Monitoring the occurrence of genetically modified soybean and maize in cultivated fields and along the transportation routes of the Incheon Port in South Korea

In South Korea, imported genetically modified (GM) soybean and maize have been approved for both human consumption and use in animal feed, but not for use in cultivation in fields. This study was conducted to survey the spread of GM soybean and maize in South Korea using multiplex-PCR analysis methods. Cultivated soybean, wild soybean, and maize leaf samples were collected from 26 major areas of soybean cultivation throughout eight provinces. Roadside areas near a major grain port in Incheon were also surveyed to investigate the escape and spread of GM seeds and plants. Amplification results showed that no GM soybean or maize was collected from cultivated fields. However, four GM maize plants were found in samples collected from the roadside near a grain transporting company at the Incheon Port. Based on PCR analysis using GM maize event-specific primers, it was suggested that a maize plant may be Mon810, while the other plants may be stacked events: Mon863 × Mon810 or Mon88017 × Mon810.     

Characterization of the influence of main emulsion components on the physicochemical properties of orange beverage emulsion using response surface methodology

The present work was conducted to investigate the influence of main emulsion components, namely Arabic gum (7–13% w/w), xanthan gum (0.1–0.3% w/w) and orange oil (6–10% w/w) contents on physical stability, viscosity, cloudiness and conductivity of orange beverage emulsion. In this study, 20 orange beverage emulsions were established based on a three-factor central composite design (CCD) involving 8 factorial points, 6 axial points and 6 center points. The main objective of the present study was to determine an optimal concentration level of main emulsion components leading to an optimum orange beverage emulsion with desirable physicochemical properties. In general, all response surface models were significantly (p<0.05) fitted for describing the variability of physical stability, viscosity, conductivity and cloudiness as a nonlinear function of the content of main emulsion components. More than 84% of the variation of physicochemical properties of orange beverage emulsion could be explained as a function of the content of the main beverage emulsion components. In general, the orange oil content appeared to be the most significant (p<0.05) factor influencing all emulsion characteristics studied except for conductivity. From the optimization procedure, the overall optimal region leading to the desirable orange beverage emulsion was predicted to be achieved by the combined level of 13% (w/w) Arabic gum, 0.22% (w/w) xanthan gum and 10% (w/w) orange oil.     

Prediction for wax deposition in oil pipelines validated by field pigging

The deposition of wax in oil pipelines presents a costly production and transportation problem. The deposited wax is removed periodically by pigging operation in field. In this study, in order to understand this problem and address it, a series of wax deposition experiments involved the sloughing effect was performed in the laboratory flow loop, and a model was established to predict the wax deposition distribution along the pipeline. These results were used to implement a pigging program. In addition, a practical experimental method by testing the viscosity of deposit-in-oil slurry ahead of the pig was specially designed to measure the volume of deposit during pigging in actual field. The model predictions agreed with the field measured results excellently with a relative error being −10.9%. Of more importance, some pigging issues are discussed in combination with the data from the laboratory simulations and field pigging operation.     

Numerical analysis of a Kretschmann surface plasmon resonance sensor with silver/TiO2/BaTiO3/silver/graphene for refractive index sensing

The sensitivity of a Kretschmann surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor was analyzed. The Kretschmann setup had multiple layers, a BK7 prism, silver, barium titanate (BaTiO3), titanium dioxide (TiO2), and graphene. The BaTiO3 and TiO2 coatings were sandwiched between two silver layers. The sensitivity of 260°/RIU has been achieved. The graphene layers are added to the configuration to improve sensitivity and as a bio-compatibility agent. This configuration can be used for biochemical sensors.     

Architecture design of a user-orientated electronic laboratory notebook: A case study within an atmospheric chemistry community

Data is particularly valuable to scientists when details of its provenance are known. This research concerned deploying a user-orientated electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) system within a scientific community. The ELN system supported the capture and retrieval of semantic metadata describing the provenance of the modelling activities of scientists within that community. The research was grounded within the atmospheric chemistry community but has applicability to other communities using an iterative model development process. The ELN system involved the automatic capture of metadata concerning the modelling process together with inline annotations added by the modeller explaining the reasoning for modelling decisions at each step of the process. A full realisation of the ELN system was built and evaluated by members of the atmospheric chemistry community. In order to promote reusability the ELN system architecture had domain-independent as well as domain-dependent elements. An ontology (in OWL) was used to ensure that the specific terminology of the community was used within the provenance metadata and also that it was used consistently. Other domain-independent elements of the architecture included a dynamic graphic interface that allowed the modeller to view his/her modelling history. This was recorded as a set of nodes each pointing to the stored provenance metadata associated with a specific simulation run. In addition, there was an innovative mechanism that enabled the modeller to navigate through the various nodes. The navigation process supported making comparisons between different nodes: a facility that users found particularly valuable. Members of the atmospheric chemistry community took part in a two-day summative evaluation of the ELN system. This confirmed its value to the modellers and it is now being introduced more widely across the modelling community. In addition, the research proposes a methodology for transferring this ELN system to other modelling communities making use of the domain-independent elements of the architecture.     

The Impact of Experience and Perception on the Efficiency of E-procurement in Malaysia

The technology of E-procurement becomes more popular in many developed countries due to its accuracy in decision making for big projects that enhance the public bidding process for development projects in any country. The experience of employees who operate the system of E-procurement and the perception of users who bid for projects are essential to ensure the efticiency of procurement and the whole bidding process for public projects. This paper examined the impact of employee＇s experience on the efficiency of E-procurement systems in public agencies. In addition, we attempt to examine the perception factor of using E-procurement systems with regard to users in the seller side. A survey was conducted to identify the impact of experience and perception on the efficiency towards adoption and use of E-procurement system among users who working in firms participated in online bidding for public agencies projects, and employees who are working in E-procurement department in government administrations Malaysian government. A total of 80 questionnaires were collected and the data were analyzed to look at the level of the impact of experience and perception in E-procurement users. The general findings indicate a positive attitude experience and perception among the users in using the E-procurement.     

Palladium-decorated zinc sulfide/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites for enhanced visible light-driven photodegradation of indigo carmine

The removal of toxic organic pollutants from wastewater using reduced graphene oxide (rGO) based photocatalysts has dominated recent scientific research. As a result numerous nanomaterials have been studied and used for wastewater remediation. ZnS has been widely studied due to its versatile application in photocatalysis. This study presents the synthesis of a series of Pd-decorated ZnS/rGO nanocomposites by a coprecipitation method. The materials were characterized using Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM)–EDS, UV/visible spectrophotometry, and BET surface area analysis. Indigo carmine (IC) dye (20 ppm) was chosen as a model for organic pollutants and was used to evaluate the photocatalytic performance of the Pd–ZnS/rGO nanocomposites under simulated solar light with varying concentrations of Pd in the host material. Pd–ZnS/rGO showed significant visible light induced photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of IC. Highest photocatalytic activity was observed for the 1.0% Pd–ZnS/rGO sample (k=2.19×10⁻² min⁻¹).