Influence of chitosan/clay functional bionanocomposite activated with rosemary essential oil on the shelf life of fresh silver carp

A combination of chitosan biopolymer, nanoclay and rosemary essential oil was prepared as a functional bionanocomposite (FBN). Its ability to improve the shelf life of refrigerated (4 ± 1 °C) silver carp fillets was studied. The fresh fillets were left untreated as a control or coated with chitosan, chitosan/clay bionanocomposite and chitosan/clay/rosemary essential oil (Ch/clay/REO) FBN. Then, they were evaluated for chemical, microbial and sensory properties over 16‐day storage. The samples coated with the FBN had the lowest pH and total volatile basic nitrogen. Ch/clay/REO coating efficiently retarded lipid oxidation by decreasing peroxide, free fatty acid and thiobarbituric acid production in the samples. The coating also reduced total viable and psychrotrophic count of the fillets more than 1.5 log by the end of storage.     

Predicting missing contacts in mobile social networks

Experimentally measured contact traces, such as those obtained in a conference setting by using short range wireless sensors, are usually limited with respect to the practical number of sensors that can be deployed as well as the number of available human volunteers. Moreover, most previous experiments in this field can report only partial contact information since not everyone participating in the experiment carries a sensor device. Previously collected contact traces have significantly contributed to the development of more realistic human mobility models. This in turn has influenced proposed routing algorithms for Delay Tolerant Networks where human contacts play a vital role in message delivery. By exploiting time-spatial properties of contact graphs as well as the popularity and social information of mobile nodes, we propose a novel method to reconstruct the missing parts of contact graphs where only a subset of nodes are able to sense contacts.     

Thermal management modeling for cylindrical lithium-ion battery packs considering safety and lifespan

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - Different battery thermal management (BTM) for a 18650 cylindrical Li-ion battery pack were simulated based on the lumped model. Phase change material...     

Relationship between droplet size and fluid flow characteristics in miniemulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate

Static mixer (SM) can be applied for emulsification, but the fundamental understanding of the nature of fluid flow and mixing in static mixers, is however poor. Droplet size is a very important parameter in miniemulsion systems and affects strongly the mechanism of particle formation in polymerization reactions. In this study, static mixer was used as homogenization device for emulsification of methyl methacrylate (MMA). Re number (Re) was obtained for SM inserted tube in different flow rates. It was demonstrated the nature of fluid flow was turbulent under our experimental conditions. The relationship between droplet size—the most important variable in our study—and Weber number (We) was investigated. The results showed that the ratio of the droplet size to the pipe diameter was fit as an exponential function with an order of −0.35. The polymerization of created droplets under certain We values by SM showed that it is possible to obtain a reasonable 1 : 1 copy of droplets to the particles. All these, indicate that using relationship between We and droplet size allow one to obtain acceptable condition of droplet nucleation in miniemulsion polymerization. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

A comparative study on various time integration schemes for heat wave simulation

The performance of several explicit and implicit time advancement schemes of first-order ODEs are examined for heat wave simulation with different boundary conditions. It is found that the boundary conditions have a considerable influence on the stiffness property of the hyperbolic heat conduction equation, due to the occurrence of thermal shock waves, and hence, according to the type of the enforced boundary conditions, a specific time integration scheme has to be performed in order to obtain an accurate and efficient solution. The results of the considered time integration schemes are also compared with analytical solution and based on the obtained results, some recommendations regarding the numerical simulation of hyperbolic heat conduction are presented.     

Hemispherectomy: a hemidecortication approach and review of 52 cases

Between 1975 and 1994, 52 hemispherectomies, of which two were anatomical and 50 hemidecortications, were performed at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. Eighteen patients were 2 years old or less. There were three perioperative mortalities and one patient died 9 months later from causes not related to surgery. One patient developed hydrocephalus 6 years postsurgery and has been treated effectively. Seizure control and the functional status of each patient were measured as outcome variables. Forty-six (96%) of the surviving patients were seizure free or had reduced seizures as of their last follow-up examination. Twenty-one individuals (44%) were participating in age-appropriate classes or working independently, 18 were classified as semiindependent, and nine children will likely depend on a lifetime of assisted living. The relationships between the outcome variables and the patient's age at surgery, the interval to surgery, and the etiology of the disease were compared. The authors' clinical experiences strongly suggest the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to patient selection and follow-up care. Moreover, anesthetic management of infant surgery is a major component of success.