Comparative Evaluation of the Effects of Electrohydrodynamic,Oven, and Ambient Air on Carrot Cylindrical Slices during Drying Process

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) drying is a novel method of nonthermal drying. A corona discharge using multiple electrodes and a high-voltage electric field of 5.2 kV · cm^?1 was produced to investigate the drying enhancement of carrot slices and its effect on color and shrinkage. The EHD setup consisted of 13 stainless steel needle points connected to a DC power supply and a stainless steel plate. EHD⁺ drying, EHD^? drying, oven drying at 55°C, and ambient air drying control at 25°C for 5 h resulted in 79.5, 77.7, 77, and 22.5% total moisture removal from the fresh carrot slices, respectively. The final shrinkage of the EHD^± drying was less than that of oven drying but was higher than that of ambient air drying. It was estimated that the energy consumption of oven drying was several times greater than those of EHD^± drying. The conventional drying processes changed all color parameters, whereas the color for EHD^± dried samples remained almost the same. The carrot slices’ temperature during drying by EHD^± was significantly less than that of those dried by oven and ambient air drying.     

Fabrication and characterization of hydrophilic poly(ε‐caprolactone)/pluronic P123 electrospun fibers

Poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) has been widely investigated for tissue engineering applications because of its good biocompatibility, biodegradability, and mechanical properties; however hydrophobic nature of PCL has been a colossal obstacle toward achieving scaffolds which offer satisfactory cell attachment and proliferation. To produce highly hydrophilic electrospun fibers, PCL was blended with pluronic P123 (P123) and the resulted electrospun scaffolds physiochemical characteristics such as fiber morphology, thermal behavior, crystalline structure, mechanical properties, and wettability were investigated. Moreover molecular dynamic (MD) simulation was assigned to evaluate the blended and neat PCL/water interactions. Presence of P123 at the surface of electrospun blended fibers was detected using ATR‐FTIR analysis. P123 effectiveness in improving the hydrophilicity of the scaffolds was demonstrated by water contact angel which experienced a sharp decrease from 132° corresponding to the neat PCL to almost 0° for all blended samples. Also a steady increase in water uptake ratio was observed for blended fibers as P123 content increased. The 90/10 blend ratio had the maximum tensile strength, elongation at break and crystallinity percentage. Therefore 90/10 blend ratio of PCL/P123 can balance the mechanical properties and bulk hydrophilicity of the resulted electrospun scaffold and would be a promising candidate for tissue engineering application. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43345.     

Optimisation of aqueous extraction of gum from durian (Durio zibethinus) seed: A potential, low cost source of hydrocolloid

The main goal of the present study was to investigate the effect of aqueous extraction conditions on the extraction yield and physicochemical properties of the durian seed gum. The studied aqueous extraction variables were water/seed (W/S) ratio (20:1-60:1, w/w), temperature (25.0-85.0 °C), and pH (4.0-10.0). The results indicated that the aqueous extraction variables exhibited the least significant (p < 0.05) effect on oil-holding capacity (OHC). Conversely, they had the most significant (p < 0.05) effect on the span and extraction yield. The current study revealed that the interaction effect of aqueous extraction variables showed the least significant (p < 0.05) effect on the solubility and OHC of durian seed gum. The optimum extraction condition led to the production of durian seed gum with a relatively high extraction yield (56.4%), solubility (27.9%), volume-weighted mean (98.7 μm), span (3.8), water-holding capacity (WHC) (270.6 g water/100 g gum), and OHC (146.5 g oil/100 g gum).     

A novel ultrasonic assisted-reverse micelle procedure to synthesize Eu-MOF nanostructure with high sono/sonophotocatalytic activity: a systematic study for brilliant green dye removal

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - In recent years, one of the growing environmental concerns has been contamination of water sources by dyes. For solving this problem,...     

Truss optimization using eigenvectors of the covariance matrix

In this paper, by combining eigenvectors of the covariance matrix and random normal distribution, a new method has been presented to solve optimization problems. This method has been inspired by CMA-ES method and has been named eigenvectors of covariance matrix (ECM). ECM generates some solutions in each stage; then it assigns a value to all solutions by utilizing a dynamic penalty function. The best solution in each stage is selected as the answer of optimization problem and ECM tries to push towards a better point. According to the penalty function, the solutions with no violation along with the solutions with little violation are considered as good solutions and named desirable data. By utilizing desirable data, a square matrix is formed and its covariance matrix can be calculated. The eigenvectors of the covariance matrix are orthogonal and they show directions of distribution of desirable points that have been chosen before. We can hopefully get a better answer by moving from the best current answer towards the points which are distributed normally and randomly around the weighted combination of eigenvectors. To ensure the validity and accuracy of ECM method, weights of six truss structures have been optimized through this method and the results have been compared with previous studies.

     

Influence of Chemical Extraction on Rheological Behavior,Viscoelastic Properties and Functional Characteristics of Natural Heteropolysaccharide/Protein Polymer from Durio zibethinus Seed

In recent years, the demand for a natural plant-based polymer with potential functions from plant sources has increased considerably. The main objective of the current study was to study the effect of chemical extraction conditions on the rheological and functional properties of the heteropolysaccharide/protein biopolymer from durian (Durio zibethinus) seed. The efficiency of different extraction conditions was determined by assessing the extraction yield, protein content, solubility, rheological properties and viscoelastic behavior of the natural polymer from durian seed. The present study revealed that the soaking process had a more significant (p < 0.05) effect than the decolorizing process on the rheological and functional properties of the natural polymer. The considerable changes in the rheological and functional properties of the natural polymer could be due to the significant (p < 0.05) effect of the chemical extraction variables on the protein fraction present in the molecular structure of the natural polymer from durian seed. The natural polymer from durian seed had a more elastic (or gel like) behavior compared to the viscous (liquid like) behavior at low frequency. The present study revealed that the natural heteropolysaccharide/protein polymer from durian seed had a relatively low solubility ranging from 9.1% to 36.0%. This might be due to the presence of impurities, insoluble matter and large particles present in the chemical structure of the natural polymer from durian seed.     

View factor calculation using the Monte Carlo method for a 3D strip element to circular cylinder

The discussion includes the application of the Monte Carlo method to determine view factor for the plate including strip elements to circular cylinder as a case in heating and cooling processes in material processing. The results involving the relationships between different discretization schemes, number of rays used for the view factor calculation, CPU time and accuracy are presented. The analysis also displays the differences between the numerical results obtained and analytical solutions for the 20, 30 and 45 element discretized figures and for (30⁴), (50⁴) and (70⁴) rays per element. The results obtained from the Monte Carlo solution indicate that smaller elements require more effort to obtain an accurate view factor.     

Emulsion formulation optimization and characterization of spray-dried κ-carrageenan microparticles for the encapsulation of CoQ10

The present study is aimed to prepare κ-carrageenan microparticles for the encapsulation of model drug, coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). A face-centered central composite design was employed to study the effects of three different formulation variables (κ-carrageenan, emulsifier, and oil). The powder yield was found inversely affected by the κ-carrageenan and oil concentration. The encapsulation efficiency was maximized in the region of the middle level κ-carrageenan concentration, the high level emulsifier concentration, and the low level oil concentration. The emulsifier concentration was the most influential variable on the particle size of powder. The optimal formulation was reported as 0.91% (w/v) κ-carrageenan concentration, 0.64% (w/v) emulsifier, and 1.0% (w/w) oil. Both differential scanning colorimeter and X-ray diffraction analyses proved that incorporation of CoQ10 into κ- carrageenan microcapsules resulted in amorphous powder with significantly (p<0.05) higher water solubility compared to pure CoQ10 and physical mixture in the crystalline form.     

Stilbene levels and antioxidant activity of Vranec and Merlot wines from Macedonia: Effect of variety and enological practices

The content of the stilbenes trans-resveratrol and piceid as well as the antioxidant activity of Macedonian red wines from the two main grape varieties Vranec and Merlot have been evaluated. Тhe effects of time of maceration, type of yeast and the level of sulphur dioxide applied on stilbene content and antioxidant activity have been studied. The most important factor in winemaking technology is the maceration time since the highest concentrations of trans-resveratrol, piceid and highest antioxidant activity were found following 6 and 10 days of maceration. Concerning the yeast type, higher concentrations of trans-resveratrol and piceid have been obtained with French yeast “Levuline CHP” in comparison to Macedonian yeast “Vinalco”. In contrast, the higher antioxidant activity of wines from both varieties of grapes was observed by application of Macedonian yeast “Vinalco”.