Effects of ohmic heating on technological properties of whole egg

The aim of this work was to study the effects of different ohmic heating conditions on color, rheology, foaming, and gelling properties of whole egg. Industrial products treated by conventional heat pasteurization and the corresponding raw materials were also evaluated. Ohmic treatments accomplished in a static cell (65.5 \ub0C 73 min, 70 \ub0C 71 min, and 67 \ub0C 74.5 min) increased whole egg apparent viscosity (up to 190%), but also foam overrun (up to 28%) and gel hardness (up to 15%). The performance improvement was confirmed by treatments carried out in a continuous pilot plant (71 \ub0C 70.6 min, 68 \ub0C 71.4 min) and the products resulted stable during storage at 4 \ub0C for 30 days. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that ohmic heating is a suitable alternative to conventional pasteurization. Low temperature treatments are preferable to avoid possible rheological issues due to protein denaturation. Industrial relevance: Whole egg is a protein ingredient with multiple technological properties, used in many foods. Due to safety reasons, food manufacturers often use pasteurized liquid egg products, microbiologically safer and easier to handle with respect to shell eggs. In order to satisfy the required sanitary levels for liquid egg products, thermal pasteurization treatments are needed. However, since egg proteins are very sensitive to high temperatures, attention must be paid to avoid coagulation entailing deleterious effects against egg quality. In this study, different ohmic heating treatments were evaluated as milder alternatives to conventional pasteurization. The lab- and pilot-scale experiments and the subsequent statistical analyses of the obtained results contributed to assess the effects of the different ohmic treatments on technological features (e.g. color, rheology, foaming, and gelling properties) of liquid whole egg. This study demonstrated that ohmic heating is a suitable technology for whole egg treatment, paving the way for new opportunities in order to produce safe food ingredients with improved technological functionalities

Deciphering the Interplay between Binders and Electrolytes on the Performance of Li4Ti5O12 Electrodes for Li-Ion Batteries

Lithium titanium oxide (Li4Ti5O12, LTO) is an attractive negative electrode for the development of safe-next-generation-lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). LTO can find specific applications complementary to existing alternatives for LIBs thanks to its good rate capability at high C-rates, fast lithium intercalation, and high cycling stability. Furthermore, LIBs featuring LTO electrodes are inherently safer owing to the LTO's operating potential of 1.55 V vs. Li+/Li where the commonly used organic-based electrolytes are thermodynamically stable. Herein, we report the combined use of water-soluble sodium alginate (SA) binder and lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI)-tetraglyme (1m-T) electrolyte and we demonstrate the improvement of the electrochemical performance of LTO-based electrodes with respect to those operating in conventional electrolyte 1M LiPF6-ethylene carbonate: dimethyl carbonate (LP30). We also tackle the analysis of the impact of combining the binder/electrolyte on the long-term cycling performance of LTO electrodes featuring SA or conventional polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF) as binders. Therefore, to assess the impact of the combination of binder/electrolyte on performance, we performed post-mortem characterization by ex situ synchrotron diffraction experiments of LTO electrodes after cycling in LP30 and 1m-T electrolytes

Singlet oxygen from cation driven superoxide disproportionation and consequences for aprotic metal-O2 batteries

Aprotic alkali metal-oxygen batteries require reversible formation of metal superoxide or peroxide on cycling. Severe parasitic reactions cause poor rechargeability, efficiency, and cycle life and have been shown to be caused by singlet oxygen (1O2) that forms at all stages of cycling. However, its formation mechanism remains unclear. We show that disproportionation of superoxide, the product or intermediate on discharge and charge, to peroxide and oxygen is responsible for 1O2 formation. While the overall reaction is driven by the stability of peroxide and thus favored by stronger Lewis acidic cations such as Li+, the 1O2 fraction is enhanced by weak Lewis acids such as organic cations. Concurrently, the metal peroxide yield drops with increasing 1O2. The results explain a major parasitic pathway during cell cycling and the growing severity in K-, Na-, and Li-O2 cells based on the growing propensity for disproportionation. High capacities and rates with peroxides are now realized to require solution processes, which form peroxide or release O2via disproportionation. The results therefore establish the central dilemma that disproportionation is required for high capacity but also responsible for irreversible reactions. Highly reversible cell operation requires hence finding reaction routes that avoid disproportionation

High fidelity numerical fracture mechanics assisted by RBF mesh morphing

The study and design of cyclically loaded structures cannot neglect the evaluation of their fatigue behavior. Today numerical prediction tools allow adopting, in various industrial fields, refined and consolidated procedures for the assessment of cracked parts through analyses based on fracture mechanics. An high level of detail can be obtained through the use of well consolidated FEM methods, allowing an accurate and reliable calculation of the flaw Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) and its resulting prediction in terms of crack propagation. A challenging step for this computational workflow remains, however, the generation and update of the computational grid during crack evolution. It is in this context that radial basis functions (RBF) mesh morphing is emerging as a viable solution to replace the complex and time-consuming remeshing operation. The flaw front is updated, according to its propagation, by automatically deforming the numerical grid obtaining an evolutionary workflow suitable to be used for industrially-sized numerical meshes (many millions of nodes). A review of applications, obtained by exploiting FEA (Ansys Mechanical) and mesh morphing (RBF Morph) state of-the-art tools, is presented in this work. At first the proposed workflow is applied on a circular notched bar with a defect controlled by a two-parameters evolution. The same approach is then refined and demonstrated for a Multi Degree of Freedom (MDoF) case on the same geometry and on the vacuum vessel port stub from the fusion nuclear reactor Iter

An electrochemical compatibility investigation of RTIL-based electrolytes with Si-based anodes for advanced Li-ion batteries

Silicon is amongst the most attractive anode materials for Li-ion batteries because of its high gravimetric and volumetric capacity; importantly, it is also abundant and cheap, thus sustainable. For a widespread practical deployment of Si-based electrodes, research efforts must focus on significant breakthroughs to addressing the major challenges related to their poor cycling stability. In this work, we focus on the electrolyte-electrode relationships to support the scientific community with a systematic overview of Si-based cell design strategies reporting a thorough electrochemical study of different room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL)-based electrolytes, which contain either lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) or lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI). Their galvanostatic cycling performance with mixed silicon/graphite/few-layer graphene electrodes are evaluated, with first cycle coulombic efficiency approaching 90% and areal capacity ≈2 mAh/cm2 in the limited cut-off range of 0.1–2 V vs. Li+/Li0. The investigation evidences the superior characteristics of the FSI-based RTILs with respect to the TFSI-based one, which is mostly associated with the superior SEI forming ability of FSI-based systems, even without the use of specific additives. In particular, the LiFSI-EMIFSI electrolyte composition shows the best performance in both Li-half cells and Li-ion cells in which the Si-based electrodes are coupled with 4V-class composite NMC-based cathodes

Immune activation, immune senescence and levels of Epstein Barr Virus in kidney transplant patients: Impact of mTOR inhibitors

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) represent a severe complication in transplanted patients and Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is the main driver. Besides immunodepression, immune activation/chronic inflammation play an important role in both virus reactivation and expansion of EBV-positive B cells. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of immunosuppressive strategies on factors involved in the PTLD's pathogenesis. 124 kidney transplanted patients were enrolled in this study: 71 were treated with mycophenolic acid (MPA) and 53 treated with mTOR inhibitor (mTORi), both in combination with different doses of calcineurin inhibitor. At the time of the transplant (T0), profile of inflammation/immune activation and immune senescence didn't differ between the two groups, but after one year of treatment (T1) markers were significantly higher in MPA-treated patients; their immunosenescence process was supported by the greater erosion of telomeres despite their younger age. Percentages of activated B cells and levels of EBV-DNA significantly increased in MPA-treated patients, and at T1 were significantly higher in MPA- than in mTORi-treated patients. Overall, these findings indicate that mTOR inhibitors constrain the inflammation/immune activation and senescence status, thus reducing the expansion of EBV-infected B cells and the risk of virus-associated PTLD in kidney transplant recipients. \ua9 2019 The Author

EVALUATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF PIG HAM POST – SLAUGHTERING REFRIGERATION ON HYGIENIC PARAMETERS SET IN REGULATION EC 2073/2005

In order to evaluate the influence of refrigeration on hygienic parameters, issued by EC Regulation n. 2073:2005 (amended by EC Regulation n. 1441:2007) for swine carcasses, 15 pig hams were tested for microbiological analysis, i.e. enumeration of microorganisms at 30°C and enumeration of enterobacteriacee. Ham swabbing was carried out at the end of slaughtering and after 24 hours of storing in refrigeration cells. The temperature-monitoring recorders were put in the hams at the end of cutting operations of carcasses, when the hams were placed in the refrigeration cells. The drop in the inner temperature of hams was monitored during the 24-hour storing time. In most cases, hams with an increase of background flora after 24 hours, had lower temperature at the beginning of refrigeration and the inner temperature need a shorter time to drop below 20°C, 10°C and 4°C, rather than hams associated with bacterial reduction. Therefore there was no correlation between dropping of temperature and bacterial load of hams, because the hygienic conditions of cutting operations prior to refrigeration have a greater influence on hygienic parameters than refrigeration alone

Towards Smart Cities for Tourism: the POLIS-EYE Project

Novel and widespread ICT and Internet of Things (IoT) technology can provide fine-grained real-time information to the tourist sector, both to support the demand side (tourists) and the supply side (managers and organizers). We present the POLIS-EYE project that aims to build decision-support systems helping tourist-managers to organize and optimize policies and resources. In particular, we focus on a service to monitor and forecast people presence in tourist areas by combining heterogeneous datasets with a special focus on data collected from the mobile phone network