Enhanced photoelectric properties of PbSnSe thin films via quick oxygen ion-implantation sensitization

Journal of Materials Science - Although chalcogenide materials continue to generate considerable interest due to great potentials for various optoelectronic devices, annealing for a long time in...     

One step from nanofiber to functional hybrid structure: Pd doped ZnO/SnO2 heterojunction nanofibers with hexagonal ZnO columns for enhanced low-temperature hydrogen gas sensing

In this paper, a novel hybrid structure of Pd doped ZnO/SnO₂ heterojunction nanofibers with hexagonal ZnO columns was one step synthesized from electrospun precursor nanofibers. Due to the synergistic effect of hexagonal ZnO, SnO₂ and Pd, the structure exhibited excellent hydrogen (H₂) gas sensing properties. At low-temperature of 120 °C, the response (R_a/R_g) to 100 ppm H₂ gas exceeded 160, the response/recovery time was only 20 s and 6 s respectively and the limit of detection was only 0.5 ppm. Meanwhile, it also had good selectivity for H₂ gas and excellent linearity. In addition, the materials were characterized by XRD, FESEM, HRTEM, XPS, and the synthesis mechanism and gas sensing mechanism were proposed.     

Changes in the content and antioxidative activity of β-carotene and its metabolite vitamin A during gastrointestinal digestion and absorption and optimisation of HPLC-based detection

The β-Carotene (BC), an important precursor of vitamin A (VA), possesses antioxidant activity but is fat-soluble and has low bioavailability. In previous in-vitro assays evaluating antioxidant and 2,2′-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH) free radical scavenging, both BC and VA showed a strong ability to scavenge radicals and protected cells from oxidative stress. Here, we used artificially simulated gastrointestinal digestion and Caco-2 cell absorption models to evaluate the bioavailability of the BC during gastrointestinal digestion and absorption using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. We observed high absorptive and transfer rates of BC and detected retinol metabolites (Vitamin A). Therefore, BC can be detected in the acidic gastrointestinal environment using HPLC. Optimised method provided better separation of BC and VA in the column, improving the accuracy of the test results.     

Improving gelling properties of myofibrillar proteins incorporating with cellulose micro/nanofibres

The effects of cellulose microfibres (CMFs, Average size: 100 ± 5 μm) and cellulose nanofibres (CNFs, Average size: 60 ± 3 nm) on the properties of myofibrillar protein (MP) gels from duck breast meat were studied. The results demonstrated that CMFs and CNFs were mostly connected to MP by non-covalent bonds, the diffusion and cross-linking of MP molecules was promoted, and a denser and more complete gel network was formed. With the increases of CMFs and CNFs concentration (0–10%), the hardness was increased by 13.15% and 19.78% for CMFs10% and CNFs10% gels, respectively, and the elasticity was increased by 40% and 80%, respectively. At the same concentration (0–10%), the increase in gel hardness, viscoelasticity and immobilised water content was greater in the CNFs-MP group than in the CMFs-MP group. The CNFs-MP group had a tighter gel network, and CNFs had a better potential to improve the gelation performance of MP.     

Finite-time adaptive fuzzy control for a class of output constrained nonlinear systems with dead-zone

The article investigates the finite-time adaptive fuzzy control for a class of nonlinear systems with output constraint and input dead-zone. First, by skillfully combining the barrier Lyapunov function, backstepping design method, and finite-time control theory, a novel adaptive state-feedback tracking controller is constructed, and the output constraint of the nonlinear system is not violated. Second, the fuzzy logic system is used to approximate unknown function in the nonlinear system. Third, the finite-time command filter is introduced to avoid the problem of “complexity explosion” caused by repeated differentiations of the virtual control signal in conventional backstepping control schemes. Meanwhile, a new saturation function is added in the compensating signal for filter error to improve control accuracy. Finally, based on Lyapunov stability analysis, all the signals of the closed-loop are proved to be semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded, and the tracking error converges to a small neighborhood region of the origin in a finite time. A simulation example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness for the proposed control scheme.     

Low-Velocity Impact Damage Simulation of Biaxial Warp-Knitted Flexible Composite with Simplified Microstructure Model

Applied Composite Materials - In this paper, the low-velocity impact deformation behavior of biaxial warp-knitted flexible composite was investigated. A simplified finite element model (FEM) of the...     

Effects of high-pressure-modified soy 11S globulin on the gel properties and water-holding capacity of pork batter

The effects of high-pressure-modified soy 11S globulin (0.1, 200, and 400 MPa) on the gel properties, water-holding capacity, and water mobility of pork batter were investigated. The high-pressure-modified soy 11S globulin significantly increased (P < 0.05) the emulsion stability, cooking yield, hardness, springiness, chewiness, resilience, cohesiveness, the a^* and b^* values, and the G′ and G′′ values of pork batter at 80 °C, compared with those of 0.1 MPa-modified globulin. In contrast, the centrifugal loss and initial relaxation time of T_2b, T₂₁, and T₂₂ significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the microstructure was denser, and the voids were smaller and more uniform compared with those of 0.1 MPa-modified globulin. In addition, the sample with 11S globulin modified at 400 MPa had the best water-holding capacity, gel structure, and gel properties among the samples. Overall, the use of high-pressure-modified soy 11S globulin improved the gel properties and water-holding capacity of pork batter, especially under 400 MPa.     

传统牦牛酸奶源高产胞外多糖乳酸菌特性及发酵性能

为了研究四川藏区传统牦牛酸奶中高产胞外多糖乳酸菌特性及发酵性能，以本实验室分离出的六株高产胞外多糖乳酸菌为研究对象，以菌株生长量、耐酸性、胆盐耐受力、渗透压耐受力和细胞表面疏水性为指标进行特性研究；以发酵酸奶的凝乳时间、持水力、酸化及后酸化能力、挥发性物质及质构等为指标进行发酵性能研究。菌株的生长曲线表明，6株菌株分别在14 h（218、276、266）、16 h（271、285、231）进入对数生长稳定期，其中编号218的菌株生长量最高，OD值为2.188。耐受性实验结果表明，菌株276具有良好的耐酸能力（P<0.05）；菌株266、218、231耐胆盐的能力较强；6株菌株均具有较好的耐渗透压的能力，其中菌株285对高渗透压的耐受性较强；菌株285和218在两种有机试剂中的疏水性均显著（P<0.05）高于其他菌株，且与十六烷的结合效果较好。发酵试验结果表明，6株菌株所发酵酸奶均在6~8 h内凝固，酸乳在冷藏期间，活菌数均保持在107 CFU/mL以上，均符合发酵剂的标准，其中菌株276的最高为3.22×106 CFU/mL；菌株218发酵制得的酸奶质构特性较好，持水力和酸化能力较其余菌株均最强，分别为60.98%和83 °T；菌株276、266抗后酸化能力较好；菌株231产香性能最优，乙醛含量为24~26 μg/mL，双乙酰含量为1.58~3.73 μg/mL，能够明显改善酸奶的风味。通过综合比较6株高产胞外多糖乳酸菌特性及发酵性能，菌株218为一株性能良好、具有良好稳定性的菌株，可作为乳酸菌发酵剂且具有一定的应用潜力。研究为利用四川藏区传统牦牛酸奶中分离出的高产胞外多糖乳酸菌在发酵乳制品的应用提供理论依据。     

A data-driven digital-twin prognostics method for proton exchange membrane fuel cell remaining useful life prediction

Prognostics and health management of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems have driven increasing research attention in recent years as the durability of PEMFC stack remains as a technical barrier for its large-scale commercialization. To monitor the health state during PEMFC operation, digital twin (DT), as a smart manufacturing technique, is applied in this paper to establish an ensemble remaining useful life prediction system. A data-driven DT is constructed to integrate the physical knowledge of the system and a deep transfer learning model based on stacked denoising autoencoder is used to update the DT with online measurement. A case study with experimental PEMFC degradation data is presented where the proposed data-driven DT prognostics method has applied and reached a high prediction accuracy. Furthermore, the predicted results are proved to be less affected even with limited measurement data.