Effects of high-energy ultrasound on the functional properties of proteins

In recent years, high-energy ultrasound has been used as an alternative to improve the functional properties of various proteins, such as from milk, eggs, soy and poultry. The benefits of implementing this technology depend on the inherent characteristics of the protein source and the intensity and amplitude of the ultrasound, as well as on the pH, temperature, ionic strength, time, and all of the variables that have an effect on the physicochemical properties of proteins. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the optimal conditions for each type of food. The use of ultrasound is a promising technique in food technology with a low impact on the environment, and it has thus become known as a green technology. Therefore, this review focuses on the application of high-energy ultrasound to food; its effects on the functional properties of proteins; and how different conditions such as the frequency, time, amplitude, temperature, and protein concentration affect the functional properties.     

Chemists around the World,Take Your Part in the Circular Economy!

Based on recent examples and initiatives reported in the literature, this concept article discusses how chemistry can contribute to the circular economy approach in order to improve our current and future economical, societal, and environmental system. Through five proposed levels of contribution, chemists can take a significant part in this global approach via the consideration of green chemistry principles, the simplification of syntheses, the limitation of complex products preparation, the efficient utilization of resources but also the novel ways of waste valorization. A more systematic and generalized environmental and economic assessment from the lab-scale is also recommended. At last, chemists have to work even more collaboratively and in a multidisciplinary way, within chemistry and beyond.     

Front face synchronous fluorescence as a tool for the quality assurance of Greek milk

This research focuses on implementing the low cost and rapid front face synchronous fluorescence (SyFS) in order to ensure the quality assurance of Greek milk. Specifically, samples originated from the Greek domestic production of goat, sheep, cow, as well as foreign cow milk samples and adulterated cow milk samples. SyFS spectra were acquired in the excitation area of 250–500 nm with (Δλ)= 100 nm. Greek and foreign cow milk samples were differentiated based on intensity variations at wavelengths 350–515 nm, 540–579 nm, and 580–600 nm. The emissions at these wavelength positions correspond to tryptophan, vitamin A, and riboflavin. The supervised model with 94 samples exhibited p-value = 7,98E-11, RMSEE= 0,29171, RMSEcv= 0,29284 and RMSEP= 0,98013, AUROC for Greek samples= 0,61 and AUROC for foreign= 0,85. We differentiated milk samples according to the animal type with PCA and OPLS-DA models of 107 samples exhibiting RMSEE= 0,225842, RMSEcv= 0,228054 and RMSEP= 0,518635, AUROC for sheep samples= 0,99, AUROC for goat samples= 0,98 and AUROC for cow samples= 0,96. In fact, the emission band 350–591 nm characterized sheep milk and corresponds to aminoacids and fatty acids, cow milk was related to the 350–600 nm emission band related to the b-carotene and to the goat milk the emission bands 350–505 nm and 520–600 nm were attributed to tryptophan, NADH and Rivoflabin. Finally, we investigated whether SyFS coupled with chemometrics may provide preliminary evidence on adulterated cow milk samples. All models were validated with permutation testing, p-values and ROC curves.     

地下水脆弱性风险预警和评估的区间三角模糊多属性决策模型

应用基于逼近理想解排序法的区间三角模糊多属性决策模型,对三江平原六大分区地下水脆弱性进行了风险预警和评估.评估结果与前人吻合,可为有关决策部门采取相应降低环境风险的措施提供参考.实例验证表明,模型具有更高的计算精度和更好的评价效果,为有关环境风险决策部门对地下水风险预警和评估提供了新的思路和方法.     

Differential equation dynamical system based assessment model in GNSS interoperability

With the development of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS),the idea of GNSS interoperability is born and has become the focus of study in the field of satellite navigation.The popularity for GNSS to augment the interoperability with the existing ones necessitates the study of the assessment algorithm of this idea.In this paper,an assessment algorithm for interoperability comprehensive benefits based on the differential equation dynamical system is discussed.There are two important aspects in GNSS tha...     

The effect of high power airborne ultrasound and microwaves on convective drying effectiveness and quality of green pepper

The effectiveness of hybrid drying based on convective drying with application of ultrasound and microwave enhancement is the main subject of the studies. The drying kinetics, energy consumption as well as the quality aspect of green pepper is analysed. It was shown that hybrid drying methods shorten significantly the drying time, reduce the energy consumption and affect positively the quality factors. Each of the analysed aspects depend on combination of the convective-ultrasound-microwave drying programs. Besides, based on the drying model elaborated earlier by one of the authors, the effects of ultrasound on convective drying assessed by such phenomena as “heating effect”, “vibration effect” and “synergistic effect” are presented.     

Radiation shielding effectiveness with correlated uncertainties

The space radiation environment is composed of energetic particles which can deliver harmful doses of radiation that may lead to acute radiation sickness, cancer, and even death for insufficiently shielded crew members. Spacecraft shielding must provide structural integrity and minimize the risk associated with radiation exposure. The risk of radiation exposure induced death (REID) is a measure of the risk of dying from cancer induced by radiation exposure. Uncertainties in the risk projection model, quality factor, and spectral fluence are folded into the calculation of the REID by sampling from probability distribution functions. Consequently, determining optimal shielding materials that reduce the REID in a statistically significant manner has been found to be difficult. In this work, the difference of the REID distributions for different materials is used to study the effect of composition on shielding effectiveness. It is shown that the use of correlated uncertainties allows for the determination of statistically significant differences between materials despite the large uncertainties in the quality factor. This is in contrast to previous methods where uncertainties have been generally treated as uncorrelated. It is concluded that the use of correlated quality factor uncertainties greatly reduces the uncertainty in the assessment of shielding effectiveness for the mitigation of radiation exposure.     

UV-Derivative Spectrophotometric Determination of Ritonavir Capsules and Comparison with LC Method

Abstract

An ultraviolet-derivative spectrophotometric method (UV-D) has been proposed as an alternative to a previously described liquid chromatographic (LC) method for the quantitative determination of ritonavir in soft gelatin capsules. The spectrophotometric method is based on recording the second-derivative spectra for ritonavir at 222.3 nm of its solutions in methanol. The linear dynamic range was 10.0–30.0 µg · mL^?1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9995. Mean recoveries were between 99.2% and 100.2% for the tested capsules samples. Mean intra- and interassay relative standard deviations (RSDs) were less than 2.0%. The statistic analysis showed that LC and UV-D methods were equivalent to assay ritonavir capsules.     

局部方差在图像质量评价中的应用

将灰度图像的局部方差分布（QLS）作为表征图像结构信息的一个重要特征,对局部方差分布矩阵进行奇异值分解,计算得到相应的奇异值特征向量;通过计算降质图像与原参考图像局部方差矩阵奇异值特征向量的夹角大小度量两图像的结构相似度,实现了对降质图像的质量评价。实验结果表明：局部方差分布更能突出图像的结构特征,评价结果优于传统的均方误差（MSE）、峰值信噪比（PSNR）、结构相似度（SSIM）以及直接评价图像像素分布的奇异值分析（SVD）等方法,与人眼视觉感知效果的一致性较好。