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The integrity of a pressure vessel (PRV) is affected by the decay heat of the molten pool in the lower head, so it is very important to study the natural convection heat transmission in the lower head. Scholars from all over the world have carried out a lot of experimental studies and calculations to determine the convection mechanism and heat transmission characteristics of the molten pool. Most of them were based on the empirical formula of convective heat transmission on the wall of a hemispherical molten pool based on two-dimensional slice experiments and simulation calculations. In this study, FLUENT 2021R1 software was used to simulate the three-dimensional convective heat transmission process of the hemispherical molten pool, and the temperature, velocity and wall heat transmission coefficients of the flow field were analyzed. The results were in good agreement with experimental data from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). Through research on the heat transmission of the lower head, the results showed that in the region where the wall angle was θ between approximately 72 and 90 degrees, heat transmission coefficients had larger fluctuations, and a more reasonable empirical relation was proposed. Comparing between the simulation results of CFD and the two-dimensional empirical formula, it was found that the latter one was smaller under the same θ angle condition. Finally, the convection phenomena of different external temperatures were simulated, and the main factors affecting the flow field by temperature were analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the performance of a zero-gap flow-through reactor with three-dimensional (3D) porous Ti/RuO2-TiO2@Pt anodes was systematically investigated for the electrocatalytic oxidation of phenolic wastewater, considering phenol and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) as the target pollutants. The optimum parameters for the electrochemical oxidation of phenol and 4-NP were examined. For phenol degradation, at an initial concentration of 50 mg/L, initial pH of 7, NaCl concentration of 10.0 g/L, current density of 10 mA/cm2, and retention time of 30 min, the degradation efficiency achieved was 95.05%, with an energy consumption of 15.39 kWh/kg; meanwhile, for 4-NP, the degradation efficiency was 98.42% and energy consumption was 19.21 kWh/kg (at an initial concentration of 40 mg/L, initial pH of 3, NaCl concentration of 10.0 g/L, current density of 10 mA/cm2, and retention time of 30 min). The electrocatalytic oxidation of phenol and 4-NP conformed to the pseudo-first-order kinetics model, and the k values were 0.2562 min−1 and 0.1736 min−1, respectively, which are 1.7 and 3.6-times higher than those of a conventional electrolyzer. Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) was used to verify the intermediates formed during the degradation of phenol or 4-NP and a possible degradation pathway was provided. The extremely narrow electrode distance and the flow-through configuration of the zero-gap flow-through reactor were thought to be essential for its lower energy consumption and higher mass transfer efficiency. The zero-gap flow-through reactor with a novel 3D porous Ti/RuO2-TiO2@Pt electrode is a superior alternative for the treatment of industrial wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delaying the deterioration of bakery goods is necessary in the food industry. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of wheat oligopeptide (WOP) on the qualities of bread rolls. The effects of WOP on the baking properties, moisture content, and starch crystallization of rolls during the storage process were investigated in this study. The results showed that WOP effectively improved the degree of gluten cross-linking, thereby improving the specific volume and the internal structure of rolls. The FTIR and XRD results showed that the addition of WOP hindered the formation of the starch double helix structure and decreased its relative crystallinity. The DSC results revealed a decrease in the enthalpy change (ΔH) from 0.812 to 0.608 J/g after 7 days of storage with 1.0% WOP addition, further indicating that WOP reduced the availability of water for crystal lattice formation and hindered the rearrangement of starch molecules. The addition of WOP also improved the microstructure of the rolls that were observed using SEM analysis. In summary, WOP is expected to be an effective natural additive to inhibit starch staling and provide new insights into starchy food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Code clone detection is an important research topic in the field of software engineering. It is significant in developing software and solving software infringement disputes to discover code clone phenomenon effectively in and between software systems. In practical engineering applications, clone detection can usually only be performed on the compiled code due to the unavailability of the source code. Additionally, there is room for improvement in the detection effect of existing methods based on bytecode. Based on the above reasons, this paper proposes a novel code clone detection method for Java bytecode: SJBCD. SJBCD extracts opcode sequences from byte code files, use GloVe to vectorize opcodes, and builds a Siamese neural network based on GRU to perform supervised training. Then the trained network is used to detect code clones. In order to prove the effectiveness of SJBCD, this paper conducts validation experiments using the BigCloneBench dataset and provides a comparative analysis with four other methods. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the SJBCD method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diamond-based transistors have been considered as one of the best choices due to the numerous advantages of diamond. However, difficulty in the growth and fabrication of diamond needs to be addressed. In this paper, high quality diamond film with an atomically flat surface was grown by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition. High growth rate, as much as 7 μm/h, has been acquired without nitrogen doping, and the root mean square (RMS) of the surface roughness was reduced from 0.92 nm to 0.18 nm by using a pre-etched process. H-terminated diamond MOSFETs were fabricated on a high-quality epitaxial diamond layer, of which the saturated current density was enhanced. The hysteresis of the transfer curve and the shift of the threshold voltage were significantly reduced as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), as the most advanced construction equipment for rock tunnels, has been widely used in railway tunnel engineering, water conservancy tunnel engineering, urban rail engineering, coal mine roadway engineering, and other fields. However, the disadvantage of TBM lies in its poor adaptability to complex geological conditions, resulting in a significant reduction in tunneling efficiency and even major accidents due to improper TBM construction measures, especially in weak and fractured strata, which pose a great challenge to TBM construction. Therefore, it is necessary to study the key technologies of TBM construction in weak and fractured strata in order to improve the efficiency of TBM construction. Based on the background of the TBM construction of the Gaoligongshan Tunnel on the Southwest Darui Railway, this paper provides a reference for safe and efficient TBM excavation in weak and fractured areas through research on equipment, excavation parameter control, and construction measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Segment lining structure is one of the choices to be used for low-to-vacuum maglev tunnels in the future. The airtightness at the joints of the lining structures is one of the critical problems that need to be addressed. However, little attention has been devoted to this problem until now. In this paper, a new apparatus was invented and used to study the mechanical behavior and airtightness sealing capacity of the gasket-in-groove, and a finite element analysis (FEA) model, validated by the test, was developed and used to further investigate thoroughly the sealing performance and sealing failure mechanism of the gasket-in-groove. The results obtained by the above two methods were discussed and compared, and a series of findings were presented. The results showed that the initial pressure distribution on the gasket–gasket contact surface is not uniform due to the presence of the inner holes in the gasket and the grooves between the gasket legs and an approximate "W" shape distribution in this study. The effect of vacuum pressure on the contact pressure distribution is very significant and shows an overall decreasing trend with increasing vacuum pressure. A higher initial maximum contact pressure would provide a better sealing effect but a lower sealing safety factor. Airtightness failure induced by evacuation is a contact surface separation process in which the maximum contact pressure shows a tendency to rise sharply with vacuum pressure increases, followed by a slow drop, and then declines dramatically to zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro relative sliding exists on the contact surface of the main primary equipment's surface structures, resulting in serious fretting fatigue. The plastic effect causes serious fatigue to the structure under alternating loads. Existing fatigue life prediction models fail to fully consider the shortcomings of fretting and plastic effects, which causes the prediction results to be significantly different to real-lifeworld in engineering situations. Therefore, it is urgent to establish a fretting damage fatigue life prediction model of contact structures which considers plastic effects. In this study, a plastic fretting fatigue life prediction model was established according to the standard structural contact theory. The location of dangerous points was evaluated according to a finite element simulation. The cyclic load maximum stress value was compared with the fretting fatigue test data to confirm the error value, and the error between the proposed fretting fatigue life model and the test value was within 15%. Concurrently, we combined this with mass data analysis and research, as it is known that the contact zone parameters have an impact on fretting fatigue and affect the structural lifespan. With the help of ABAQUS, the fretting numerical calculation of the dovetail tenon model was carried out to analyze the sensitive factors affecting the fretting fatigue life of the dovetail tenon structure. By keeping the fretting load unchanged, the contact area parameters such as contact surface form, contact area width and friction coefficient were changed in order to calculate the fretting stress value, σfretting and the dovetail structure was improved to extend its fretting fatigue life. Finally, it was concluded that fretting fatigue was most sensitive to the width and contact form of the contact area. In actual engineering design, multiple factors should be considered comprehensively to determine a more accurate and suitable width and form of the contact area. For the selection of friction coefficient, on the premise of saving costs and meeting the structural strength requirements, the friction coefficient should be as small as possible, and the problem can also be solved through lubrication during processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the influences of microwave irradiation on the rock-breaking efficiency of tunnel boring machine (TBM) cutters, a multimode cavity with a microwave power of 2100 W was used to conduct microwave irradiation tests on Chifeng basalt for different durations. A combined abrasion test device for the reduced-scale SP3-I TBM cutter was adopted to conduct cutter wear and rock-breaking tests on basalt samples before and after microwave irradiation. Influences of microwave irradiation on the wear loss of the reduced-scale TBM cutter, rock removal, cutting force, and specific energy were investigated. The results show that the wear loss of the reduced-scale TBM cutter linearly reduces while the rock removal linearly increases with increasing exposure to microwave irradiation. When the penetration depth and the cutter spacing are fixed, the cutting force and the work done by the cutting force exerted by the reduced-scale TBM cutter decrease linearly with increasing exposure to microwave irradiation. The rock-breaking specific energy decreases with increasing exposure to microwave irradiation in an exponential manner. These results indicate that microwave irradiation can prolong the service life of the TBM cutter in the rock-breaking process, reduce the required thrust and torque of the cutter, and improve the rock-breaking efficiency of the TBM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well-known that the traditional functional regression model is mainly based on the least square or likelihood method. These methods usually rely on some strong assumptions, such as error independence and normality, that are not always satisfied. For example, the response variable may contain outliers, and the error term is serially correlated. Violation of assumptions can result in unfavorable influences on model estimation. Therefore, a robust estimation procedure of a semi-functional linear model with autoregressive error is developed to solve this problem. We compare the efficiency of our procedure to the least square method through a simulation study and two real data analyses. The conclusion illustrates that the proposed method outperforms the least square method, providing random errors follow the heavy-tail distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical utility of serum luteinizing hormone (LH) level in predicting frozen embryo transfer (FET) outcomes among the patients with an ovulation induction (OI) cycle. Methods: A total of 250 patients who underwent OI cycle frozen–thawed embryo transfer from January 2018 to June 2020 in Drum Tower Hospital affiliated with Nanjing University Medical School were retrospectively analyzed. The primary outcomes were clinical pregnancy rate and the live birth rate. Results: The results showed that a significant difference in Serum LH level on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration was observed between the clinical pregnancy group and no clinical pregnancy group (p = 0.002), while there was no significant difference between the live birth group and no live birth group (p = 0.06). Multiple logistic regression analysis of factors related to clinical pregnancy showed serum LH level on the day of hCG administration was related to improved clinical pregnancy rate (OR was 1.02, 95% CI: 1.0–1.03, p = 0.02), while serum LH level had no significant effect on live birth rate. The ROC curves revealed the serum LH level was significantly correlated with clinical pregnancy rate and live birth rate; the cut-off point of serum LH level on the day of hCG administration was 8.46 miu/mL for clinical pregnancy rate (AUC 0.609, p = 0.003). Conclusion: In patients with OI FET, serum LH level on the day of hCG administration might be a biomarker for the prediction of clinical pregnancy. The prediction that patients who underwent OI cycle frozen–thawed embryo transfer with serum LH levels below 8.46 mIU /mL might be pregnant appeared to be meaningful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orchard machinery autonomous navigation is helpful for improving the efficiency of fruit production and reducing labor costs. Path planning is one of the core technologies of autonomous navigation for orchard machinery. As normally planted in straight and parallel rows, fruit trees are natural landmarks that can provide suitable cues for orchard intelligent machinery. This paper presents a novel method to realize path planning based on computer vision technologies. We combine deep learning and the least-square (DL-LS) algorithm to carry out a new navigation line extraction algorithm for orchard scenarios. First, a large number of actual orchard images are collected and processed for training the YOLO V3 model. After the training, the mean average precision (MAP) of the model for trunk and tree detection can reach 92.11%. Secondly, the reference point coordinates of the fruit trees are calculated with the coordinates of the bounding box of trunks. Thirdly, the reference lines of fruit trees growing on both sides are fitted by the least-square method and the navigation line for the orchard machinery is determined by the two reference lines. Experimental results show that the trained YOLO V3 network can identify the tree trunk and the fruit tree accurately and that the new navigation line of fruit tree rows can be extracted effectively. The accuracy of orchard centerline extraction is 90.00%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In this study, we found that metformin could inhibit the cell proliferation of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) by promoting apoptosis and blocking the cell cycle. Furthermore, inhibiting autophagy with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) could enhance the anti-tumor effect of metformin in OSCC. Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignant tumor in the head and neck. Due to its high malignancy and easy recurrence, the five-year survival rate is only 50–60%. Currently, commonly used chemotherapy drugs for OSCC include cisplatin, paclitaxel, and fluorouracil, which are highly cytotoxic and cause drug resistance in patients. Therefore, a safe and effective treatment strategy for OSCC is urgent. To address this issue, our study investigated the anti-tumor activity of metformin (the first-line diabetes drug) in OSCC. We found that metformin could inhibit OSCC cell proliferation by promoting apoptosis and blocking the cell cycle in G1 phase. Additionally, we also found that metformin could induce protective autophagy of OSCC cells. After inhibiting autophagy with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), the metformin-induced apoptosis was enhanced. In vitro, metformin inhibited the growth of subcutaneous xenograft tumor in nude mice and HCQ enhanced this effect of metformin. Therefore, metformin combined with HCQ may become a safe and effective treatment strategy for OSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanocrystalline diamond capping layers have been demonstrated to improve thermal management for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. To improve the RF devices, the application of the technology, the technological approaches and device characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with gate length less than 0.5 μm using nanocrystalline diamond capping layers have been studied systematically. The approach of diamond-before-gate has been adopted to resolve the growth of nanocrystalline diamond capping layers and compatibility with the Schottky gate of GaN HEMTs, and the processes of diamond multi-step etching technique and AlGaN barrier protection are presented to improve the technological challenge of gate metal. The GaN HEMTs with nanocrystalline diamond passivated structure have been successfully prepared; the heat dissipation capability and electrical characteristics have been evaluated. The results show the that thermal resistance of GaN HEMTs with nanocrystalline diamond passivated structure is lower than conventional SiN-GaN HEMTs by 21.4%, and the mechanism of heat transfer for NDC-GaN HEMTs is revealed by simulation method in theory. Meanwhile, the GaN HEMTs with nanocrystalline diamond passivated structure has excellent output, small signal gain and cut-off frequency characteristics, especially the current–voltage, which has a 27.9% improvement than conventional SiN-GaN HEMTs. The nanocrystalline diamond capping layers for GaN HEMTs has significant performance advantages over the conventional SiN passivated structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digestion and the absorption of food compounds are necessary steps before nutrients can exert a role in human health. The absorption and utilization of nutrients in the diet is an extremely complex dynamic process. Accurately grasping the digestion and absorption mechanisms of different nutrients or bioactive compounds can provide a better understanding regarding the relationship between health and nutrition. Several in vitro models for simulating human gastrointestinal digestion and colonic fermentation have been established to obtain more accurate data for further understanding of the metabolism of dietary components. Marine media is rich in a wide variety of nutrients that are essential for humans and is gaining increased attention as a research topic. This review summarizes some of the most explored in vitro digestion and colonic fermentation models. It also summarizes the research progress on the digestion and absorption of nutrients and bioactive compounds from marine substrates when subjected to these in vitro models. Additionally, an overview of the changes imparted by the digestion process on these bioactive compounds is provided, in order to support those marine resources that can be utilized for developing new healthy foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical remote sensing (RS) satellites perform imaging in the visible and infrared electromagnetic spectrum to collect data and analyze information on the optical characteristics of the objects of interest. However, optical RS is sensitive to illumination and atmospheric conditions, especially clouds, and multiple acquisitions are typically required to obtain an image of sufficient quality. To accurately reproduce surface information that has been contaminated by clouds, this work proposes a generative adversarial network (GAN)-based cloud removal framework using a distortion coding network combined with compound loss functions (DC-GAN-CL). A novel generator embedded with distortion coding and feature refinement mechanisms is applied to focus on cloudy regions and enhance the transmission of optical information. In addition, to achieve feature and pixel consistency, both coherent semantics and local adaptive reconstruction factors are considered in our loss functions. Extensive numerical evaluations on RICE1, RICE2, and Paris datasets are performed to validate the good performance achieved by the proposed DC-GAN-CL in both peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and visual perception. This system can thus restore images to obtain similar quality to cloud-free reference images, in a dynamic range of over 30 dB. The restoration effect on the coherence of image semantics produced by this technique is competitive compared with other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extremely small size of micro-/nanomaterials limits the application of conventional thermal measurement methods using a contact heating source or probing sensor. Therefore, non-contact thermal measurement methods are preferable in micro-/nanoscale thermal characterization. In this review, one of the non-contact thermal measurement methods, photothermal (PT) technique based on thermal radiation, is introduced. When subjected to laser heating with controllable modulation frequencies, surface thermal radiation carries fruitful information for thermal property determination. As thermal properties are closely related to the internal structure of materials, for micro-/nanomaterials, PT technique can measure not only thermal properties but also features in the micro-/nanostructure. Practical applications of PT technique in the thermal measurement of micro-/nanomaterials are then reviewed, including special wall-structure investigation in multiwall carbon nanotubes, porosity determination in nanomaterial assemblies, and the observation of amorphous/crystalline structure transformation in proteins in heat treatment. Furthermore, the limitations and future application extensions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tea, after water, is the most frequently consumed beverage in the world. The fermentation of tea leaves has a pivotal role in its quality and is usually monitored using the laboratory analytical instruments and olfactory perception of tea tasters. Developing electronic sensing platforms (ESPs), in terms of an electronic nose (e-nose), electronic tongue (e-tongue), and electronic eye (e-eye) equipped with progressive data processing algorithms, not only can accurately accelerate the consumer-based sensory quality assessment of tea, but also can define new standards for this bioactive product, to meet worldwide market demand. Using the complex data sets from electronic signals integrated with multivariate statistics can, thus, contribute to quality prediction and discrimination. The latest achievements and available solutions, to solve future problems and for easy and accurate real-time analysis of the sensory-chemical properties of tea and its products, are reviewed using bio-mimicking ESPs. These advanced sensing technologies, which measure the aroma, taste, and color profiles and input the data into mathematical classification algorithms, can discriminate different teas based on their price, geographical origins, harvest, fermentation, storage times, quality grades, and adulteration ratio. Although voltammetric and fluorescent sensor arrays are emerging for designing e-tongue systems, potentiometric electrodes are more often employed to monitor the taste profiles of tea. The use of a feature-level fusion strategy can significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of prediction models, accompanied by the pattern recognition associations between the sensory properties and biochemical profiles of tea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grouting can effectively seal and reinforce broken rock masses in deep geotechnical engineering, which have an important impact on groundwater-related disaster prevention and control. Based on multi-field coupling mechanics and rotational viscosity experiments, an advance grouting migration model of cement slurry in tunnels with high-stress broken surrounding rock is built against the background of the Xianglushan Tunnel for water diversion in central Yunnan Province. The influence characteristics of water–cement ratio, grouting pressure, and initial permeability on the process of grouting material migration are analyzed by combining classical column theory and spherical theory. The results show the following: Overall, the growth rate of grouting radius is fast during the earlier 5 min and slows down later. At the fifth minute, the normal grouting ranges are 22 cm, 51 cm, and 58 cm, at water–cement ratios 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0, respectively, while the normal grouting ranges are 58 cm, 51 cm, and 36 cm at grouting pressures 2 MPa, 1 MPa, and 0.5 MPa, respectively; the normal grouting ranges are 58 cm, 24 cm, and 11 cm at initial permeabilities 5D, 0.5D, and 0.05D, respectively. At the 60th minute, the normal grouting ranges are 47 cm, 133 cm, and 155 cm at water–cement ratios 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0, respectively; the normal grouting ranges are 155 cm, 131 cm, and 96 cm at grouting pressures 2 MPa, 1 MPa, and 0.5 MPa, respectively; meanwhile, the normal grouting ranges are 155 cm, 63 cm, and 29 cm at initial permeabilities 5D, 0.5D, and 0.05D, respectively. This study can provide theoretical guidance for on-site grouting design in unfavorable geological treatment projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aims to extract nutrients and bioactive compounds from spirulina using a non-toxic, environmentally friendly and efficient method—Pressurized Liquid Extraction (PLE). In this work, Response Surface Methodology (RSM)–Central Composite Design (CCD) was used to evaluate and optimize the extraction time (5–15 min), temperature (20–60 °C) and pH (4–10) during PLE extraction (103.4 bars). The multi-factor optimization results of the RSM-CCD showed that under the pressure of 103.4 bars, the optimal conditions to recover the highest content of bioactive compounds were 10 min, 40 °C and pH 4. Furthermore, the compounds and antioxidant capacity of PLE and non-pressurized extraction extracts were compared. The results showed that under the optimal extraction conditions (10 min, 40 °C and pH 4), PLE significantly improved the antioxidant capacity (2870.5 ± 153.6 µM TE), protein yield (46.8 ± 3.1%), chlorophyll a (1.46 ± 0.04 mg/g), carotenoids (0.12 ± 0.01 mg/g), total polyphenols (11.49 ± 0.04 mg/g) and carbohydrates content (78.42 ± 1.40 mg/g) of the extracts compared with non-pressurized extraction (p < 0.05). The protein molecular distribution of the extracts was analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and the results showed that there were more small-molecule proteins in PLE extracts. Moreover, Liquid Chromatography Triple Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (TOF–LC–MS–MS) was used to analyze the phenolic profile of the extracts, and the results showed the extracts were rich on phenolic compounds, such as p-coumaric acid and cinnamic acid being the predominant phenolic compounds in the PLE extract. This indicates that PLE can promote the extraction of bioactive compounds from Spirulina, which is of great significance for the application of PLE technology to obtain active substances from marine algae resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fishery by-products are rich in biologically active substances and the use of green and efficient extraction methods to recover these high-added-value compounds is of particular importance. In this study, head, skin and viscera of rainbow trout and sole were used as the target matrices and accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) (45–55 °C, 15 min, pH 5.2–6.8, 103.4 bars) and pulsed electric fields (PEF) (1–3 kV/cm, 123–300 kJ/kg, 15–24 h) were applied as extraction technologies. The results showed that ASE and PEF significantly increased the protein extract efficiency of the fish by-products (p < 0.05) by up to 80%. SDS-PAGE results showed that ASE and PEF treatments changed the molecular size distribution of the protein in the extracts, which was specifically expressed as the change in the area or number of bands between 5 and 250 kDa. The antioxidant capacity of the extracts was evaluated by oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and total antioxidant capacity (ABTS) assays. The results showed that both ASE and PEF treatments significantly increased the antioxidant capacity of rainbow trout and sole skin and head extracts (p < 0.05). ASE and PEF extraction processes can be used as new technologies to extract high-added-value compounds from fish by-products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consumption of functional foods and nutraceuticals is gaining more importance in modern society. The exploration of alternative sources and the utilization of by-products coming from the food industry are gaining more importance. The present study aimed to characterize the nutritional value and potential use of sea bass by-products as a source of high-added-value compounds for the development of supplements. The chemical composition (moisture, protein, fat, and ash contents) and profiles of amino acids (high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a scanning fluorescence detector), fatty acids (gas chromatography coupled to a flame ionization detector), and minerals (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy) were determined for sea bass fillet and its by-products (skin, guts, gills, liver, head, and fish bones). The chemical composition assays revealed that by-products were rich sources of proteins (skin; 25.27 g/100 g), fat (guts and liver; 53.12 and 37.25 g/100 g, respectively), and minerals (gills, head, and fish bones; 5.81, 10.11, and 7.51 g/100 g, respectively). Regarding the amino-acid profile, the skin and liver were the main sources of essential amino acids with an essential amino-acid index of 208.22 and 208.07, respectively. In the case of the fatty-acid profile, all by-products displayed high amounts of unsaturated fatty acids, particularly monounsaturated (from 43.46 to 49.33 g/100 g fatty acids) and omega-3 fatty acids (in the range 10.85–14.10 g/100 g fatty acids). Finally, the evaluation of mineral profile indicated high contents of calcium and phosphorus in gills (1382.62 and 742.60 mg/100 g, respectively), head (2507.15 and 1277.01 mg/100 g, respectively), and fish bone (2093.26 and 1166.36 mg/100 g, respectively). Therefore, the main sources of monounsaturated, unsaturated, and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids were guts and liver. The most relevant source of minerals, particularly calcium, phosphorus, and manganese, were head, fish bones, and gills. The most promising source of proteins and amino acids was the skin of sea bass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fine sediment transport is currently attracting increasing attentions owing to its importance in the dynamics of sediment-contaminant interaction in the fluvial environment downstream of dams, which calls for more detailed and accurate flume experiments. However, because of inaccurate loading and undesired recirculation of fine sediment in the usual short laboratory flumes, such experiments are often unrepeatable and unreliable. In this technical note, we propose a new sediment feeder, to load dry sediment sample at the inlet, and a pressurized sediment filter, to screen the sediment out at the outlet, to implement a clear-water supply system for the flumes. It can improve fine sediment experiments not only by accurate loading but also through preventing undesired sediment recirculation, which can interfere and even modify the designated upstream input conditions. These devices have been constructed and tested, shown to be practical, simple and effective. Using them together can also provide a way to reclaim all the samples of experimental sediment that are of crucial importance for repeat and multiple tests for different contamination with a given sediment without losing the prescribed composition and other properties. This implementation is especially suitable for simulating fine particle affinity contaminant transport in fluvial turbulent flows in low sediment concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of the addition of 0–3.0 wt% α-cyclodextrin (α-CD) and γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD) on the quality of wheat flour as well as the texture and the aging of prebaked bread were evaluated. The addition of α-CD and γ-CD increased the ability of wheat flour to absorb water and shortened the times of dough formation and stabilization. Amylase activity slightly increased after using 2.0 and 3.0 wt% of α-CD and γ-CD, respectively. Moreover, the addition of α-CD and γ-CD increased the fermentation height and gas retention ability of dough. Dough samples containing 2.0 wt% α-CD and 3.0 wt% γ-CD showed the highest fermentation heights and gas retention volumes, respectively. Dough gas production increased with the addition of γ-CD. Gas production by dough samples containing more than 2.0 wt% α-CD exceeded that by samples in the control group. The results of the texture crumb of bread and specific volume tests revealed that the addition of 2.0 wt% α-CD and 3.0 wt% γ-CD reduced bread hardness and increased bread elasticity, resilience, and specific volume. The optimal α-CD and γ-CD contents were identified as 2.0 wt% and 3.0 wt%, respectively. The addition of 2.0 wt% α-CD and 3.0 wt% γ-CD delayed the aging of prebaked bread and reduced the hardness of prebaked bread during different weeks of storage, which may be due to decreasing the melting enthalpy of starch crystals. This work elucidated the mechanisms underlying the effects of CD addition on prebaked bread quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Culex pipiens molestus was first reported in Shanghai in 2010. The population structures and seasonal distributions of Culex pipiens subspecies C. p. molestus , Culex pipiens pallens , and Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus are not well known., Methods: From late February to November 2013, we conducted daily field surveillance of mosquitoes at eight sites at two green lands and three residential areas in downtown Shanghai. Morphological comparison and DV/D ratios (DV/D is an indicator of mosquito taxonomy) were used to identify adult mosquitoes., Results: The distribution curves of the Culex pipiens complex members indicated seasonal fluctuations. The temperature range of 20-25 °C was the most suitable for adult activity. Micro-environmental factors may differentiate the complex population structures. Hybridization between C. p. pallens and C. p. quinquefasciatus was common and neither "DV/D = 0.40" nor "DV/D = 0.50" can distinguish these subspecies and their hybrids. Conclusion : the population structure of the Culex pipiens complex is complex and characterized by significant hybridization. Measures other than DV/D ratios are needed for the discrimination of subspecies. The C. p. molestus invasion might result in the transmission of novel vector-borne diseases in Shanghai., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

In the target classification based on belief function theory, sensor reliability evaluation has two basic issues: reasonable dissimilarity measure among evidences, and adaptive combination of static and dynamic discounting. One solution to the two issues has been proposed here. Firstly, an improved dissimilarity measure based on dualistic exponential function has been designed. We assess the static reliability from a training set by the local decision of each sensor and the dissimilarity measure among evidences. The dynamic reliability factors are obtained from each test target using the dissimilarity measure between the output information of each sensor and the consensus. Secondly, an adaptive combination method of static and dynamic discounting has been introduced. We adopt Parzen-window to estimate the matching degree of current performance and static performance for the sensor. Through fuzzy theory, the fusion system can realize self-learning and self-adapting with the sensor performance changing. Experiments conducted on real databases demonstrate that our proposed scheme performs better in target classification under different target conditions compared with other methods.