum, are important parameters in poultry origin determination. Using cross-validated discriminant analysis 88.3% of poultry geographical origins were correctly classified (n = 339). Individual correct-classification rates were as follows; China, 100% (n = 36); Brazil, 94.1% (n = 101); Europe 92% (n = 87); Chile 82.6% (n = 46); Thailand, 70.3% (n = 46) and Argentina 50% (n = 10). The main identification errors were associated with miss-classification of Argentinean samples with those originating from Chile and Thailand. Carbon stable isotope ratios of chicken meat indicate the quantity of maize in the diet and this leads to useful discrimination between a large proportion of European poultry and poultry reared in locations such as South America, Thailand and China where maize feeding predominates. The use of poultry carbon isotope values as a simple ‘screening’ parameter to differentiate European poultry meat from other major importers is not as reliable as for the differentiation of European and South American beef. However carbon isotope ratios will be useful in most instances to corroborate suspicion of mislabelling of non corn-fed European poultry. The stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen in chicken meat change in a similar way to surface waters around the globe. Our findings support the hypothesis that the global isotopic variation of stable isotopes in drinking water and feed are transferred into animal tissue and can be used to help establish an animal's geographic origin. This is a significant finding and mirrors our observations for beef skeletal muscle δ²H ‰ and δ¹⁸O ‰ values. These systematic variations can be exploited to give a ‘low-resolution’ indication of an animal's geographic origin (e.g. Northern Europe versus the tropics).     

Effects of UV-C treatment on inactivation of Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli O157:H7 on grape tomato surface and stem scars,microbial loads,and quality

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of ultraviolet-C (UV-C) light inactivation as affected by the location of pathogens on the surface and at stem scars of whole grape tomatoes. A mixed bacterial cocktail containing a three strain mixture of Escherichia coli O157:H7 (C9490, E02128 and F00475) and a three serotype mixture of Salmonella enterica (S. Montevideo G4639, S. Newport H1275, and S. Stanley H0558) were used. Tomatoes were spot inoculated using approximately 100 μL of inocula to achieve a population of about 10^7±1 CFU/tomato. Additionally, the effects of treatment on color, texture, lycopene content, and background microbial loads during post UV-C storage at 4 °C for 21 days were determined. Results showed that UV-C doses of 0.60–6.0 kJ/m² resulted in 2.3–3.5 log CFU per fruit reduction of E. coli O157:H7 compared to 2.15–3.1 log CFU per fruit reduction for Salmonella on the surfaces. Under the same conditions, log reductions achieved at stem scar were 1.7–3.2 logs CFU for E. coli O157:H7 and 1.9–2.8 logs CFU for Salmonella. The treatment was effective in controlling native microbial loads during storage at 4 °C as the total aerobic mesophilic organisms (PCA) and anaerobic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts of treated tomatoes were significantly (p < 0.05) lower during storage compared to the control group and the yeast and mold populations were reduced significantly below the detection limit. Furthermore, the firmness of tomato and its color was not affected by the UV-C doses during storage. UV-C radiation could potentially be used for sanitizing fresh tomatoes and extending shelf-life. The results of this study indicate that the specific location of pathogens on the produce influences the effectiveness of UV-C treatment, which should be taken into consideration for the design of UV-C systems for produce sanitization.     

Study of taste-active compounds in the water-soluble extract of mature Cheddar cheese

The chemical composition of the water-soluble extracts of mature Cheddar cheese were identified, with the emphasis on understanding the interplay of compounds contributing to the savoury taste in Cheddar. The ultra-filtered water-soluble extracts of two mature Cheddar cheeses were fractionated by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). By sensory evaluation, two taste-active GPC fractions were identified from each cheese. On the basis of chemical profiling of these fractions, aqueous model tastant mixtures were prepared and sensory omission tests carried out. Glutamic acid, organic acids and mineral salts were the main tastants, whereas the other amino acids had a limited impact on taste. The characteristic umami taste was explained by a synergistic effect of glutamic acid and salts. Matching umami taste intensities were obtained from different concentrations of glutamic acid and salts. Unmasking of a bitter or sweet taste from mixtures of sub-threshold concentrations of amino acids without glutamic acids was also observed.     

A comprehensive method to find RPO trajectory and incentive scheme for promotion of renewable energy in India with study of impact of RPO on tariff

Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) regime in India started in 2011 with the announcement of benchmark RPO (BRPO) of states for the Financial Year (FY) 2011 by respective State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERC), to promote Renewable Energy (RE). The report submitted to Forum of Regulators (FoR) in this regard has recommended uniform rate of increase of BRPO of states and studied the impact of RPO on tariff for FY 2011–2015. However, more rigorous analysis is needed for fixing BRPO in a scientific manner and for fair allocation of incentives to promote RE. This paper attempts to evaluate all states on a common platform to find BRPO, giving due weightage to the state-wise energy demand and RE generation, ensuring minimum change in BRPO of consecutive years and hence less impact of RPO on tariff. To encourage the states to align their actual RPO with BRPO, a financial incentive scheme is proposed giving due weightage to RE consumption, RE capacity addition and RPO compliance of the states. The methods are illustrated for the Indian states using real system data. A study of RPO's impact on electricity tariff of Indian states is also conducted and reported for FY 2011–2015, considering Renewable Energy Certificate (REC).     

Wind turbine fault diagnosis method based on diagonal spectrum and clustering binary tree SVM

Renewable energy sources like wind energy are copiously available without any limitation. Reliability of wind turbine is critical to extract maximum amount of energy from the wind. The vibration signals in wind turbine's rotation parts are of universal non-Gasussian and nonstationarity and the fault samples are usually very limited. Aiming at these problems, this paper proposed a wind turbine fault diagnosis method based on diagonal spectrum and clustering binary tree Support Vector Machines (SVM). Firstly, the diagonal spectrum is calculated from vibration rotating machine as the input feature vector. Secondly, self-organizing feature map neural network is introduced to cluster the fault feature samples and construct a cluster binary tree. Then the multiple fault classifiers are designed to train and test samples. The wind turbine gear-box fault experiment results proved that this method can effectively extract features from nonstationary signals, and can obtain excellent results despite of less training samples.     

A typology of Southern African biofuel feedstock production projects

Biofuel expansion is happening rapidly within Southern Africa, and already tens of thousands of hectares have been planted, with millions more being contemplated. As is expected with such a new and dynamic industry, this development has taken place in a relatively ad hoc fashion with the various role-players adapting as they respond to lessons learnt from experience, a changing policy environment and other external factors such as the global recession of 2008/2009. This emerging industry is extremely diverse and it is clear that biofuel projects differ enormously in their intent, feedstock choice and management practices. Some projects aim at satisfying local fuel self sufficiency whilst others focus on national and export markets driven by mandatory blending targets. In addition the area planted by a single farmer or company can range from under 1 ha intercropped with food crops to monocropped plantations of tens of thousands of hectares. In attempting to understand the potential sustainability of the industry there is a clear need for a typology which groups projects with common sustainability issues and concerns. Comparing like with like can greatly reduce the complexity of the biofuel debate; help identify areas of most concern and assists in identifying strategies for enhancing sustainability.     

Life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions of feedlot manure management practices: Land application versus gasification

Animal waste is an important source of anthropogenic GHG emissions, and in most cases, manure is managed by land application. Nevertheless, due to the huge amounts of manure produced annually, alternative manure management practices have been proposed, one of which is gasification, aimed to convert manure into clean energy-syngas. Syngas can be utilized to provide energy or power. At the same time, the byproduct of gasification, biochar, can be transported back to fields as a soil amendment. Environmental impacts are crucial in selecting the appropriate manure strategy. Therefore, GHG emissions during manure management systems (land application and gasification) were evaluated and compared by life cycle assessment (LCA) in our study. LCA is a universally accepted tool to determine GHG emissions associated with every stage of a system. Results showed that the net GHG emissions in land application scenario and gasification scenario were 119 and -643 kg CO₂-eq for one tonne of dry feedlot manure, respectively. Moreover, sensitive factors in the gasification scenario were efficiency of the biomass integrated gasification combined cycle (BIGCC) system and energy source of avoided electricity generation. Overall, due to the environmental effects of syngas and biochar, gasification of feedlot manure is a much more promising technique as a way to reduce GHG emissions than is land application.     

Genetic identification of global commercial sea cucumber species on the basis of mitochondrial DNA sequences

Sea cucumbers are regarded as traditional delicacies, medicine and aphrodisiacs in Asia over many centuries. Generally, sea cucumbers are gutted, boiled and roasted, then preserved through drying, smoking or freezing. Thus, it is very difficult to identify clearly the species of processed sea cucumber on the basis of their morphology. In this work, FINS methodology was developed as a tool to assess the incidence of incorrect labeling of sea cucumbers belonging to family Holothuriidae in commercial food products. The result showed that 7 samples were incorrectly labeled (63.6%). Moreover, the technique allows the genetic identification of more than 40 species from all over the world.     

Diversity in nutritional composition of wild jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis L. DC) seeds collected from south India

Nine accessions of the wild jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis L. DC) seeds collected from nine different locations of south India were analysed for proximate composition and mineral profiles. The major findings of the study were as follows: crude protein ranged from 28.9 to 35.0%, crude lipid 3.4–4.7%, crude fibre 7.0–10.7%, ash 3.0–5.8%, carbohydrates 46.1–54.5% and energy levels 1469–1574 kJ 100 g⁻¹ DM. Significant (P<0.05) diversity was observed in crude protein and carbohydrate contents among the accessions collected from different locations based on analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis. Potassium was the most abundant mineral, which ranged from 634 mg 100 g⁻¹ in Dasukuppam accession to 1017 mg 100g⁻¹ in Valacode accession. Sodium and magnesium levels are generally low with mean values of 63 and 250 mg 100 g⁻¹, respectively. In the present study, in all minerals, significant diversity was observed among the accessions collected from different locations.