The Production and Characteristics Test of Synthetic Rice Made of Maize Flour

Synthetic rice made of maize flour has a great opportunity to be developed as a staple food. Peopleused to consume synthetic rice, but only limited studies reported about the preferred characteristic of synthetic rice. The purpose of this study is 1) to produce and examine the characteristic of synthetic rice including moisture content, particle size, storage time and steam duration, and 2) toobtaine the preferred sensory level of synthetic rice based on aroma, texture, flavor and color.The procedure was startedbymakingthe maize flourto produce synthetic rice using a granulator machine. The granules was then steamed and dried under the sun light. Seventype of synthetic rice was used in this research, namely pure maize rice (100% maize flour), three mixed synthetic rice of maize flour and wheat flour, and three mixed synthetic riceofmaize flour and tapioca flour withthree different ratio 95:5, 85:75, and 75:25.). The results showed that the water content of synthetic rice was measured between 10.37 to 13.79%. While the steaming timewas reached around 46 to 68 minutes. The rice wasable to be stored about 24-26 hour. The organoleptic testsshowed that the most favorite synthetic rice was a mixture maize rice of 95% maize flour and 5% of tapioca flour for all level preference of the sensory test

Three Papers on Measuring Teaching Practice

This dissertation comprises three papers that collectively address the methodological issues in using classroom observation protocols (OPs) to measure science teachers’ instructional practices. The first paper, a systematic literature review, proposes an analytical framework that address the research objectives, design, data collection strategies, and data analysis and interpretation for the studies using OPs. I used this framework to evaluate existing OPs used in science education. The results underscore the need for transparent procedures in rater training, sampling choices, and advanced statistical techniques to enhance measurement reliability and validity. The second paper introduces a comprehensive observational system based on the Rasch model, showcasing its application in 321 high school chemistry classroom observation videos. This observation system shifts focus from solely developing new OPs to a holistic approach that includes instrument validation, rater training, and advanced data analytics. The psychometric evidence supported the system’s capacity to produce highly reliable and valid measures of instructional practices. The third paper employs a Partial Credit Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (PC-MFRM) to examine three rater effects—severity, central tendency, and halo effect. These effects can introduce construct-irrelevant variance, thereby affecting the reliability and validity of the results. The study suggests that PC-MFRM was able to indicate the three rater effects. In addition, the diagnostic statistics may be used to guide rater training and calibration to improve the measurement of instructional practices with OPs

Regulação internacional do acesso aos recursos genéticos que integram a biodiversidade

Superhydrophobicity is highly desirable for numerous applications. Here, we report that a semierect but nonaligned boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) film showed superhydrophobicity with contact angle above 170° and a small contact angle hysteresis. This superhydrophobicity was stable over a large range of drop sizes, and the measured critical transition pressure was about 10 kPa. However, the prostrate BNNT films only showed hydrophobicity. The drop retraction behavior during evaporation, the pressure effect on contact angle, the critical transition pressure, the drop impact behavior, and the self-cleaning efficiency between these two kinds of films were systematically investigated and compared

A blocked staggered-level design for an experiment with two hard-to-change factors

Staggered-level designs have been introduced in the literature as cost-efficient and statistically efficient alternatives to split-plot and split-split-plot designs for experiments with multiple hard-to-change factors. In this article, we present an application of a staggered-level design to a staple fiber cutting process at Eastman. The experiment was run in blocks and involved one quantitative hard-to-change factor, one two-level categorical hard-to-change factor, and three quantitative easy-to-change factors. We review existing work on staggered-level designs, discuss D-, A- and I-optimal staggered-level designs and blocked staggered-level designs, and perform an analysis of the data from the staple fiber cutting experiment.</p

Experiments and Modeling of Absorption of CO₂ by Amino-cation and Amino-anion Dual Functionalized Ionic Liquid with the Addition of Aqueous Medium

The absorption of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in an amino-cation and amino-anion dual functionalized ionic liquid (IL) (3-aminopropyl) tributyl phosphonium glycinate ([aP₄₄₄₃]­[Gly]) in aqueous medium was tested at temperatures (278.14 to 348.05) K and pressures (0.103 to 7.747) MPa. The water mass fractions of the tested aqueous solution were 0.599, 0.801, 0.900, and 0.950, respectively. It is found that the CO₂ solubility in the bulk solution of this IL is considerably depressed by the deactivation of amino-cations and amino-anions due to the IL ion aggregation, when water content and temperature are low. The degree of deactivation of the IL ions was defined with an inactive factor of IL ion aggregation. In rich water content, the deactivation of the amino-ions reacting with CO₂ can be overcome considerably. The carbonation in the solution can be doubled due to the neutralization of the dual amino-bases. The equilibrium constant of the acid–base reaction was determined by a potentiometric titration. A modified electrolyte nonrandom two-liquid (eNRTL) model was proposed for correlation of the experimental data by taking into account the inactive factor of IL ion aggregation and a correlative coefficient of the Henry’s law constant of CO₂ in the functionalized IL solution

Three Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases Required for Cell Wall Integrity Contribute Greatly to Biocontrol Potential of a Fungal Entomopathogen

<div><p>Bck1, Mkk1 and Slt2 are three mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases constituting cell wall integrity (CWI) pathway that may control multi-stress responses via crosstalk with high-osmolarity glycerol (HOG) pathway in budding yeast. In this study, Bck1, Mkk1 and Slt2 orthologues in <i>Beauveria bassiana</i> were confirmed as the three-module cascade essential for CWI because cell wall impairment occurred in the hyphae and conidia of Δ<i>bck1</i>, Δ<i>mkk1</i> and Δ<i>slt2</i> examined in multiple experiments. Strikingly, all the deletion mutants became more sensitive to hyperosmotic NaCl and sorbitol with the Western blot of Hog1 phosphorylation being weakened in Δ<i>bck1</i> and absent in Δ<i>mkk1</i> and Δ<i>slt2</i>. Apart from crossing responses to cell wall perturbation and high osmolarity, three deletion mutants exhibited faster growth and conidiation on nutrition-rich medium, much less virulence to <i>Galleria mellonella</i> larvae, and higher sensitivity to nutritional, fungicidal, thermal and UV-B irradiative stresses, accompanied with less accumulation of intracellular mannitol and trehalose. Moreover, Δ<i>mkk1</i> and Δ<i>slt2</i> were equally more sensitive to all the stresses of different types except wet-heat stress than wild type and more or less different from Δ<i>bck1</i> in sensitivity to most of the stresses despite their null responses to two oxidants. All the changes in three deletion mutants were restored by each targeted gene complementation. Taken together, the CWI-required Bck1, Mkk1 and Slt2 are all positive, but differential, regulators of multi-stress tolerance and virulence perhaps due to interplay with the HOG pathway essential for osmoregulation, thereby contributing greatly to the biocontrol potential of the fungal entomopathogen.</p></div

Water Erosion Highly Recoverable and Flexible Photodetectors Based on Electrospun, Waterproof Perovskite–Polymer Fiber Membranes

Recently, there has been significant interest in perovskite–polymer composite nanostructures due to their biological nontoxicity and excellent waterproof stability. However, the exploration of their potential in water erosion highly recoverable and flexible high-performance photodetectors remains limited. In this study, we propose a specific photodetector (PD) strategy based on the electrospun perovskite–polymer [polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)] fiber membranes (PPFMs), where perovskite nanocrystals are uniformly embedded within the long PMMA microfibers. The Schottky contact PDs, formed by in situ growth of PPFMs on lateral electrodes, exhibit ∼97% recovery in performance after drying the devices from the water-induced short-circuit states. The capacitive contact PDs, achieved by dry transfer of PPFMs onto the electrodes, maintain stable photoresponse with less than 2-fold performance fluctuations upon exposure to water, thanks to the suppressed water infiltration effects. Furthermore, due to the strong self-adhesion and flexibility of electrospun PPFMs, which establish tight contact with the lateral electrodes without requiring additional treatments, the PDs retain almost 100% of their original performances even after undergoing 500 bending cycles to a folded state

Combining Green Light-Activated Photoiniferter RAFT Polymerization and RAFT Dispersion Polymerization for Graft Copolymer Assemblies

Although reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) dispersion polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) has become one of the most attractive methods for the synthesis block copolymer assemblies, the synthesis of well-defined graft copolymer assemblies has rarely been reported. Herein, multifunctional macro-RAFT agents with well-defined structures were synthesized by green light-activated photoiniferter RAFT polymerization and subsequently used in RAFT dispersion polymerization for the synthesis of graft copolymers as well as graft copolymer assemblies. A direct comparison between RAFT-PISA behaviors of linear block copolymers and graft copolymers was conducted by using a monofunctional macro-RAFT agent and a multifunctional macro-RAFT agent, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis demonstrated that the structure of graft copolymers facilitated the creation of polymer nanoparticles with higher-order morphologies. Multifunctional macro-RAFT agents with different distributions of RAFT groups were also synthesized via a two-step photoiniferter RAFT polymerization. The influence of the distribution of solvophobic side chains on the RAFT-PISA process as well as graft copolymer assemblies was also investigated. We anticipate that this work should not only shed some light on the synthesis of well-defined graft copolymers and graft copolymer assemblies but also be useful to understand the mechanism RAFT-PISA of graft copolymers

TEM images of <i>B. bassiana</i> conidia (A–G) and hyphal cells (H–N).

<p>Note the cell wall impairments (open arrows) of conidia and hyphal cells (I, K and M) in Δ<i>bck1</i> (B and I), Δ<i>mkk1</i> (C and K) and Δ<i>slt2</i> (D and M), compared to an outermost electron-dense layer and a distinctly outlined membrane (solid arrows) in the counterpart cells of wild type (A and H) and three targeted gene complementation mutants (C–G, J, L and N).</p

Disruption of <i>bck1</i>, <i>mkk1</i> and <i>slt2</i> in <i>B. bassiana</i> inreases osmosensitivity and affects HOG pathway.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Relative growth inhibition (RGI) of fungal colonies after 8-day growth at 25°C on 1/4 SDAY supplemented with NaCl (1 M) and sorbitol (1.2 M). Asterisked bars in each group differ significantly from those unmarked (Tukey's HSD, <i>P</i><0.05). Error bars: SD from repeated assays of three replicates. (<b>B</b>) Images of the fungal colonies grown under osmotic stress. (<b>C</b>) Western blots for the existence (lower) and phosphorylation signal (upper) of Hog1 in protein extracts probed with rabbit anti-p38 and anti-phospho-p38 MAPK antibodies respectively. The proteins samples were extracted from the SDB cultures (hyphal cells) of different strains stressed with NaCl (1 M) for 90 min at 25°C.</p