Effect of gums on viability and β‐galactosidase activity of Lactobacillus spp. in milk drink during refrigerated storage

The viability and β‐galactosidase activity of four Lactobacillus strains in milk drink containing gums during 28 days of refrigerated storage at 4 °C were assessed. The population of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GGB101 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GGB103 were maintained, whereas the population of Lactobacillus reuteri DSM20016 and Lactobacillus reuteri SD2112 significantly decreased. The recommended level of 6 log CFU g^?1 was exceeded for all tested trains throughout storage. The highest viable number of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GGB103 (8.76 ± 0.03 log CFU mL^?1) was obtained in the product containing carrageenan–maltodextrin. The addition of guar–locust bean–carrageenan led to 20‐fold increase in the level of β‐galactosidase activity for L. rhamnosus GGB101 (1208 ± 2.12 Miller units mL^?1) compared to the control (61 ± 2.83 Miller units mL^?1). Our results suggested that gums could be added to milk to improve viability and enhance β‐galactosidase activity of Lactobacillus.     

An optimized skin texture model using gray-level co-occurrence matrix

Neural Computing and Applications - Texture analysis is devised to address the weakness of color-based image segmentation models by considering the statistical and spatial relations among the group...     

Drying with Chemical Reaction in Cocoa Beans

Desirable flavor qualities of cocoa are dependent on how the cocoa beans are fermented, dried, and roasted. During fermentation and drying, polyphenols such as leucocyanidin and apecatechin are oxidized by polyphenols oxidase to form o-quinone, which later react nonenzymatically with a hydroquinone in a condensation reaction to form browning products and moisture. The objective of this article is to model the cocoa beans drying together with the browning reaction. A Luikov drying model for the moisture and a simple Fick's law diffusion model combined with first-order reactions for both the enzymatic oxidation and nonenzymatic condensation reactions were constructed. Both models were used to identify moisture diffusivity coefficient and total polyphenols diffusivity in cocoa beans from experimental drying and polyphenols degradation data and published kinetic data of the reactions. The theoretical drying model fitted the experimental cocoa bean drying curves with low mean square of residuals. The polyphenols diffusion and reaction model also fitted the experimental polyphenols degradation curves with minimum mean residual squares. The rate of polyphenols degradation in the cocoa beans increases at higher temperature and higher relative humidity. This is because the increasing reaction rate of polyphenols oxidation reaction as well as higher moisture diffusion at higher relative humidity and temperature. The effective moisture diffusivity in cocoa beans is estimated to be between 8.194 × 10^-9 and 8.542 × 10^-9 m²·s^-1, which is of the same order of magnitude as published data. The effective total polyphenols diffusivity is estimated to be between 8.333 × 10^-12 to 1.000 × 10^-11 m²·s^-1 with minimum mean residual squares. It is three orders of magnitude less than the estimated moisture diffusivity because of the larger polyphenols molecules. The estimated polyphenols diffusivity is very close to those published in the literature for sorption and ultrafiltration processes.     

Viscous dissipation and MHD hybrid nanofluid flow towards an exponentially stretching/shrinking surface

Neural Computing and Applications - The impact of viscous dissipation in hybrid nanofluid plays a prominent role in industrial applications, for instance, in polymer processing flows and...     

Predictive simulation of human walking transitions using an optimization formulation

A general optimization formulation for transition walking prediction using 3D skeletal model is presented. The formulation is based on a previously presented one-step walking formulation (Xiang et al., Int J Numer Methods Eng 79:667–695, 2009b). Two basic transitions are studied: walk-to-stand and slow-to-fast walk. The slow-to-fast transition is used to connect slow walk to fast walk by using a step-to-step transition formulation. In addition, the speed effects on the walk-to-stand motion are investigated. The joint torques and ground reaction forces (GRF) are recovered and analyzed from the simulation. For slow-to-fast walk transition, the predicted ground reaction forces in step transition is even larger than that of the fast walk. The model shows good correlation with the experimental data for the lower extremities except for the standing ankle profile. The optimal solution of transition simulation is obtained in a few minutes by using predictive dynamics method.     

Liquid-Phase Catalytic Hydroxylation of Phenol Using Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) Complexes of Amidate Ligand Encapsulated in Zeolite-Y as Catalysts

Copper(II), nickel(II) and zinc(II) complexes of amidate ligand 1,2-bis(2-hydroxybenzamido)ethane(H₂hybe) encapsulated in the super cages of zeolite-Y have been prepared and characterized by spectroscopic studies and thermal as well as X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. These complexes catalyze the liquid-phase hydroxylation of phenol with H₂O₂ to catechol as a major product and hydroquinone as a minor product. Considering the concentration of substrate and oxidant, amount of catalyst, temperature of the reaction and volume of solvent, a best-suited reaction condition has been optimized to get maximum hydroxylation. Under the optimized reaction conditions, [Cu(hybe)]-Y has shown the highest conversion of 40% after 6h, which is followed by [Ni(hybe)]-Y with 37% conversion and [Zn(hybe)]-Y has shown the poorest performance with 33% conversion. All these catalysts are more selective towards catechol formation (90%), irrespective of their catalytic performance.     

Ti3AlC2 coated D-shaped fiber saturable absorber for Q-switched pulse generation

In this letter, a titanium aluminum carbide (Ti3AlC2) coated D-shaped fiber is proposed and demonstrated as a new saturable absorber (SA) for Q-switched laser pulse generation. In preparing the SA, the Ti3AlC2 powder is dispersed in liquid polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) before the solution is dropped and left to dry onto a polished surface of D-shape fiber. The SA is added to an erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) cavity to modulate the cavity loss for Q-switching. The Q-switched laser is obtained at 1 561 nm. The pulse width of the pulses can be varied between 7.4 µs and 5.1 µs with a corresponding repetition rate range from 41.26 kHz to 54.35 kHz, when the pump power is increased from 42.2 mW to 71.5 mW. At 71.5 mW pump, the pulse energy is obtained at 70.3 nJ. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the fundamental frequency is recorded at 67 dB, which indicates the stability of the laser.     

Intrusion Detection Systems Using Blockchain Technology: A Review,Issues and Challenges

Intrusion detection systems that have emerged in recent decades can identify a variety of malicious attacks that target networks by employing several detection approaches. However, the current approaches have challenges in detecting intrusions, which may affect the performance of the overall detection system as well as network performance. For the time being, one of the most important creative technological advancements that plays a significant role in the professional world today is blockchain technology. Blockchain technology moves in the direction of persistent revolution and change. It is a chain of blocks that covers information and maintains trust between individuals no matter how far apart they are. Recently, blockchain was integrated into intrusion detection systems to enhance their overall performance. Blockchain has also been adopted in healthcare, supply chain management, and the Internet of Things. Blockchain uses robust cryptography with private and public keys, and it has numerous properties that have leveraged security’s performance over peer-to-peer networks without the need for a third party. To explore and highlight the importance of integrating blockchain with intrusion detection systems, this paper provides a comprehensive background of intrusion detection systems and blockchain technology. Furthermore, a comprehensive review of emerging intrusion detection systems based on blockchain technology is presented. Finally, this paper suggests important future research directions and trending topics in intrusion detection systems based on blockchain technology.     

Eco‐friendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles and its larvicidal property against fourth instar larvae of Aedes aegypti

In this study, larvicidal activity of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesised using apple extract against fourth instar larvae of Aedes aegypti was determined. As a result, the AgNPs showed moderate larvicidal effects against Ae. aegypti larvae (LC₅₀  = 15.76 ppm and LC₉₀  = 27.7 ppm). In addition, comparison of larvicidal activity performance of AgNPs at high concentration prepared using two different methods showed that Ae. aegypti larvae was fully eliminated within the duration of 2.5 h. From X‐ray diffraction, the AgNP crystallites were found to exhibit face centred cubic structure. The average size of these AgNPs as estimated by particle size distribution was in the range of 50–120 nm. The absorption maxima of the synthesised Ag showed characteristic Ag surface plasmon resonance peak. This green synthesis provides an economic, eco‐friendly and clean synthesis route to Ag.Inspec keywords: silver, nanofabrication, X‐ray diffraction, zoology, particle size, nanoparticles, biomedical materials, nanomedicineOther keywords: time 2.5 h, size 50 nm to 120 nm, silver nanoparticle, larvicidal property, instar larvae, Aedes aegypti, larvicidal effect, larvicidal activity performance, X‐ray diffraction, nanoparticle particle size distribution, absorption maxima, silver surface plasmon resonance peak