Physicochemical and Sensory Properties Colored Whey Protein-Cellulose Nanocrystal Edible Films after Freeze-Thaw Treatment

Balancing physicochemical properties and sensory properties is one of the key points in expanding edible packaging applications. The work consisted of two parts, one was to investigate the effects of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) on the packaging-related properties of whey protein isolate films with natural colorants (curcumin, phycocyanin, and lycopene) under freeze-thaw (FT) conditions; the other was to test oral tactility and visual sensory properties of the edible films and their overall acceptability in packed ice cream. FT treatment reduced the mechanical strength and moisture content and increased the water vapor permeability of the films, as water-phase transformation not only disrupted hydrogen bonds but also the film network structure through physical stress. The oral tactility produced by CNC and the visual effect produced by colorants could affect participants’ preference for edible films. This study provides a good reference for the consumer-driven product development of packaged low-temperature products

Biosynthesis of ansamitocin P-3 incurs stress on the producing strain Actinosynnema pretiosum at multiple targets

Abstract Microbial bioactive natural products mediate ecologically beneficial functions to the producing strains, and have been widely used in clinic and agriculture with clearly defined targets and underlying mechanisms. However, the physiological effects of their biosynthesis on the producing strains remain largely unknown. The antitumor ansamitocin P-3 (AP-3), produced by Actinosynnema pretiosum ATCC 31280, was found to repress the growth of the producing strain at high concentration and target the FtsZ protein involved in cell division. Previous work suggested the presence of additional cryptic targets of AP-3 in ATCC 31280. Herein we use chemoproteomic approach with an AP-3-derived photoaffinity probe to profile the proteome-wide interactions of AP-3. AP-3 exhibits specific bindings to the seemingly unrelated deoxythymidine diphosphate glucose-4,6-dehydratase, aldehyde dehydrogenase, and flavin-dependent thymidylate synthase, which are involved in cell wall assembly, central carbon metabolism and nucleotide biosynthesis, respectively. AP-3 functions as a non-competitive inhibitor of all three above target proteins, generating physiological stress on the producing strain through interfering diverse metabolic pathways. Overexpression of these target proteins increases strain biomass and markedly boosts AP-3 titers. This finding demonstrates that identification and engineering of cryptic targets of bioactive natural products can lead to in-depth understanding of microbial physiology and improved product titers

Tool Wear Prediction Based on Residual Connection and Temporal Networks

Since tool wear accumulates in the cutting process, the condition of the cutting tool shows a degradation trend, which ultimately affects the surface quality. Tool wear monitoring and prediction are of significant importance in intelligent manufacturing. The cutting signal shows short-term randomness due to non-uniform materials in the workpiece, making it difficult to accurately monitor tool condition by relying on instantaneous signals. To reduce the impact of transient fluctuations, this paper proposes a novel network based on deep learning to monitor and predict tool wear. Firstly, a CNN model based on residual connection was designed to extract deep features from multi-sensor signals. After that, a temporal model based on an encoder and decoder was built for short-term monitoring and long-term prediction. It captured the instantaneous features and long-term trend features by mining the temporal dependence of the signals. In addition, an encoder and decoder-based temporal model is proposed for smoothing correction to improve the estimation accuracy of the temporal model. To validate the performance of the proposed model, the PHM dataset was used for wear monitoring and prediction and compared with other deep learning models. In addition, CFRP milling experiments were conducted to verify the stability and generalization of the model under different machining conditions. The experimental results show that the model outperformed other deep learning models in terms of MAE, MAPE, and RMSE

Comparison of Self-Report Questionnaire and Eye Tracking Method in the Visual Preference Study of a Youth–Beverage Model

This study compares the characteristics of a self-report questionnaire (SRQ) and eye tracking (ET) based on a simple human–beverage visual cognition model. The young participants were mainly defined by their gender and body mass index (BMI). The beverage samples consisted of milk, coffee, cup, and coaster. SRQs allow the participants to clearly express their overall cognition of the samples in the form of vocabulary, while ET captures their hidden thinking process. The analysis, using a random forest (RF) classifier, found that participant parameters (gender and BMI) played a more important role for SRQ, while ET was related to beverage parameters (color and shape). This work reiterates that these two methods have their advantages and complement each other in food sensory analysis

Characterizing the Quaternary expression of active faulting along the Olinghouse, Carson, and Wabuska lineaments of the Walker Lane

The northern Walker Lane (southwestern USA) accommodates similar to 5-7 mm/yr of right-lateral Pacific-North America relative plate motion. The northwest trend of major right-lateral faults in the Walker Lane is interrupted by the presence of northeast-striking left-lateral faults within the Carson and Excelsior domains. Previous studies in the Carson domain have suggested that left-lateral slip on the northeast-striking Olinghouse, Carson, and Wabuska lineaments accommodates Walker Lane transtensional dextral shear through the clockwise rotation of intervening crustal blocks. Our observations confirm and document the presence of late Pleistocene-Holocene faulting along each of these lineaments. Fault scarps along the Carson and Wabuska lineaments are discontinuous and sparse, and show evidence for left-lateral faulting, locally including linear fault traces, alternating scarp face directions, and lateral offsets of small gullies and ridges. The trends of scarps that define these lineaments link at their western ends with north-trending active normal faults. In this manner, it appears that the 5-7 mm/yr of right slip taking place across the northern Walker Lane is being accommodated by the combined processes of basin opening in the west and block rotation to the east. This mode of slip transfer differs from the Excelsior domain, where active left-slip faults and clockwise rotation of crustal blocks are confined to, and the result of, a distinct right step between right-lateral faults of the southern Walker Lane and central Walker Lane, respectively. The observation of these apparently diverse modes of development of left-slip faults and vertical axis rotations provides an example of the complexity that may be expected in the structural development of continental shear zones that have been characterized by transtension

Quality, Thermo-Rheology, and Microstructure Characteristics of Cubic Fat Substituted Pork Patties with Composite Emulsion Gel Composed of Konjac Glucomannan and Soy Protein Isolate

Composite emulsion gel can effectively mimic animal adipose tissue. In this study, composite emulsion gels composed of soy protein isolates and konjac glucomannan (KGM) were prepared as plant-based cubic fat substitutes (CFS). The effects of CFS on the quality and structure of pork patties were investigated in terms of the proximate composition, lipid oxidation stability, technological characteristics, color, sensory attributes, texture, thermo-rheological behavior, and microstructure. CFS samples composed of various ratios of KGM were added to lean meat patties to ascertain the optimal CFS composition for its potential replacement of pork back fat in patties. The addition of CFS containing 7.0% KGM was found to decrease the hardness of the lean meat patties by 71.98% while simultaneously improving their sensory quality. The replacement of pork back fat with CFS also reduced the fat content of the patties to as little as 3.65%. Furthermore, the addition of CFS enhanced the technological characteristics, lipid oxidation stability, and surface color of the fat-replaced patties, with no significant impact on their overall acceptability. The gel network of the patties was shown to be fine and remained compact as the fat replacement ratio increased to 75%, while the texture parameters, storage modulus, and fractal dimension all increased. Quality and structure improvements may allow the composite emulsion gels to replace fat in pork patties to support a healthy diet. This study may be beneficial for the application and development of plant-based cubic fat substitutes

Rational design of materials interface at nanoscale towards intelligent oil–water separation

Oil-water separation is critically important for the water treatment of oily wastewater or oil-spill accidents. The oil contamination in water not only induces severe water pollution but also threatens human beings’ health and all living species in the ecological system. To address this challenge, different nanoscale fabrication methods have been applied in endowing biomimetic porous materials, which provides a promising solution for oily-water remediation. In this review, we present the state-of-the-art developments on the rational material interface design on special wettability for the intelligent separation immiscible/emulsified oil-water mixture. Mechanism understanding towards oil-water separation is firstly described, following with the summary of separation solutions for traditional oil-water mixture and special oil-water emulsion enabled by the self-amplified wettability due to nanostructures. Guided by the basic theory, rational interface design at nanoscale on various porous materials with special wettability towards superhydrophobicity-superoleophilicity, superhydrophilicity-superoleophobicity, and superhydrophilicity-underwater superoleophobicity is discussed in details. Although the above nanoscale fabrication strategies are able to address most of current challenges, intelligent superwetting materials developed to meet special oil-water separation demands and to further promote the separation efficiency are also reviewed for various special application demands. Finally, challenges and the future perspectives on the development of more efficient oil-water separation materials and devices by nanoscale control are provided. It is expected that the biomimetic porous materials with nanoscale interface engineering will overcome the current challenges of oil-water emulsion separation, realizing in practical applications in the near future with continuous efforts in this field.Accepted versio