Physicochemical properties,antioxidant activity and inhibition of α‐glucosidase of a novel fermented pepper (Capsiccum annuum L.) leaves‐based vinegar

The aim of this study was to utilise by‐product pepper leaves for vinegar production due to its nutritional value. Changes in physicochemical and functional properties in four main process from raw material (leaves) to lactic acid (juice), alcohol (wine) and acetic acid (vinegar) fermentations were evaluated and compared. Their nutritional compositions were significantly different and particularly the wine and vinegar had higher total phenol content and their expanded diversity than the juice and then leaves (P < 0.05). Difference in values for phenolic compound was highly correlated with their α‐glucosidase inhibitory (AGI) and antioxidant capacities in DPPH and superoxide radical scavenging and reducing power assays (r = 0.919–0.981); vinegar ≥ wine > juice > leaves. Especially, AGI activity was greatly enhanced depending on fermentation steps beyond expectation. Thus, these data confirm that pepper leaves is a good functional source and the vinegar fermentation improved the functionality in stages.     

Saliency-weighted graphs for efficient visual content description and their applications in real-time image retrieval systems

The exponential growth in the volume of digital image databases is making it increasingly difficult to retrieve relevant information from them. Efficient retrieval systems require distinctive features extracted from visually rich contents, represented semantically in a human perception-oriented manner. This paper presents an efficient framework to model image contents as an undirected attributed relational graph, exploiting color, texture, layout, and saliency information. The proposed method encodes salient features into this rich representative model without requiring any segmentation or clustering procedures, reducing the computational complexity. In addition, an efficient graph-matching procedure implemented on specialized hardware makes it more suitable for real-time retrieval applications. The proposed framework has been tested on three publicly available datasets, and the results prove its superiority in terms of both effectiveness and efficiency in comparison with other state-of-the-art schemes.     

High-temperature thermo-mechanical behavior of functionally graded materials produced by plasma sprayed coating: Experimental and modeling results

Thermal barrier coatings are widely used in aerospace industries to protect exterior surfaces from harsh environments. In this study, functionally graded materials (FGMs) were investigated with the aim to optimize their high temperature resistance and strength characteristics. NiCrAlY bond coats were deposited on Inconel-617 superalloy substrate specimens by the low vacuum plasma spraying technique. Functionally graded Ni-yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coatings with gradually varying amounts of YSZ (20%-100%) were fabricated from composite powders by vacuum plasma spraying. Heat shield performance tests were conducted using a high- temperature plasma torch. The temperature distributions were measured using thermocouples at the interfaces of the FGM layers during the tests. A model for predicting the temperature at the bond coating–substrate interface was established. The temperature distributions simulated using the finite element method agreed well with the experimental results.     

Physicochemical and functional characteristics of a novel fermented pepper (Capsiccum annuum L.) leaves-based beverage using lactic acid bacteria

Two lactic acid bacteria (LAB), Lactobacillus homohiochii JBCC 25 and L. homohiochii JBCC 46, were isolated from a naturally fermented vinegar beverage. Fermented pepper leaves beverage (FPLB-3) which indicated good assessment based on a sensory evaluation test was prepared using the mixed strains. The prepared FPLB-3 showed enhanced functional aspects based on γ-aminobutyric acid (23.6 mg%), total polyphenol (2,828.2 gallic acid equivalents μg/g), and flavonoid contents (2,008.8 catechin equivalents μg/g). Moreover, FPLB-3 showed significantly stronger scavenging activities for the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical (84.6%) and superoxide radical (90.8%) and outstanding inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase of 65.9% at 50 mg/mL compared to the raw material. Based on the results, the newly developed FPLB using Wongi-1 pepper leaves and Lactobacillus is expected to be a novel functional food with natural antioxidant and antidiabetic capacities.     

Hydrogen production by hybrid system and its conversion by fuel cell in Algeria; Djanet

In this work we present a scenario of wind and solar energy production and seasonal energy storage producing Hydrogen in Djanet (East-South of Algeria). In addition we suppose assume the use of a set of fuel cells which are connected to the grid to provide a supply of energy when needed afterwards. The aim of this primary study is giving an alternative solution for the electric production in Djanet, which is mainly based on diesel generator. For that we made an investigation to highlight the potential of renewable energy production in this region. To ascertain feasibility of one hybrid system, we made energetic assessment considering the real climatic conditions of Djanet.     

Quantitative measurement of cementite dissociation in drawn pearlitic steel

Fractional dissociation of cementite was quantified as a function of strain by measuring the volume change of cementite in the pearlitic steel. The amount of carbon dissolved into the ferrite was estimated from the decrease of cementite volume, to correlate with the hardness in different strain level. The hardness showed linear relationship with the carbon dissolved into the ferrite matrix, which is believed to contribute in strengthening the drawn wire. Defects introduced from the deformation were believed to lower the energy barrier of cementite break-ups and to enhance the dissolution of carbon into ferrite.     

Antioxidant and anti‐hypertensive activity of anthocyanin‐rich extracts from hulless pigmented barley cultivars

Anthocyanin‐rich acetone extracts of barley grain of four hulless pigmented genotypes were investigated to determine their potential as functional food ingredients. The purple barley cultivar contained 11 anthocyanins, whereas only one anthocyanin, peonidin derivative, was observed in blue, black and yellow barley. The total anthocyanin content of pigmented barley genotypes ranged from 3.2 to 678.5 mg kg^?1 in whole grain and from 4.5 to 1654.6 mg kg^?1 in bran. The purple barley bran extract gave the highest DPPH radical scavenging capacity, superoxide radical scavenging capacity and total antioxidant activity. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of angiotensin I‐converting enzyme (ACE) of anthocyanin‐rich extract of purple barley grain and bran was 8.77 and 4.54 mg mL^?1, respectively. Purple barley appears to have great potential uses for the promotion of human health and development of nutraceuticals and functional foods.     

Vehicle-Classification Algorithm for Single-Loop Detectors Using Neural Networks

Vehicle class is an important parameter in the process of road-traffic measurement. Currently, inductive-loop detectors (ILD) and image sensors are rarely used for vehicle classification because of their low accuracy. To improve the accuracy, the authors suggest a new algorithm for ILD using back-propagation neural networks. In the developed algorithm, the inputs to the neural networks are the variation rate of frequency and frequency waveform. The output is five classified vehicles. The developed algorithm was assessed at test sites, and the recognition rate was 91.5%. The results verified that the proposed algorithm improves the vehicle-classification accuracy compared to the conventional method based on ILD