Synergistic effect of high-intensity ultrasound and β-cyclodextrin treatments on browning control in apple juice

This work evaluated the synergistic effects of combined high-intensity ultrasound (HIU) with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) treatments on inhibiting browning of apple juice and explored the mechanism through simulation system. The combined treatment of 300 W HIU with 0.006 g mL⁻¹ β-CD had a synergistic impact on maintaining juice colour, resulting in a 39.06% reduction in browning degree, only a 36.64% decrease in total phenolic content, and a 17.82% reduction in PPO activity. The inhibition of enzymatic browning in simulated system revealed that HIU suppressed the enzyme (Polyphenol oxidase, PPO) and β-CD inhibited enzyme (PPO) and embedded substrate (polyphenol). The results of spectroscopic analysis showed that the particle-size distribution of PPO narrowed, the content of α-helix in the secondary structure increased, the fluorescence intensity increased, and the maximum wavelength was red-shifted after HIU and β-CD treatment. Changes in structure could further result in PPO activity loss. Hence, the combined treatment could synthetically alleviate the browning of apple juice.     

Soret and Dufour effects between two rectangular plane walls with heat source/sink

This study addresses the thermo‐diffusion and the diffusion‐thermo phenomena in a semi‐infinite absorbent channel whose walls are contracting/expanding, with heat source/sink effects. The governing partial differential equations with suitable boundary conditions are transformed to a system of dimensionless ordinary differential equations. An analytic solution of the problem has been found using a technique called homotopy analysis method (HAM). HAM gives consistently valid answers to the problem over an extensive variety of parameters and also provides better accuracy. To validate the analytical results, a comparison has been presented with a numerical solution calculated by using the parallel shooting method. The effects of dimensionless parameters, that is, deformation parameter, Reynolds number, Soret and Dufour numbers, and heat source/sink parameter on the expressions of velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles are analyzed graphically to understand the physics of the deformable channel. It has been noted that the velocity across the channel is higher for the expanding channel, as compared to that for the contracting channel. Also the Soret and Dufour number increases the temperature of the fluid, and decreases the concentration. The temperature profile has an increasing behavior in the case of heat source, and a decreasing behavior in the case of heat sink.     

FTIR-ATR studies of diffusion and perturbation of water in polyelectrolyte thin films. Part 4. Diffusion, perturbation and swelling processes for ionic solutions in SPEES/PES membranes

We report diffusion rates and equilibrium concentrations of water in a polyelectrolyte SPEES/PES film using ATR/FTIR spectroscopy. The data for water obtained by fitting spectral intensities to a dual mode diffusion model in the presence of different counter ions (at 0.2 mol dm⁻³) follow the order Li⁺>Cs⁺>Na⁺>Ca²⁺>K⁺. Diffusion is progressively slower for higher concentrations of NaCl (0.2-0.85 mol dm⁻³) and the NO₃⁻ counter anion leads to a faster diffusion rate than for Cl⁻ at the same concentration. Both water uptake and diffusion rates are broadly consistent with expectations based on the differential degrees of swelling, caused by changes in the SO₃⁻/SO₃⁻ interpolymer chain repulsive forces leading to a decrease in volume diffusion compared with the value for pure water. Direct spectral measurements of the degree of swelling confirm that the process does occur, although the order of the swelling amounts does not map directly onto that of the diffusion rates. This is probably because the interfacial dissociation processes are hydration dependent.     

Hyperspectral imaging-based unsupervised adulterated red chili content transformation for classification: Identification of red chili adulterants

Neural Computing and Applications - Preserving red-chili quality is of utmost importance in which the authorities demand quality techniques to detect, classify, and prevent it from impurities. For...     

Improving security of the Internet of Things via RF fingerprinting based device identification system

Neural Computing and Applications - Security is one of the primary concerns when designing wireless networks. Along detecting user identity, it is also important to detect the devices at the...     

Continuous reverse k nearest neighbors queries in Euclidean space and in spatial networks

In this paper, we study the problem of continuous monitoring of reverse k nearest neighbors queries in Euclidean space as well as in spatial networks. Existing techniques are sensitive toward objects and queries movement. For example, the results of a query are to be recomputed whenever the query changes its location. We present a framework for continuous reverse k nearest neighbor (RkNN) queries by assigning each object and query with a safe region such that the expensive recomputation is not required as long as the query and objects remain in their respective safe regions. This significantly improves the computation cost. As a byproduct, our framework also reduces the communication cost in client–server architectures because an object does not report its location to the server unless it leaves its safe region or the server sends a location update request. We also conduct a rigid cost analysis for our Euclidean space RkNN algorithm. We show that our techniques can also be applied to answer bichromatic RkNN queries in Euclidean space as well as in spatial networks. Furthermore, we show that our techniques can be extended for the spatial networks that are represented by directed graphs. The extensive experiments demonstrate that our techniques outperform the existing techniques by an order of magnitude in terms of computation cost and communication cost.     

Superparamagnetic particle dynamics and mixing in a rotating capillary tube with a stationary magnetic field

The dynamics of superparamagnetic particles subject to competing magnetic and viscous drag forces have been examined with a uniform, stationary, external magnetic field. In this approach, competing drag and magnetic forces were created in a fluid suspension of superparamagnetic particles that was confined in a capillary tube; competing viscous drag and magnetic forces were established by rotating the tube. A critical Mason number was determined for conditions under which the rotation of the capillary prevents the formation of chains from individual particles. The statistics of chain length was investigated by image analysis while varying parameters such as the rotation speed and the viscosity of the liquid. The measurements showed that the rate of particle chain formation was decreased with increased viscosity and rotation speed; the particle dynamics could be quantified by the same dimensionless Mason number that has been demonstrated for rotating magnetic fields. The potential for enhancement of mixing in a bioassay was assessed using a fast chemical reaction that was diffusion-limited. Reducing the Mason number below the critical value, so that chains were formed in the fluid, gave rise to a modest improvement in the time to completion of the reaction.     

Attitudes towards mobile banking: are there any differences between users and non-users?

Extant research has focused on monitoring the behaviour of people who use mobile banking (MB) but it has paid little attention to understanding the impact of information technology usage behaviour due to cultural differences. Humans are the weakest link in information technology adoption; past research has shown that not all users are predisposed to change their behaviour radically and adopt new channels of banking. This paper examines the demographic patterns of users and non-users of MB. The paper also investigates the attitudinal influences of users and non-users of MB based on innovation attributes. Using empirical research, the study identifies constructs of innovation attributes that were perceived to be significantly different among the users and non-users of MB. The study provides valuable insights into MB in Saudi Arabia that have not been previously investigated. From a practical point, findings of this study will be particularly useful to banks, financial institutions and telecommunication service providers.     

Role of situational method engineering to improve visual information systems in agile distributed environment

Software product prone to continuous evolution due to increase in the use of technology. Therefore, more stakeholders are involved in software evolution increases the cost and complexity. This required optimization of resources and cost to handle evolution with Global Software Development (GSD) to utilize time zones efficiently. The significance challenge of GSD reports: time zone difference, geographical location, communication delays, knowledge sharing, control among stakeholders and development team. Because of these challenges, the requirements for development in GSD environment are also challenge as compared to on site development. Different requirement engineering methods have been used to improve the requirements analysis to deal with ambiguities and inconsistency in large set of requirements. The customization and tailoring of requirements according to changing project’s situations required to improve project development with reusing existing agile methods during requirement engineering phase. Moreover, complex information systems where heterogeneity is inevitable that implies the involvement of divergent stakeholders and necessitate a comprehensive framework to capture multidimensional viewpoints and fulfill aforementioned issues. Therefore, a situational multi-dimensional agile requirement engineering method has been proposed to support team and stakeholders’ viewpoints. The schema of the proposed method is based on challenges recognized by performing Literature Review. Then proposed method has been evaluated via experimental approach and statistical analysis conducted to validated reliability of data collected. This result is significant approved both practically and statistically that the proposed approach ease to use, implement, trained and increased productivity and performance. Hence, the experimental study for the evaluation of the proposed approach results concluded that, proposed approach is the important multimedia tool for supporting organization and distributed development team for information sharing, collaboration, product development.

     

Biomathematical study of time-dependent flow of a Carreau nanofluid through inclined catheterized arteries with overlapping stenosis

Journal of Central South University - This work is concerned with the analysis of blood flow through inclined catheterized arteries having a balloon (angioplasty) with time-variant overlapping...