What installed mobile applications tell about their owners and how they affect users’ download behavior

The rapid growth in the mobile application market presents a significant challenge to find interesting and relevant applications for users. An experimental study was conducted through the use of a specifically designed mobile application, on users’ mobile phones. The goals were; first, to learn about the users’ personality and the applications they downloaded to their mobile phones, second to recommend applications to users via notifications through the use of experimental mobile application and learn about user behavior in mobile environment. The question of how the personality features of users affect their compliance to recommendations is explored in this study. It is found that conscientiousness is positively related with accepting recommended applications and being agreeable is related with the preference for the applications of editor’s choice. Furthermore, in this study, applications owned by the user and the composition of applications under categories and their relation with personality features are explored. It is shown that the number of user owned applications and their category differ according to gender and personality. Having similar applications and the number of applications owned under specific categories increase the probability of accepting recommended applications.     

Photo-Fenton-like treatment of BPA: Effect of UV light source and water matrix on toxicity and transformation products

UV-A (near-UV), UV-C (short-UV) and visible-light assisted Fenton-like treatment of Bisphenol A (BPA) was investigated in pure water and raw freshwater samples spiked with BPA. Treatment performances were evaluated in terms of BPA degradation, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal and H₂O₂ consumption rates. Complete BPA degradation accompanied with significant DOC removal was achieved for all studied processes. Increasing the initial solution pH only exhibited a negative effect on treatment efficiencies when bicarbonate alkalinity was used for pH adjustment, whereas the raw freshwater matrix and irradiation type also influenced oxidation rates appreciably. Acute toxicity analysis employing Vibrio fischeri revealed that the inhibitory effect of BPA decreased significantly during the course of Photo-Fenton-like treatment. Several transformation products could be identified via HPLC and GC–MS analyses including hydroxylated phenolic compounds (hydroquinone; 2-methoxy, 1-4-benzenediol; 4-isopropenylphenol; 4′-hydroxy-acetophenone; 1-(4-cyclohexylphenyl) ethanone; 4-isopropylenecatechol; 4-4′-dihydroxybenzophenone; 4-ethyl,1,3-benzenediol), as well as the ring opening products hexanoic acid methyl ester, fumaric, succinic and oxalic acids. A reaction pathway featuring hydroxylation, dimerization and ring opening steps is proposed.     

Multivariate analysis of anionic, cationic and nonionic textile surfactant degradation with the H(2)O(2)/UV-C process by using the capabilities of response surface methodology

Anionic, cationic and nonionic surfactants being frequently employed in the textile preparation process were subjected to H(2)O(2)/UV-C treatment. As a consequence of the considerable number of parameters affecting the H(2)O(2)/UV-C process, an experimental design methodology was used to mathematically describe and optimize the single and combined influences of the critical process variables treatment time, initial H(2)O(2)concentration and chemical oxygen demand (COD) on parent pollutant (surfactant) as well as organic carbon (COD and total organic carbon (TOC)) removal efficiencies. Multivariate analysis was based on two different photochemical treatment targets; (i) full oxidation/complete treatment of the surfactants or, alternatively, (ii) partial oxidation/pretreatment of the surfactants to comply with the legislative discharge requirements. According to the established polynomial regression models, the process independent variables "treatment time" (exerting a positive effect) and "initial COD content" (exerting a negative effect) played more significant roles in surfactant photodegradation than the process variable "initial H(2)O(2) concentration" under the studied experimental conditions.     

Oxidative stability of extra virgin olive oil blended with sesame seed oil during storage: an optimization study based on combined design methodology

In this study, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) was mixed with sesame seed oil (SSO) at different concentrations (100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30 and 60:40 w/w) and stored for 90 days at room conditions. To see the effect of mixing level and storage period, a combined design having two mixtures (EVOO and SSO) and one process factor (storage period) was used. Main oxidation parameters (free fatty acid content, refractive index, peroxide value and p-anisidine value) and major fatty acid composition of the samples were characterized. It was observed that EVOO is quite sensitive to oxidation compared to SSO and increase of SSO in the blended oil samples decreased the oxidation of the product during storage. Major fatty acids were palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids. Addition of SSO caused a significantly change in the fatty acid composition. The results showed that EVOO could be stored for longer time by mixing of SSO having strong antioxidant activity.     

Reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome due to arteriovenous fistula

A patient with end-stage renal disease presented with reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome (RSDS) on her left hand 1 month after arteriovenous fistula (AVF) surgery. Magnetic resonance angiography revealed steal syndrome at the AVF level. Bone scintigraphy revealed early-stage RSDS. We considered that arterial insufficiency because of steal phenomenon following AVF surgery and underlying occlusive arterial disease triggered RSDS development.     

Trans-differentiation of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells into cardiomyocyte-like cells on decellularized bovine myocardial extracellular matrix-based films

In this study, we aimed at fabricating decellularized bovine myocardial extracellular matrix-based films (dMEbF) for cardiac tissue engineering (CTE). The decellularization process was carried out utilizing four consecutive stages including hypotonic treatment, detergent treatment, enzymatic digestion and decontamination, respectively. In order to fabricate the dMEbF, dBM were digested with pepsin and gelation process was conducted. dMEbF were then crosslinked with N-hydroxysuccinimide/1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide (NHS/EDC) to increase their durability. Nuclear contents of native BM and decellularized BM (dBM) tissues were determined with DNA content analysis and agarose-gel electrophoresis. Cell viability on dMEbF for 3rd, 7th, and 14th days was assessed by MTT assay. Cell attachment on dMEbF was also studied by scanning electron microscopy. Trans-differentiation capacity of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs) into cardiomyocyte-like cells on dMEbF were also evaluated by histochemical and immunohistochemical analyses. DNA contents for native and dBM were, respectively, found as 886.11?±?164.85 and 47.66?±?0.09?ng/mg dry weight, indicating a successful decellularization process. The results of glycosaminoglycan and hydroxyproline assay, and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), performed in order to characterize the extracellular matrix (ECM) composition of native and dBM tissue, showed that the BM matrix was not damaged during the proposed method. Lastly, regarding the histological study, dMEbF not only mimics native ECM, but also induces the stem cells into cardiomyocyte-like cells phenotype which brings it the potential of use in CTE.     

Using spray-dried sugar beet molasses in ice cream as a novel bulking agent

In this study, it is aimed to investigate and evaluate the use of molasses which is a by-product of sugar production as a novel bulking agent in ice cream as a sugar replacer. Sugar beet molasses (75%) and 12 DE maltodextrin (25%) were converted into powder form by spray drying. Spray-dried sugar beet molasses (SDSM) was then used as a substitute of sugar in different ratios (0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25 and 100:0) in the ice cream products. The increased amount of SDSM decreased the overrun, L*, whiteness index (WI) and melting behaviours and increased a*, b*, total phenolic content, consistency and viscosity. Meanwhile, thermal properties have not been affected by the use of SDSM (P < 0.05). The sensory findings have been particularly interesting especially when replacing above 50% sugar with SDSM, aroma, flavour and general acceptability decrease. According to the results of this study, substituting 25% of total sugar with SDSM as a bulking agent can decrease cost of the product and improve total phenolic content and some quality parameters without compromising sensorial properties.     

Sustainable hydrogen production options from food wastes

In this study, two thermochemical processes, namely steam gasification and supercritical water gasification (SCWG), were comparatively studied to produce hydrogen from food wastes containing about 90% water. The SCWG experiments were performed at 400 and 450 °C in presence of catalyst (Trona, K₂CO₃ and seaweed ash). The maximum hydrogen yield was obtained at 450 °C in presence of K₂CO₃ catalyst. In second process, hydrothermal carbonization was used to convert food wastes into a high-quality solid fuel (hydrochar) that was further gasified in a dual-bed reactor in presence of steam. The steam gasification of hydrochar was carried out with and without catalysts (iron?ceria catalyst and dolomite). The maximum hydrogen yield obtained from steam gasification process was 28.08 mmol/g dry waste, about 7.7 times of that from SCWG. This study proposed a new concept for hydrogen production from wet biomass, combination of hydrothermal carbonization following steam gasification.