Search Results (564)

To test whether fructooligosaccharide (FOS) and inulin (INU) molecules can improve the hardness of cooked rice through forming a hydrogel network, we added FOS or INU at 0%, 3%, 5%, 7%, and 10% concentrations to two cooking japonica rice and compared the cooking and textural parameters, the pasting, thermal, and thermo-mechanical properties, and the microstructure of the cooked rice. General Linear Model Univariate (GLMU) analysis revealed that, compared with no oligofructose addition, both FOS and INU addition reduced the rice cooking time and increased the gruel solid loss. The addition of these dietary fibers (DFs) to cooking rice lowered the hardness, adhesiveness, springiness, gumminess, and chewiness of the rice, but maintained the cohesiveness and increased the resilience. Compared with no oligofructose addition, FOS and INU addition improved the smell, taste, and total sensory score of cooked rice. The addition of these DFs significantly decreased the trough, peak, final, breakdown, and setback viscosities, but increased the pasting temperature and peak time. Both FOS and INU addition decreased the enthalpy of gelatinization but increased the peak and conclusion temperature of gelatinization of rice flour paste. After the retrograded flour pastes were kept at 4 °C for 21 days, both FOS and INU significantly increased amylopectin aging compared with no oligofructose addition. The FOS-added and INU-added rice doughs had a higher dough development time and stability time, gelatinization peak torque, setback torque, and gelatinization speed, with a lower protein weakening degree, amylase activity, breakdown torque, heating speed, and enzymatic hydrolysis speed. Compared with no oligofructose addition, both FOS and INU addition reduced the amorphous region of starch and β-sheet percentage, but increased the percentages of random coils, α-helixes, and β-turns in cooked rice. Principal component analysis (PCA) further demonstrated that the gruel solid loss, cooked rice hardness, chewiness, gumminess, taste, and the peak, trough, breakdown, final, and setback viscosities were sensitive parameters for evaluating the effects of species and the amount of oligofructose addition on rice quality. The microstructure showed that FOS or INU addition induced thickening of the matrix walls and an increase in the pore size, forming a soft and evenly swollen structure. These results suggest that FOS or INU addition inhibits amylose recrystallization but maintains amylopectin recrystallization in cooked rice, with INU addition producing greater improvements in the texture and sensory scores of cooked rice compared withFOS addition. This study provides evidence of the advantages of adding DFs and probiotics such as INU and FOS to cooked rice. Full article

This study presents a pulley-buoy-accelerated linear wave power generation system and verifies its feasibility and effectiveness through experimental research. Compared with traditional wave power generation systems that rely on three-stage energy conversion, the proposed system eliminates intermediate energy transfer and conversion links, enabling direct extraction of electrical energy from wave-induced motion. Additionally, by incorporating a pulley assembly, the system amplifies the buoy’s motion speed. This enhancement boosts the power output of the linear generator and improves the system’s overall wave energy conversion efficiency. Under laboratory conditions, a small-scale prototype of the system and a swing-type wave generator were constructed. Experimental tests were conducted to examine how three key factors influence the system’s power generation performance: the number of stator coils, wave conditions (wave height and wavelength), and buoy size. The results indicate that three measures can effectively improve both the wave energy conversion efficiency and power generation performance of the pulley-buoy-accelerated system: increasing the number of stator coils, increasing wave height and wavelength, and moderately enlarging the buoy size. These findings offer valuable insights for the practical application and efficient operation of wave power generation systems. Full article

Lion-head goose is a large-sized breed native to Guangdong Province, China, exhibits remarkable capacity for fatty liver production under overfeeding conditions and is highly valued by local farmers and consumers. However, the molecular mechanisms driving fatty liver development in this breed are still unknown. In this study, we evaluated liver weight differences between normally fed and overfed Lion-head geese and further examined sex-specific differences following overfeeding. Overfeeding significantly increased liver weight more than 340%, and males possess a stronger capacity for lipid deposition under the same feeding regimen compared with females. RNA-Seq analysis identified 1476 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) shared by both sexes, which were mainly enriched in lipid and energy metabolism, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial pathways. In addition, 627 male-specific and 420 female-specific DEGs revealed sex-dependent differences, with males showing stronger transcriptional regulation and females exhibiting enhanced antioxidant and detoxification responses. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) revealed 320 co-hub genes enriched in lipid and energy metabolism in overfeeding-induced fatty liver, along with 9 co-hub genes related to sex differences. Alternative splicing (AS) analysis detected 131 differentially spliced genes (DSGs). Integration of both approaches identified 7 overlapping genes, HYCC2 (Hyccin PI4KA lipid kinase complex subunit 2), AGL (Amylo-Alpha-1,6-Glucosidase and 4-Alpha-Glucanotransferase), CCDC62 (Coiled-coil domain containing 62), IGSF5 (Immunoglobulin superfamily member 5), MGARP (Mitochondria-localized glutamic acid-rich protein), CD80 (Cluster of Differentiation 80), and FPGS (Folylpolyglutamate synthase), as potential key regulators. These findings provide new insights into transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of overfeeding-induced fatty liver in geese. Full article

Steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) can exhibit markedly improved mechanical performance when the fibers are preferentially aligned along the principal tensile stress directions. One method of aligning steel fibers is using magnetic methods. However, most existing magnetic alignment techniques rely on solenoids and are restricted to one-dimensional alignment and relatively small specimen sizes. This paper presents a novel planar magnetic orientation device capable of producing arbitrary two-dimensional fiber layouts and demonstrates its applicability from laboratory-scale proof-of-concept tests to large high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (HPFRC) structural elements. The concept is first verified on transparent ultrasound gel specimens, where image analysis confirms fiber orientation in the prescribed angles. The method is then applied to small prismatic HPFRC specimens (40 mm × 40 mm × 160 mm) with fiber contents of 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%, exposed to different magnetic field intensities (80 mT–140 mT). Flexural tests show increases in average flexural strength compared to non-oriented reference specimens, with 100 mT providing the most efficient alignment for the investigated mixture. A non-destructive electromagnetic method based on the measurement of the quality factor Q of a coil correlates well with flexural strength. Finally, the device is integrated with an industrial robot and used to orient fibers in large HPFRC slabs (1000 mm × 410 mm), achieving an average increase in flexural tensile strength of about 64% relative to non-oriented slabs. The results demonstrate that planar magnetic orientation is a promising approach for tailoring fiber layouts in SFRC structural elements and for enabling automated, programmable manufacturing. Full article

A reflective all-fiber optical current transformer based on a spatial non-reciprocal phase modulation technique is investigated by theoretical analysis and experimental measurement. The modulation unit, composed of a phase delay wave plate (LiNbO₃) and two Faraday rotators, achieves flexible frequency adjustment by converting modulation from the time domain to the spatial domain. Therefore, the avoidance of the impact caused by delay coils is achieved in principle. The absence of intrinsic frequency limitations eliminates the demand for precise timing control in demodulation, thereby simplifying the demodulation circuit and reducing the cost and size of the transformer. In previous studies, redundancies were identified in the optical path coupling devices. The half-wave voltage of the modulator is excessively high, and its size is considerable due to constraints inherent in the manufacturing process. The measurement range is within 1800 A. The scheme simplifies some optical path components. By optimizing the phase delay wave plate, the half-wave voltage of the modulator is significantly reduced by a factor of 150. Experimental results demonstrate that the current transformer exhibits excellent detection consistency within the rated current range of 30–3600 A (1–120%), the response time is within 3 ms, and the measurement error and peak error reach 0.052% and 0.127%. This configuration provides a novel option for the design and practical application of all-fiber optical current transformers. Full article

This study employed a multi-technique approach to investigate the structural and conformational changes in proteins in Meretrix lyrata (M. lyrata) adductor, foot, and siphon tissues during boiling. Data-independent acquisition (DIA) quantitative proteomics was utilized to identify differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in six temporal comparison groups (20–0 s, 40–20 s, 60–40 s, 80–60 s, 100–80 s, and 120–100 s). The results showed that key myofibrillar proteins, including myosin heavy chain, paramyosin, and actin, exhibited tissue-specific expression patterns, while low-molecular-weight degradation fragments (<17 kDa) appeared with prolonged heating. Turbidity measurements peaked in adductor and siphon tissues at 60 s and in foot tissue at 80 s. Heating resulted in a narrowed particle size distribution (100–1000 nm), and a decreased zeta potential, indicating a reduction in protein surface charge. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed hydrogen bond disruption and secondary structure transitions, marked by a reduction in α-helix content with a corresponding increase in β-sheet and random coil structures. In total, 6527 proteins were identified, and Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis highlighted the DEPs’ involvement in biological regulation and metabolic processes. Collectively, these results provide comprehensive characterization of protein denaturation, degradation, and structural reorganization in M. lyrata tissues during the boiling process. Full article

Background: The impact and regulation of protein oxidative modification on protein functional properties is a research hotspot in food processing. This study aimed to clarify the mechanism of free radical oxidation on the structure and function of winged bean protein. Methods: Winged bean protein was treated with different concentrations of AAPH (0.04 mmol/L, 0.20 mmol/L, 1.00 mmol/L). The functional properties (solubility, surface hydrophobicity, zeta potential), oxidation degree indicators, and secondary and tertiary structures of winged bean protein were tested and characterized under different oxidation conditions. Results: Low-concentration (0.04 mmol/L) AAPH led to the decomposition of winged bean protein, with decreased particle size and increased surface hydrophobicity and solubility; medium-concentration (0.20 mmol/L) AAPH caused significant aggregation of winged bean protein, with decreased surface hydrophobicity and solubility; high-concentration (1.00 mmol/L) AAPH led to the rearrangement of winged bean protein aggregates, forming more soluble aggregates and increasing solubility. With the gradual increase in AAPH addition, the α-helix and random coil structures of winged bean protein showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing, while the β-sheet structure showed a trend of first decreasing and then increasing, and the β-turn structure remained almost unchanged. Conclusions: Under mild oxidation conditions (AAPH = 0.04 mmol/L), the functional properties of winged bean protein could be optimized. However, under relatively strong oxidation conditions (AAPH > 0.20 mmol/L), the structural integrity and functionality of winged bean protein would be compromised. This study helps deepen our understanding of the oxidative modification mechanism of winged bean protein. Full article

Background and purpose: Stent-assisted coiling (SAC) achieves immediate aneurysm occlusion, while flow diversion (FD) promotes progressive remodeling. Comparative data in unruptured anterior circulation aneurysms remain limited. Methods: A retrospective review of our institutional database was conducted between 2021 and 2024. A total of 129 aneurysms treated with SAC (n = 33) or FD (n = 96) were identified and included in the analysis. Outcomes included angiographic occlusion, retreatment, complications, and the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). A 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) was performed on sex, age, aneurysm size, and location (caliper 0.2, exact sex matching). Results: A total of 130 patients (89 women, 41 men) were included in the study, with a mean age of 59.8 years (range 22–81). In the full cohort, SAC achieved higher immediate complete occlusion (62.5% vs. 8.3%, p < 0.001), while FD demonstrated superior long-term stability (71.9% vs. 60.6%). Retreatment occurred in 18.2% of SAC cases and none with FD (p < 0.001). Complication rates were comparable overall: intraoperative (15.2% SAC vs. 10.4% FD, p = 0.37), periprocedural ≤72 h (15.2% vs. 8.3%, p = 0.34), and delayed ≥12 months (9.1% vs. 10.4%, p = 0.85). In patients aged 70–80 years, periprocedural complications were more frequent with SAC (37.5% vs. 5.9%, p = 0.08). Functional independence (mRS 0–2) at last follow-up was 87.9% for SAC and 89.6% for FD (p = ns). In the matched cohort, SAC preserved higher immediate occlusion (60% vs. 10%, p < 0.001), whereas FD provided greater long-term occlusion (65% vs. 55%, p = 0.33) and required no retreatments versus 15% in SAC (p < 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that SAC-related complications were largely confined to complex Y/T-stent reconstructions for MCA bifurcation and AComA aneurysms, while single-stent SAC demonstrated a safety profile comparable to FD. Conclusions: SAC offers rapid angiographic exclusion but at the cost of higher retreatment. FD ensures durable occlusion and absence of retreatment, with a consistent safety profile. After stratification by technical complexity, excess morbidity associated with SAC originated from anatomically demanding multistent constructs, whereas single-stent SAC showed safety comparable to FD. Age may influence periprocedural risk, particularly with SAC. These findings reinforce a tailored strategy: “Close fast with SAC, close forever with FD.” Full article

Soybean protein isolate (SPI) gel has been demonstrated to exhibit suboptimal stability and a coarse texture. Selective enzymatic hydrolysis modification has been demonstrated to effectively enhance the functional properties and structural stability of the protein. The objective of this study was to modify SPI using alkaline protease and papain. The impact of selective enzymatic hydrolysis on SPI was examined through the analysis of hydrolysis degree (DH), particle size, and protein purity. A systematic exploration was conducted in order to investigate the structural and quality characteristics of SPI gel. Indicators such as secondary structure changes, texture characteristics, water-holding capacity (WHC), rheology, and microstructure were analyzed. The findings indicate that when the DH of the SPI solution is 1%, its particle size is reduced relative to that when DH is 0.5%. The SDS-PAGE results indicated that alkaline protease could hydrolyze most of the 7S and 11S components in SPI into shorter peptides, while papain retained more of the 7S and 11S components and generated peptides with larger molecular weights. Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectral analysis indicated that following the process of enzymatic modification, the contents of α-helix and β-sheet in the secondary structure of SPI increased, while the contents of β-turns and random coils decreased. In the context of gel performance, it has been demonstrated that papain-modified SPI, attributable to its elevated content of macromolecular peptides, manifests superior WHC, hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness, storage modulus (G), and microstructure in comparison to alkaline protease-modified gel. Concurrently, the gel performance of papain modified SPI is significantly superior to that of unmodified SPI gel. This research provides a significant theoretical foundation and practical reference for promoting the efficient application of SPI in the domain of food processing. Full article

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique extensively utilized in neuroscience and clinical medicine; however, its underlying mechanisms require further elucidation. Due to ethical safety considerations, low cost, and physiological similarities to humans, rodent models have become the primary subjects for TMS animal studies. Nevertheless, existing TMS coils designed for rodents face several limitations, including size constraints that complicate coil fabrication, insufficient stimulation intensity, suboptimal focality, and difficulty in adapting coils to practical experimental scenarios. Currently, many studies have attempted to address these issues through various methods, such as adding magnetic nanoparticles, constraining current distribution, and incorporating electric field shielding devices. Integrating the above methods, this study designs a small arc-shaped TMS coil for the frontoparietal region of rats using the inverse boundary element method, which reduces the coil’s interference with experimental observations. Compared with traditional geometrically scaled-down human coil circular and figure-of-eight coils, this coil achieves a 79.78% and 57.14% reduction in half-value volume, respectively, thus significantly improving the focusing of stimulation. Meanwhile, by adding current density constraints while minimizing the impact on the stimulation effect, the minimum wire spacing was increased from 0.39 mm to 1.02 mm, ensuring the feasibility of the coil winding. Finally, coil winding was completed using 0.05 mm × 120 Litz wire with a 3D-printed housing, which proves the practicality of the proposed design method. Full article

High-precision sensor co-registration is a critical prerequisite for achieving high-resolution imaging in Optically Pumped Magnetometer–Magnetoencephalography (OPM-MEG) systems. The conventional magnetic dipole fitting method, essentially a multipole expansion approximation of a finite-size coil, exhibits accuracy that strongly depends on spatial geometric factors such as coil–sensor distance, dipole orientation, and the projection angle of the sensor’s sensitive axis. Moreover, the approximation error increases significantly when sensors are placed either too close to the coils or at an unfavorable angular coupling. To address this issue, we propose a sensor localization and orientation method that combines magnetic dipole-equivalent modeling with a rigid coil structure (RCS). The RCS provides stable geometric constraints and eliminates uncertainties introduced by scalp-attached coils. In addition, three objective functions (the standard Frobenius norm, a weighted Frobenius norm and the structural similarity index (SSIM)) are formulated to mitigate the imbalance caused by near-field strong signals and to improve stability under noise and error propagation. Simulation results demonstrate that both under ideal conditions and with assembly perturbations, the weighted Frobenius norm and SSIM methods consistently achieve position errors below 1 mm and orientation errors below 1°, which effectively suppress large outlier deviations and achieve better performance than the standard Frobenius norm. The results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method in achieving both high accuracy and robustness. Beyond clarifying the primary factors influencing magnetic dipole approximation errors, this study provides a geometry-constrained and optimization-based framework, offering a feasible pathway toward the practical implementation of high-precision, multi-channel OPM-MEG systems. Full article

This study investigates fiber content and orientation in prefabricated slab elements made of ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC), using novel non-destructive measurement using a coil’s quality factor, where the coil is put to one side of the specimen only. This allows the analysis of slab specimens of arbitrary size. That then allows an accurate quality control of elements made in the prefabrication industry. This study presents an experimental campaign designed to evaluate the non-destructive principle’s accuracy and practical feasibility. Twenty-five large slab specimens were made in an industrial prefabrication plant using various casting methods to introduce different flow-induced fiber parameters. The slabs were subjected to this non-destructive testing, then destructive bending tests and CT scanning to tie the results together and validate the non-destructive results. The results showed that the coil’s quality factor values correspond well to the distribution (concentration) and orientation of fibers, and the method reliably reveals potential defects of the material and can predict the element’s mechanical properties. Full article

Non-mechanical contact distance measurement solutions are becoming more and more necessary in various industries, including building monitoring, automotive, and aviation industries. Inductive proximity sensor (IPS) technology is becoming a more popular solution in the field of short distances. Because of its small size, dependability, and measurement capabilities, IPS is a good option. Separate circuits are used in the classical structures to generate the excitation signal for the sensor coil and measure the response signal. The response signal’s amplitude is typically measured. This article proposes an IPS model that uses frequency response as its basis for operation. A microcontroller and embedded technology are used to implement a small IPS structure. This includes the circuit for determining distance, as well as the signal generator used to excite the sensor coil. In essence, an LC circuit is employed, which at the unit step has a damped oscillatory response by nature. Periodically injecting energy into the LC circuit, however, causes it to enter a persistent oscillatory state. The full experimental model is implemented and presented in the article, illustrating how the distance can be measured with a 33 µm accuracy within the 10 mm range with the help of the nonlinear relationship between frequency and distance and the linear drift of frequency with temperature. Full article

Aluminum alloys under long-term service or repetitive stress are prone to small fatigue cracks (FCs) with arbitrary orientations, necessitating eddy current probes with focused magnetic fields and directional selectivity for reliable detection. This study presents a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) probe with a double-layer planar excitation coil and a double-layer differential receiving coil. The excitation coil employs a reverse-wound design to enhance magnetic field directionality and focusing, while the differential receiving coil improves sensitivity and suppresses common-mode noise. The probe is optimized by adjusting the excitation coil overlap and the excitation–receiving coil angles to maximize eddy current concentration and detection signals. Finite element simulations and experiments confirm the system’s effectiveness in detecting surface cracks of varying sizes and orientations. To further characterize these defects, two time-domain features are extracted: the peak-to-peak value ($\Delta$P), reflecting amplitude variations associated with defect size and orientation, and the signal width ($\Delta$W), primarily correlated with defect angle. However, substantial overlap in their value ranges for defects with different parameters means that these features alone cannot identify which specific parameter has changed, making prior defect classification using a Transformer-based approach necessary for accurate quantitative analysis. The proposed method demonstrates reliable performance and clear interpretability for defect evaluation in aluminum components. Full article

The umbilical coiling index (UCI), which quantifies the degree of vascular coiling in the umbilical cord, is a crucial indicator for assessing fetal intrauterine development and predicting perinatal outcomes. However, the existing methods for measuring the UCI primarily rely on manual assessment, which suffers from low efficiency and susceptibility to inter-observer variability. In response to the challenges in measuring the umbilical coiling index during obstetric ultrasound, we propose UCINet, a multi-task neural network engineered explicitly for this purpose. UCINet demonstrates enhanced operational efficiency and significantly improved accuracy in detection, catering to the nuanced requirements of obstetric imaging. Firstly, this paper proposes a Frequency–Spatial Domain Downsampling Module (FSDM) to extract features in both the frequency and spatial domains, thereby reducing the loss of umbilical cord features and enhancing their representational capacity. The proposed Multi-Receptive Field Feature Perception Module (MRPM) employs receptive fields of varying sizes across different stages of the feature maps, enhancing the richness of feature representation. This approach allows the model to capture a more diverse set of spatial information, contributing to improved overall performance in feature extraction. A Multi-Scale Feature Aggregation Module (MSAM) comprehensively leverages multi-scale features via a dynamic fusion mechanism, optimizing the integration of disparate feature scales for enhanced performance. In addition, the UCI dataset, which consisted of 2018 annotated ultrasound images, was constructed, each labeled with the number of vascular coils and keypoints at both ends of the umbilical cord. Compared with state-of-the-art methods, UCINet achieves consistent improvements across two tasks. In object detection, UCINet outperforms Deformable DETR-R50 with an improvement of 1.2% points in mAP@50. In keypoint localization, it further exceeds YOLOv11 with a 3.0% gain in mAP@50, highlighting its effectiveness in both detection accuracy and fine-grained keypoint prediction. Full article