In the past years, consumers have increased their interest to buy healthier food products, rejecting those products with more additives and giving preference to the fresh ones. Moreover, the current environmental situation has made society more aware of the importance of reducing the production of plastic and food waste. In this way and considering the Food Industry need of reducing the food spoilage along the food chain, edible coating has been considered as an eco-friendly food packaging that can replace traditional plastic packaging providing an improvement in the product’s shelf-life. Edible coating are thin layers applied straightaway on the food materials’ surface, that are made of biopolymers that usually incorporate other elements, such as nanoparticles or essential oils, to improve their physicochemical properties. These materials must provide a barrier that can prevent the pass of water vapor and other gasses, the microbial growth, the moisture loss, and the oxidation, so the shelf-life could be extended. The aim of this review was to compile the current data available to give a global vision of the formulation process and the different ways to improve the characteristics of the coats applied in both fruits and vegetables. In this way, the suitability of compounds in by-products produced during the Food Industry chain were also considered for the edible coating production.

Plant-derived diterpene synthases (PdiTPSs) play a critical role in the formation of structurally and functionally diverse diterpenoids. However, the specificity or promiscuity of PdiTPSs remains unclear. In order to gain more understanding of this, the sequences of 199 functionally characterized PdiTPSs and their corresponding 3D structures were collected and manually corrected. Then, the correlations among sequences, domains, structures and their corresponding products were comprehensively analyzed. However, those features alone was insufficient for ef-fective product-specific classification of PdiTPSs as these methods could not establish a clear mapping between the enzymes and products. Nevertheless, local structural analysis can identify residues that have been experimentally proven to influence product outcomes through mutagenesis, and these residues exhibit conservation in spatial positioning and physicochemical properties. And aromatic residues surrounding the substrate exhibited selectivity towards its chemical structure. Specifically, tryptophan (W) was preferentially located around the linear substrate geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP), while phenylalanine (F) and tyrosine (Y) were preferentially located around the initial cyclized diterpene intermediate. This analysis revealed the functional space of residues surrounding the substrate of PdiTPSs, most of which have not been experimentally explored. These findings provide guidance for screening specific residues for mutation studies to change the catalytic products of PdiTPSs.

In this paper, we establish certain Lp bounds for several classes of rough Marcinkiewicz integrals over surfaces of revolution on product spaces. By using these bounds and using an extrapolation argument, we obtain the Lp boundedness of these Marcinkiewicz integrals under very weak conditions on the kernel functions. Several previous results on Marcinkiewicz operators are essentially extended or improved. Our results represent natural extensions and improvements of several known results on Marcinkiewicz integrals over symmetric spaces.

Grape pomace is one of the main by-products in the wine industry and contains some high added-value compounds such as polysaccharides. Considering the wide application possibilities of polysaccharides in wine and in the food industry, the revalorization of grape pomace to extract polysaccharides presents itself as an opportunity for by-product management. Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterize polysaccharide extracts obtained from pomace by-products of different white grape varieties. The type and content of polysaccharides, proteins and phenols were analyzed. Statistically significant differences were found between the varietal extracts in the types and concentrations of polysaccharides. The extracts obtained from the Verdejo and Puesta en Cruz varieties showed the highest polysaccharide purity and contents, but the type of polysaccharides was different in each case. The Verdejo provided extracts richer in non pectic polysaccharides, while the Puesta en Cruz in pectic polysaccharides. Protein and polyphenol contents were low in all extracts, below 2.5% and 3.7%, respectively. These results open up a new possibility for the revalorization of grape pomace by-products to obtain polysaccharide-rich extracts, although it would be interesting to improve both the yield and the purity of the extracts obtained by studying other extraction techniques or processes.

The windowpane oyster Placuna placenta, lives in brackish coastal waters and has long been economically important to the Philippines because of its durable and translucent shell, which is used as a glass substitute and material for making windowpanes and handicrafts. There has been considerable degradation of the windowpane oyster fishery in past decades. Moreover, there are waste and under-exploited by-products such as the meat, which though nutritious and edible, currently has a very low value; its use being confined to dishes consumed by families in the fishing community. Historically there are instances of excellent practice in terms of regulating the windowpane oyster fishery, while in recent times there have been local initiatives to restore this and to develop high value food products from the meat. These initiatives have, however, never been followed through at a provincial or national level. Research on other molluscs and marine organisms highlights that these also contain high value pharmaceutical products. This review compiles evidence to establish the groundwork for an essential and comprehensive multidisciplinary research program centred around the windowpane oyster, which would ensure a high value for all parts of the oyster, including those currently discarded. By fostering a sustainable and circular economy within this fishery sector and its associated industry, its economic value would be amplified. This is particularly important for oyster harvesters in the Philippines, who often find themselves at the economic ladder's lower rungs. By integrating the principles of a circular economy, this initiative would not only aim to uplift the economic prospects of these harvesters but in doing so would drive the restoration of the windowpane oyster to its former range.

Spinors are used for the computation of probability in quantum mechanics. They are treated as elements of a complex vector space in contrast to a real vector space. Spinor theory is abstract mathematics with an ambiguous interpretation. The overall phase of spinors does not affect the computation of probability in quantum mechanics. If two spinors have an overall phase of imaginary number i, then they can be treated like vectors in a real vector space. The square of the magnitude of the number, which is the sum of dot product and the term having basis vector i of cross product of two such vectors, is equal to the probability computed using the corresponding spinors. Therefore, the geometry of such spinors can be easily depicted in a three-dimensional space like vectors in a real vector space. Spinors are not isotropic vectors in Hilbert space. The sum of dot product and cross product of two complex numbers is equivalent to the quotient of the division of one complex number by another. Similarly, the sum of dot product and cross product of two vectors is the quotient of the division of one vector by another. Using the rules of division of vectors, we can find the rules of multiplication of vectors. The rules of multiplication and division of basis vector i match the rules of multiplication and division of imaginary number i. Therefore, basis vector i is nothing but imaginary number i. Multiplication of dot and cross product of two vectors to the second vector will give us the components of the first vector that are parallel and orthogonal to the second vector. Vectors are also made up of complex numbers like spinors. The reason for finding dot product of complex numbers in the process of computing the probability is to ignore the overall phase in contrast to the phase difference. This is misconstrued as complex vector space in quantum mechanics. 3-D number which is nothing but a spinor with new notation is an extension of vector algebra. It can have a real number as a term in addition to the terms i, j and k. In all other respects, it is a vector. 3-D numbers are part of the number system like real numbers and complex numbers. The real numbers are one dimensional numbers, the complex numbers are two-dimensional numbers and the 3-D numbers as well as vectors and spinors are three-dimensional numbers. As polarisation and spin are one and the same, we can straight away apply 3-D numbers to polarisation of light. 3-D numbers will greatly simplify the study of areas of science where three-dimensional space is involved.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) a highly malignant neoplasm, is classified as one of the most severe and devastating types of cancer. PDAC is a notable malignancy that exhibits a discouraging prognosis and a rising occurrence. The interplay between diabetes and pancreatic cancer exhibits a reciprocal causation. The identified metabolic disorder has been observed to possess noteworthy consequences on health outcomes, resulting in elevated rates of morbidity. The principal mechanisms involve the suppression of the immune system, the activation of pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs), and the onset of systemic metabolic disease caused by dysfunction of the islets. From this point forward, it is important to recognize that pancreatic cancer-related diabetes (PCRD) has the ability to increase the likelihood of developing pancreatic cancer. This highlights the complex relationship that exists between these two physiological states. Therefore, we investigate into the complex domain of PSCs, elucidating their intricate signaling pathways and the profound influence of chemokines on their behavior and final outcome. In order to surmount the obstacle of drug resistance and eliminate PDAC, researchers have undertaken extensive efforts to explore and cultivate novel natural compounds of the next generation. Additional investigation is necessary in order to comprehensively comprehend the effect of PCRD-mediated apoptosis on the progression and onset of PDAC through the utilization of natural compound. This study aims to examine the potential anticancer properties of natural compound in individuals with diabetes who are undergoing chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or immunotherapy. It is anticipated that these compounds will exhibit increased potency and possess enhanced pharmacological benefits. According to our research findings, it is indicated that naturally derived chemical compounds hold potential in the development of PDAC therapies that are both safe and efficacious.

Electro-mechanical braking(EMB) which represents development direction of autonomous and intelligent braking plays very useful role on enhancing the braking response performance and intelligence level for mine underground electric trackless rubber-tired vehicle (ETRV). However,there is no Electro-Mechanical Brake system applied practically in coal mine UTRV until now.The accurate control of braking clamping force can determine the length and precision of braking distance of mine ETRV.In addition,because of poor working conditions in underground coal mine tunnel ,braking clamping force sensor may be easy to occur failure,which may cause vital accident.Therefore,A cascaded three-closed-loop EMB system with a positive clamping force sensor or force estimator built for ETRV is established to achieve autonomous elimination and reset of braking clearance and reliable braking force tracking ability via utilizing the electro motor rotor angle displacement and hysteresis effect of mechanical components in this EMB.The results of simulation and experiment indicate that clamping force response is faster than traditional hydraulic disk braking system and proposed force estimator presents good fault-tolerant ability when sensor is fault.This EMB can replace the current hydraulic brake system to enhance automation level of braking control for ETRVs and braking force response performance, reduce oil pollution and cost of maintenance, which is also key technology support for really precise motion control of mine autonomous driving vehicles.

The selectin of a demand forecasting method is critical for companies aiming to avoid manufacturing overproduction or shortages in pursuit of sustainable development. Various qualitative and quantitative criteria with different weights must be considered during the evaluation of a forecasting method. The qualitative criteria and criteria weights are usually assessed in linguistic terms. Aggregating these various criteria and linguistic weights for evaluating and selecting demand forecasting methods in sustainable manufacturing is a major challenge. This paper proposes an extension of fuzzy Elimination and Choice Translating Reality (ELECTRE) I to resolve this problem. In the proposed method, fuzzy weighted ratings are defuzzified with the signed distance to develop a crisp ELECTRE I model. Moreover, an extension to ELECTRE I is developed by suggesting an extended modified discordance matrix and a closeness coefficient for ranking alternatives. The proposed extension can overcome the problem of information loss which can lead to incorrect ranking result when using the Hadamard product to combine concordance and modified discordance matrices. A comparison is conducted to show the advantage of the proposed extension. Finally, a numerical example is used to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method; furthermore, a numerical comparison is made to display the advantage of the proposed method.

Coffee processing generates a huge amount of waste which contains many natural products. Here, we report the discovery of a panel novel cell-penetrating and metal-ion binding microproteins designated coffeetide cC1a-c and cL1-6 from the husk of two popular coffee plants, Coffea canephora and Coffea liberica, respectively. Combining sequence determination and database search, we showed that the prototypic coffeetide cC1a is a 37-residue, eight-cysteine microprotein with a hevein-like cysteine motif but without a chitin-binding domain. NMR determination of cC1a revealed a compact structure that confers it resistance to heat and proteolytic degradation. Disulfide mapping together with chemical synthesis revealed that cC1a has a ginsentide-like, and not a hevein-like, disulfide connectivity. In addition, transcriptomic analysis showed that the 98-residue micrcoproten-like coffeetide precursor contains a three-domain arrangement like ginsentide precursors. Molecular modeling together with experimental validation revealed a Mg2+ and Fe3+ binding pocket at the N-terminus formed by three glutamic acids. Importantly, cC1a is amphipathic with a continuous stretch of 19 apolar amino acids, and which enables its cell penetration to target intracellular proteins, despite being highly negatively charged. Our findings suggest that coffee by-products could provide a source of ginsentide-like bioactive peptides that have potential to target intracellular proteins.

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale) processing generates a by-product (CB) with potential for health benefits and could be a favorable ingredient to be added to a probiotic food matrix. This study aimed to assess the functional attributes of CB in fermented milk with a probiotic and a starter culture using in vitro- gastrointestinal conditions. Using a standardized fermentability assay, two strains more adapted to the dehydrated CB were chosen and applied in: Test Formulation (TF, with CB) and Control Formulation (CF, without CB). TF and CF were fermented by the probiotic strain Lacticaseibacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei F19® and the starter Streptococcus thermophilus ST-M6®. During a 28-day refrigerated (6-8 °C) shelf-life study, both strains used in CF and TF were resistant and maintained a population above 8.0 log CFU/mL in the fermented milk. TF had significant increase in total phenolic compounds and greater antioxidant potential during shelf life, along with improved survival of F19® after in vitro-simulated gastrointestinal conditions. The cashew by-product revealed to be promising as a substrate for the strains studied and the presence of CB increased the content of phenolics and antioxidant activity during storage, as well as the gastric resistance to the probiotic., leading to a promising healthy product.

In autonomous driving systems, high-speed and real-time image processing, along with object recognition, are crucial technologies. This paper builds upon the research achievements in in-dustrial item sorting systems and proposes an object recognition and sorting system for auton-omous driving. In industrial sorting lines, goods sorting robots often need to work at high speeds to efficiently sort large volumes of items. This poses a challenge to the robot's real-time vision and sorting capabilities, making it both practical and economically viable to implement a real-time and low-cost sorting system in a real-world industrial sorting line. Existing sorting systems have limitations such as high cost, high computing resource consumption, and high power consump-tion. These issues lead to the fact that existing sorting systems are typically used only in large industrial plants. In this paper, we design a high-speed, low-cost, low-resource-consumption FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) based item sorting system that achieves similar perfor-mance to current mainstream sorting systems at a lower cost and consumption than existing sorting systems. The recognition part employs a morphological recognition method, which segments the image using a frame difference algorithm and then extracts the color and shape features of the items. To handle sorting, a six-degree-of-freedom robotic arm is introduced in the sorting segment. The improved cubic B-spline interpolation algorithm is employed to plan the motion trajectory and consequently control the robotic arm to execute the corresponding actions. Through a series of experiments, this system achieves an average recognition delay of 25.26ms, ensures smooth operation of the gripping motion trajectory, minimizes resource consumption, and reduces implementation costs.

Methodologies for the synthesis and purification of metabolites, which have been developed following their discovery, analysis and structural identification, have been involved in numerous life science milestones. The renewed focus on the small molecule domain of biological cells has also created an increasing awareness of the rising gap between the metabolites identified and the metabolites which have been prepared as pure compounds. Due to the large number and molecular diversity of metabolites the design and engineering of resource-efficient and straightforward synthetic methodologies for their production have attracted much interest. The variety of metabolic pathways in biological cells provide a wonderful blueprint for designing simplified and resource-efficient synthetic routes to desired metabolites. Therefore, biocatalytic systems have become key enabling tools for the synthesis of an increasing number of metabolites, which can then be utilized as standards, enzyme substrates, inhibitors or products, or for the discovery of novel biological functions.

The aim of this study was to assess precipitation (P) by analyzing data from in situ stations compared with those from solely remote sensing products CHIRP and CMORPH, with a reference station in the city. The evapotranspiration (ET) was analyzed directly using SSEBop. The region chosen for this study was the Metropolitan Area of Belem (MAB), close to the estuary of the Amazon River and the mouth of the Tocantins River. Belem is the rainiest state capital of Brazil, which causes a myriad of problems for the local population. The monthly best fit is shown here. In this study, we analyzed P and ET from local stations and compared them with those from satellite products. The main metrics RMSE, NRMSE, MBE, R2, Slope, and NS were used. For the reference station, the automatic and conventional CHIRP and CMORPH results, in mm/month, were as follows: automatic CHIRP: RMSE = 93,3, NRMSE = 0.32, MBE = −33,54, R2 = 0.7048, Slope = 0.945, NS = 0.5668; CMORPH: RMSE = 195,93, NRMSE = 0.37, MBE = −52,86, R2 = 0.6731, Slope = 0.93, NS = 0.4344; conventional station CHIRP: RMSE = 94.87, NRMSE = 0.32, MBE = −33.54, R2 = 0.7048, Slope = 0.945, NS = 0.5668; CMORPH: RMSE = 105.58, NRMSE = 0.38, MBE = −59.46 R2 = 0.7728, Slope = 1.007, NS = 0.4308. This was compared with the pixel and in situ station data. The ET ranges, on average, between 83 mm/month in the Amazonian summer and 112 mm/month in the Amazonian winter. This work concludes that, although CMORPH has a coarser resolution of 0.25° compared to CHIP’s 0.05° for MAB at a monthly resolution, the remote sensing products were reliable. SSEBop also showed reliable performance. For analyses of the consistency of precipitation time series, these products could provide more accurate information.

Background: The ever-growing emergence of antibiotic resistance associated with tuberculosis (TB) has become a global challenge. In 2012, USFDA has given expedited approval to bedaquiline (BDQ), as a new treatment for drug-resistant TB in adults when no other viable options are available. BDQ is a diarylquinoline derivative and exhibits targeted action on mycobacterium tuberculosis but due to poor solubility desired therapeutic action is not achieved. Objective: To develop a QbD-based self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system of Bedaquiline using various oils, surfactants, and co-surfactants. Methods: The quality target product profile (QTPP) and critical quality attributes (CQAs) were identified with a patient-centric approach which facilitated the selection of critical material attributes (CMAs) during pre-formulation studies and initial risk assessment. Caprylic acid as a lipid, propylene glycol as a surfactant and Transcutol-P as a co-surfactant were selected as CMAs for the formulation of Bedaquiline fumarate SNEDDS. Pseudo-ternary phase diagrams were constructed to determine the optimal ratio of oil and Smix. To optimize the formulation, a Box-Benkhen design (BBD) was used. The optimized formulation (BDQ-F-SNEDSS) was further evaluated for parameters such as droplet size, polydispersity index (PDI), percentage transmittance, dilution studies, stability studies, and cell toxicity through the A549 cell. Results: Optimized BDQ-F-SNEDDS showed well-formed droplets of 98.88±2.1 nm with a zeta potential of 21.16 mV. In vitro, studies showed enhanced drug release with a high degree of stability at 25 ± 2 ºC & 60 ± 5 % and 40 ± 2 ºC & 75± 5 %. Furthermore, BDQ-F-SNEDDS showed promising cell viability in A549 cells indicating BDQ-F-SNEDDS as a safer formulation for oral delivery. Conclusion: Finally, it was concluded that the utilization of a QbD approach in the development of BDQ-F-loaded SNEDDS offers a promising strategy to improve the biopharmaceutical properties of the drug, resulting in potential cost and time savings.

Leishmaniases are zoonotic vector-borne diseases caused by a wide variety of Leishmania species with complex transmission cycles involving different reservoirs, potential new hosts and vectors. Similarly, to other eukaryotes, Leishmania use released extracellular vesicles (LEVs) to play important initial interactions that are crucial to modulate the subsequent systemic immune response on the establishment of infection in humans and other important hosts like dogs. Recent studies in endemic areas of Brazil concluded that canine infections were predominantly due to L. amazonensis and not restricted to L. infantum (syn. Leishmania chagasi). Under these premises, the diagnosis of canine leishmaniasis needs to be improved, including the identification of current etiological agent, the clinical differential diagnosis and the histopathologic features. In this way, the dual aim of that study is to register collected observations for the diagnosis of natural canine infections and to insert in vitro results in the field of LEVs that still research gaps to be filled to understand the mechanisms and biological aspects involving the parasite-host interactions. Therefore, the future studies of Parasitology research for both of these fields are very important for the interventions for the prevention, control, elimination and eradication worldwide.

In soil erosion estimation models, the variable with the greatest impact is rainfall erosivity (RE), which is the measurement of precipitation energy and its potential capacity to cause erosion, and erosivity density (ED), which relates RE to precipitation. The RE requires high temporal resolution records for its estimation. However, due to the limited observed information and the increasing availability of rainfall estimates based on remote sensing, recent research has shown the usefulness of using observed-corrected satellite data for RE estimation. This study evaluates the performance of a new gridded dataset of RE and ED in Peru (PISCO_reed) by merging data from the IMERG v06 product, through a new calibration approach with hourly records of automatic weather stations, during the period of 2000-2020. By using this method, a correlation of 0.7 was found between the PISCO\_reed and RE obtained by the observed data. An average annual RE for Peru of 4831 MJ·mm·ha-1·h-1 was estimated with a general increase towards the lowland Amazon regions and high values are found on the north-coast Pacific area of Peru. The spatial identification of the most risk areas of erosion, was carried out through a relationship between the ED and rainfall. Both erosivity data sets will allow us to expand our fundamental understanding and quantify soil erosion with greater precision.

Thrombosis is characterized by the pathological formation of fibrin clots within a blood vessel, leading to the obstruction of blood flow. Fibrinolytic enzymes from microorganisms have exhibited promising effects to dissolve clots in a more efficient and safe way. Then, the aim of this study was to evaluate the biomass and fibrinolytic enzyme production of Tetradesmus obliquus under autotrophic and mixotrophic conditions using different concentration of corn steep liquor (CSL). Different extraction and precipitating methods were tested, and the enzyme was purified by ion exchange chromatography. More advantageous culture condition was mixotrophic using 0.25% CSL, showing the highest values of biomass productivity (Px = 169.3 ± 44.36 mg∙L-1day-1) and specific growth rate (µmax = 0.17 ± 0.00 day-1), and significant fibrinolytic production (391.34 ± 40.03 U∙mg-1). Moreover, fibrinolytic activity was higher when extracted by homogenization and precipitated using acetone, which exhibited clear zone of fibrin degradation in the fibrinolytic plate assay. Additionally, the purified enzyme showed specific activity of 1176.90 ± 140.37 U∙mg-1 and molecular weight around 97 kDa. Finally, the enzyme has higher enzymatic activity than various fibrinolytic enzymes, and the obtained enzyme has potential to be developed as a therapeutic agent in thrombosis treatment. Additional studies are need to investigate the biochemical properties and biological profile of this enzyme.

This experimental study examined the application effect of polycaprolactone (PCL), an organic resin material with excellent elasticity and ductility, on improving the mechanical performance of cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) cement composites. To analyze the effect, a test specimen containing CNC and PCL mixed, containing only CNC, and a control (plain) specimen containing nothing were compared. PCL was compared according to its shape, and in the case of Granules, which is the basic shape, interfacial adhesion with cement was not achieved, so a DCM solution was used to dissolve and use the Granules form. As a method for bonding PCL to the CNC surface, the CNC surface was modified using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), and surface silylation was confirmed through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR) analysis. To evaluate the dispersibility according to the application of PCL to the modified CNC, particle size analysis (PSA) and zeta potential analysis were performed according to the PCL mixing amount (0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 1 vol.% compared with those of CNC) and size distribution. Through the zeta potential value, the highest dispersion stability was shown at 1 vol.%. The cohesive force of CNC was low and the dispersion stability was high according to the application of PCL. According to the results of the dispersion stability evaluation, the degree of hydration of the dissolved PCL 1 vol.%, CNC-only specimens, and plain specimens were analyzed. Hydration products increased by increasing the degree of hydration in the unhydrated area. However, the incorporation of PCL showed a low degree of hydration, and the analysis of strength characteristics also showed a decrease of approximately 27% compared with that of plain specimens. This was because the bonding with SiO2 was not smooth owing to the solvent, thus affecting internal hydration. To investigate the effect of the PCL shape, the compressive and flexural strength characteristics were compared using PCL powder as an additional parameter. The compressive and flexural strength values were improved by approximately 54% and 26%, respectively, compared with those of the plain specimen. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis determined that the filler effect that made the micropore structure denser, affected the mechanical performance improvement.

Background: This study aimed to develop a highly consumable collagen-containing bar that contributes to enriching the diets of elderly individuals in terms of energy and nutrients. Method: For this purpose, after the development of 5 different bar samples (C, P1, P2, D1, D2) containing different amounts of collagen, date puree, and pumpkin puree, they were evaluated in terms of sensory and nutritional properties. Results: The highest flavor score bars were those with high levels of pumpkin puree (P2) and date puree (D2). By applying the TOPSIS technique, which is used when there are multiple crite-ria among multiple samples, to the snack bar samples with different contents, the most liked sample was found to be the snack bar (D2) with a high level of date puree. One serving of the developed bars contains approximately 300-400 kcal of energy and 6.8-8.8 g of protein. Consid-ering age-related decreased appetite and chewing and swallowing problems in elderly individ-uals, regular consumption of nutrient-rich small meals or snacks with enhanced sensory charac-teristics will contribute to improving their nutritional and functional status.

Encapsulation is a valuable strategy to protect and deliver anthocyanins (ACNs), phenolic com-pounds with outstanding antioxidant capacity but limited stability. In this study, coacervation was used to encapsulate an ACNs-rich red cabbage extract (RCE). Two agri-food by-products polymers, whey protein isolate (WPI) and apple high-methoxyl pectin (HMP), were blended at pH 4.0 in a specific ratio to induce the formation of nanoparticles (NPs). The process optimisation yielded a monodispersed population (PDI < 0.200) of negatively charged (-17 mV) NPs with an average diameter of 380 nm. RCE concentration influenced size, charge, and antioxidant capacity in a dose-dependent manner. NPs were also sensitive to pH increase from 4 to 7, showing a progressive breakdown. The encapsulation efficiency was 30%, with a retention of ACNs within the polymeric matrix being influenced by their chemical structure: diacylated and/or C3-triglucoside forms were more efficiently encapsulated than monoacylated C3-diglucosides. In conclusion, we report a promising, simple, and sustainable method to produce monodispersed NPs for ACNs encapsu-lation and delivery. Evidence of differential binding of ACNs to NPs, dependent on specific ac-ylation/glycosylation patterns, indicate that care must be taken in the choice of the appropriate NPs formulation for the encapsulation of phenolic compounds.

This work presents patient radiation dose data for pediatric interventional cardiology procedures in a large hospital in Colombia. The data collection period was from April 2020 to July 2022. The local DRLs were calculated as the 3rd quartile of patient dose data distributions for kerma area-product (Pka) values. The sample of collected clinical procedures (255) was divided into diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and grouped into five weight and five age bands. The Pka differences found between diagnostic and therapeutic procedures were statistically in all weight and age bands, except the group between 1-5 years. The local DRLs were 69 Gy/cm2 (< 5 kg), 3.44 Gy/cm2 (5-<15 kg), 8.87 Gy/cm2 (15-<30 kg), 10.51 Gy/cm2 (30-<50 kg) y 22.61 Gy/cm2 (50-<80 kg), respectively. In conclusion, from comparing our results with other existing DRL values, we are similar to other centers and scope to continue optimizing the radiation dose values. This will contribute to setting national diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for Colombia in the near future.

Nowadays, the high demand for healthy foods and sustainable products, has led the food industry to explore innovative food technologies, such as fortification with bioactive compounds like antioxidants and polyphenols, that may be sourced from herbs or by-products. The aim of the present study was to explore the enrichment of refined olive oils with natural bioactive compounds such as the herbs rosemary (salvia rosmarinus), basil (ocimum basil), sage (salvia officinalis), lemon balm (melissa oficinallis), st. john’s wort (hypericum perforatum), pink savory (Thymbra satureja), dittany (origanum dictamnus), and by-products such as pomace from olives, olive leaves (olea europaea tree), orange peel (citrus sinensis), lemon peel (citrus limon), pomegranate peel (punica granatum) and mandarin peel (citrus reticulate). The fortification of the refined olive oils was performed with the use of different methodologies such as Conventional maceration (CM), Incubation shaking maceration (ISM), and Ultrasound assisted maceration (UAM). Their phenolic content and antioxidant capacity were measured with Folin–Ciocalteu assay and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay respectively. All methods demonstrated that different parameters such as time of maceration, temperature and sample concentration, play an important role in the fortification process of the refined olive oils. The predicyed bioavailability of the antioxidant and phenolic compounds in the fortified oils was determined with in vitro digestion and ranged from 4.84% to 53.11%. Furthermore, the refined olive oils fortified with pomace, basil, st. john's wort, and pomegranate peel presented the highest antioxidant and phenolic predicted bioavailability indices during the in vitro process compared to the control refined olive oil. Finally, fortification with natural herbs or by-products can be considered an innovative method for the improvement of the nutritional value of refined olive oils.

In light of the recent pandemic, several COVID-19 vaccines were developed, tested and approved in a very short time, a process that otherwise takes many years. Above all, these efforts have also unmistakably revealed the capacity limits and potential for improvement in vaccine production. This review aims to emphasize recent approaches for targeted rapid adaptation and production of vaccines from an interdisciplinary multifaceted perspective. Using literature research, stakeholder analysis and a value proposition canvas, we reviewed technological innovations on the pharmacological level, formulation, validation and resilient vaccine production to supply bottlenecks and logistic networks. We identified four main drivers to accelerate the vaccine product life cycle: computerized candidate screening, modular production, digitized quality management and a resilient business model with corresponding transparent supply chains. In summary, the results presented here can serve as a guide and implementation tool for flexible, scalable vaccine production to respond swiftly to pandemic situations in the future.

One main objective of this study was to increase the utilization of the raw material in the rose (Rosa damascena Mill.) essential oil industry by application of membrane technologies. A new ultrafiltration-based process for green recovery of polyphenols from distilled (de-aromatized) rose petals, the primary by-product in essential oil production, was created. The process includes enzyme-assisted extraction and subsequent membrane separation for partial concentration. Following a green membrane technology strategy, the newly developed process proposes an environmentally-friendly alternative to the conventional processing, comprising organic solvent ex-traction and adsorber resin purification. The results showed that the permeate flux decreased with volume reduction ratio’s rise and increased with the transmembrane pressure and feed flow rate rises. At the beginning of the process the highest flux was with UF1-PAN membrane, but at the end of the process with UF10-PAN membrane. Total polyphenols of the retentates in-creased by 27-39% and 26-67% during ultrafiltration with UF1-PAN and UF10-PAN membrane, respectively, with the highest value obtained for UF10-PAN membrane at VRR 6. The highest concentration factor and rejection of total solids, total polyphenols, redox-active antioxidants and radical scavenging antioxidants were obtained at VRR 6 with UF10-PAN membrane. This membrane and concentration level at transmembrane pressure of 0.4 MPa and feed flow rate of 330 dm3/h are recommended to be used for application of ultrafiltration of rose-petals by-product for potential use in the food industry.

Citrus peels are considered as a rich source of valuable biomolecules like pectin as polymer of polysaccharide acid. In this study, response surface methodology was used to optimize pectin extraction from Citrus clementina peels using citric acid as extraction solvent. The effect of parameters conditioning the extraction process and pectin yield (pH, temperature, extraction time, solid/liquid ratio, and raw material particle size) was investigated using a Box-Behnken design. The quality of the extracted pectin was assessed both chemically (moisture, ash, protein, and sugar content) and functionally (gelling power and emulsifying activity). According to the screening experiment, the factors pH, temperature, and particle size were the main factors influencing the pectin yield. The adjusted mathematical model enabled us to plot response surfaces in order to determine optimal extraction conditions. The highest production yield of pectin (26.6%) was obtained at the optimal conditions of: pH = 1.5; temperature 100 °C and particle size = 0.1 mm for an extraction time of 30min. Compared to the predicted value of 26.6%, the experimental extraction yield was about 21.4% of pectin. Concerning the functional properties, the extracted pectin has a high gelling power of 164°SAG and an emulsifying activity of 38.5%.

Most authors have investigated the role of mannoproteins on wine quality but very few analyze the use of grape derived polysaccharides as they are not commercially available. Purified grape derived polysaccharides from red wine (WPP) and winemaking by-products (DWRP: Distilled Washing Residues Polysaccharides) were used as potential fining agents to modulate white wine flavour. Phenolics and volatile compounds were analyzed in control and wines treated with WPP, DWRP and commercial mannoproteins (CM) after one and twelve months of bottling, and a sensory analysis was conducted. WPP and DWRP, rich in rhamnogalacturonans-II, showed as good modulators of wine aroma and astringency. Improvement of wine aroma was related to an increase of all volatile families expect higher alcohols and volatile acids. The modulation of astringency and bitterness was related to a reduction in the proanthocyanidin content and its mean degree of polymerization. Extracts with polysaccharides with higher protein contents presented higher retention of volatile compounds, and DWRP extract showed more positive effects on the overall aroma. Our novel results open the possibility of obtaining valuable polysaccharides from distilled washing residues of wine-pomaces, which could promote its valorization as by-product. This is the first time to describe the potential use of this by-product.

Petrosamine (1) – a colored pyridoacridine alkaloid from the Belizean sponge, Petrosia sp. that is also a potent inhibitor of acetylcholine esterase (AChE) – was investigated by spectroscopic and computational methods. Analysis of the petrosamine free energy landscapes, pKa and tautomerism revealed an accurate electronic depiction of the molecular structure of 1 as the di-keto form, with net charge of q = +1, rather than a dication (q = +2) under ambient conditions of isolation-purification. The pronounced solvatochromism (UV-vis) reported for 1, and related analogs, was investigated in detail and is best explained by charge delocalization and stabilization of the ground state (HOMO) of 1 rather than an equilibrium of competing tautomers. Refinement of the molecular structure of 1 by QM methods complements published computational docking studies to define the contact points in the enzyme active site that may improve design of new AChE inhibitors based on the pyridoacridine alkaloid molecular skeleton.

Chronic stress in dairy cattle industry has negative impacts on animal health, productivity, and welfare. It has been confirmed that cortisol transfers to milk and resists the high temperature during milk processing. This study evaluated the relationship between milk cortisol concentration (MCC) in commercial milk products and the temperature-humidity index (THI) at time of milk production. Eleven commercially produced pasteurized and sterilized milk products, purchased in Chuncheon, Korea, with production dates ranging from July to October 2021 were analyzed. The MCC was extracted using diethyl ether and analyzed using enzyme immunoassay. Average THI values based on microclimate data provided by the Korea Meteorological Administration were 77±0.8, 75±1.4, 69±1.4, and 58±1.8, in July, August, September, and October, respectively. The average MCC levels were 211.9±95.1, 173.5±63.8, 109.6±53.2, and 106.7±33.7 pg/mL in July, August, September, and October, respectively. MCC in July was higher than in August, September and October (p<0.05), while it was lower in September and October than in August (p<0.05). Significant variations in MCC were observed in commercial milk products across the four production months (p<0.05), except for two milk products. Overall, monitoring cortisol residue in commercial dairy milk products can be an alternative indicator of stress in dairy cattle of farms.

An approach to the implementation of neural network for real-time cryptographic data protection with symmetric keys oriented on embedded systems is presented. This approach is valuable especially for onboard communication systems in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) because of suitability to hardware implementation. In this study we evaluate the possibility to build such a system in hardware implementation at FPGA. The proposed integrated neural network approach for real-time cryptographic data protection was based on theoretical foundations of neural network cryptographic data protection, new algorithms and structures of neural network data encryption and decryption, modern hardware components with programmable structure. The development and implementation of the on-board neural network system for cryptographic data protection in real-time are based on the following principles: variable composition of equipment; modularity; conveyorization and spatial parallelism; hardware and software modification and making them suitable for data encryption and decryption. The tabular-algorithmic method for calculation of the scalar product has been improved that makes it possible to perform fast calculation of the scalar product of fixed-point and floating-point input data by bringing them to the largest common order of weights and forming tables of macro-partial products. Components of neural network cryptographic data encryption and decryption have been developed on the processor core supplemented by specialized scalar product calculation modules. The specialized hardware for neural network cryptographic data encryption was developed using VHDL for equipment programming in the Quartus II development environment ver. 13.1 and the appropriate libraries, and implemented on the basis of the FPGA EP3C16F484C6 Cyclone III family.

This paper bases on panel data from 30 provinces and municipalities in China spanning the period of 2010 to 2021 to examine the evolving mechanisms and influencing factors of agricultural product circulation efficiency in the provinces along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) within the context of green total factor productivity (TFP). The study research employs various methodologies including the SBM-DDF model, GML index, system GMM, and global Moran's I index. The findings are as follows: Initially, the provinces along the BRI exhibit an overall negative growth trend in the green TFP of agricultural product circulation, with a noticeable decline observed particularly after the initiation of the BRI in 2014. Secondly, foreign investment levels significantly contribute to the positive enhancement of green TFP in agricultural product circulation among the provinces along the BRI. Eventually, environmental regulations, government support, and the level of international trade in agricultural products exert significant negative impacts. Thirdly, the results of spatial effect tests reveal substantial spatial spillover effects in the green TFP of agricultural product circulation among the provinces along the BRI, as demonstrated through examinations utilizing three distinct spatial matrices.

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are used in the manufacturing process of the semiconductor and display industries, and the need for emission reduction is growing as a greenhouse gas with a very large global warming potential. The decomposition characteristics of etch type and water film (WF) type plasma-wet scrubbers were investigated. The PFCs used in the study were CF4, SF6, NF3, CHF3, C2F6, C3F8, and C4F8, and the destruction removal efficiency (DRE) and by-product gas generation rate according to the changes in the parameters (total flow rate and power) of the plasma-wet scrubber were confirmed. When the total flow rate was 100 L/min and the measured maximum power (11 kW), the reduction efficiency of CF4 in the etch type was 95.60 % and the DRE of other PFCs was 99.99 %. And, in the WF type, the DRE of CF4 was 90.06 %, that of SF6 was 96.44 %, and that of other PFCs was 99.99 %. When the total flow rate was 300 L/min and 11 kW, the DRE of SF6 in the etch type was 99 %, and the DRE of NF3, CHF3, C2F6, C3F8, and C4F8 were 99.80 %, 95.34 %, 85.38 %, 88.49 %, and 98.22 %, respectively. And, in the WF type, the DRE of SF6 was 94.39 %, and the DRE of NF3, CHF3, C2F6, C3F8, and C4F8 were 99.80 %, 95.34 %, 85.38 %, 88.49 %, and 98.22 %, respectively. The by-product gas generation rate was significantly lower in the WF type.

This paper illustrates that the ROTASE model proposed by the author for the formation of spiral arms of galaxies is nicely demonstrated by the spirals generated by rockets venting fuel during free fall. The patterns of spirals by the falling rockets strongly support that the spiral galaxies with perfect central symmetry have to be originated from the galactic centers, and the spiral arms and the galactic bars are bound together as “rigid” body. The exclusive presence of a rear side trail effect in galaxies indicates the absence of co-rotation, and the rotation of spiral arms is faster than the galactic matters. The exact nature of X-matter remains an open question.

Material selection for product design is a complex task. Thus, one of the objectives of this work is to analyze, understand and promote the importance of selection of materials to conceive quality products with help of designers' that promote green self-identity in the early stage of the conception of new products. A questionnaire was sent to professional designers and engineers. 38 responses were validated, this being the sample of our study. The aspects that influence the complex selection of materials and the final quality of the products through the design and production process is presented. As a result of the answers carried out with product designers who work in the market, with students who are graduating and with some engineers, a new approach for the selection of materials was developed. Based on a collection of main ideas from traditional and non-traditional methods of material selection, seeking to group the maximum requirements of both methods, inspired by the "Canvas" model on the basic modular methodology, a new model for a project of new product is presented. Our study focuses on the selection of materials, since this aspect is one of the most relevant steps in early stage of the prototyping phase of new products, with a view to reducing CO² from the air in the atmosphere that we all breathe. The classification of materials is complex, due to the diversity of available options. The novelty of this model is that all properties of the newly designed product, such as technical, aesthetic, productive, environmental and other properties, are all grouped in a model, which serves as an innovative support. Thus, the designer has at his disposal a tool that can help him in the selection of the best material for the products he designs. This study intends to make a contribution in the field of material selection, quality and design of new products, promoting a green self-identity for designers in the initial phase of product design. Consequently, all consumers in search of a sustainable planet will profit from it.

Diet modification may be a potential contributor in the prevention of age-related cognitive decline. The association between dairy product consumption and cognitive function remains unknown in older people. We investigated whether cheese intake is associated with lower cognitive function (LCF) in community-dwelling older adults. This cross-sectional study included 1503 adults aged over 65 years. Analyzed data were obtained from face-to-face interviews and functional ability measurement. Cognitive function was assessed using mini-mental state examination (MMSE), and a score ≤ 23 was defined as LCF. The prevalence of LCF was 4.6% and this group had smaller calf circumference, slower usual walking speed, and more frequent history of anemia than subjects with MMSE scores ≥ 24. After adjusting for confounding factors, logistic regression analysis revealed cheese intake (odds ratio (OR) = 0.404, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.198-0.824), age (OR = 1.170, 95% CI = 1.089-1.256), usual walking speed (OR = 0.171, 95% CI = 0.062-0.472) and calf circumference (OR = 0.823, 95% CI = 0.747-0.908) as significant factors associated with LCF. Although the present study was an analysis of cross-sectional data of Japanese community-dwelling older adults, the results suggest that cheese intake is inversely associated with LCF.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common and incurable leukemia subtype. Despite extensive research into the disease's intricate molecular mechanisms, AML have not yet identified effective treatments or expanded diagnostic or prognostic markers. The morphological, immunophenotypic, cytogenetic, biomolecular, and clinical characteristics of AML patients are extensive and complex. Leukemia stem cells (LSC) consist of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and cancer cells transformed by the complex, finely-tuned interaction that causes the complexity of AML. Microenvironmental regulation of LSC dormancy, its diagnostic and therapeutic implications for identifying and targeting LSCs due to their significance in the pathogenesis of AML were discussed in this review. It is essential to perceive the relationship between the niche for LSCs and HSC, which together cause the progression of AML. Notably, methylation is a well-known epigenetic change that is significant in AML, and our data also reveals that microRNAs are a unique factor for LSC. Furthermore, multiple-targeted approaches to reduce the risk of epigenetic factors, such as the administration of natural compounds for the elimination of local LSC, may prevent potentially fatal relapses. Furthermore, the survival analysis of overlapping genes revealed that specific targets had significant effects on the survival and prognosis of patients. We predicted that the multiple-targeted effects of herbal products on epigenetic modification are governed by different mechanisms in AML and prevent potentially fatal relapses. Thus, these strategies can facilitate the incorporation of herbal medicine and natural compounds into the advanced drug discovery and development processes enabled achievable by Network Pharmacology research.

The plethora of bio-functional compounds present in fermented alcoholic beverages like wine, as well as the valorization of bioactives from their wineries/breweries by-products like grape pomace and grape seed, has gained significant interest in the functional foods sector. Wine has always accompanied humanity, for religion or for health. For example, Christians are using wine in the “Holy Communion”, following what Jesus Christ himself did and said during the Last Supper, while the benefits of the wine consumption in moderation was embedded in all Mediterranean civilizations, as it is mentioned by the wise King-Prophet David in his psalms, but also by Hip-pocrates and other wise men, in a Greek-based philosophy of “All things in Moderation” (Cleobulus of Lindos; 6th century BC). In modern times, and after the outbreak of research on wine benefits since the 90’s, when the term “French Paradox” was introduced in the US public during a CBS show, recent evidence has outlined that these benefits are derived by the synergisms of its bio-functional compounds and their digestion-derived metabolites. Within this article, the proposed health benefits of moderate wine consumption, as a functional component of a balanced diet (i.e. the Mediterra-nean Diet), against inflammation-related chronic disorders, is thoroughly reviewed. The various bio-functional compounds of both wine and wineries’ by-products, such as their bioactive phe-nolics, unsaturated fatty acids, polar lipids, and dietary fibers, and their functional antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic health promoting properties are also thoroughly evaluated. The mechanisms of actions and synergism, by which the health benefits are elicited, are also ex-plored. Functional properties of non-alcoholic wine products are also introduced. Emphasis is also given to applications of wineries’ by-products bioactives, as ingredients of bio-functional foods, supplements and nutraceuticals. Limitations and future perspectives for this popular functional alcoholic beverage (wine) ant its rich in bioactives by-products are also addressed. .

Currently, software development is more associated with families of configurable software rather than the single implementation of a product. Due to the numerous possible combinations in a software product line, testing these families of software product lines (SPLs) is a difficult undertaking (SPL). Moreover, the presence of optional features makes the testing of SPLs impractical. Several features are presented in SPLs, but due to the environment's time and financial constraints, these features are rendered unfeasible. Testing subsets of configured products is thus one approach to solving this issue. In order to reduce testing effort and get better results, alternative methods of testing SPLs are required, such as the combinatorial interaction testing (CIT) technique. Unfortunately CIT method produces unscalable solutions for large size SPLs with excessive constraints. The CIT method costs more because of feature combinations. The optimization of the various conflicting testing objectives, such as reducing the cost and configuration number, have also been considered. In this article, we have proposed a search-based software engineering solution using multi-objective optimization algorithms (MOEAs). In particular, the research is applied to different types of MOEA methods; Indicator-Based Evolutionary Algorithm (IBEA), Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithm based on Decomposition (MOEA/D), Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGAII), NSGAIII, and Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm 2 (SPEA2). The results of the algorithms are examined in the context of distinct objectives and two quality indicators. The results revealed how feature model attributes, implementation context and the number of objectives affect the performance of the algorithms.

This study delves into the essential characteristics of the Metaverse and its impact on the real world. The Metaverse, a parallel universe composed of countless 3D virtual worlds, has become a hot topic in technology. With the development of advanced technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence, the Metaverse is gradually changing people's lifestyles and work methods, expanding the boundaries of the digital economy. This study profoundly investigates the attributes of the Metaverse, such as asset digitization, application scenario-based, scope economy, industry universality, integrated innovation, and the platform ecosystem. Additionally, we propose a theoretical framework to aid in understanding and shaping this emerging field. We conducted a thorough study and analysis of a specific case, explored the key features of the Metaverse, unveiled the profound impact of Metaverse characteristics on social and economic development, and verified our theoretical framework with this case. This research provides new perspectives and methods for academic studies and offers robust support and guidance for practical applications and decision-making.

Advancements in technology have revolutionized communication on social media platforms, where reviews and comments greatly influence product selection. Current opinion mining methods predominantly focus on textual content, overlooking the rich information within customer-posted images, termed here as Multus-Medium. This research introduces an innovative deep learning approach, Multus Medium Opinion Mining (MMOM), capitalizing on both text and image data for comprehensive product review analysis. MMOM employs an integrated model of Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) and embedded Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), incorporating architectures of GoogleNet and VGGNet, thus enabling efficient extraction and fusion of textual and visual features. This synergistic approach enables data collection, preprocessing, feature extraction, fusion strategy-based feature vector generation, and subsequent product recommendation. Performance evaluation on two diverse real-world datasets name as “flicker8k” and “t4sa”. These datasets show substantial improvement over existing methods. MMOM outperforms standard benchmark models, achieving an accuracy, F1 score and ROC over fliker8k are 90.38%, 88.75% and 93.08%, whereas for twitter dataset are 88.54%, 86.34%, and 92.26% respectively, the accuracy of purposed model is 7.34% and 9.54% higher than the other two mentioned techniques. These statistics highlight the robustness and applicability of MMOM across various domains. The compelling results underscore the potential of MMOM, providing a more holistic and precise approach to opinion mining in the era of social media product reviews. This research, product recommendation helps the customer to make purchasing decision. Last but not the least, the purposed scheme can further be expanded in any other sentiment task like hospital recommendation system, crop farming recommendation and medical diagnostic system etc.

The travel-goods industry is an essential part of the larger travel and tourism sector, but it creates significant environmental impacts due to resource and energy consumption. This study investigates the feasibility and sustainability potential of servitisation concepts within the travel-goods industry, and the Product-Service System (PSS) models, in particular, to identify steps towards a more sus-tainable travel industry in the future. It explores the sustainability-related drivers within the luggage industry and identifies barriers to the adoption of servitisation models, and opportunities for value creation for both consumers and commercial organisations. Business models are mapped into a ty-pology to highlight different pathways to PSS adoption, underpinned with empirical data collected via a consumer sentiment survey and semi-structured interviews with industry experts. Even though the analysis revealed shifting consumer attitudes towards servitisation concepts within the travel-goods market, with a significant level of interest emerging for specific PSS models, at present, the widespread adoption of PSS is hindered. This is due to the fragmented nature of global supply chains and entrenched ownership values. Addressing supply chain issues regarding end-of-life systems to sustainably manage products beyond functional obsolescence is critical. In parallel, product-oriented PSS models are more likely to increase, driven by a burgeoning resale market and supported by digi-tal technologies, which in turn can lead to greater prospects for use-oriented PSS adoption and even-tually, reduced environmental impacts.

Coffee production generates significant amounts of by-products, posing challenges for waste management in the industry. Recent research has revealed that coffee by-products are rich in bioactive compounds suitable to produce functional food ingredients and nutraceuticals. In this review, we explore biorefinery strategies for extracting and utilizing bioactive compounds from coffee by-products, including the production of bio-based chemicals and materials, as well as the extraction of phenolic compounds, antioxidants, and dietary fiber for food applications. We propose a stepwise approach for the development of functional food ingredients and nutraceuticals from coffee by-products, covering the identification of needs, comprehensive characterization, in vitro and in vivo research, unraveling the mechanism of action, food and nutraceutical formulation, sensory analysis, shelf-life stability, scale-up, randomized control trials, and biostatistic and bioinformatic integration. Additionally, we discuss the market potential, regulatory issues, and technological innovation surrounding the commercialization of coffee by-product-based products. Emphasizing the importance of regulatory compliance and sustainability in the coffee industry, this review highlights the potential of coffee by-products to be transformed from waste into valuable functional food ingredients and nutraceuticals, offering a promising avenue for waste reduction and promoting sustainability in the coffee industry.

Extracts of Cordyceps militaris which possess the bioactive capacity such as antimicrobial activity and DPPH-free radical scavenging capacity, are applied to the serum product. This finished serum product has been evaluated the in vitro bioactivity and the stability with expect to find out a good extract with a suitable percentage used for serum product as natural materials on preservatives and antioxidation.

Background: Food waste has been a major social problem in recent years. Annually, 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted worldwide. It is recommended that food waste should be reduced at every stage of production. By-products from food processing have high nutritional value; therefore their use in the design of new products is advisable. Methods: By-products from tomato processing (tomato waste-TW) and pepper (defatted pepper seeds-DPS, pepper placenta-PP) were used at a level of 10-30% to produce extruded pasta. The farinographic characteristics, chemical composition, cooking quality, and color of the pasta were studied. Results: The results showed a significant up to 27% increase in the protein content in the TW30 samples, compared to the control. The TDF content increased over five times in DPS30 and TW30 (27.99% and 25.44%). The amino acid composition of the pasta improved with the fortification, but failed to achieve the complete protein by FAO. The DPS30, PP20, PP30, and all TW samples can be considered high-protein products according to the EU definition (min. 20% energy from protein). Conclusion: Vegetable waste can be a valuable additive for improvement of the nutritional value of food. Their addition is part of the zero-waste trend, which has a positive impact on the environment.

The design and engineering of antibacterial materials is key for preventing bacterial adherence and proliferation in biomedical and house-hold instruments. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and chitosan (CHI) are broad-spectrum antibacterial materials with different properties, whose combined application is currently under optimization. This study proposes the formation of antibacterial films with AgNPs embedded in carboxymethylcellulose/chitosan multilayers by the layer-by-layer (LbL) method. The films were deposited onto nanoporous silicon (nPSi), an ideal platform for bioengineering applications, due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and bioresorbability. We focus on two alternative multilayer deposition processes: cyclic dip coating (CDC) and cyclic spin coating (CSC). The physicochemical properties of the films were the subject of microscopic, microstructural and surface-interface analyses. The antibacterial activity of each film was investigated against Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) bacteria strains as model microorganisms. According to the findings, CDC technique produced multilayer films with higher antibacterial activity for both bacteria compared to the CSC method. Bacteria adhesion inhibition was observed from only 3 cycles. The developed AgNPs-multilayer composite film offers advantageous antibacterial properties for biomedical applications.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects about 20–40% of the adult population in high-income countries and is now a leading indication for liver transplantation and can drive to hepatocellular carcinoma. The link between gut microbiota dysbiosis and NAFLD is now clearly established. Through analyses of the gut microbiota with shotgun metagenomics, we observed that compared to healthy controls, Adlercreutzia equolifaciens is depleted in patients with liver diseases such as NAFLD. Its abundance also decreases as the disease progresses and eventually disappears in the last stages indicating a strong association with disease severity. Moreover, we show that A. equolifaciens possesses anti-inflammatory properties, both in vitro and in vivo in a humanized mouse model of NAFLD. Therefore, our results demonstrate a link between NAFLD and the severity of liver disease and the presence of A. equolifaciens and its anti-inflammatory actions. Counterbalancing dysbiosis with this bacterium may be a promising live biotherapeutic strategy of liver diseases..

In order to harmonize supply and demand of green energy, new future-proof technologies are needed. Here, hydrogen plays a key role. Within the current framework conditions, the production of green hydrogen is not yet economically viable. The use of the oxygen produced and the possible increase in efficiency associated with it mostly remains unconsidered. The aim is to demonstrate that the economic efficiency of a power-to-gas (PtG) project can be increased by using the by-product oxygen. In this research project, a water electrolyser connected to grid is powered to supply hydrogen to a hydrogen refuelling station. By utilising the by-product oxygen from water electrolysis for a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), it is shown that the net present value (NPV) of the project can be improved by up to 13 % compared to the initial scenario. If a photovoltaic (PV) system is used in addition to grid electricity for higher green hydrogen production, the NPV can be further improved by up to 58 %. The levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) is calculated for different scenarios with and without oxygen configuration. A sensitivity analysis is then performed to find important parameters.

Quality products are a main focus for manufacturers. Product users only determine a product is a quality product if it performs in operation to the user’s perceived standard. Product manufactures need to take a product lifecycle quality (PLQ) perspective of quality and not simply focus on manufacturing quality control, which is more accurately specification control. Manufacturing is the key phase where products take their physical form. There are increasing costs and decreasing risk of different physical quality strategies. The information provided using digital twins and virtual testing promises to be both low risk and cost and has the potential to predict what the customer will experience in operation by testing products passively with data and actively with simulation to destruction. Digital Twin Certified (DTC) is proposed as the methodology for accomplishing this. DTC will be especially important for the adoption of additive manufacturing.

Clinical trials are research studies performed on people that are aimed at evaluating a medical, surgical, or behavioural intervention. It is a primary way that researchers find out if a new treatment, like a new drug or diet, or medical device is safe and effective in people. In this paper blockchain technology is embedded in a digital twin aiming to improve the quality of clinical trials through the boost of data integrity among the quality-related activities, and to promote participants' safety. First, a blockchain-embedded quality-enabled digital twin is proposed and the interactions among the enablers and peers are highlighted. Then, a prototype of the proposed system is developed, and the data of a pilot trial is used to justify the applicability of the system. The results showed that the proposed system is efficient, and hence it is feasible to adopt into a clinical trial. With the successful development of the proposed system, it is promising to provide effective data integration and knowledge management for improving participant safety.

Numerous goods and services are now offered through online platforms due to the recent growth of online transactions like e-commerce. Users have trouble locating the product that best suits them from the numerous products available in online shopping. Many studies in deep learning-based recommender systems (RSs) have focused on the intricate relationships between the attributes of users and items. Deep learning techniques have used consumer or item-related traits to improve the quality of personalized recommender systems in many areas, such as tourism, news, and e-commerce. Various companies, primarily e-commerce, utilize sentiment analysis to enhance product quality and effectively navigate today's business environment. Customer feedback regarding a product is gathered through sentiment analysis, which uses contextual data to split it into separate polarities. The explosive rise of the e-commerce industry has resulted in a large body of literature on e-commerce from different perspectives. Researchers have made an effort to categorize the recommended future possibilities for e-commerce study as the field has grown. There are several challenges in e-commerce, such as fake reviews, frequency of user reviews, advertisement click fraud, and code-mixing. In this review, we introduce an overview of the preliminary design for e-commerce. Second, the concept of deep learning, e-commerce, and sentiment analysis are discussed. Third, we represent different versions of the commercial dataset. Finally, we explain various difficulties facing RS and future research directions.

The complex adaptive systems (CAS) research study investigates into the theoretical link of a sustained economic growth as a critical pathway to lift people out of poverty and improve their quality of life. The results show a left-skewed global behavior of an economy-driven human development of 189 countries with 20% or 27 countries obtaining low human development; 80% or 162 countries obtaining medium to very high human development of which 21.16% or 39 countries with medium HDI, 53 or 28.04% or 53 countries with high HDI, and 31.22% or 59 countries with very high HDI. Using the Log (GDP) for visual transformation, closer investigation into the scatterplot diagram reveals that there are also bimodal patterns where countries in the high amplitude and low amplitude groups obtained different human development outcomes despite less or more on economic growth variances mirror on the government policy priorities resulting in four differentiating conditions. Very few countries experience virtuous cycles where both growth and human development are successful; few countries with vicious cycles where both are weak; and many countries with lopsided conditions where the economy is strong but human development is weak, or conversely ones where human development is strong but the economy is weak. The global pattern of economy and human development illustrated by an upward sinusoid or sine wave refutes the conventional linear approach. Uniquely and most importantly, the sinusoidal wave illustrates a decreasing amplitude and decreasing periods as countries manifest apparently complex behaviors that emerge as a result of often nonlinear spatio-temporal interactions among a large number of component systems at different levels of organizations and governments leading to an emergence of a behavior characterizing of a complex adaptive system.

Energy imports and the transition to renewable energy sources are of critical importance in the current geopolitical context, which necessitates concrete actions to tackle the energy crisis at the European Union level. The study aims to explore the impact of imported non-renewable energy resources on the EU-27 economy. It examines the correlations and causal relationships between GDP, GVA, R&amp;D investments, and energy imports from 2000 to 2021. Data normality was assessed using the Shapiro-Wilk test, while Pearson's test identified correlations between variables. Linear and multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the effects of changes in independent variables on dependent variables. The study found a strong association between natural gas imports and GDP, with increases in GDP leading to a more than fourfold rise in imports. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis indicated that a 1% increase in R&amp;D investments results in a 2.21% decrease in fossil fuel imports in 91.7% of cases. This suggests that R&amp;D investments contribute to improved efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources.

Limiting harm to organisms via genetic sampling is an important consideration for rare species. Nondestructive sampling techniques have been developed to address this issue in freshwater mussels. Two methods, visceral swabbing and tissue biopsies, have proven to be effective for DNA sampling, though it is unclear as to which method is preferable for genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). Tissue biopsies may cause undue stress and damage to organisms, while visceral swabbing potentially reduces the chance of such harm. Our study compared the efficacy of these two DNA sampling methods for generating GBS data for the Unionid freshwater mussel, Texas Pigtoe (Fusconaia askewi). Our results find both methods generate quality sequence data, though some considerations are in order. Tissue biopsies produced significantly higher DNA concentrations and larger numbers of reads when compared to swabs, though there was no significant association between starting DNA concentration and number of reads generated. Swabbing produced greater sequence depth (more reads per sequence) while tissue biopsies revealed greater coverage across the genome (at lower sequence depth). Patterns of genomic variation as characterized in principal component analyses were similar regardless of the sampling method, suggesting that the less invasive swabbing is a viable option for producing quality GBS data in these organisms.

Recently, we studied CR-slant warped products B1×fM⊥, where B1=MT×Mθ is the Riemannian product of holomorphic and proper slant submanifolds and M⊥ is a totally real submanifold in a nearly Kaehler manifold. In the continuation, in this paper, we study B2×fMθ, where B2=MT×M⊥ is a CR-product of a nearly Kaehler manifold and establish Chen’s inequality for the squared norm of the second fundamental form. Some special cases of Chen’s inequality are given.

In this work, we offer a novel and accurate method in order to find the solution of the linear differential equations over the intervals [0, 1) based on the generalization of Legendre wavelets. The mechanism is still upon workable implementation of the operational matrix of integration and its derivatives. This method reduces the problems into algebraic equations via the properties of generalized Legendre wavelet (GLW) together with the operational matrix of integration. The function approximation has been picked out in such a way so as to enumerate the connection coefficients in an facile manner. The proposed numerical technique, based on the GLW, has been examined on three linear problems as a consequence of this investigation. The outcomes have shown that this method, as opposed to some other existing numerical and analytical methods, is a very useful and advantageous for tackling such problems.

The effect of individual and combined supplementation of FA and GPM on physiological variables, productive performance, and carcass characteristics of finishing pigs under heat stress conditions were investigated. Forty Yorkshire x Duroc pigs (80.23 kg) were individually housed and randomly distributed into 4 groups under a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement (n=10): Control (basal diet, BD); FA, BD + 25 mg FA; GPM, BD with 2.5% GPM; and MIX, BD with 25 mg FA and 2.5% GPM. Additives were supplemented for 31 days. The inclusion of FA or GPM did not modify rectal temperature and respiratory rate. An interaction effect (P &lt;0.05) was observed on FI, while average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion (FC) were not affected by treatments (P &gt;0.05). The inclusion of FA improved hot and cold carcass weight and carcass yields, while the addition of GPM decreased the marbling (P &lt;0.05), and GPM tended to increase loin area (P &lt;0.10). GPM increased liver weight (p &lt;0.05). The addition of GPM and FA can improve some carcass characteristics under heat stress conditions. It is necessary to continue investigating different levels of inclusion of GPM and FA, to demonstrate their potential growth promoting effect in finishing pigs.

A balanced diet model, rich in fruits and vegetables and ensuring the intake of natural products, has been shown to reduce or prevent the occurrence of many chronic diseases. However, the choice to consume large quantities of fruits and vegetables leads to an increase in the amount of waste, which can cause the alteration in environmental sustainability. To date, the concept of "by-product" has evolved, understood as a waste product, from which it is still possible obtain useful compounds. Therefore, the by-products in the agricultural sector, are a rich source of bioactive compounds, capable to possess a second life, decreasing the amount of waste products, the disposal costs and the environmental pollution. A promising and well-known citrus of the Mediterranean diet is the bergamot (Citrus bergamia, Risso et Poiteau). The composition of bergamot is known and the rich presence of phenolic compounds and essential oils has justified countless beneficial properties found, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-cholesterolemic and protective activity for the immune system, heart failure and coronary heart diseases. The industrial processing of bergamot fruits leads to the formation of bergamot juice and bergamot oil. The solid residues, referred as "pastazzo", are normally used as feed for livestock or pectin production. The fiber of bergamot (BF) can be obtained from pastazzo and could exert an interesting effect thanks to its content of polyphenols. The purpose of this work was to test the effects of BF on an in vitro model of neurotoxicity induced by treatment with amyloid beta protein. In particular, this experimental model included both neurons and oligodendrocytes in order to measure the involvement of the glia and compare it with the neurons one. The results obtained showed a protective activity of BF, although the oligodendrocytes were more sensitive and fragile than neurons. Further experiments are necessary and if the trend was confirmed, solid residues of bergamot could be used in AD, and, at the same time, could help to avoid the accumulation of waste products.

In an increasingly resource-constrained era, the utilization approach of waste and by-products from grain processing, is attractive widely, considering both nutritive value and economic aspects and move towards more sustainable food systems. Following the fundamentals of a circular economy, the need of the hour lies in its effective utilization as a grain waste and by-products conversion into value-added products in food industry. The aim of this study is twofold: 1. Understanding the progress of grain waste and by-products to valorization in human nutrition, using bibliometrics; different literature databases namely Google Scholar, Web of Science and Elsevier Scopus have been evaluated for their merits and values; 2. Exploration of knowledge-based strategies, by reviewing the literature concerning the possible use of grain waste and by-products for food processing industry, reducing burden on virgin raw materials. The review allowed to unlock the latest-advances of upcycling side streams and waste from grain processing industry.

We prove Lp estimates of a class of generalized Marcinkiewicz integral operators with mixed homogeneity on product domains. By using these estimates along with an extrapolation argument we obtain the boundedness of our operators under very weak conditions on the kernel functions. Our results in this paper improve and extend several known results on both generalized Marcinkiewicz integrals and parabolic Marcinkiewicz integrals on product domains.

Current trends in industrial development strive for maximum digitalization. The digital industrial revolution has been going on for more than a dozen years, Industry 4.0 and the idea of digital twins (DT) is becoming the focus of virtually all industrial sectors. Some sectors are more predisposed to digitalization, for others the process is much more difficult. This depends mainly on the specific characteristics and susceptibility of a given industry, including the current degree of digitalization of enterprises, as well as the knowledge and mental readiness of employees. The individual characteristics of an industry are important. Shipyards belong to the industry with a traditional approach, where the degree of digitalization remains low. As a result, the efficiency of shipbuilding processes and the quality of ships built are not sufficiently controlled. The article addresses this problem, reviews work in the field of digitalization of shipbuilding processes and points out the needs and challenges in this area. The article proposes the concept of a DT system for the entire ship design and production process. Key areas of digitalization of actual processes were defined, and a division was made into planning, monitoring and process analysis activities. Special attention was paid to the area of dimensional quality control and the Dimensional Quality Management Metasystem (DQMM) was featured in the comprehensive DT system. The requirements were defined and the limitations of the proposed solution were identified, taking into account a number of external factors including the degree of readiness of the manufacturer – the shipyard. The developed DT system concept was tested on the example of the construction process of a simplified ship. Practical aspects of the implementation of the proposed solution, in particular DQMM, were indicated.

The neural network technology for real-time cryptographic data protection with symmetric keys (masking codes, neural network architecture and weights matrix) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) onboard communication systems has been developed. It provides hardware and software implementation with high technical and operational characteristics. The development of neural network technology for real-time cryptographic data protection was performed using an integrated approach based on theoretical foundations of neural network cryptographic data protection, new algorithms and structures of neural network data encryption and decryption, modern element base with the possibility of programming for the structure, and computer-aided design of hardware and software tools. The development and implementation of the on-board system of neural network cryptographic data protection in real-time are based on the following principles: variable composition of equipment; modularity; conveyorization and spatial parallelism; specialization and adaptation of hardware and software to data encryption and decryption. The tabular-algorithmic method of calculating the scalar product has been improved, it provides fast calculation of the scalar product of input data for both fixed and floating-point by bringing to the largest common order of weights and forming tables of macro-partial products for them. Components of neural network cryptographic data encryption and decryption have been developed on the processor core supplemented by specialized scalar product calculation modules. The specialized hardware for neural network cryptographic data encryption was developed using VHDL for equipment programming in the Quartus II development environment ver. 13.1 and the appropriate libraries, and implemented on the basis of the FPGA EP3C16F484C6 Cyclone III family.

Tree ordinances can be an effective means of preserving urban forests in the face of development pressures. Despite this, they also have the potential to be divisive among the public - especially when applied to privately-owned land. In this study we surveyed 1,716 Florida urban residents to understand how they value regulation and management of the urban forest. Specifically, we asked about: tree protection ordinances, incentive programs to manage or plant trees, justification for tree removal, and development. Most respondents supported tree protections, even when applied to trees on their own property or when they had the potential to limit development activities. Additionally, there was limited support for removing healthy trees for development. Respondents supported the use of funds for urban forestry efforts – particularly at the local or state level.

Semi-structured complex numbers H was a number set developed to enable division by zero in ordinary algebraic equations. Its utility has been shown in mathematics and engineering. However, very little has been done to show its usefulness in computer science. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to show the utility of semi-structured complex numbers in computer science by developing a division by zero calculator. First two computer programs were written, one for a standard (STD) calculator and the other for a division by zero (DBZ) calculator. The programs were fed 20000 randomly generated arithmetic equations of varying lengths and the space and time complexity associated with processing these equations were measured and compared to determine the efficiency of each calculator. In the process, three major contributions were made: (1) A representation for semi-structured complex numbers that enables it to be easily used by a computer was developed; (2) It was demonstrated that the DBZ calculator outperforms the STD calculator in terms of efficiency; and, (3) It was shown that the number set H reduced the amount of error handling required to run a computer program. These results provide a firm foundation to advance the number set as a useful tool in computer science.

Background: the nature of alpha-D-mannose - natural aldohexose sugar, C-2 glucose epimer, whose intended use is for preventing urinary tract infections - in the interaction with E. coli is addressed in order to drive the issue of its regulatory classification as a medicinal product or medical device. Methods: PRISMA systematic review approach was applied; Delphi Panel method used to target consensus on statements retrieved from evidence. Results: Based of regulatory definitions and research evidences, the mechanism of D-mannose does not involve a metabolic or immunological action while there is an uncertainty regarding the pharmacological action. Specific interaction between the product and the bacteria within the body occurs, but its nature is inert: it does not induce a direct response activating or inhibiting body processes. Moreover, the action of D-mannose takes place, even if inside the bladder, outside the epithelium on bacteria that have not yet invaded the urothelial tissue. Therefore, its mechanism of action is not directed to host structures but to structures (bacteria) external to the host's tissues. Conclusions: From a regulatory perspective, D-mannose maintains the current medical device classification: new regulations and legal judgments can add further considerations. From a pharmacological perspective, research is driven versus synthetic mannosides: no further considerations are expected on alpha-D-mannose.

We present a geometric field theory in which the action and field equation are constructed from an ultra-high-density vector field and its covariant derivative and have full general covariance in a higher-dimensional spacetime. The field equation is the simplest possible generalisation of the Poisson equation for gravity consistent with general covariance and the equivalence principle. It contains the Ricci tensor and metric acting as operators on the vector field. If the covariant derivative is diagonalisable across a neighbourhood under real changes of coordinate basis, spacetime coincides with a product manifold. The dimensionalities of the factor spaces are determined by its eigenvalues and hence by its algebraic invariants. Tensors decompose into multiplets which have both Lorentz and internal symmetry indices. The field equation has a `classical vacuum' solution which is a product of Minkowski spacetime and an Einstein manifold. A worked example is provided in six dimensions. Away from this classical vacuum, connection components in appropriate coordinates include $SO(N)$ gauge fields. The Riemann tensor includes their field strength. Unitary gauge symmetries act indirectly on tensor fields and some or all of the unitary gauge fields are found amongst the $SO(N)$ gauge fields. Symmetry restoration occurs at the zero-curvature `decompactification limit', in which all dimensions appear on the same footing.

The results of physico-chemical studies of individual fruit parts, including crusts, partitions, juice and seeds themselves, extracted from immature (green), unripe and mature fruits of three harvest periods are presented: 20.VII, 01.IX and 15.X. The analyses were carried out in 2019-20 during the period of active growth and ripening of fruits in the varieties Spring, Iridanaly, Guleisha pink and wild pomegranate from the Geokchay region (Azerbaijan) using standard and generally accepted physico-chemical methods. The ripe fruit (130-288 g) consisted of 60-113% of the peel (peel together with partitions), 53-140% of the juice and 17-85% of the seeds themselves. The edible part of the ripened fruits (53.85-73.2 of the total weight of the fruit) consisted of 58.54-78.65% juice and 21.35 -41.46% seeds, fresh juice contained 15.7-17.7% solids, including 12.04-13.84% sugar, 0.17-0.30% protein, 0.15—0.23% pectin, 0.30-0.40% ash and 0.26-0.57% total polyphenols. The concentrations of solids, protein, ash and total polyphenols in the seeds themselves, remaining after the extraction of juice from the grains of ripe fruits, were 50.0-58.2, 4.13-5.75, 0.60-1.0 and 0.08-0.32%, respectively. There were fewer total polyphenols, flavonoids, chlorogenic acids, catechins and leucoanthocyanins in ripe fruits, and more ascorbic acid, anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins than in unripe ones. The period from the second half of July to the beginning of September is the time of a real “boom” of common polyphenols.

Membrane-based beverage dealcoholization is a successful process for producing low- and non-alcoholic beer and represents a fast-growing industry. Polyamide NF and RO membranes are commonly applied for this process. Polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) NF membranes are emerging as industrially relevant species and their unique properties (usually hollow fiber geometry, high and tunable selectivity, low fouling) underlines the importance of testing them in the food industry as well. To test PEM NF membranes for beer dealcoholization, at small pilot scale we dealcoholized filtered and unfiltered lager beer with the tightest available commercial polyelectrolyte multilayer NF membrane (NX Filtration dNF40), which has a MWCO=400Da which is quite high for these purposes. Dealcoholization is possible with a reasonable flux (10 LMH) at low pressures (5-8.6 bar) with a real extract loss of 16-18% and an alcohol passage of ~100%. Inorganic salt passage is high (which is typical for PEM NF membranes), which greatly affected beer flavor. During the dealcoholization process, the membrane underwent changes which substantially increased its salt rejection values (MgSO4 passage decreased 4-fold) while permeance loss was minimal (less than 10%). According to our sensory examination, the process yielded an acceptable flavored beer which could be greatly enhanced by the addition of the lost salts and glycerol.

Globally, non-timber forest products (NTFPs) continue to contribute vastly to addressing the food, poverty reduction, income, and livelihood requirements of people in rural areas. However, as at now, there is no specific existing data highlighting periodic contributions of NTFPs to the economy of the Eastern region and the country. The study analyses the contribution of NTFPs towards economic development in the Eastern region and the achievement of SDGs in Ghana. Through Focus Group Discussions and qualitative analysis, it was concluded that NTFPs contribute immensely towards the economic development of the Eastern region and the country through employment and direct taxes. Ultimately, it is evident from the study that the destruction of the Atiwa forest reserve for the purpose of bauxite mining will widely hinder the country’s achievement of the SDGs. Also, the study found out that residents will continue to exploit forest resources if the core concerns of institutional deficiencies and rural poverty are not addressed. To curb this situation, there should be sustainable, regulated, and authorized harvesting of NTFPs/NWFPs, community/user empowerment, sectoral education and training programmes, etc. Even though these are common solutions, the study found them extremely rare in the study area.

Precise monitoring of different environmental parameters and contaminations during food processing and storage is a key factor for maintaining its safety and nutritional value. Thus, developing reliable, efficient, cost-effective sensor devices for these purposes is of utmost importance. In this paper, we show that Poly-(diallyl-dimethylammonium chloride)/reduced Graphene oxide (PDAC/rGO) films produced by a simple Layer-by-Layer deposition can be effectively used to monitor temperature, relative humidity and the presence of volatile organic compounds as indicators for spoilage odors. At the same time, they show potential for electrochemical detection of organophosphate pesticide dimethoate. By monitoring the resistance/impedance changes during temperature and relative humidity variations or upon the exposure of PDAC/rGO films to methanol, good linear responses were obtained in the temperature range of 10-100 °C, 15-95 % relative humidity, and 35 ppm - 55 ppm of methanol. Moreover, linearity in the electrochemical detection of dimethoate is shown for the concentrations in the order of 102 µmol dm−3. The analytical response to different external stimuli and analytes depends on the number of layers deposited, affecting sensors’ sensitivity, response and recovery time, and long-term stability. The presented results could serve as a starting point for developing advanced multimodal sensor devices and sensor arrays with high potential for analytical applications in food safety and quality monitoring.

Longitudinal image registration of pulmonary computed tomography (PCT) images may serve as an essential tool for investigating the relationship between radiation dose distribution and the occurrence and phenotype of radiation-induced lung disease (RILD). Although numerous longitudinal registration algorithms have been developed for PCT, most similarity-based approaches are not suitable for PCT involving RILD due to the complex tissue variation between two PCT images. Moreover, conventional feature-based approaches might fail to find a sufficient number of matched pairs of feature points due to the disparate lung deformation caused by breathing and RILD. To overcome the challenges resulting from RILD, component structure coherence point drift (CSCPD) was proposed to establish a deformation model by decomposing the chest into several components and matching them with individual parameters based on coherence point drift (CPD). Moreover, a regional vascular point matching (RVPM) algorithm was proposed to generate a vascular subtree and to substantially increase the number of corresponding pairs between two images. Eventually, the components were recomposed and aligned by a thin plate spline algorithm. A performance assessment on 15 pairs of PCT images of patients with RILD yielded recall and precision values of 0.85 and 0.89 for RVPM, respectively. Moreover, the target registration error of CSCPD with RVPM (2.3 ± 1.79) was significantly better than that of conventional CPD with RVPM (2.95 ± 1.89) and conventional CPD (5.04 ± 2.87). Therefore, the proposed registration system is robust enough to address the disparate deformation of lungs with RILD, and it improves registration accuracy within the parenchyma.

The fourth industrial revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, has led to an increased transition towards automation and reliance on data-driven innovations and strategies. Companies in the manufacturing sector are heavily integrating Industry 4.0 technologies, including cloud compu-ting, cyber-physical systems (CPS), big data analytics, horizontal and vertical system integration, the internet of things (IoT), and additive manufacturing (3d printing). The interconnected systems and processes have significantly increased operational efficiency, enhanced organizational capacity to monitor and control functions, reduced costs, and improved product quality. One significant way that companies have achieved these benefits is by integrating diverse sensor technologies within these innovations, allowing critical data collection on products, equipment performance, and maintenance. The sensors connect systems and machines, allowing them to communicate and track operations for enhanced operations. While numerous research has been conducted to show the role of sensors in industry 4.0, limited studies show how these innovations can leverage product design to maximize benefits and opportunities. Given the rapidly changing market conditions, Industry 4.0 requires new products and business models to ensure companies adjust to the current and future changes. These requirements call for the evolutions in product design processes to accommodate design features and principles applicable in the current dynamic business environment. This research paper employs a systematic bibliometric literature review (LRSB) methodology to explore and synthesize data on how Industry 4.0 and sensors can leverage product design. The results show that various product design features create opportunities to be leveraged to guarantee the success of Industry 4.0 and sensor technologies. However, the research also identifies numerous challenges that undermine the ongoing transition towards intelligent factories and products.

Here I describe an overlooked form of non-biological paralife (i.e., near-life) that has been evolving on Earth for millions of years, and is currently in the final stages of transitioning into a new form of life. Any consideration of non-biological life or paralife is complicated by the fact that there is no consensus among biologists for the definition of life. This ambiguity has caused disagreement about whether subcellular reproduction systems like viruses are a form of life, despite having genomes, mutations, heritable phenotypes and system-improving evolution. To resolve this problem, I develop a definition of life that is entirely functional and independent of any of the structural idiosyncrasies of biological life on Earth: an order-generating system controlled by internally-encoded information that perpetuates itself by functioning to counteract its entropic decay. Using this definition, subcellular transposons, plasmids, and viruses are paralife because they match the definition of life in all ways except that they induce their order-generating functioning by a living host rather through their own self-sustaining production system. Using this functional definition of life, I show that utility- products (UPs) like fabricated hand tools are part of induced-reproduction systems that have features equivalent to biological genomes, mutations, heritable phenotypes, and a process of system-improving evolution. The perceived benefit of utility-products causes them to induce their reproduction by a biological life-form (humans). For these reasons, human utility products are functionally just as close to being a form of life as subcellular transposons, plasmids, and viruses, i.e., they are Utility-Product paralife (UP-parlife). I also show that some forms of UP-paralife are currently evolving into mechanical life that is capable of both self- sustaining reproduction and system-improving evolution without outside assistance. This transition requires the development of a high level of factory and/or UP automation and artificial intelligence (AI) that is capable of complex reasoning, imagination and creativity. Finally, I consider the influence of UP-life and UP-paralife on the development of the level of structural complexity in the universe, and I briefly speculate about how these non-biological forms of life and paralife will influence the expansion of scientific knowledge about the universe.

This paper explores ballot split by type and introduces universal measures of democratic power flow and accountable local representation. These measures allow definitive comparison of electoral systems between countries, and choice of a new electoral system within a country based on existing data and with minimum assumptions.

Over the past decade, studies have demonstrated the importance of bioactive metabolites derived from the microbiota in the regulation of physiological processes essential for homeostasis and the maintenance of human health. Strategies to modulate the production of these metabolites in the gastrointestinal tract hold promise for combating dysbiosis or inflammatory bowel disease. Metabolic engineering of probiotics could be one of these solutions. In this work, we engineered Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) to overproduce spermidine, a metabolite known for its anti-immunosenescence and anti-inflammatory properties. Using a rational synthetic biology approach coupled with analysis by high resolution mass spectrometry, we designed in several steps and validated engineered probiotics overproducing and excreting spermidine. Based on our results, we first added the enzyme substrate putrescine and showed the overproduction of spermidine and decided to add a transporter limiting the production of the acetylated form of spermidine. Next, we used untargeted metabolomics to study the impact of engineering on the central metabolism of E. coli Nissle. Untargeted metabolomics appears to be a good strategy to optimize the metabolic engineering of probiotic strains and thus accelerate their development for personalized medicine.

The goods and services produced by forest vegetation ecosystem are the driving force for the rapid, high-quality and sustainable development of human society. In history, with the increase of population and economic development, there is an increasing demand for the quantity and variety of forest vegetation ecosystem products and services in a country or a region. To meet the demands, most of the original forest has become farmland, plantation and grass and crops land. As a result, the plant water relationship changed from equilibrium to non-equilibrium, which easily led to soil drought, soil degradation and vegetation decline in dry years or waste of soil water in rainy years in most of water-limited regions. In order to solve the question and realize the sustainable utilization of soil water resources and the high-quality sustainable development of forest, it is necessary to apply the limit theory of plant utilization of soil water resources and the vegetation carrying capacity theory in the critical period of plant-water relationship regulation to adjust the relationship between plant growth and soil moisture to obtain the maximum yield and benefit and realize high-quality and sustainable development.

Dilation of contractions on Hilbert space and Banach space is classical. Recently, dilations theory has been put in the setting of sets, vector spaces, p-adic Hilbert spaces and modules. In this paper, we derive important dilation results for self-adjoint morphisms on indefinite inner product modules over *-rings of characteristic 2. More precisely, we prove indefinite inner product versions of Halmos dilation, Egervary N-dilation and Sz.-Nagy dilation.

Matrix multiplication is probably one of the most basic and important operations having a wide range of applications in studying Linear algebra. We will be primarily focused on reviewing different algorithms for the multiplication of two n×n matrices. The most Naive method has a complexity of O(n3) but interestingly, algorithms with better complexity have been achieved. We will get to see how the complexity can be improved further, occasionally giving a survey.

One of the main technological and economic challenges for an engineer is designing high-quality products in manufacturing processes. Most of these processes involve a large number of variables included the setting of controllable (design) and uncontrollable (noise) variables. Robust Design (RD) method uses a collection of mathematical and statistical tools to study a large number of variables in the process with a minimum value of computational cost. Robust design method tries to make high-quality products according to customers’ viewpoints with an acceptable profit margin. This paper aims to provide a brief up-to-date review of the latest development of RD method particularly applied in manufacturing systems. The basic concepts of the quality loss function, orthogonal array, and crossed array design are explained. According to robust design approach, two classifications are presented, first for different types of factors, and second for different types of data. This classification plays an important role in determining the number of necessity replications for experiments and choose the best method for analyzing data. In addition, the combination of RD method with some other optimization methods applied in designing and optimizing of processes are discussed.

A simple undirected graph $\Gamma=(V_\Gamma,E_\Gamma)$ admits an $H$-covering if every edge in $E_\Gamma$ belongs to at least one subgraph of $\Gamma$ that isomorphic to a graph $H$. For any graph $\Gamma$ admitting $H$-covering, a total Labelling $\beta: V_\Gamma \cup E_\Gamma \longrightarrow \{1,2,\dots,p\}$ is called an $H$-irregular total $p$-labelling of $\Gamma$ if every two different subgraphs $H_1$ and $H_2$ of $\Gamma$ isomorphic to $H$ have distinct weights where the weight $w_\beta(K)$ of subgraph $K$ of $\Gamma$ is defined as $w_f(K):=\displaystyle \sum_{v\in V_K} f(v) + \sum_{e\in E_K} f(e)$. The smallest number $p$ for which a graph $\Gamma$ admits an $H$-irregular total $p$-labelling is called the total $H$-irregularity strength of $\Gamma$ and is denoted by $ths(\Gamma)$. In this paper, we determine the total $H$-irregularity strength of edge comb product of two graphs.

Natural products (NPs) are a rich source of structurally novel molecules, and the chemical space they encompass is far from being fully explored. Over history, NPs have represented a significant source of bioactive molecules and have served as a source of inspiration for developing many drugs on the market. On the other hand, computer-aided drug design (CADD) has contributed to drug discovery research, mitigating costs and time. In this sense, compound databases represent a fundamental element for the CADD. This work reviews the progress toward developing compound databases of natural origin, particularly databases developed in Latin America, and their practical applications in the drug discovery area. We also survey the computational methods, emphasizing chemoinformatic approaches to profile natural product databases.

There is a growing recognition of the need to incorporate sustainability considerations early-on in the product development (PD) process (PDP). As part of a case study at an engineering consultancy firm, this paper identifies considerations that influence the integration of sustainable design practices into real-world PD practices. This is informed by the first author getting embedded in the firm as an intern, and closely observing the PD workflow across various projects, conducting interviews and group discussions with a wide range of practitioners, and iteratively designing and testing various potential interventions. From literature and observation, we find that designers and engineers often struggle to identify and apply the right sustainable design methods and tools (SDMTs) to tackle the environmental impacts associated with their products. Through a human-centered design process, we co-created a reusable, modular framework of practices that aids the selection of relevant strategies, based on the environmental hotspots, stage of the PD process, and the client’s sustainability priorities. The paper further presents insights related to the framework’s real-world application and impacts in the firm, based on results of longitudinal engagement with the firm.

There have been relatively few researches that determine the role of bricolage in mediating the empirical relationship between strategic flexibility and product innovation. However, most of the research has studied strategic flexibility to engage the absorptive capacity and facilitate product innovation. The Bricolage approach emphasizes utilizing existing resources in product innovation and explores the mechanisms behind bricolage. A resource-based approach to product innovation involves combining resources in the development process in a concrete manner. This is a groundbreaking study since it is the first to examine empirically how absorptive capacity affects product innovation through bricolage and the serial mediation of strategic flexibility. As a consequence of presenting our results, we concluded that absorptive capacity positively and significantly influences product innovation through the serial mediation of strategic flexibility and bricolage. For strategic flexibility to play a role in supporting product innovation, bricolage is one of the mechanisms that can be utilized. This study contributes to the literature on strategic flexibility by examining the effect of strategic flexibility on bricolage and product innovation from the standpoint that absorptive capacity enhances the strategic flexibility of high-tech SMEs in China. Furthermore, this research offers new insights into the relationship between absorptive capacity and product innovation. In addition, it also provides insight into the economic opportunities that may result from product innovation in transition economies such as China.

The production of coffee leaf tea (Coffea arabica) in El Salvador and the influences of processing steps on non-volatile compounds and volatile aroma-active compounds were investigated. The tea was produced according to process steps of conventional tea (Camellia sinensis) with available possibilities on the farm. Influencing factors were the leaf type (old, young, yellow, shoots), processing (blending, cutting, rolling, freezing, steaming), drying (sun drying, oven drying, roasting) and fermentation (wild, yeast, Lactobacillus). Subsequently, the samples were analysed for the maximum levels of caffeine, chlorogenic acid, and epigallocatechin gallate permitted by the European Commission. The caffeine content varied between 0.37 g/100 g dry mass (DM) and 1.33 g/100 g DM, the chlorogenic acid between not detectable and 9.35 g /100 g DM and epigallocatechin gallate could not be detected at all. Furthermore, water content, essential oil, ash content, total polyphenols, total catechins, organic acids, and trigonelline were determined. Gas chromatography—mass spectrometry-olfactometry and calculating of the odour activity values (OAVs) were carried out to determine the main aroma-active compounds, which are β-ionone (honey-like, OAV 132-927), decanal (citrus-like, floral, OAV 14-301), α-ionone (floral, OAV 30-100), (E,Z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber-like, OAV 18-256), 2,4-nonadienal (melon-like, OAV 2-18), octanal (fruity, OAV 7-23), (E)-2 nonenal (citrus-like, OAV 1-11), hexanal (grassy, OAV 1-10), and 4-heptenal (green, OAV 1-9).

One of matrix equalities composed of multiple products of matrices and their generalized inverses is given by $A_1B_1^{-}A_2B_2^{-} \cdots A_kB_k^{-}A_{k+1}= A$ where $A_1$, $B_1$, $A_2$, $B_2$, $\ldots$, $A_k$, $B_k$, $A_{k+1}$, and $A$ are given matrices of appropriate sizes, and $B_1^{-}$, $B_2^{-}$, $\cdots$, $B_k^{-}$ are generalized inverses of matrices. The cases for $k = 1, 2$ and their special forms were properly approached in the theory of generalized inverses of matrices. In this note, the author presents an algebraic procedure to derive explicit necessary and sufficient conditions for the equality with $k = 3$ to always hold using certain rank equalities for the block matrices constructed by the given matrices, and then mention a key step of extending the previous work to a general situation.

Few studies have examined the role of mediating mechanisms played by bricolage in the relationship between strategic flexibility and new product development, even though most of the studies view strategic flexibility as a capability to cope with environmental turbulence and promote product innovation. The bricolage approach embraces the resource-based understanding of the product development process as a concrete process of recombining resources in the process and exploring the mechanisms behind the bricolage approach. This study is the first of the kind that has examined the empirical effect of environmental turbulence on new product development through serial mediation of strategic flexibility and bricolage. Based on our results, environmental turbulence positively and significantly affects new product development through the serial mediation of strategic flexibility and bricolage. Bricolage is one of the mechanisms by which strategic flexibility may play a part in supporting product innovation. Our contribution to strategic flexibility research comes from examining the effect of strategic flexibility on bricolage and new product development from the point that environmental turbulence compels the high-tech industries to remain strategically flexible for their sustainability and growth. Besides providing new evidence on the relationship between environmental turbulence and product innovation, this research also provides new insight into the economic opportunity of new product development in transition economies such as China.

Natural compounds have diverse structures and are present in different forms of life. Metabolites such as tannins, anthocyanins, and alkaloids, among others, serve as a defense mechanism in live organisms and are undoubtedly compounds of interest for the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Plants, bacteria, and insects represent a source of biomolecules with diverse activities, poorly studied in many cases. To use these molecules for different applications, it is essential to know their structure, concentrations, and biological activity potential. In vitro techniques that evaluate the biological activity of the molecules of interest have been developed since the 1950s. Currently, different methodologies have emerged to overcome some of the limitations of these traditional techniques, mainly the reduction of time and costs. However, emerging technologies continue to appear due to the urgent need to expand the analysis capacity of a growing number of reported biomolecules and the lack of therapeutic options to treat various diseases. This review presents an updated summary of the conventional and current methods to evaluate natural compounds' biological activity, including a diagram that summarizes the minimum techniques essential for correctly assessing molecules with biological potential.

The main intention of the present work was to investigate the ability of cellulose-degrading enzymes (C-DE) to release fatty acids (FAs) from complex matrices of cereal by-products during enzymatic hydrolysis (EH). For this purpose, three types of cereal bran (CB), i.e., wheat, rye, and oat were used as a lignocellulose substrate for three commercially available hydrolytic enzymes, i.e., Viscozyme L, Viscoferm, and Celluclast 1.5 L. The yield and composition of FAs after EH was assessed and confronted with the yield obtained after either conventional Soxhlet extraction or alkaline-assisted hydrolysis (A-AH) with 10% KOH in 80% MeOH and subsequent liquid-liquid extraction. The experimental results demonstrated that up to 6.3% and 43.7% higher total FAs yield can be achieved within EH of rye bran using Celluclast 1.5 L than by A-AH and Soxhlet extraction, respectively. However, the application of Viscoferm for EH of wheat bran ensured up to 7.7% and 13.4% higher total FAs yield than A-AH and Soxhlet extraction, respectively. The concentration of essential linolenic acid (C18:3) in lipids extracted after EH of rye bran with Celluclast 1.5 L was up to 24.4% and 57.0% higher than in lipids recovered by A-AH and Soxhlet extraction, respectively. In turn, the highest content of linolenic in wheat bran lipids was observed after EH with Viscoferm and Viscozyme L, ensuring 17.0 and 13.6% higher yield than after A-AH, respectively. SEM analysis confirmed substantial degradation of CB matrix promoted by the ability of C-DE to act specifically on 1,4-β-D-glycosidic bonds in cellulose and on 1,2-α-,1,3-α-, and 1,5-α-L- arabinofuranoside and 1,4-β-D-xylosidic bonds in arabinoxylans, arabinans, and other arabinose-containing hemicelluloses. Structural alteration in cells integrity greatly contributed to the release of bound FAs and their better transfer into the extraction solvent. It has been shown that the proposed process of EH can be used for the efficient release of FAs from the CB matrix more sustainably and with a safer profile, thereby representing the further sustainable production of FAs for certain purposes.

The article continues the author's publications about the matrix-tensor study of universal rules of stochastic (probabilistic) organization of long single-stranded DNA sequences in eukaryotic and prokaryotic genomes. The author reveals that corresponding matrices of probabilities of n-plets in n-textual representations of each genomic DNA are numerically interrelated each with other in such algebraic form, which has analogies with formalisms of the known tensor-matrix theory of digital antenna arrays. These arrays combine many separate antennas into a single coordinated ensemble with unique emergent properties, due to which antenna arrays are widely used in devices of medicine, astrophysics, avionics, etc. The noted analogies allow putting forward the author's hypothesis that the stochastic organization of genomic DNAs is connected with bio-antenna arrays. From the point of view of this hypothesis, many known facts about using principles of antenna arrays in inherited physiological phenomena are collected in a single grouping with genomic DNAs. This new topic about the biological meaning of profitable properties of antenna arrays includes problems of biological evolution, the origin of the genetic code, regenerative medicine, and the development of algebraic biology. These issues are discussed jointly with the author's results of quantum information analysis of stochastic features of genomic DNAs.

Coffee pulp, obtained from wet coffee processing, is the major by-product accumulating in the coffee producing countries. One of the many approaches valorising this underestimated agricultural residue is the production of distillates. This research project deals with the production of spirits from coffee pulp using three different Coffea arabica varieties as a substrate. Coffee pulp was fermented for 72 hours with a selected yeast strain (Saccharomyces cerevisiae L.), acid, pectin lyase, and water. Several parameters, such as temperature, pH, sugar concentration and alcoholic strength were measured to monitor the fermentation process. Subsequently, the alcoholic mashes were double distilled with stainless steel pot stills and a sensory evaluation of the products was conducted. Furthermore, the chemical composition of fermented mashes and produced distillates were evaluated. It showed that elevated methanol concentrations were present in mashes and products of all three varieties. The sensory evaluation found the major aroma descriptor for the coffee pulp spirits as being stone fruit. The fermentation and distillation experiments revealed that coffee pulp can be successfully used as a raw material for the production of fruit spirits. However, the spirit quality and its flavour characteristics can be improved with optimised process parameters and distillation equipment.

Durability monitoring of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) containing a pyrethroid in combination with a second active ingredient (AI) must be adapted so that the insecticidal bioefficacy of each AI can be monitored independently. An effective way to do this is to measure rapid knock down of a pyrethroid-susceptible strain of mosquitoes to assess the bioefficacy of the pyrethroid component and to use a pyrethroid-resistant strain to measure the bioefficacy of the second ingredient. To allow robust comparison of results across tests within and between test facilities, and over time, protocols for bioefficacy testing must include either characterisation of the resistant strain, standardisation of the mosquitoes used for bioassays, or a combination of the two. Through a series of virtual meetings, key stakeholders and practitioners explored different approaches to achieving these goals. Via an iterative process we decided on the preferred approach and produced a protocol consisting of characterising mosquitoes used for bioefficacy testing before and after a round of bioassays, for example at each time point in a durability monitoring study. We present the final protocol and justify our approach to establishing a standard methodology for durability monitoring of ITNs containing pyrethroid and a second AI.

The human ankle is a complex joint, most commonly represented as talocrural and subtalar axes. It is difficult to locate and take in vivo measurements of the ankle joint. There are no instruments for patients lying on a bed or the floor; that can be used in outdoor or remote sites. We have developed a "Turmell-meter" to address these issues. We started with the study of ankle anatomy and anthropometry, then we used the product of exponentials’ formula to visualize the movements. Furthermore, we built a prototype using human proportions and statistics. For pose estimation, we used a trilateration method by applying tetrahedral geometry. Additionally, we computed the axis direction by fitting 3D circles, plotting the manifold and chart as an ankle joint model. We presented the results of simulations, a prototype comprising 45 parts, specifically designed draw-wire sensors, and electronics. Finally, we tested the device by capturing positions and fitting them into the bi-axial ankle model as a Riemannian manifold. The Turmell-meter is intended to be a hardware platform for human ankle joint axis estimation, it is adjustable and has an easy setup. The proposed model has the properties of a chart in a geometric manifold, we provided the details

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) breeding programs can take over a decade to release a new variety. However, new methods of selection such as genomic selection (GS) must be integrated to decrease the time it takes to release new varieties to meet the demand of a growing population. The implementation of GS into breeding programs is still being explored, with many studies showing its potential to change wheat breeding through achieving higher genetic gain. In this review, we explore the integration of GS for a wheat breeding program by redesigning the traditional breeding pipeline to implement GS. We propose implementing a two-part breeding strategy by differentiating between population improvement and product development. The implementation of GS in the product development pipeline can be integrated into most stages and can predict within and across breeding cycles. Additionally, we explore optimizing the population improvement strategy through GS recurrent selection schemes to reduce crossing cycle time and significantly increase genetic gain. The recurrent selection schemes can be optimized for parental selection, maintenance of genetic variation, and optimal cross-prediction. Overall, we outline the ability to increase the genetic gain of a breeding program by implementing GS and a two-part breeding strategy.

Fluorine represents a privileged building block in pharmaceutical chemistry. Diethylaminosulfur-trifluoride (DAST) is a reagent commonly used for replacement of alcoholic hydroxyl groups with fluorine and is also known to catalyze water elimination and cyclic Beckmann-rearrangement type reactions. In this work we aimed to use DAST for diversity-oriented semisynthetic transformation of natural products bearing multiple hydroxyl groups to prepare new bioactive compounds. Four ecdysteroids, including a new constituent of Cyanotis arachnoidea, were selected as starting materials for DAST-catalyzed transformations. The newly prepared compounds represented combinations of various structural changes DAST was known to catalyze, and a unique cyclopropane ring closure that was found for the first time. Several compounds demonstrated in vitro antitumor properties. A new 17-N-acetylecdysteroid (13) exerted potent antiproliferative activity and no cytotoxicity on drug susceptible and multi-drug resistant mouse T-cell lymphoma cells. Further, compound 13 acted in significant synergism with doxorubicin without detectable direct ABCB1 inhibition. Our results demonstrate that DAST is a versatile tool for diversity-oriented synthesis to expand chemical space towards new bioactive compounds.

The design of multifunctional microcarriers has attracted significant attention because they combine various functions within a single system. In this study, we developed a set of multi-layered hydrogel microcarriers, which were first loaded with chemotherapeutic curcumin (CUR), then using the layer-by-layer (LbL) technique, coated through a polyelectrolyte shell consisting of chitosan (CHIT) or poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH). As an outer layer with antimicrobial function, newly synthesised alkylene quaternary ammonium salt functionalised polyelectrolytes (A-QAS-PEs) were applied. For this purpose, poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) was decorated with dif-ferent hydrophobic side chains (n-hexane and n-dodecane side entities) and different degrees of substitution (m) of quaternary ammonium groups (abbreviated as PAA-C(O)O-(CH2)n-N+(CH3)3(m); n=6,12; m=8-14%). The grafting approach of PAA with the al-kylene quaternary ammonium salt moiety was performed under mild reaction conditions using Steglich esterification followed by quaternisation. The structure of antimicrobial decorated PAA was confirmed by 1H NMR and FTIR, and the mean diameter of all multifunctional microparticles was characterised by SEM. The viscoelastic properties of the functional layers were studied using QCM-D. The release of CUR from the microcarriers was described using a hybrid model, i.e., a combination of first-order kinetics and the Korsmeyer-Peppas model. The antimicrobial activity of functionalised PAA and multilayered CUR-loaded hydrogel microcarriers with quaternary am-monium function was assessed against Staphylococcus aureus and Serratia marcescens by the agar diffusion assay method. Only a limited inhibition zone of PAA was observed, but in the case of both antimicrobial decorated PAA and the corresponding multilayered nanocarriers, the inhibi-tory activity increase was achieved against both strains of bacteria.

Argulus is an ectoparasite that frequently infects goldfish, with severe effects and a high death rate. The use of plant extracts has been widely reported to have antiparasitic activities, including one of the solasodine compounds in sour eggplant extracts. This research evaluated the antiparasitic activities of Compositions A (Solanum ferox and Zingiber zerumbet extract at 400 and 200 ppm, respectively), B (SFE and Boesenbergia pandurata at 900 ppm), and C (single Solanum ferox at 400 ppm). The research stages comprised 1) isolation and analysis of solasodine content in sour eggplant extracts and its extract composition, 2) in vitro antiparasitic activities on Argulus sp. at doses of 50 and 100 ppm with a testing time of 60–240 minutes, and 3) in vivo antiparasitic activities on Argulus sp. on goldfish at a dose of 100 ppm and observation for 2–12 hours of medication. The results showed that sour eggplant extracts had a solasodine concentration of 7.151 mg/L, whereas the derivative compositions A, B, and C were 656, 485, and 295 ppm, respectively. The in vitro testing demonstrated that composition A was effective for killing approximately 80–100% of Argulus, whereas compositions B and C killed 80–90% and 60–70%, respectively. Viewed from the effectiveness for killing parasites, the result was excellent (above 50%). The in vivo medication test was continued using three extract compositions at a dose of 100 ppm. Compositions A, B, and C were found to be capable of releasing 81.33, 75.67, and 71.00 arguli, respectively, per fish. We concluded that the single SFE extract and a concoction with BPE and ZZE had reasonable antiparasitic activity, whereas the concoction of SFE and ZZE killed more Argulus parasites at a higher rate.

This study introduces and demonstrates a comprehensive, accurate, unbiased approach to robust quantitative comparison of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) appropriate for establishing substantial equivalence (or lack thereof) between tobacco products. The approach is demonstrated across a family of thirteen pen- and pod-style ENDS products. Methods employed consist of formulating a robust emissions surface regression model, quantifying the empirical accuracy of the model as applied to each product, evaluating relationships between product design characteristics and maximum emissions characteristics, and presenting results in formats useful to researchers, regulators, and consumers. Results provide a response surface to characterize emissions (total particulate matter and constituents thereof) from each ENDS appropriate for use in a computer model and for conducting quantitative exposure comparisons between products. Results demonstrate that emissions vary as a function of puff duration, flow rate, E-Liquid composition, and device operating power. Further, results indicate that regulating design characteristics of ENDS devices and consumables may not achieve desired public health outcomes; it is more effective to regulate maximum permissible emissions directly. Three emissions outcome measures (yield per puff, mass concentration and constituent mass ratio) are recommended for adoption as standard quantities for reporting by manufacturers and research laboratories. The approach provides a means of (a) quantifying and comparing maximal emissions from ENDS products spanning their entire operating envelope, (b) comparative evaluation of ENDS devices and consumable design characteristics, and (c) establishing comparative equivalence of maximal emissions from ENDS. A consumer-oriented product emissions dashboard is proposed for comparative evaluation of ENDS exposure potential. Maximum achievable power dissipated in the coil of ENDS is identified as a potentially effective regulatory parameter.

Water is essential for all living things however its pain has become serious. Many industrial activities cause its pollution by the release of polluting byproduct. Waste water treatment is hence necessary. In this context, the waste water of the textile industry containing Red Acid 52 was treated by the solid waste of the washed natural phosphate byproduct. Natural phosphate was also studied. The solid materials were first characterized by chemical analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The phosphate materials were after that, tested in the adsorption of the Red Acid 52. The experimental data indicated that the phosphate waste rock allowed the removal of Red Acid 52. Its maximum retention capacity attained 18.4 mg.g-1. Calcinations of materials inhibits the removal capacity found reduced by 60 to 70%. The adsorption kinetics of the Red Acid 52 on the material is well described by the pseudo second order model while the adsorption isotherms are identified by the Langmuir model. Hereafter, the thermodynamic study revealed that the adsorption process is spontaneous and exothermic. Keywords: Waste water, Phosphate co-product, Adsorption, Red Acid 52.

Applying a procedure similar to that of E.S. Bring, by using a 4^th degree Tschirnhaus transformation, it was possible to transform the Bring-Jerrard normal quintic (BJQ) equation into a De Moivre form (DMQ), so that it could be solved by radicals. The general solution by radicals of the De Moivre equations of any degree is presented. By the same procedure the BJSx (normal sextic) equation was taken to another one without the 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th terms which was transformed into a cubic (solvable) equation. By applying a 6^th degree Tschirnhaus transformation to the BJSp (normal septic) equation its binormal (without the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th terms) form was obtained.

Applying a procedure similar to that of E.S. Bring, by using a 4^th degree Tschirnhaus transformation, it was possible to transform the Bring-Jerrard normal quintic (BJQ) equation into a De Moivre form (DMQ), so that it could be solved by radicals. The general solution by radicals of the De Moivre equations of any degree is presented. By the same procedure the BJSx (normal sextic) equation was taken to another one without the 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th terms which was transformed into a cubic (solvable) equation. By applying a 6^th degree Tschirnhaus transformation to the BJSp (normal septic) equation its binormal (without the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th terms) form was obtained.

Ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) are a structurally diverse group of natural products. They feature a wide range of intriguing posttranslational modifications as exemplified by the biarylitides. These are a family of cyclic tripeptides found in Planomonospora, carrying a biaryl-linkage between two aromatic amino acids. Recent genomic analyses revealed the minimal biosynthetic prerequisite of biarylitide biosynthesis consisting of only one ribosomally synthesized pentapeptide precursor as substrate and a modifying cytochrome P450 dependent enzyme. In silico analyses revealed that the minimal biarylitide RiPP clusters are widespread among natural product producers across phylogenetic borders including myxobacteria. We report here the genome-guided discovery of the first myxobacterial biarylitide MeYLH termed Myxarylin from Pyxidicoccus fallax An d48. Myxarylin was found to be an N-methylated tripeptide surprisingly exhibiting a C–N biaryl crosslink. In contrast to Myxarylin, previously isolated biarylitides are N-acetylated tripeptides featuring a C–C biaryl crosslink. Furthermore, the formation of Myxarylin was confirmed by heterologous expression of the identified biosynthetic genes in Myxococcus xanthus DK1622. These findings expand the structural and biosynthetic scope of biarylitide type RiPPs and emphasize the distinct biochemistry found in the myxobacterial realm.