Bovidae-based gelatin: Extractions method,physicochemical and functional properties,applications, and future trends

Gelatin is one of the most important multifunctional biopolymers and is widely used as an essential ingredient in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics. Porcine gelatin is regarded as the leading source of gelatin globally then followed by bovine gelatin. Porcine sources are favored over other sources since they are less expensive. However, porcine gelatin is religiously prohibited to be consumed by Muslims and the Jewish community. It is predicted that the global demand for gelatin will increase significantly in the future. Therefore, a sustainable source of gelatin with efficient production and free of disease transmission must be developed. The highest quality of Bovidae-based gelatin (BG) was acquired through alkaline pretreatment, which displayed excellent physicochemical and rheological properties. The utilization of mammalian- and plant-based enzyme significantly increased the gelatin yield. The emulsifying and foaming properties of BG also showed good stability when incorporated into food and pharmaceutical products. Manipulation of extraction conditions has enabled the development of custom-made gelatin with desired properties. This review highlighted the various modifications of extraction and processing methods to improve the physicochemical and functional properties of Bovidae-based gelatin. An in-depth analysis of the crucial stage of collagen breakdown is also discussed, which involved acid, alkaline, and enzyme pretreatment, respectively. In addition, the unique characteristics and primary qualities of BG including protein content, amphoteric property, gel strength, emulsifying and viscosity properties, and foaming ability were presented. Finally, the applications and prospects of BG as the preferred gelatin source globally were outlined.     

Locating wind farm for power and hydrogen production based on Geographic information system and multi-criteria decision making method: An application

Hydrogen generation from renewable energy resources is considered as a suitable solution to solve the problems related to the energy sector and the reduction of greenhouse gases. The aim of this study is to provide an integrated framework for identifying suitable areas for the construction of wind farms to produce hydrogen. For this purpose, a combined method of Geographic Information System (GIS) and multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) has been used to locate the power plant in Yazd province. The GIS method in the present study consisted of two parts: constraints and criteria. The constraint section included areas that were unsuitable for the construction of wind farms to produce power and hydrogen. In the present study, various aspects such as physical, economic and environmental had been considered as constraints. In the criteria section, eight different criteria from technical aspects (including average wind speed, hydrogen production potential, land slope) and economic aspects (including distance to electricity grid, distance to urban areas, distance to road, distance to railway and distance to centers of High hydrogen consumption) had been investigated. The MCDM tool had been used to weigh the criteria and identify suitable areas. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique was used for weighting the criteria. The results of AHP weighting method showed that economic criteria had the highest importance with a value of 0.681. The most significant sub-criterion was the distance to urban areas and the least significant sub-criterion was the distance to power transmission lines. The results of GIS-MCDM analysis had shown that the most proper areas were in the southern and central sectors of Yazd province. In addition, the feasibility of hydrogen production from wind energy had shown that this province had the capacity to generate hydrogen at the rate of 53.6–128.6 tons per year.     

A comparison of shear stress estimation methods for a single geobag on a rough bed

There are several methods for estimating bed shear stress in the literature, but comprehensive comparisons among them are limited and under specific conditions. This study compared these methods first on a bare smooth bed, and then for a single geobag on a rough bed in the interest of determining the stability of geobags used in riverbank protection structures. The geobag was filled with cement or sand and tested under different open channel flow conditions. The turbulent kinetic energy method appeared to best represent the local bed shear stress on the geobag when using the newly calibrated proportionality constants. The Reynolds stress method via extrapolation was relatively unaffected by changes to the geobags shape and measurement locations, suggesting this method inadequately represents the local bed shear stress. The Patel method and the universal law of the wall method failed to represent local bed shear stress in the rough bed cases due to instrument limitations and the breakdown of the law of the wall. This study highlights the impact of different methods on the bed shear stress estimation.     

Photoluminescence and energy transfer of Lu3Al5O12:Ce3+, Pr3+ phosphors

Ce³⁺ and Pr³⁺ co?doped Lu₃Al₅O₁₂ phosphors were synthesized by the sol–gel process, and their crystal structure, photoluminescence (PL) properties, and energy transfer (ET) from the Ce³⁺ to Pr³⁺ were studied. The Lu_2.94?yAl₅O₁₂:0.06Ce³⁺, yPr³⁺ phosphors (0.002 ≤ y ≤ 0.008) showed the green?yellow emission from the ²D_3/2 → ²F_{5/2, 7/2} transition of Ce³⁺ and the red emission at 610 and 637 nm, which were caused by the ¹D₂→³H₄ and ³P₀→³H₅ transitions of Pr³⁺, respectively. The optimal concentration of Pr³⁺ for efficient ET was found to be x = 0.006. The electric quadrupole?quadrupole interaction was responsible for the concentration quenching in the Lu_2.94?yAl₅O₁₂:0.06Ce³⁺, yPr³⁺ phosphors, based on Dexter's theory. The incorporation of Pr³⁺ for Lu³⁺ enhanced the red PL intensity in the Lu_2.94Al₅O₁₂:0.06Ce³⁺ phosphor.     

A mathematical model for open pit mine production scheduling with Grade Engineering® and stockpiling

This paper presents the development and implementation of an innovative mixed integer programming based mathematical model for an open pit mining operation with Grade Engineering framework. Grade Engineering comprises a range of coarse-separation based pre-processing techniques that separate the desirable (i.e. high-grade) and undesirable (i.e. low-grade or uneconomic) materials and ensure the delivery of only selected quantity of high quality (or high-grade) material to energy, water, and cost-intensive processing plant. The model maximizes the net present value under a range of operational and processing constraints. Given that the proposed model is computationally complex, the authors employ a data pre-processing procedure and then evaluate the performance of the model at several practical instances using computation time, optimality gap, and the net present value as valid measures. In addition, a comparison of the proposed and traditional (without Grade Engineering) models reflects that the proposed model outperforms the traditional formulation.     

Silver-substituted (Ag1-xCux)2ZnSnS4 solar cells from aprotic molecular inks

To battle the high open-circuit voltage deficit (V_OC,def) in kesterite (Cu₂ZnSnS₄ or CZTS) solar cells, a current field of research relates to point defect engineering by cation substitution. For example, by partly replacing Cu with an element of a larger ionic radius, such as Ag, the degree of Cu/Zn disorder decreases, and likewise does the associated band tailing. In this paper, solution-processed (Ag_1-xCu_x)₂ZnSnS₄ (ACZTS) samples are prepared through the aprotic molecular ink approach using DMSO as the solvent. The successful incorporation of silver into the CZTS lattice is demonstrated with relatively high silver concentrations, namely Ag/(Ag+Cu) ratios of 13% and 26%. The best device was made with 13% Ag/(Ag+Cu) and had an efficiency of 4.9%. The samples are compared to the pure CZTS sample in terms of microstructure, phase distribution, photoluminescence, and device performance. In the XRD patterns, a decrease in the lattice parameter c/a ratio is observed for ACZTS, as well as significant peak splitting with Ag addition for several of the characteristic kesterite XRD reflections. In addition to the improvement in efficiency, other advantageous effects of Ag-incorporation include enhanced grain growth and an increased band gap. A too high concentration of Ag leads to the formation of secondary phases such as SnS and Ag₂S as detected by XRD.     

Coverage optimization algorithm based on VF-CS in mobile sensor network

A random placement of large-scale sensor network in the outdoor environment often causes low coverage.An area coverage optimization algorithm of mobile sensor network (MSN) based on virtual force perturbation and Cuckoo search (VF-CS) was proposed.Firstly,the virtual force of the sensor nodes within the Thiessen polygon was analyzed based on the partitioning of Voronoi diagram of the monitoring area.Secondly,the force of polygon vertices and neighbor nodes was taken as the perturbation factor for updating the node’s location of the Cuckoo search (CS).Finally,the VF-CS guided the node to move so as to achieve the optimal coverage.The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has higher coverage and shorter average moving distance of nodes than the Voronoi diagram based algorithms in literatures.     

Numerical modeling of wave propagation in anisotropic viscoelastic laminated materials in transient regime: Application to modeling ultrasonic testing of composite structures

Composite laminate structures remain an important family of materials used in cutting-edge industrial areas. Building efficient numerical modeling tools for high-frequency wave propagation in order to represent ultrasonic testing experiments of these materials remains a major challenge. In particular, incorporating attenuation phenomena within anisotropic plies, and thin intermediate isotropic layers between the plies often represent significant obstacles for standard numerical approaches. In our work, we address both issues by proposing a systematic study of the fully discrete propagators associated to the Kelvin-Voigt, Maxwell, and Zener models, and by incorporating effective transmission conditions between plies using the mortar element method. We illustrate the soundness of our approach by proposing intermediate one-dimensional and two-dimensional numerical evidence, and we apply it to a more realistic configuration of a curved laminate composite structure in a three-dimensional setting.     

Morpholine As a Scaffold in Medicinal Chemistry: An Update on Synthetic Strategies

Morpholine is a frequently used heterocycle in medicinal chemistry and a privileged structural component of bioactive molecules. This is mainly due to its contribution to a plethora of biological activities as well as to an improved pharmacokinetic profile of such bioactive molecules. The synthesis of morpholines is a subject of much study due to their biological and pharmacological importance, with the last such review being published in 2013. Here, an overview of the main approaches toward morpholine synthesis or functionalization is presented, emphasizing on novel work which has not been reviewed so far. This review is an update on synthetic strategies leading to easily accessible libraries of bioactives which are of interest for drug discovery projects.