Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plasticizing-Antiplasticizing Effects of Water on Physical Properties of Tapioca Starch Films in the Glassy State

The effects of moisture sorption on physical properties of native and cross-linked starch films in the glassy state were studied. Water played a dual role as a plasticizer or an antiplasticizer, depending on the physical property measured. Plasticizing effects were clearly evident in the case of the calorimetric glass transition tempera- ture (T g ), tensile modulus, linear expansion, and water vapor permeability. In contrast, antiplasticization by water resulted in maxima in tensile strength, strain-at-break, and toughness of films that were observed at an intermedi- ate moisture content ranging from 4% to 8% (RVP 0.1 to 0.4). The seemingly contradictory effects of water on me- chanical properties associated with lower and higher deformation of starch films were reconciled by assigning dif- ferent roles to water operating primarily via opposite entropic/free volume effects. Relationships, if any, between
Seafood Processing: Technology, Quality and Safety

The work, part of the Institute of Food Science and Technology IFST Advances in Food Science Book Series, opens with a short overview of the series objectives, lists future series publications, introduces the 35 distinguished international contributors to the volume, and presents their professional affiliations. The Preface highlights challenges faced by the global seafood harvesting and processing industry noting consistently increasing demand, confronting international shipping distances that necessitate maintaining increased product shelf life, assuring quality and safety, satisfying consumer expectations, meeting more stringent government regulation, and facing growing oversight at all levels. The Preface notes new challenges associated with the world’s expanding demand for fish and seafood; seafood’s place as a major protein source; and greater international marketing efforts to discerning clients demanding enhanced safety and increased quality. “The book covers a whole range of technologies currently used for processing of seafood. ” Chapter 1 introduces seafood processing which leads to Part I, Processing Technologies covered by Chapters 2–13 and Part II, Quality and Safety Issues found in Chapters 14–17.
PREDICTION OF QUALITY CHANGES DURING OSMO-CONVECTIVE DRYING OF BLUEBERRIES USING NEURAL NETWORK MODELS FOR PROCESS OPTIMIZATION

Artificial neural network (ANN) models were used for predicting quality changes during osmo-convective drying of blueberries for process optimization. Osmotic drying usually involves treatment of fruits in an osmotic solution of predetermined concentration, temperature and time, and generally affects several associated quality factors such as color, texture, rehydration ratio as well as the finish drying time in a subsequent drier (usually air drying). Multi-layer neural network models with 3 inputs (concentration, osmotic temperature and contact time) were developed to predict 5 outputs: air drying time, color, texture, and rehydration ratio as well as a defined comprehensive index. The optimal configuration of neural network model was obtained by varying the main parameters of ANN: transfer function, learning rule, number of neurons and layers, and learning runs. The predictability of ANN models was compared with that of multiple regression models, confirming that ANN models had much better performance than conventional mathematical models. The prediction matrices and corresponding response curves for main processing properties under various osmotic dehydration conditions were used for searching the optimal processing conditions. The results indicated that it is feasible to use ANN for prediction and optimization of osmo-convective drying for blueberries.
Modelling the adsorption of peptides at aqueous quartz and gold interfaces

The aqueous interface between biomolecules and inorganic substrates is of interest to many cross-disciplinary areas of science, ranging from fundamental biological research into biomineralisation processes, to the more application-driven fields of nanotechnology and biomimetic materials synthesis. In particular, by harnessing the selectivity observed in Nature, proteins and peptides make ideal candidates for directing the assembly of nanoparticles into nanostructured, multifunctional materials with pre-defined physical properties. The rational design of peptide sequences with tunable affinities either for a substrate of a specific composition, or for a specific crystallographic plane of a given material, would mark an important step towards realising these goals. Before this is possible, however, the fundamental mechanisms involved in peptide substrate binding under aqueous conditions must be understood. Molecular simulation, used throughout this thesis, is well suited for studying biointerfacial systems at the level of detail needed to advance research. The work presented herein is primarily focused on answering the question of whether facet-selective peptide adsorption is indeed possible at the aqueous quartz and gold interfaces. A range of different simulation techniques, all based on atomistic molecular dynamics, are employed. As part of the study, two of the ‘grand challenges’ currently facing biointerfacial simulation–the deviation of force-fields suitable for the interfacial environment, and enhancing conformational sampling of an adsorbed biomolecule–are addressed. Potential of Mean constraint Force free energy of adsorption calculations show that, out of the amino-acid analogues tested, all display energetic and/or spatial selectivity between the (100), (001) and (011) surfaces, on adsorption to Quartz. Facet specificity in binding, for the building blocks from which peptides are comprised, is highly suggestive of the biomolecules themselves displaying similar characteristics. The general trend in small molecule adsorption strength–non-polar aromatic > negatively-charged > non-polar aliphatic > positively-charged–is common to all three aqueous Quartz interfaces. The propensity for negatively-charged ethanoate to bind more strongly to the aqueous, fully hydroxylated (100) a-Quartz surface than positively-charged ammonium is confirmed by first-principles simulations. Selectivity between the Au(111), Au(100)(1×1) and Au(100)(5×1) surfaces is also observed when the gold-binding peptide AuBP-1 [Hnilova et al. [2008]] adsorbs to gold under aqueous conditions. Metadynamics, in combination with the advanced sampling technique Replica Exchange with Solute Tempering, is used to study this system. The impact of Au(100) reconstruction on peptide binding is considered here for the first time. This aspect of gold binding was made possible by a suite of force-fields derived within this work, GolP-CHARMM, for modelling the interactions between proteins and peptides and gold.
Ice chemistry on the Galilean satellites

Jupiter's icy satellites Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto are subject to energy fluxes from electrons, photons, and magnetospheric plasma ion bombardment. As water ice and CO2 ice are thought to be present on their surfaces, the radiolysis of these materials over time should produce more complicated CHO-containing molecules. These may include CH3OH, H2CO, CH2CO, C3O2, HCOOH, CH3COOH, H2CO3, HCOOCH, (CH3)2CO, CH3CH2OH, HOCH2CH2OH, polymeric C3O2, and polymeric H2CO. The water fragmentation products OH, O2, HO2, H2O2, and O3 should also be produced. The molecules formed should be detectable with ground-based intruments because of their many active infrared bands. Another product produced is CO, which will have a high vapor pressure over a Galilean satellite surface at typical temperatures. The vapor pressure of CO at the nighttime temperature of 70 K could be as high as 150 mbar. Ganymede's unique dipolar magnetic field should induce more chemistry in its polar regions due to the focusing of radiation to higher latitudes. The observed lack of leading/trailing asymmetry in its SO2 absorption correlates with this redirection of plasma ions toward the poles. The observance of O atom emissions at high latitudes by Hall et al. [1998] is also consistent with this picture. The ratio of plasma energies directed to the poles to those directed to the equatorial regions is ∼4.
Mineral composition of field grown winter wheat inoculated with phosphorus solubilizing bacteria at different plant growth stages

ABSTRACT A two year field experiment was conducted in field conditions using wheat (Triticum aestivum ssp. vulgare L. cv. Bezostaja) as the test plant for the evaluation of phosphate solubilizing (+PS) microorganisms. Bacterial strains significantly (P < 0.05) increased plant biomass (by 13 to 36%) without plant P enrichment. Only Bacillus sp. #189 significantly (P < 0.05) raised plant P-content, biomass and rhizosphere soil Olsen P at Zadoks Scale 62 simultaneously. Inoculations variably increased plant potassium (K-), magnesium (Mg-), zinc (Zn-), and managenese (Mn-) contents at harvest (Zadoks 92) but not earlier (Zadoks 31 and 61). The enrichment of the inoculated plants with nutrients other than P indicates the presence of alternative plant growth promoting mechanisms. This study showed that promising phosphate solubilizing microorganisms could increase not only the P content of the plants, but also the soil available P in rhizosphere transiently.
Biodegradation of Lignin

Introduction Historical Outline Bacteria and Microfungi Actinomycetes Other Bacteria Soft-Rot Fungi and Other Microfungi Brown-Rot Basidiomycetes White-Rot Basidiomycetes Mineralization of 14C-Labeled Lignins Ligninolytic Enzymes Catabolism of Primary Degradation Products Outlook and Perspectives Patents Keywords: lignin; wood; lignocellulose; white-rot fungi; brown-rot fungi; soft-rot fungi; actinomycetes; lignin peroxidase; manganese peroxidase; laccase; molecular biology; radicals; mediators; manganese; veratryl alcohol; oxalate; vanillic acid
Multiobjective Optimization of an Industrial LPG Thermal Cracker using a First Principles Model

Thermal cracking of hydrocarbons in the presence of steam is the most important process for the production of ethylene and propylene, which are the raw materials for many petrochemicals. In this work, multiobjective optimization (MOO) of an industrial LPG (liquefied petroleum gas containing mainly propane and butane) thermal cracker is studied using the elitist nondominated sorting genetic algorithm adapted with the jumping gene operator, NSGA-II-aJG. A first principles model based on free radical mechanism for LPG thermal cracking is employed for optimization. Several bi- and triobjective optimization problems are solved; these problems involved maximization of annual ethylene/propylene production, selectivity and run length, and minimization of severity and total heat duty per year. Feed flow rate, steam ratio, inlet temperature, coil outlet temperature, and pressure are the decision variables. MOO of the LPG thermal cracker provides a range of optimal operating conditions and objective values, with the triobjective optimization giving more optimal solutions compared to those from the biobjective optimization for the objectives considered. With this detailed knowledge, a suitable operating point can be selected based on specific requirements in the particular plant.
Effect of Nano Fe-Chelate, Fe-Eddha and FeSO4 on Vegetative Growth, Physiological Parameters and Some Nutrient Elements Concentrations of Four Varieties of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) In NFT System

In order to investigate the effects of different iron (Fe) sources (nano iron (Fe)-chelate, Fe- ethylenediamine-di(o-hydroxy phenyl acetic acid (EDDHA) and iron (II) sulfate (FeSO4)) on lettuce (Lactuca sativa) growth in alkaline solutions, an experiment was arranged in hydroponic system. This study showed that leaf Fe content and overall plant growth was significantly increased by Fe-chelate application, and the highest values of leaf Fe, plant pigments and vegetative growth were recorded in plants treated with nano Fe-chelate. The lowest Fe, chlorophyll, carotenoids and soluble sugars in leaves were observed in FeSO4 treatment. There were no difference in soluble sugars contents of plants between nano Fe-chelate and Fe-EDDHA treatments. Fertilization of lettuce plants with different Fe-chelate sources had a beneficial effect on the manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) uptake in plants. It is concluded that application of chelated form of Fe (especially nano Fe-chelate) must be performed in hydroponic system with alkaline water, to overcome Fe deficiencies and to make better nutritional status.
Stability and Structure of Burner Flames

It has been shown that the condition of equality of gas and burning velocities, required for stabilization of a flame above a burner, is established near the rim of the orifice or an obstruction within the stream by the effects of friction and inhibition of the explosive reaction. This condition is maintained between two critical gradients of the gas velocity at the solid surface, the lower gradient bordering on the flash‐back and the upper gradient on the blow‐off range. Values of the gradients in the range of laminar flow were determined by hydrodynamic equations from gas flow and tube dimensions; and their independence of tube diameter, except for extreme sizes, has been demonstrated both for upright and inverted flames. In the latter the critical velocity gradient for blow‐off was also found to be independent of the diameter of the centrally mounted wire within a considerable range. The effect of the surrounding atmosphere on the critical blow‐off gradient has been shown. The gas‐flow pattern was stud.
SEPARABILITY OF SPIN-ORBIT AND CORRELATION ENERGIES FOR THE SIXTH-ROW MAIN GROUP HYDRIDE GROUND STATES

The spin–orbit energy contributions to the ground state potential energy curves for the main group hydrides, TIH through AtH are estimated by differencing multireference, single promotion, configuration interaction (MRS-CI) energies with and without the spin–orbit operator. The spin–orbit contributions are then summed into the energies determined at the λ−s MRSD-CI level (both single and double promotions). The agreement between the resultant curves and those obtained using intermediate coupling MRSD-CI is within 1.2 kcal/mol over a range of internuclear separations. This suggests that, contrary to previous arguments, spin–orbit coupling and correlation energies are very nearly separable for the main group hydride ground states. Furthermore, the computational effort expended by this separate evaluation is up to 12 times less than that for a comparable intermediate coupling CI. The analysis of some properties of these hydrides indicates that bond length shifts due to spin–orbit coupling are small (0.03 A) .
SIMULTANEOUS LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY TANDEM MASS SPECTROMETRIC DETERMINATION OF WARFARIN ENANTIOMERS IN HUMAN PLASMA AND ITS APPLICATION TO A BIO-EQUIVALENCE STUDY IN INDIAN POPULATION

Warfarin (WAR), one of the most commonly used oral anticoagulant in the US and across the globe, is a drug of choice for millions. It’s a unique drug of its kind due to the multiple pharmacological and pharmacokinetic properties. Although highly efficacious, positive clinical outcomes during WAR therapy depend on maintaining a narrow therapeutic range for the drug. This goal is challenging due to large inter-individual variability in patient response, which has been attributed to diversity in drug metabolism. WAR is given as a racemic mixture and evidence suggest differences of R and S -WAR in their therapeutic activities and metabolism. Previous investigation of WAR metabolism has been hampered by the inability to quantify the individual enantiomers with reliable accuracy and within short time period. To overcome these limitations a single, simple, selective and rapid LC–MS/MS method is reported. The reported method separated individual R and S enantiomers of WAR with a short run time of just 4 min. per sample using R WAR d5 and S WAR d5 as internal standards. WAR enantiomers were resolved to reveal unique insight into the stereo-specific metabolism of WAR. The mean recovery was 98.9 % and 84.6 % for R WAR and S WAR respectively. The coefficient of variation of the assay was less than 5.5 % and 7.2 % for R WAR and S WAR with an accuracy of 93.1 % to 105.8 % and 94.5 % to 102.6 % for R WAR and S WAR respectively. Stability was evaluated under different conditions including bench top, freeze and thaw, auto sampler and long term. The validated method was applied for the determination of individual WAR enantiomers in human plasma samples from a bioequivalence study of 5mg fixed dose formulation in 10 healthy Indian subjects. Assay reproducibility was demonstrated by reanalysis of 10% incurred samples.
Homogeneous linewidths of Rhodamine 6G at room temperature from cavity-enhanced spontaneous emission rates

Fluorescence lifetimes of Rhodamine 6G in levitated micron‐sized droplets have been measured using a time‐correlated photon counting technique. The coupling of emission into spherical cavity modes of the droplet results in significant emission rate enhancements which allow estimation of the homogeneous linewidth at room temperature.
Representation of excess properties of electrolyte solutions using a new equation of state

A new equation of state for electrolyte solutions has been developed from an expression of the Helmholtz free energy containing a nonelectrolyte part and a part relative to ions. The nonelectrolyte part is taken from the equations of state (EOS) of Schwartzentruber et al. (1989). The ionic part is composed of an MSA long-range term to account for electrostatic interactions and a short-range interaction term specific to ions. Using correlations between parameters and experimental ionic diameters, the model reduce to a one-parameter model. It has been applied to numerous strong electrolyte systems and extended to ternary systems to test its predictability without mixing parameters for ions. Its results compare well to the results reported for other one-parameter models (electrolyte EOS). Furthermore, it was found that the cation-anion interaction parameter could also be correlated to experimental ionic diameters. Then, the osmotic coefficients of 28 alkaline and alkaline-earth halide systems may be represented with a root mean square relative deviation of 2.9% using only six correlation parameters. This result has been extended to other systems, with the conclusion that the model with all parameters correlated may also be applied to systems other than halide solutions. The resulting model is predictive. The quality of the prediction was tested by determining osmotic coefficients relative to six systems without any parameter adjustment. The deviations of the predicted values range from 2.0 to 5.4%. The quality of the representation of mixed salts systems without mixing parameters was evaluated using experimental osmotic coefficients of 30 ternary systems.
Rate constants for the reactions of H atoms and OH radicals with ethers at 753 K

A relative rate method has been used to determine kinetic data for the reactions of H and OH radicals with five ethers by adding trace amounts of each ether individually to mixtures of H2 + O2 at 753 K. Sensitivity analysis confirmed that reaction of the ethers with O and HO2 radicals was of minor importance and that reliable values of the rate constants for H and OH could be obtained, as has been established with alkanes in previous studies. At 753 K, for the OH radical, the values are 5.7 × 109(dimethyl ether), 8.9 × 109(methyl ethyl ether), 1.23 × 1010(diethyl ether), 8.9 × 109(methyl t-butyl ether) and 1.29 × 1010(ethyl t-butyl ether) dm3 mol−1 s−1, and for the H atom 1.11 × 109(dimethyl ether), 2.0 × 109(methyl ethyl ether), 2.95 × 109(diethyl ether), 1.06 × 109(methyl t-butyl ether) and 2.1 × 109(ethyl t-butyl ether) dm3 mol−1 s−1. The uncertainties are discussed in the paper, and are in the region of ca. ± 15%. The values have been assessed in the context of other kinetic information in the literature, most of which has been obtained at low temperatures, and expressions have been derived for the rate constants for use over the range 250–1250 K. Further, a preliminary value of k = 3.5 × 105 dm3 mol−1 s−1 with an uncertainty of about 20% has been determined at 753 K for HO2 + diethyl ether from measurements of the initial yields of ethene and i-butene from tetramethylbutane + diethyl ether + O2 mixtures. Full analytical studies were carried out for methyl t-butyl ether + H2 + O2 and ethyl t-butyl ether + H2 + O2 mixtures at 753 K. Low yields (ca. 1–2%) of 4,4-dimethyl-1,3-dioxalane and 2,4,4-trimethyl-1,3-dioxalane are formed as initial products from methyl t-butyl ether and ethyl t-butyl ether, respectively. Although structurally possible, no evidence was found for the formation of conjugate alkene in the initial products of methyl ethyl ether, diethyl ether and ethyl t-butyl ether, in marked contrast to the high yields found from structurally-related alkanes under identical conditions. The explanation lies in the very high rate constants for C–O homolysis in the ether radicals which are a factor of 102 higher than for C–C homolysis in alkyl radicals at 753 K.
On the Diterpenoids of Andrographis paniculata : X-Ray Crystallographic Analysis of Andrographolide and Structure Determination of New Minor Diterpenoids

The crystal structure of andrographolide (8) was determined and the absoluted configuration at C-14, which was previously undecided, was established as R. Reexamination of the constituents of Andrographis paniculata NEES resulted in the isolation of three new diterpenoids of ent-labdane type, and rographanin, andropanoside, and 14-deoxy-12-methoxy-andrographolide, together with three known compounds, 14-deoxyandrographolide (4), neoandrographolide (5) and andrographolide (8). The structures of the new diterpenoids were determined to be 1, 2, and 3 on the basis of spectral and chemical evidence.
Differencing sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) fillets frozen in different conditions by impedance measurements

Summary The potential of electrical impedance was investigated to differentiate thawed sea bass fillets (Dicentrarchus labrax) previously subjected to different freezing conditions. The HP 4284A Precise LCR meter was used to measure impedance magnitude (|Z|) and phase (ϕ) at 27 frequencies from 0.1 to 1000 kHz. A needle-type multi electrode array was tested as a probe for impedance measurements. The study showed that fast and non-invasive control method based on measurement of ϕ on thawed fillets could assess the freezing conditions of white fish at higher frequencies of measurements (500–1000 kHz). The advantages of ϕ when compared with |Z| include its independence on temperature, on puncture depth of the probe and on duration of storage prior to freezing. Usage of a needle-type multi electrode array reduced the effect of muscle tissue anisotropy; however, even at 1 MHz, the differences in electrical measurements varied around 10–11% depending on muscle fibre direction.