Search Results (5,520)

Excessive sodium intake is a major dietary concern, leading to recommended reductions in several food categories, including cheese. This study aimed to evaluate how cheese composition and texture influence sodium release and perceived saltiness during consumption. Semi-hard cheeses (SHCs) with varying compositions were analyzed for chemical composition, rheological properties, and sensory attributes using quantitative descriptive analysis, temporal sodium release and saltiness intensity. Most compositional factors affected the sensory characteristics of SHCs and the dynamic perception of saltiness. In particular, salt level influenced not only the perceived intensity of saltiness but also bitterness, acidity, overall aromatic intensity, and numerous textural characteristics. The fat content also influenced texture perception and masked taste attributes. Moreover, both sodium release and saltiness perception decreased with increasing fat content. These findings highlight the importance of compositional and textural factors in modulating salt perception and provide useful insights for developing reduced-salt cheeses with acceptable sensory qualities. Full article

Hybrid rocket technologies are gaining recognition as eco-friendly alternatives to traditional propulsion systems. Utah State University’s Propulsion Research Laboratory has developed a High-Performance Green Hybrid Propulsion (HPGHP) technology, leveraging 3D-printed ABS fuel for reliable, low-energy ignition. Among tested materials, only ABS shows suitable electrical-breakdown properties for arc ignition. Unfortunately, due to the proprietary formulations in commercial ABS blends, and its limited use as a rocket-propellant, related composition and combustion data are limited. This study uses spectroscopic evaluation and bomb calorimetry to estimate material compositions, enthalpies of formation, and combustion energies for multiple commercially available 3-D print feed stock ABS types, finding minimal differences amongst the samples tested. Based on these test results, “representative” ABS properties including chemical formula, mean molecular weight, enthalpy of formation, and Higher Heating Value, is recommended. Follow-on tests with 5 alternative, commonly used, 3D-printable thermoplastic feed stocks demonstrate that ABS has significantly higher energy content. This result supports ABS’s advantages and utility as a conveniently fabricated hybrid rocket fuel. Full article

Background: Indigenous African fruits, like the African horned cucumber (Cucumis metuliferus), are abundant in nutrients and serve as a source of food and raw materials for manufacturing value-added products in both rural and urban areas. This review presents a comparative analysis of selected fruits in the Cucurbitaceae family, specifically in terms of the phytochemical, biochemical and mineral constituents, as well as nutritional contribution, and aims to explore how the African horned cucumber measures up to its counterparts by comparing their nutritional content against the recommended daily intake (RDI). Material and Methods: A literature search—using the keywords ‘African horned cucumber’, ‘Cucurbitaceae fruits’, ‘biochemical constituents’, ‘indigenous fruits’ and ‘recommended daily intake’—was used to gather credible data suitable for this review paper. Findings and Conclusions: The published peer-reviewed literature reveals that the African horned cucumber—with its nutrient-rich profile boasting high levels of calcium (19%), potassium (28%), magnesium (78.1%), sodium (10.7%), zinc (12.7%), beta carotene (15.5%), vitamin C (4.1%), vitamin E (15.2%), total flavonoids (0.28%), and total phenols (0.7%)—holds the promise of contributing significantly to the human diet while aligning with the RDI and dietary guidelines, as documented in studies, further underscoring its potential to meet nutritional needs and enhance health, thus supporting its consideration for commercialisation. Full article

This study focuses on the selection of hybrid combinations of Hu sheep and meat quality analysis. A comparative analysis of meat quality and volatile flavor compounds was conducted using three hybrid groups—Australian White–Hu (AH), White Suffolk–Hu (SH), and Southdown–Hu (NH)—and a pure Hu sheep group (HH) as research subjects. The results show that in terms of basic nutritional quality, the moisture content in the NH group was significantly higher than that in the HH group (p < 0.05), and the crude protein content in the NH group was significantly higher than that in the HH group (p < 0.05). Regarding physicochemical properties, the NH group had significantly higher meat color scores, L*, a*, and b* values, than the other groups (p < 0.05), along with the best tenderness and cooking yield. An analysis of amino acids, fatty acids, and volatile flavor compounds in lambs from different hybrid combinations revealed significant differences in the contents of lys, thr, asp, and his (p < 0.01). Although no significant differences were found in the fatty acid composition scores among the AH, SH, NH, and HH groups, all groups met the FAO/WHO recommended values. The NH group not only had the highest MUFA and total fatty acid content but also the highest levels of trans-petroselinic acid and trans-vaccenic acid, the two most abundant trans fatty acids. A total of 43 volatile organic compounds were detected in the four groups, among which 10 were identified as differential compounds. This study provides a scientific basis for the hybrid utilization of Hu sheep and offers technical support for the transformation and upgrading of the regional meat sheep industry. Full article

Since sustainable tourism gains relevance in tourist destinations like Thailand, the fact that some satisfied customers fail to become avid promoters is a research dilemma. In this paper, the researcher explored the behavioural intentions of low-carbon tourists in Thailand by looking at the contributions of constraints and sustainability communication, satisfaction, and advocacy in an integrated framework. The study aimed to explain the gap between satisfaction and advocacy, and to determine the key determinants of revisit and recommendation intentions. The methodology used was a mixed-methods approach of combining the survey data of 452 valid respondents who were questioned in major destinations such as Chiang Mai, Phuket, Krabi, and Bangkok, with 32 semi-structured interviews. Structural equation modelling found that sustainability communication has a positive impact on satisfaction, and structural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal constraints have a detrimental influence on such. Advocacy was highly predicted by satisfaction, and it mediated its influence on behavioural intentions partially. Passive satisfaction, doubt towards green claims, social identity, and advocacy fatigue were recognized as qualitative findings to explain the gap found. The research finds that plausible communication and identity-based interaction are critical to make contented tourists loyal low-carbon campaigners. Full article

Quality by design (QbD) is a systematic approach focused on achieving consistent, predictable quality based on predefined objectives. Unlike traditional methods, QbD prioritizes risk assessment and management, which significantly enhances the robustness of the analytical method. In this study, we initiated factor screening using a three-factor, two-level design to evaluate three independent variables: flow rate, pH, and mobile phase composition. To further investigate the interaction of these variables, we employed Central Composite Design (CCD). This allows us to apply response surface methodology to the Critical Analytical Attributes (CAAs), specifically retention time, peak area, and symmetry factor, by conforming to the method’s robustness. The combination of pregabalin and duloxetine hydrochloride (HCl) dosage form was determined using a straightforward, exact, specific, and accurate reverse-phase HPLC approach. The results showed retention times of 3.265 min and 4.318 min for duloxetine HCl and pregabalin, respectively. Pregabalin demonstrated linearity from 100 to 200 μg/mL (R² = 0.998), whilst duloxetine HCl demonstrated linearity between 20 and 120 μg/mL (R² = 0.997). Lower LOD values of 0.925 µg/mL and 0.853 μg/mL and LOQ values of 2.809 μg/mL and 2.587 μg/mL of pregabalin and duloxetine HCl, respectively, suggest good sensitivity for the technique. The drug content of the commercial formulation may thus be determined using the recommended method. This technique can be used for standard quality control studies to simultaneously estimate pregabalin and duloxetine HCl. The novelty of the present studies lies in the development of a robust RP-HPLC method for simultaneous estimation of pregabalin and duloxetine HCl using a systematic AQbD approach, enhancing robustness, reproducibility, and reliability, making it highly suitable for routine quality control and regulatory applications. Full article

Cadmium is an element that is unnecessary for the functioning of plant and animal organisms, and its widespread presence in the environment poses a serious threat to human and animal health. Therefore, effective methods are being sought to remediate soils contaminated with this element, including through the enrichment of degraded soils with organic matter. To this end, the effectiveness of selected organic sorbents, including starch, fermented bark, compost and humic acids, in mitigating the transfer of cadmium and other heavy metals from soil to plants was assessed. Model studies compared the effects of 15 and 30 mg of cadmium (Cd) per kg of soil with an uncontaminated control sample. The sorbents were applied on a carbon basis at a rate of 3 g C per kg of soil. The test plant was Zea mays. Cadmium was found to significantly impair plant growth, causing reductions of 21%, 85%, and 77% in leaf greenness, aboveground biomass and root biomass, respectively. Excess cadmium increased the translocation of lead, chromium, copper, nickel, zinc, iron, and manganese from the roots to the aboveground parts of the plant, while simultaneously limiting their uptake. All of the organic sorbents tested reduced the negative impact of cadmium on leaf greenness, except starch. Compost and HumiAgra significantly improved the condition of Zea mays plants weakened by cadmium exposure. Cadmium contamination increased soil acidification. pH was positively correlated with maize yield and the SPAD leaf greenness index and negatively correlated with the cadmium translocation index and cadmium content in the aboveground parts of maize. Compost and humic acids are among the most effective and practically feasible approaches for reducing cadmium bioavailability in soil and its accumulation in Zea mays, and are therefore recommended for the remediation of cadmium-contaminated soils. Full article

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element. The bioactivity of Se arises from its incorporation into the 21st amino acid, selenocysteine (Sec). Twenty-five human genes have been identified that encode selenoproteins, each of which contains at least one Sec residue. Selenoprotein functions include antioxidant responses, thyroid hormone synthesis, and maintenance of cellular redox homeostasis. Due to its role in critical cellular functions, Se deficiency is associated with morbidities of the cardiovascular system and connective tissue in regions of countries with low soil Se content. While these morbidities are geography-specific and have been mitigated in adults through public health interventions, preterm infants remain susceptible to Se deficiency worldwide. Infants born preterm are deprived of fetal Se accrual in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy, a deficiency compounded by higher Se needs than term infants and older infants and dependence on parenteral nutrition (PN) and fortification. In addition, the composition of selenoproteins and selenometabolites in human milk is different from that in formula and PN, yet little is known about the biological impact of these differences. The knowledge gap in optimal Se supplementation is reflected in discrepant guidelines between North American and European/Chinese nutrition societies, whose recommended Se supplementation in preterm infants differs by more than 2-fold. In this review, we describe the biosynthesis, metabolism, and maternal-fetal transfer of Se. In addition, we address how developmentally regulated aspects of metabolism may impact how preterm infants respond to supplementation with different forms of Se. Lastly, we highlight current challenges and recommendations for optimizing Se levels in neonates based on available data. Full article

Indonesia, particularly Central Java, generates substantial amounts of agricultural biomass residues, including melinjo shells, tobacco stalks, and cacao shells, which remain underutilized for energy applications. This study addresses the limited scientific evidence on the fuel properties and environmental performance of these residues by systematically evaluating their suitability as briquette feedstocks. A factorial experimental design was applied using three biomass types and two binders (tapioca starch and clay). The produced briquettes were characterized for moisture content, ash content, volatile matter, and higher heating value according to the Indonesian National Standard (SNI 01-6235-2000), and their environmental performance was assessed using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to estimate associated environmental costs. The results indicate that briquettes made from melinjo shells with tapioca starch binder exhibited the most favorable performance, achieving a moisture content of 7.01%, ash content of 13.58%, volatile matter of 47.15%, and a calorific value of 5453.43 cal g⁻¹. However, the ash and volatile matter contents exceeded the recommended limits for solid biofuels. These findings demonstrate that melinjo shells are a promising feedstock for briquette production due to their relatively high energy content, while further improvements in carbonization conditions and reductions in binder proportion are required to enhance fuel quality and environmental performance. Full article

Analyzing music similarity in large catalogs is challenging because people perceive music differently and important details are found in audio, text, and metadata. This article introduces a multimodal framework that uses an ontology to make music similarity and recommendation more explainable. The framework brings together learned features from audio, lyrics, and other text with structured metadata in a shared similarity space, and then improves ranking with a music ontology that captures relationships between songs, artists, genres, and moods. The design works with any encoder that creates fixed-size features. This study uses strong neural audio and text encoders, mainly based on transformers. This approach allows the system to handle different input types while staying reliable across datasets. This study tests the framework on several open music and audio datasets using content-based retrieval tasks and standard ranking measures. In addition to Configurations C1–C4, this study includes an external content-based reference baseline based on conventional MIR audio descriptors. This baseline represents a signal-level retrieval approach that models complementary aspects of the audio signal, such as timbre, harmony, and spectral characteristics, and is evaluated under the same retrieval protocol as the main framework. It is included to provide an external comparison point outside the proposed C1–C4 design. Compared to audio-only and non-ontological variants within the same framework, the proposed multimodal and ontology-guided configurations achieve better precision, recall, and mean average precision, and also cover more rare content. Visualizations and case studies show that combining different data types and using ontology-based reranking can improve performance and make results easier to interpret. This work lays the groundwork for explainable, cognitively informed music recommendation systems and points to future work in modeling user behavior over time and adapting to different cultures. Full article

This study aims to establish a time-resolved harvesting standard for Penthorum chinense. To achieve this, we systematically integrated growth phenology, phytochemical accumulation dynamics, and antioxidant activity across six key developmental stages. The contents of total phenolics, flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, and tannins exhibited a biphasic fluctuation pattern, which was closely correlated with variations in antioxidant capacity. Principal component analysis identified the optimal harvest windows: flowers achieved the highest integrated score at the full blooming stage, whereas leaves scored highest at the early fruiting stage. These periods also corresponded with greater fresh biomass, supporting favorable economic returns. Accordingly, we recommend the full blooming stage as the optimal harvest time for flowers and the early fruiting stage for leaves and stems. Future research should focus on elucidating how environmental factors regulate the accumulation of bioactive compounds, which will further refine cultivation and harvest strategies to enhance the quality of this medicinal herb. Full article

Background/Objectives: Poorly soluble aluminium (Al) compounds have successfully been used for decades as adjuvants in vaccines, enabling an effective immune response. Yet the safety of Al exposure from vaccines is consistently questioned, especially regarding infants. Since toxicokinetic data of aluminium after vaccination in humans are not available, model-informed predictions are needed for risk assessment. Methods: Using a physiologically-based toxicokinetic model, we predicted the Al exposure from i.m. injections of Al-adjuvanted vaccines for full-term neonates to 50-year-old adults following the recommended vaccination schedule in Germany 2025 in addition to the continuous oral background Al exposure from dietary intake. Results: During the first two years of life, moderate (max. 2-to-3-fold) but transient increases of Al concentrations in plasma and in the relevant target organs liver and bone due to vaccinations were predicted. Increase in brain Al content was 4%. Most importantly, in all tissues, maximum Al levels did not exceed normal levels observed in infants soon after birth or known from adults. In children and adults, the rise in Al concentrations in plasma and tissues due to single vaccinations was marginal. The calculated contribution of vaccinations to the Al body burden at age 50 was negligible. Conclusions: From a toxicokinetic perspective, the additional Al exposure in full-term infants, children and adults from vaccinations with Al-adjuvanted vaccines according to the current recommended schedules is considered safe. The model has proven a valuable tool for predictions of Al exposure from vaccinations. Full article

Based on the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) framework, this study explored the psychological spillover mechanism through which tourism experiences in Museum Agglomeration Areas (MAAs) enhance city image and influence behavioral intentions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) based on survey data yielded several key findings. First, information visibility, content visibility, and the quality of amenities and the operational environment played critical roles in shaping tourists’ internal states, including perceived experiential value, affective response, immersion, and satisfaction. In addition, the social atmosphere emerged as an important factor in enriching these evaluations. Second, accessibility and connectivity were identified as factors that reduce friction along the visitor journey, thereby enhancing experiential continuity and immersion. Third, experiential value and immersion were found to be the primary mediators among the internal-state variables, transmitting the effects of environmental stimuli to city-level perceptions and behavioral intentions, such as revisit and recommendation intentions. These findings suggest that the competitiveness of MAAs lies not merely in spatial agglomeration itself but also in their ability to provide engaging and meaningful content, maintain safe and enjoyable operational environments, and develop integrated circulation and information systems. By conceptualizing MAAs as sites of district-scale tourism experiences, this study extends the application of the S–O–R framework to a multi-site urban cultural context and clarifies how differentiated internal states mediate the spillover from district experience to city-level perceptions and behavioral intentions. Rather than proposing a fundamentally new theoretical framework, the study offers a context-specific refinement of the organism layer and provides empirically grounded implications for design and operational strategies in culturally clustered urban districts. Full article

As demand for sustainable plant protein rises, pumpkin seeds emerge as a promising but underutilized source. Conventional alkaline extraction (ALK) often impairs protein functionality, prompting interest in non-thermal alternatives. This study systematically compared the functional, colloidal, and structural properties of pumpkin seed protein isolates obtained via ALK (conducted at 50 °C), ultrasound-assisted (UAE), and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE). UAE produced the highest extraction yield (50.07%), superior overall solubility, greatest water and fat absorption capacities, and lowest least gelation concentration (12%). Furthermore, UAE best preserved native protein secondary structure (retaining 43.45% alpha-helix), as quantified by FTIR peak deconvolution, and maintained an intact, flake-like morphology under scanning electron microscopy (SEM), yielding the most uniform particle size distribution. Conversely, MAE achieved the highest protein content (73.53%) and the most negative zeta potential, leading to the highest emulsifying and foaming capacities despite inducing a bimodal particle size and irregular, porous surface morphology. ALK performed the poorest across structural and functional metrics, severely denaturing the proteins due to combined alkaline and thermal stress. UAE is recommended for applications requiring optimal solubility and gelation, whereas MAE is highly effective for emulsion- and foam-based food systems, reinforcing pumpkin seeds as a viable sustainable protein ingredient. Full article

Large language models (LLMs) offer new opportunities for lesson planning, remediation, and personalized practice, but deploying them in real educational settings remains challenging for two reasons. First, direct use of learner interaction traces can expose sensitive information about student knowledge states and behavioral patterns. Second, unconstrained generation can produce recommendations that are pedagogically inconsistent with the adopted curriculum, such as skipping prerequisite concepts or drifting outside the prescribed textbook scope. We propose PrivPath, a stage–subject–textbook-aligned framework for privacy-preserving curriculum planning that explicitly separates on-device learner modeling from server-side content generation. Its core module, Tri-Index Private Path Planning (TIPP), first restricts planning to a scoped curriculum graph defined by the target educational context, then privatizes learner mastery summaries under local differential privacy before transmission, and finally computes a curriculum-feasible instructional path that is coupled with evidence-grounded constrained generation. This design preserves personalization while reducing reliance on raw student traces and improving controllability of the generated teaching sequence. Experiments on three educational interaction datasets paired with open-textbook curriculum graphs show that PrivPath substantially improves structural validity and privacy robustness. In particular, it raises graph feasibility from 82.5% to 99.2% relative to TriIndex-RAG, improves the offline pedagogical utility proxy $\Delta$AUC from 0.013 to 0.018, and lowers membership inference AUC from 0.74 to 0.52 at ${\epsilon }_{\mathrm{loc}}=1.0$. These results suggest that curriculum-aligned path planning, privacy-preserving learner adaptation, and practically useful LLM-based educational generation can be achieved within a unified framework. Full article