Search Results (2,995)

Adverse imaging conditions such as fog, rain, and low light degrade the reliability of vision-based Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) detection systems on construction sites, yet most existing models are trained under clear-weather assumptions. This paper introduces a physics-based weather augmentation framework integrated with the YOLOv8n architecture to improve PPE detection robustness under adverse environmental conditions. The original Color Helmet and Vest (CHV) dataset was expanded from 1330 clear-weather images to 6650 images across five conditions using four physically grounded augmentation models: the Koschmieder atmospheric scattering model for fog, the Garg–Nayar streak model for rain, gamma-corrected attenuation with Poisson–Gaussian noise for low light, and a PSF-based glare model for bright sunlight. The weather-resistant model, a clear-weather baseline, and an augmented baseline were evaluated on the same 665-image weather-augmented test set. The weather-resistant model achieves 89.2% mAP50, a 5.7 percentage-point improvement over the clear-weather baseline (83.5%), with a nearly four-fold improvement in cross-condition stability (standard deviation 1.5% vs. 5.7%). Under matched training-data volume, the weather-resistant model still outperforms a conventionally augmented baseline across all five simulated conditions, indicating that these gains stem from physics-based modeling rather than larger training-data volume. The largest gain occurs under low light, where mAP50 improves from 73.4% to 87.9%. Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) analysis confirms that the weather-resistant model directs more attention toward PPE regions across all conditions, with the largest improvement under low light (+10.0 percentage points). The lightweight design (3.0 M parameters) and quantitative and qualitative validation on 205 annotated real-world construction site images under normal and low-light conditions provide preliminary evidence of practical applicability. Full article

Mashed potatoes (MP) are widely consumed starch-based foods. However, their shelf life is limited by starch retrogradation during low-temperature storage, which causes texture hardening, water exudation, and sensory deterioration. Although natural polysaccharides can modulate starch properties, the specific anti-retrogradation effect of soluble arabinoxylan (AX) in complex MP matrices remains unknown. In this study, the effects of AX on the physicochemical and sensory qualities of MP during 7 d of storage at 4 °C were comprehensively investigated. Results demonstrated that AX significantly reduced the rheological moduli (i.e., G′ and G″ values) and hardness of stored MP. Additionally, LF-NMR, XRD, FTIR and SEM analyses, together with water holding capacity (WHC) measurement, revealed that AX improved water retention and restricted water mobility of the system, delayed starch recrystallization, inhibited the formation of short-range ordered structures, and physically disrupted the starch microstructure, thereby attenuating the overall starch retrogradation process. Moreover, the addition of AX helped maintain the sensory appeal of the products. These findings suggest that AX modulates the structural evolution of the starch matrix during storage. This distinguishes the present work from conventional hydrocolloid studies by demonstrating that AX can simultaneously inhibit starch retrogradation, stabilize color, and maintain soft texture. This work highlights the potential of AX as a clean-label multifunctional modifier to extend the shelf life of starchy convenience foods. Full article

The growing demand for clean-label products has intensified the search for natural and sustainable alternatives to synthetic colorants. Anthocyanins stand out as promising pigments due to their coloring capacity and bioactive properties. This study evaluated the efficiency of natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) in extracting anthocyanins from agro-industrial by-products—molasses grass, black corn cobs, and grape skins—and their application in food and cosmetic matrices. A simplex-centroid mixture design with Response Surface Methodology was used to optimize solvent composition based on sorbitol, citric acid, and glycine. NADES showed high extraction efficiency, especially for black corn cobs, reaching 54.20 mg/100 g under optimized conditions. Although conventional extraction performed better for grape skins, NADES demonstrated competitive efficiency and superior environmental performance (AGREE index 0.73 vs. 0.58). The extracts were successfully incorporated into yogurt and moisturizing gel formulations. Yogurts maintained stable physicochemical properties and color, while gels showed good homogeneity and chromatic stability. These findings support the use of NADES as green solvents for recovering natural colorants from agro-industrial residues, with potential applications in sustainable food and cosmetic products. Full article

Glycolysis of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) offers a promising route for chemical recycling, yet conventional homogeneous catalysts often suffer from low selectivity, severe side reactions (especially diethylene glycol, DEG formation), and detrimental metal residues that compromise the quality of recycled products. To address these challenges, we herein develop dipotassium phenylphosphonate (PPOA-K) as an efficient homogeneous catalyst for PET glycolysis. Under optimized conditions (1 wt% catalyst, 197 °C, EG/PET mass ratio 3:1, 90 min, atmospheric pressure), PPOA-K achieves 100% PET depolymerization and a high BHET yield of 86.0%, and the reaction follows apparent first-order kinetics with an activation energy of 70.3 kJ·mol⁻¹. Beyond its high catalytic activity, PPOA-K effectively suppresses the acid-catalyzed etherification of ethylene glycol to DEG, a common side reaction that reduces monomer purity and degrades recycled polyester properties. Remarkably, the trace amount of PPOA-K remaining in the recovered BHET (17.3 ppm) is not detrimental; instead, it continues to inhibit DEG formation during repolymerization and acts as a thermal stabilizer, improving the melting point and thermal stability of recycled PET. The advantages of PPOA-K are further demonstrated in a partial (in situ) glycolysis–repolymerization process, where it reduces the DEG content in the final rPET to 1.78% (vs. 2.25% for conventional Zn(OAc)₂), yielding rPET with a higher melting point, higher crystallinity, and better color. This work demonstrates that dipotassium phenylphosphonate uniquely combines high catalytic activity, side reaction suppression, and beneficial residue effects, offering a new catalyst design strategy for high-quality PET recycling. Full article

This study presents a novel approach for the development of biofunctional and skin-comfortable cotton textiles through the integration of blackcurrant water/ethanol pomace extract into polysaccharide-based fabric coating. Extraction of bioactive compounds from blackcurrant pomace was optimized using response surface methodology, yielding a total phenolic content of 36.04 mg GAE/g DW, along with significant contents of flavonoids (5.28 mg QE/g DW) and anthocyanins (5.18 mg/g DW). The cotton fabric was biofunctionalized using the layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition technique, incorporating blackcurrant pomace extract within four, eight, or twelve chitosan/pectin bilayers. The biofunctionalized fabrics exhibited no cytotoxic effect and demonstrated nearly 100% antioxidant and antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus. Additionally, the LbL coating enabled tunable extract adsorption (0.09–2.70%) and stabilization of bioactive compounds on the cotton surface, resulting in adjustable fabric coloration and moisture management properties (assessed using the Moisture Management Tester). Molecular docking analysis provided insight into the interactions between HPLC-detected anthocyanins (cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside, delphinidin-3-O-glucoside, and delphinidin-3-O-rutinoside) and polysaccharides, revealing an increase in binding affinity from cellulose to chitosan and pectin. The transition from comfort-oriented fabric to a material featuring integrated moisture management and enhanced biofunctionality, achieved by coating cotton with eight chitosan/pectin bilayers incorporating blackcurrant pomace extract, renders the textile suited for medical, protective, and high-comfort applications. Full article

The present study evaluated the feasibility of replacing soy protein isolate with collagen and plasma proteins, either individually or in combination with κ-carrageenan, xanthan gum, and sodium tripolyphosphate, in an emulsion-type pork sausage, based on selected physicochemical, compositional, and textural quality parameters. Six formulations were produced, including a control and five reformulated variants in which soy protein was fully replaced by a mixture of collagen (1.88%) and plasma proteins (3.4%), used alone or supplemented with κ-carrageenan (1.0%), xanthan gum (0.2%), and sodium tripolyphosphate (0.2%). Moisture, protein, fat and collagen contents, color, pH, and sensory properties were analyzed after processing, while TBARS values and textural properties were assessed initially and after 30 days of storage. As a result of the reformulation, collagen content increased by 32.35–40.33%, while the collagen-to-protein ratio remained within legal limits (<20%). Soy protein replacement increased textural parameters, including hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness, and shear force. Carrageenan and sodium tripolyphosphate enhanced texture and oxidative stability, whereas xanthan gum negatively affected texture quality and sensory acceptance. The formulation containing collagen, plasma proteins, carrageenan (1%) and sodium tripolyphosphate (0.2%) achieved the highest sensory scores, comparable to those of the control. The results show that replacing soy protein in an emulsion-type pork sausage is feasible when using optimized combinations of collagen, plasma proteins, and κ-carrageenan systems. Full article

This study produced and analyzed composite membranes composed of polysulfone (PSf), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Metal–Organic Framework (ZIF-8) for treating effluent generated by the Batik industry. The incorporation of ZIF-8 was performed to enhance membrane efficiency. The findings indicated that ZIF-8 markedly enhanced hydrophilicity and pure water flux of membranes. The M-0.5 membrane containing 0.5 g of ZIF-8 demonstrated superior performance, with a water contact angle of 49.4° and a porosity of 83.5%. In contrast, the ZIF-8-free membrane (M-0) displayed a water contact angle and porosity of 66.3° and 76.7%, respectively. These combined characteristics enabled the M-0.5 membrane to achieve the highest pure water flux of 197.1 L m⁻² h⁻¹ at 5 bar. All membranes attained complete total suspended solids (TSS) rejection at 100% efficiency. Turbidity rejection rates ranged from 75% to 92%, whilst color rejection rates ranged from 65.7% to 87.6%. The maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) rejection observed was 57.9%, achieved by the M-0.25 membrane (0.25 g of ZIF-8) at an operational pressure of 4 bar. Meanwhile, for permeability and hydrophilicity, the ideal loading is 0.5 g of ZIF-8 (M-0.5). This concentration yielded the optimal equilibrium of porosity (83.5%), the minimal water contact angle (49.4°), and the maximal pure water flux (197.1 L m⁻² h⁻¹). Nonetheless, the TDS rejection rate was rather low at 8.0–21.1%. The membrane effectively preserved effluent pH stability between 7.9 and 8.3. The aggregation of ZIF-8 at elevated concentrations diminished mechanical strength and selectivity. Additional optimization is required to equilibrate these performance indicators. Full article

A2 milk has recently gained popularity, mainly due to its different beneficial effects on the human digestive system compared to popular A1 milk. Because of these structural differences, A2 milk exhibits characteristics that need to be investigated to design processes appropriately. The effects of β-casein genotype and heat treatment method (LTLT, HTST, and HTLT: a high-temperature preparatory treatment applied in fermented dairy production) on the fatty acid profile, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), composition, emulsion stability, acidification kinetics, and color parameters were investigated. Fatty acid composition was determined exclusively by milk type. A1 milk exhibited higher saturated fatty acids, higher total PUFA content, higher Σn-3 fatty acids, and a more favorable n-6/n-3 ratio, while A2 milk showed higher monounsaturated fatty acids and higher CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) in a trait-dependent manner. VOC profiling identified 29 compounds. Significant genotype × treatment interactions were observed: A1 milk was characterized by high diacetyl in fresh samples and exclusive methanethiol formation upon pasteurization, while A2 milk showed enhanced Maillard-derived volatile formation and high ester accumulation after LTLT treatment. Emulsion stability was highest after LTLT treatment regardless of milk type. A1 milk reached the coagulation threshold of pH 4.6 within 45 min, whereas A2 exhibited delayed acidification. HTLT induced the greatest color changes in both types of milk. Full article

This research assessed the impact of probiotic culture incorporation and the sous vide manufacturing method on the physicochemical, textural, colorimetric, and microbiological characteristics of yoghurts during the storage duration. The trials used conventional and sous vide manufacturing techniques using probiotic and classical starting cultures, and the products were analyzed throughout the storage period. The findings indicate that the use of probiotic cultures significantly enhances organic acid synthesis. This rise resulted in a lower pH (≈4.54) and increased titratable acidity (≈1.60%). Furthermore, it has been shown that the total organic acid concentration, mostly lactic acid, rose (≈24,045 mg/kg), while concurrently, the yeast-mold load decreased (≈2.69 log CFU/g). Throughout the storage duration, a reduction in pH and an elevation in acidity and microbial activity were seen in all samples (p < 0.05). The sous vide manufacturing method, due to regulated heat processing and a sealed system design, has decreased syneresis (≈5.65%) and an enhanced dry matter content (≈13.09%). This circumstance has resulted in the development of a more uniform gel structure, thereby enhancing the textural attributes. Color investigations indicated that the integration of probiotics and sous vide decreased the ΔE values, and in samples with ΔE < 3, the color change was imperceptible to the human eye. In conclusion, the simultaneous application of probiotic culture addition and the sous vide production technique has exhibited a synergistic effect on acidity development, microbial stability, textural properties, and color stability, indicating its efficacy in producing higher-quality functional yoghurt. Full article

Sixteen functional vegetable oils were incorporated at a 20% substitution level into a standard mayonnaise formulation to assess the impact of fatty acid composition on physicochemical, textural, rheological, and microstructural properties. Color analysis revealed substantial variation in yellowness (b* = 11.37–30.08) and lightness (L* = 74.39–82.31), while pH remained unaffected across all formulations (3.3–3.6). Texture analysis demonstrated that PUFA-rich oils, particularly linseed, thistle, and corn, produced markedly lower consistency values (17.02–18.68 N·s) compared to MUFA-rich counterparts (up to 69.95 N·s), indicating weaker interfacial network organization. All formulations exhibited non-Newtonian shear-thinning behavior described by the power law model (K = 90.12–130.63 Pa·sⁿ; n = 0.162–0.249). Low-field NMR relaxometry identified three distinct proton populations reflecting differences in proton mobility, while diffusometry revealed mean droplet radii ranging from 2.653 µm (pomegranate oil) to 3.203 µm (linseed oil). Pearson correlation and principal component analysis (PCA) confirmed fatty acid unsaturation as the primary driver of droplet size distribution and textural differentiation among formulations. The study was designed as an exploratory screening of single-batch formulations, and the results are presented descriptively to identify comparative trends among the different oils. Linseed, walnut, and pomegranate oils showed favorable compositional profiles for mayonnaise reformulation, combining favorable PUFA-to-SFA ratios with acceptable emulsion stability and rheological performance. Full article

Reliable delineation of brain tumor boundaries in multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) remains challenging despite substantial advances in deep learning–based segmentation. Although modern encoder–decoder architectures achieve strong volumetric overlap, precise geometric alignment of tumor contours remains inconsistent, particularly for small lesions and heterogeneous clinical cases. In neuro-oncology, even minor boundary deviations may influence surgical planning, radiotherapy targeting, and longitudinal treatment assessment. These limitations suggest that segmentation performance is not determined solely by network depth or loss design, but also by how multimodal information is structured prior to learning. We introduce CMYD-SurfaceNet, a scale-aware cascaded framework that restructures multimodal MRI inputs at the representation level to enhance boundary-sensitive segmentation. Rather than treating modalities as independently concatenated channels, selected sequences are first organized into a task-guided pseudo-RGB projection. This intermediate representation is subsequently transformed into the CMYK color space to disentangle shared luminance structure from modality-specific contrast dominance. To further encode geometric priors, a gradient-derived boundary density channel is incorporated to explicitly emphasize spatial discontinuities corresponding to tumor margins. The resulting CMYD representation is integrated within a two-stage nnU-Net cascade, where global tumor localization is followed by high-resolution region-of-interest refinement with auxiliary contour supervision. This scale-aware design improves sensitivity to small tumor components while stabilizing contour delineation. Extensive evaluation on the BraTS benchmark demonstrates consistent improvements in boundary-sensitive metrics. Compared with baseline nnU-Net, the proposed framework reduces HD95 from 3.6 mm to 2.4 mm and increases Surface Dice at 1 mm tolerance from 0.82 to 0.89, while maintaining competitive Dice performance. These findings suggest that representation-level structural decoupling, when combined with scale-aware refinement, may provide clinically relevant boundary-aware multimodal MRI segmentation support without increasing architectural complexity. Full article

This study evaluated beetroot powder as a natural colorant and partial nitrite replacer in frankfurters. Five formulations were prepared: control with nitrite curing salt, T1 and T2 with 25% and 50% nitrite replacement, T3 with complete nitrite replacement, and T4 with complete nitrite replacement plus ascorbic acid. The samples were analyzed for physicochemical properties, color, water-holding capacity, cooking yield, sensory quality, antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, and lipid oxidation during 7 days of refrigerated storage at 2–3 °C. Beetroot powder markedly increased redness in uncooked frankfurters, with a* values rising from 13.84 in the control to 37.20 in T3 and 35.31 in T4. T2, T3, and T4 also improved cooking yield, reaching 90.19%, 90.42%, and 89.84%, respectively, compared with 85.85% in the control. T2 showed the highest total sensory score (23.3), while T3 had the lowest acceptability (19.8). During storage, T4 showed the strongest oxidative stability, with TBARS increasing from 0.23 to 1.10 mg MDA/kg, compared with 0.44 to 2.42 mg MDA/kg in T3. T4 also maintained the highest DPPH activity and total phenolic content after 7 days: 2.53 μmol TE/g and 95.68 mg GAE/kg, respectively. Beetroot powder improved color and antioxidant potential, but complete nitrite replacement required ascorbic acid to control oxidation and maintain quality. These findings support the use of beetroot powder–ascorbic acid systems in reduced-nitrite frankfurter formulations. Full article

Apple pomace is a widely available food processing by-product that has attracted increasing attention in circular and resource-efficient food systems for its potential in value-added food applications. The use of apple pomace in ready-to-eat (RTE) plant-based meat analogs represents a promising pathway. Unlike plant-based meats intended for cooking, RTE systems impose stricter constraints on structural stability, water retention, flavor integrity, and safety under cold chain conditions. Within this framework, apple pomace represents a compositionally complex material with both opportunities and constraints. This review examines how apple pomace and its derived ingredients can be utilized in RTE plant-based meat analogs, with particular attention to the distinct structural and functional requirements of minced-type and whole-cut products. Current evidence indicates that direct incorporation is more feasible for minced systems, where apple pomace fiber and pectin can support water retention, binding, and refrigerated slice stability when particle size, hydration, and sensory limits are controlled. By contrast, whole-cut applications are more likely to require fractionation, selective extraction, or additional structuring because particulate heterogeneity may disrupt continuous phase integrity and anisotropic structure formation. The review further identifies the main barriers to industrial translation, including water management under refrigerated conditions, flavor and color deviations, challenges in raw material standardization, and techno-economic constraints related to dewatering, processing intensity, and quality control. Overall, this review indicates that apple pomace can function as a technically relevant ingredient in RTE plant-based meat analogs. Its successful implementation depends on converting compositional complexity into predictable functionality through raw material standardization, controlled fraction use, food safety verification, and economically viable processing. In this way, sustainability-driven valorization can be better aligned with the practical requirements of industrial food production. Full article

Facial recognition is widely employed in identification systems where access restriction is a desirable quality, providing greater security and preventing the access of unauthorized parties. With this problem in mind, this paper proposes a new texture descriptor that works in the RGB, YCbCr and HSV color modes. It obtains perceptual descriptive data from the photographs; the descriptor considers similarities between neighboring pixels and diminishing noise interference, making it robust to minor disturbances and bringing greater stability between similar images. Furthermore, the descriptor achieves good classification performance when used with both a neural network (NN) and the statistical classifier Support Vector Machine (SVM) on color images. A performance comparison of the proposed descriptor against LBP and OC_LBP employing three different face databases is presented to demonstrate that the proposed descriptor can work with the RGB, YCbCr and HSV color modes, presenting the best results when employing a neural network as a classifier with color image databases in the three studied color modes. Full article

Acidification and the application of exogenous tannins are well-established oenological practices designed to ensure wine stability and quality, playing a pivotal role to address the grape compositional imbalances associated with climate change. This study investigates precision enology techniques using a 2023 Sangiovese di Romagna, analyzing the interaction between pH modulation (3.2, 3.6, 3.8) and the addition of commercial grape seed tannins with varying medium degrees of polymerization (TanA: 3.1 mdp vs. TanB: 10.8 mdp). Following alcoholic fermentation, a full factorial design was implemented, including control batches (pH adjustment only). After a 40-day mild thermal treatment (T = 25 ± 1 °C) to simulate aging, results indicate that the high-mdp tannin (TanB) dominated color evolution regardless of pH, whereas the low-mdp tannin (TanA) effect was pH-dependent. Notably, a pH of 3.8 resulted in colloidal instability across all samples. The findings highlight the importance of customized protocols to mitigate climate-related challenges in winemaking. Full article