Search Results (218)

This study evaluates the feasibility of incorporating a specific batch of distilled paint waste into acry-lonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) matrices at nominal feed contents of 10, 20, and 30 wt.%. After drying and grinding, the waste was compounded by extrusion and specimens were produced by injection molding. Melt-flow behavior, density, impact and tensile properties, thermal stability, thermal transitions, and dynamic-mechanical response were investigated. The effect of waste addition was strongly matrix dependent. In PS, MFR increased from 9.52 to 24.85 g/10 min between neat PS and the 30 wt.% nominal formulation, while Tg decreased from 106.4 to 81.6 °C. TGA showed non-monotonic, matrix-dependent changes in thermal stability. Mechanical performance generally deteriorated with increasing nominal waste content; for ABS, tensile strength decreased from 42.21 to 26.17 MPa and impact strength from 17.51 to 0.23 kJ/m². DMA confirmed matrix-dependent changes in stiffness and relaxation behavior. The results show that the investigated waste batch can be processed with all three ther-moplastic matrices, but increasing waste addition involves clear mechanical and thermal trade-offs. Full article

The simultaneous determination of bromine and iodine in biological and feed-related samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is challenged by matrix effects, analyte carryover, and the potential loss of volatile halogen species during sample preparation. This study aimed to develop and validate a sensitive and robust ICP-MS method for determining total bromine and iodine in total mixed ration (TMR), milk, urine, feces, ileum, and duodenum. Samples were prepared using a common alkaline extraction procedure with tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) followed by centrifugation, filtration, and matrix-specific dilution. Bromine and iodine were measured in SQ-KED and TQ-O₂ acquisition modes. Matrix-specific dilution, additional washing between samples, and the introduction of 0.5% ammonium hydroxide (NH₄OH) as a rinse solution alongside the existing 0.2% TMAH wash effectively reduced analyte carryover and improved signal stability. Matrix-matched spike-recovery experiments yielded recoveries of 95.7–110.7%, with relative standard deviations of 0.4–5.5% and the majority below 2.5%. Limits of detection (LODs) ranged from 0.01 to 0.25 µg/L, while matrix-dependent lower limits of quantification (LLOQ) ranged from 1.0 to 2.0 µg/L for bromine and from 0.2 to 1.0 µg/L for iodine. Among the evaluated approaches, ⁸¹Br TQ-O₂ and ¹²⁷I SQ-KED yielded the overall recoveries closest to 100% across the matrices included in the real-sample analysis and were therefore selected for reporting these results. Bromine and iodine in digested TMR samples remained stable during 30 days of storage at 5 °C. Application to samples from a dairy-cow feeding experiment demonstrated the method’s suitability for detecting treatment-associated differences in bromine and iodine concentrations. The method provides a practical and reliable analytical workflow for determining total bromine and iodine across diverse biological and feed-related matrices. Full article

Cyber risk assessment often combines likelihood and impact, but likelihood is difficult to justify when incident data are scarce and threat relevance depends on a specific actor. Existing attacker-aware methods improve context but frequently require attack graphs, vulnerability inventories, threat-intelligence feeds, exploit scores, telemetry, or calibrated probabilistic models. We propose a lightweight, auditable method that converts a multi-factor threat–actor profile into an actor–threat compatibility score and conditions a baseline likelihood through a bounded log-odds transformation. The model distinguishes uncertainty about which actor class is relevant from concurrent exposure to several active actor classes and propagates parameter uncertainty into decision-oriented rank robustness. Evaluation uses a reconstructed 35-scenario networked-system benchmark with 17 adversarial and 18 non-adversarial threats. Reproduction of the legacy calculation identifies three adjusted probability-like values above one, with a maximum of 1.54. The proposed formulation produces no boundedness or monotonicity violations in one million randomized stress tests. Compared with a static baseline, the resulting ranking remains globally stable (Spearman $\rho =0.982$; Kendall ${\tau }_b=0.911$) while selectively reprioritizing actor-sensitive threats. A 20,000-run Monte Carlo analysis quantifies uncertainty intervals and top-five membership probabilities. At the reference $\kappa =ln4$, a transfer evaluation on an independent published video-conferencing case yields strong rank agreement with the source capability-based method (Spearman $\rho =0.986$; Kendall ${\tau }_b=0.966$). These results establish mathematical and scenario-based robustness and portability, not calibration against observed incident frequencies. The method provides a transparent bridge between static ordinal risk matrices and data-intensive probabilistic cyber-risk models. Full article

Goji leaves and buds are used as vegetables and teas, but their composition and behavior in formulated foods differ from those of the berries. This critical narrative review examines their phytochemistry, processing, food applications, digestion, and safety, with selected comparisons to berry-processing residues and orchard biomass. The literature includes leaf-tea processing, polysaccharide-modified dough, emulsion delivery systems, and bud-tea or leaf-extract additions to savory foods. Genotype, harvest stage, and extraction account for substantial compositional variation. In food matrices, improvements in rheology, oxidative stability, or flavor depend on formulation and dose—higher inclusion does not consistently improve sensory quality. Simulated digestion and biological models provide preparation-specific findings but do not establish clinical efficacy. Safety evidence includes a short-term toxicology study of one roasted Lycium chinense leaf extract and pesticide occurrence and infusion-transfer measurements in bud tea. Neither dataset establishes safety across all leaf-derived products. Berry residues have separate applications in bakery products, ingredient recovery, and animal feed, whereas woody branches are predominantly agricultural biomass. Extraction yield alone establishes neither food suitability nor environmental benefit. The main unresolved issue is whether the compositional and technological effects observed in individual experiments persist across production batches, realistic servings, storage, and longer-term exposure. Full article

Lupin is an increasingly important protein crop, but evidence linking its nutritional and technological potential with fungal contamination, processing safety, and analytical control remains fragmented. This review integrates these areas within a field-to-product assessment of lupin-based food and feed systems, explicitly distinguishing among evidence obtained directly from lupin, findings generated in other legume matrices, and mechanistic inferences. Diaporthe toxica can colonize lupin tissues and seeds, providing a pathway for phomopsins to enter food and feed chains; however, occurrence data are scarce, geographically limited, and focused mainly on phomopsin A (PHO-A). Toxicological evidence is derived predominantly from animal studies, and no health-based guidance values have been established for phomopsins. Processing can reduce quinolizidine alkaloids and other antinutritional constituents, but direct evidence that soaking, heating, fermentation, or germination eliminates phomopsins from lupin is lacking. PHO-A persistence has been demonstrated in artificially contaminated pea-based products. These findings indicate that conventional heating cannot be assumed to detoxify contaminated lupin, but they do not provide quantitative retention data for lupin matrices. LC-MS/MS is currently the most suitable analytical approach, although heterogeneous contamination, insufficiently described sampling, matrix effects, variable sample preparation, and the limited availability of analytical standards and reference materials constrain data comparability. Research priorities include representative occurrence monitoring, validated methods covering relevant lupin matrices, mass-balance processing studies using contaminated lupin, characterization of transformation products, and exposure assessment. This integrated framework distinguishes established evidence from model-derived findings and unresolved knowledge gaps, thereby supporting risk-based control from crop production to final products. Full article

Manual sorting is still the mainstream scheme for component identification in down feather quality evaluation, which suffers from low detection efficiency and poor stability. To address these drawbacks, this paper proposes a fine-grained component detection algorithm based on YOLO12 for down feather quality classification. Five typical down feather components are selected as detection targets, including discolored feathers, down filaments, immature down, feathers and pure down. A dedicated down feather object detection dataset consisting of 1140 images is established accordingly. To improve the feature representation capacity of the model for tiny objects, faint boundary features and subtle distinctions between analogous categories, this work integrates the Convolutional Gated Linear Unit (CGLU) into the A2C2f module of YOLO12. While maintaining the original feature aggregation pathways and residual architecture, the conventional MLP feed-forward branch within ABlock is replaced with convolutional gated transformation. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed A2C2f-CGLU model achieves precision of 96.50%, recall of 94.49%, mAP50 of 98.05% and mAP50-95 of 57.89% with the optimal weights on the validation set. Compared with the original YOLO12, the mAP50-95 metric is elevated by 3.04 percentage points, and the overall performance surpasses two comparative variants, A2C2f-DFFN and A2C2f-KAN. Visualizations of PR curves, confusion matrices and real test samples validate that the proposed method effectively enhances the recognition stability of tiny down feather targets and similar classes. This research provides a visual inspection foundation for subsequent component proportion calculation, quality grade discrimination and the development of intelligent detection systems. Full article

Apple (Malus domestica Borkh. cv. Jonathan), beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.), carrot (Daucus carota L.), and plum (Prunus domestica L.) pomaces are among the major by-products generated by the juice processing industry in Europe, particularly in producing countries such as Poland, Germany, Spain, and Romania. Conventionally discarded or utilized as animal feed or bioenergy pellet production, these matrices hold potential as high-value functional food ingredients. Supporting circular bioeconomy goals, this study evaluated the potential of industrial pomaces generated during continuous juice pressing as high-value functional food ingredients following their conversion into powders by air-drying and milling. The pomace powders were characterized for proximate composition, color, individual phenolics and carotenoids, and in vitro antioxidant capacities. Carrot pomace presented a high content of carotenoids (84.37 ± 0.08 µg/g dw) and ash (7.78 ± 0.41% dw), providing natural orange-yellow coloration and contributing to the mineral content. Beetroot pomace recorded the highest dietary fiber (17.20 ± 0.55% dw), as well as betalains, ideal as a natural red colorant and emulsion stabilizer. Plum pomace demonstrated the strongest overall antioxidant capacity, driven by tentatively identified 3-caffeoylquinic acid (712.36 ± 0.31 μg/g dw), flavonols, and anthocyanins (264.16 ± 0.5 μg/g dw). Apple pomace provided a carbohydrate-rich matrix (77.71 ± 0.65% dw) featuring positively identified chlorogenic acid (463.16 ± 0.35 μg/g dw) and tentatively identified dihydrochalcones. These findings support the targeted valorization of these pomaces as functional food ingredients within a circular bioeconomy framework. Full article

This paper presents an analytical—mechanistic model for determining local friction and normal force components acting on the rake and flank surfaces during oblique cutting. The proposed formulation integrates the tool geometry by considering both the constructive angles of the cutting tool and the functional angles resulting from the cutting conditions, including cutting speed, feed rate, and depth of cut. The transformation from the oblique cutting coordinate system to the dynamometer reference system is performed using successive rotation matrices based on Euler angles. The model is formulated as a system of three equations with four unknown local force components $\left(F,F_N,F_{\alpha },F_{N\alpha }\right)$, which is analytically resolved by combining the measured cutting force components $\left(F_x,F_y,F_z\right)$ with an experimentally determined friction coefficient. The geometric direction parameters derived from the Euler angles enable the decomposition of the measured global forces into local friction and normal force components acting on the active tool surfaces. The model is further extended to functional geometry by accounting for changes in the effective tool orientation under actual cutting conditions. The internal consistency of the proposed formulation is supported through several particular cases, including orthogonal cutting and zero-angle geometry. Experimental validation was carried out using P20 carbide inserts and AISI 1045 steel. The obtained results showed good agreement between the analytically reconstructed force components, the measured cutting forces, and the friction coefficient values identified experimentally, supporting the applicability of the proposed model for local force evaluation in oblique cutting. Full article

The uniformity of polymer matrices can strongly influence pattern retention during negative-tone development. In this study, two 3-arm star terpolymers, designated HTM Random and HTM Block, were synthesized via reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization using simultaneous and sequential monomer-addition strategies, respectively. Both polymers were prepared using the same nominal feed ratio of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, dicyclopentanyl methacrylate, and 2-methyl-2-adamantyl methacrylate. Although the two materials exhibited controlled molecular weight distributions and similar FT-IR spectral changes after ultraviolet exposure and post-exposure baking, differences were observed in their chain-packing characteristics, thermal behavior, and developed pattern morphology. The two materials exhibited comparable initial thermal stability but distinct multistep degradation profiles and glass-transition behavior. In contrast, the simultaneous-feed material showed more clearly retained and spatially uniform patterns under the tested development conditions. These results indicate that the materials produced by the two monomer-addition strategies exhibited differences in thermal response and development behavior under the investigated conditions. Full article

Mulberry (Morus spp.) leaves, fruits, branches, and root bark are rich in bioactive compounds, including 1-deoxynojirimycin (1-DNJ) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), supporting their potential use in food, medicinal, and feed applications. Their high moisture content, however, makes fresh materials highly susceptible to postharvest quality deterioration, making drying essential for stabilization and high-value utilization. Drying technologies involve trade-offs among efficiency, energy consumption, sensory quality, rehydration, and bioactive-compound retention. This review provides a comprehensive overview of pretreatment and drying technologies for mulberry materials, with particular attention to differences in raw-material characteristics, processing conditions, analytical methods, and reporting bases that limit direct comparisons among studies. Current evidence suggests that low-temperature, low-oxygen, or short-duration technologies, including vacuum freeze-drying, microwave drying, and microwave-vacuum drying, may better preserve quality in certain thermosensitive products, although their benefits remain product- and process-dependent. Hot-air, solar, infrared, heat-pump, and hybrid drying remain practical options for bulk products but require optimization to balance quality, energy efficiency, and scalability. For juice and functional powders, carrier selection, powder properties, and bioaccessibility require further study. Overall, the available evidence is heterogeneous, and some conclusions rely on limited mulberry-specific data or extrapolation from related plant matrices. Future research should emphasize standardized quality evaluation, harmonized reporting, kinetic modeling, multi-objective optimization, online monitoring, energy and carbon-footprint assessment, and industrial-scale validation. Full article

Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is a heterogeneous carrier of toxic metals whose environmental fate and biological effects depend on particle size, source-related composition, chemical form, solubility, and bioaccessibility. Lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and nickel (Ni) are of particular concern because atmospheric transport and deposition connect air pollution with persistent contamination of soils, vegetation, waters, sediments, food, and feed, followed by human and animal exposure. This review integrates evidence across a source-to-effect continuum encompassing emission, atmospheric transport, deposition, post-depositional redistribution, food-chain transfer, bioaccessibility, toxicokinetics, molecular toxicity, biomonitoring, remediation, and predictive assessment. Total PM mass and total metal concentration do not adequately represent biologically effective exposure, which is additionally determined by respiratory deposition, gastrointestinal release, dissolution kinetics, absorption, tissue distribution, intracellular retention, and interactions with co-associated constituents. Pb, Cd, and Ni share downstream effects including oxidative imbalance, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, DNA damage, impaired genome maintenance, epigenetic remodeling, and cytogenetic abnormalities, but differ in environmental mobility, persistence, target-organ distribution, and molecular mechanisms. Effective risk assessment therefore requires coordinated multi-matrix monitoring, distinction between total and biologically accessible fractions, pathway-specific remediation, and appropriately validated predictive models. An integrated One Health framework can improve identification of priority matrices, exposure pathways, and risk-reduction measures. Full article

Listeria spp. can persist in livestock-production environments and may be introduced through animal feed, fecal contamination, or unhygienic milk-production practices. This cross-sectional study assessed the occurrence and distribution of Listeria spp. in animal feed, fecal material, and raw milk collected from cattle, sheep, and goat farms across the seven geographical regions of Kosovo. Between December 2021 and April 2022, 189 samples were collected from 60 distinct farms representing 63 farm-species units. One animal-feed sample, one pooled fecal sample, and one pooled raw-milk sample were obtained from each unit. The samples were analyzed according to ISO 11290-1:2017, and presumptive isolates were evaluated by phenotypic and biochemical tests and confirmed to species level using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Water activity was also measured in all 63 feed samples. Listeria spp. was detected in 3/189 matrix-level samples analyzed (1.6%). This value represents a descriptive sample-level detection proportion across the three matrices rather than a conventional prevalence estimate. All isolates were identified as Listeria innocua. Two positive samples were hay samples from separate farms in the Gjilan region, representing 2/63 feed samples (3.2%) and 2/24 hay samples (8.3%). The third positive sample was a fecal sample collected from a goat farm in the Gjakova region, representing 1/63 fecal samples (1.6%). Listeria spp. was not detected in any of the raw-milk samples (0/63; 0%) under the conditions of this cross-sectional study. No farm-level co-occurrence among feed, fecal material, and raw milk was observed. These findings indicate a low number of Listeria spp. detections among the samples analyzed, with positive samples limited to two hay samples and one fecal sample. Given the small number of positive samples, no conclusions can be drawn regarding differences among feed categories, animal species, sample matrices, or geographical regions. Continued attention to feed storage, farm hygiene, and milk production practices remains important for limiting the persistence and dissemination of Listeria within ruminant-production environments. Full article

In the present research, the application of a photocatalytic reactor operated under simulated solar-light-assisted air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) is proposed to remove ketoprofen from seawater. TiO₂ at a concentration of 1 g/L, containing sulfur, was applied as a photocatalyst. The AGMD process was carried out under a feed temperature of 60–80 °C and a membrane area of 131 cm² during long-term operation. Simulated solar light was applied as an irradiance source. At the first stage of the process, the feed was concentrated for 73 h, and after that, the solution of seawater spiked with ketoprofen was photocatalytically treated for 96 h. Based on the experiments, it was found that 51% of ketoprofen was removed after the solar-driven photocatalysis process. Pure distillate without salts (conductivity below 2 µS/cm) and ketoprofen were obtained after 73 h. The performance of the membrane exhibited ca. two times higher permeate flux at an operation temperature of 80 °C in comparison with 60 °C, i.e., 24.7 L/h·m² and 47.3 L/h·m², respectively. Despite the presence of small deposits on the membrane surface, no membrane wetting was observed. The concentration of ketoprofen in the concentrates during the AGMD process and solar-driven photocatalysis can remove this pharmaceutical even from matrices enriched with salts (high AGMD concentrate), with good efficiency. Full article

Mycotoxin contamination remains a persistent threat to food and feed safety owing to the chemical stability of many mycotoxins, frequent co-occurrence, and matrix-dependent risks. Enzymatic detoxification enables structure-targeted transformation of toxicity-determining motifs, such as epoxide rings, reactive double bonds, amide linkages, and lactone structures. However, free mycotoxin-degrading enzymes are often constrained by poor operational stability, difficult recovery, and limited adaptability to complex matrices. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) provide programmable microenvironments for enzyme immobilization through tunable pore structures, interfacial chemistry, and confinement effects. This review links toxic structural motifs with enzymatic transformation targets, discusses MOF–enzyme interface engineering and representative host–enzyme compatibility, and evaluates application modes including single-enzyme systems, multi-enzyme co-immobilization or cascade systems, adsorption–degradation coupling, and detection–degradation integration. Key bottlenecks involving enzyme leakage, mass-transfer limitation, real-matrix stability, scalable preparation, and biosafety are critically discussed. Rather than treating MOFs as passive enzyme carriers, this review proposes an application-oriented framework that integrates toxin structure, enzyme function, MOF interface regulation, matrix compatibility, and safety validation to guide the development of MOF-immobilized degrading enzymes for practical mycotoxin detoxification. Full article

This study evaluated the distribution of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), and arsenic (As), collectively referred to as potentially toxic elements (PTEs), in Andean dairy production systems affected by volcanic ash deposition and examined their relevance to raw milk safety. Samples of soil, forage, supplementary feed, drinking water, and raw milk were collected from 15 georeferenced dairy farms in Bilbao Parish, Ecuador. Soil and forage were assessed as interconnected environmental matrices, whereas supplementary feed and drinking water were considered additional exposure sources. PTE concentrations and selected physicochemical properties were examined using descriptive statistics, box plots, exploratory principal component analysis, and Spearman correlation analysis. Element distribution differed among matrices and did not follow a uniform or strictly linear soil–forage–milk pathway. Pb and As concentrations were lower in milk than in the environmental and dietary matrices, indicating limited occurrence in the final product under the conditions studied. Cd remained detectable in milk and therefore warrants attention because of its potential relevance to chronic dietary exposure. Cr occurred at comparatively higher concentrations in forage and supplementary feed but was substantially lower in milk. Exploratory correlations showed that Pb, Cr, and As varied positively with corrected density, protein, lactose, and total solids, whereas Cd showed inverse associations with these variables. These relationships should not be interpreted as causal because of the limited number of milk samples. Overall, the findings support an integrated, element-specific assessment of milk safety that considers environmental matrices, supplementary dietary inputs, drinking water, and milk composition. Larger seasonal studies and elemental speciation are recommended to clarify exposure pathways and potential risks. Full article