Search Results (22)

The aim of this study was to investigate the sorption efficiency of anionic dyes—Reactive Yellow 84 (RY84) and Reactive Black 5 (RB5)—and cationic dyes—Red 46 (BR46) and Basic Violet 10 (BV10)—onto potato peels (Solanum tuberosum L.). The research scope included characterization of the sorbent material (pH_PZC, FTIR), the effect of pH on dye sorption efficiency, kinetics (pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models, intraparticle diffusion model), and studies on the sorbent’s maximum sorption capacity (Langmuir 1 and 2, and Freundlich isotherms). The point of zero charge (pH_PZC) for potato peels was determined to be pH_PZC = 6.43, indicating a slightly acidic character of the material. The sorption efficiency for RB5, RY84, and BV10 was highest at pH 2, while the efficiency for BR46 was highest at pH 6. The time required to reach sorption equilibrium on the tested sorbent increased with the initial dye concentration and ranged from 180 to 270 min for RB5, RY84, and BV10, and from 45 to 210 min for BR46. The maximum sorption capacity of this material was found to be 20.85 ± 0.33 mg/g and 21.63 ± 0.34 mg/g for RB5 and RY84, respectively, and 10.28 ± 0.24 mg/g and 27.15 ± 0.87 mg/g for BV10 and BR46, respectively. Full article

Grain boundary engineering (GBE) has been widely used to modify grain boundary (GB) networks to improve GB-related properties in polycrystalline materials. With the development of miniaturized and lightweight terminal connectors comes a greater demand for phosphorus bronze. A fine grain size and excellent GB characteristics are the keys to synergistically enhancing mechanical strength and bending workability. In this study, the effects of the annealing temperature on the grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) optimization and the bending properties of phosphorus bronze were studied by means of electron backscatter diffraction and a 90° bending test. The results show that the deformed microstructure of the as-received material recrystallizes upon annealing at 400 °C for 1 h. The average grain size is 1.6 μm, and a large number of special boundaries (SBs) are present, accounting for 71.5% of all GBs. Further, the incoherent Σ3, Σ9, and Σ27 boundaries are the most abundant, effectively disrupting the network connectivity of random high-angle grain boundaries. The grain size gradually increases with the annealing temperature increase. The fractions of the Σ9 and Σ27 boundaries gradually decrease. Although the proportion of SBs further increases at higher temperatures, most SBs at these temperatures are coherent Σ3 boundaries that do not contribute to the direct optimization of GBCD. Moreover, in the absence of a significant difference in tensile strength, the GBCD-optimized fine-grained sample demonstrates smooth surfaces without orange peel effects when bent at 90° with R/t = 0 in the bad way. This improvement is attributed to the uniform deformation of fine grains and special boundaries, which enhances the bending workability of the GBCD-optimized fine-grained strips. Full article

Purple-fleshed dragon fruit is gaining popularity worldwide due to its distinctive characteristics and health benefits. This climbing cactus, introduced to humid tropical climates, presents challenges in assessing fruit quality. The dynamic transformations in fruit color, bioactive compounds, and textural attributes across 11 developmental stages from 10 to 32 days after flowering under humid tropical conditions were studied. Color analysis revealed significant intensification of red-violet hues, with L* values decreasing by 14.74% and a* values increasing from −8.14 to 32.96. The color transformation is initiated in the pulp at 25 days and the peel at 27 days after flowering. Betalain synthesis commenced after 20 days with rapid accumulation between 25 and 32 days, correlating with color development. Antioxidant activity increased from 79.38% at 10 days to 86.76% at 20 days, followed by a steady decline. Phenolic content peaked at 121.40 mg gallic acid equivalent per 100 g at 25 days before declining, while the flavonoid content decreased with the advancement of fruit development. Concurrent reduction in peel thickness and fruit firmness was also observed. These findings show that purple-fleshed dragon fruit can adapt well to humid tropical conditions, with a 32-day developmental cycle, offering vital insights into quality and maturation phases. Full article

Five different biomass wastes—orange peel, coffee grounds, cork, almond shell, and peanut shell—were transformed into biochars (BCs) or activated carbons (ACs) to serve as adsorbents and/or ozone catalysts for the removal of recalcitrant water treatment products. Oxalic acid (OXL) was used as a model pollutant due to its known refractory character towards ozone. The obtained materials were characterized by different techniques, namely thermogravimetric analysis, specific surface area measurement by nitrogen adsorption, and elemental analysis. In adsorption experiments, BCs generally outperformed ACs, except for cork-derived materials. Orange peel BC revealed the highest adsorption capacity (Qe = 40 mg g⁻¹), while almond shell BC showed the best cost–benefit ratio at €0.0096 per mg of OXL adsorbed. In terms of catalytic ozonation, only ACs made from cork and coffee grounds presented significant catalytic activity, achieving pollutant removal rates of 72 and 64%, respectively. Among these materials, ACs made from coffee grounds reveal the best cost/benefit ratio with €0.02 per mg of OXL degraded. Despite the cost analysis showing that these materials are not the cheapest options, other aspects rather than the price alone must be considered in the decision-making process for implementation. This study highlights the promising role of biomass wastes as precursors for efficient and eco-friendly water treatment processes, whether as adsorbents following ozone water treatment or as catalysts in the ozonation reaction itself. Full article

Biodiesel from waste frying oil was produced via methanolysis using biochar-based catalysts prepared by carbonizing banana peels (350 °C and 400 °C) mixed with 20% (wt.) of alkali carbonates (Na, Li, or K). The catalysts exhibited a bi-functional character: acidic and basic. Raman spectroscopy confirmed the alkali’s role in char graphitization, influencing morphology and oxygen content. Oxygenated surface sites acted as acidic sites for free fatty acid esterification, while alkali sites facilitated triglyceride transesterification. The best catalyst obtained by carbonization at 350 °C, without alkali modifier, led to 97.5% FAME by processing a waste frying oil with 1.2 mg _KOH/g _oil acidity. Most of the studied catalysts yielded high-quality glycerin, allowing the significance of homogenous catalyzed processes to be discarded. Full article

Porous carbon materials have been widely used to remove pollutants from the liquid-phase streams. However, their limited pore properties could be a major problem. In this work, the effects of post-washing methods (i.e., water washing and acid washing) on the textural characteristics of the resulting biochar and activated carbon products from pineapple peel biomass were investigated in the carbonization and CO₂ activation processes. The experiments were set at an elevated temperature (i.e., 800 °C) holding for 30 min. It was found that the enhancement in pore property reached about a 50% increase rate, increasing from 569.56 m²/g for the crude activated carbon to the maximal BET surface area of 843.09 m²/g for the resulting activated carbon by water washing. The resulting activated carbon materials featured the microporous structures but also were characteristic of the mesoporous solids. By contrast, the enhancement in the increase rate by about 150% was found in the resulting biochar products. However, there seemed to be no significant variations in pore property with post-washing methods. Using the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and the Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses, it showed some oxygen-containing functional groups or complexes, potentially posing the hydrophilic characters on the surface of the resulting carbon materials. Full article

This article examines the Gothic trope of White racial transformation in Robert Montgomery Bird’s Sheppard Lee (1836) and Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017). These seemingly disparate texts both feature White men who turn Black via supernatural body hopping or experimental surgery. In these texts, Blackness acts as an emotional and material resource for White characters that perversely bolsters Whiteness by escaping it. Little-known outside of antebellum specialisms, Sheppard Lee enhances our understanding of race in the Gothic by considering why Whiteness may be rejected in the early nation. Written in the context of blackface minstrelsy, the novel transforms downwardly mobile Sheppard into an enslaved man as a respite from the pressures of economic success. Get Out builds on its nineteenth-century precursors by showing the Black body as a desired and necessary vessel for the “post-racial” White American self, who swaps their physical Whiteness for Blackness to extend or enhance their own life, turning Black men into extensions and enforcers of White middle-class culture. In uniting these texts through the lens of critical Whiteness studies, this article argues that White racial transformation is a long-held tradition in the US Gothic that not only expresses White desires and anxieties, but itself transforms in each specific historical racial context. Full article

The sensory properties of fruit and vegetables are a result of taste and aroma caused by many volatile and nonvolatile compounds. The sum of organic acids (malic and citric acids) and soluble sugars (fructose and glucose), as well as their balanced combination and interaction, contributes to the characterization of the tomato flavour. The ratio of sugars and organic acids is the key to the sweetness and sourness of tomatoes. This study aimed to determine the sugar and organic acid content, as well as several physicochemical parameters, of eight tomato landraces from Croatia. All the parameters investigated differed between the tomato landraces. The PLS-DA analysis showed that the most important parameters in tomato landrace discriminatory character are malic acid, fructooligosaccharide content, citric acid, dry matter. The results obtained show a significant positive correlation between tomato dry matter and sugar content. At the same time, fructose and sucrose content is negatively correlated with the green to red hue of tomato peel, as well as positively with the blue to yellow hue, indicating that the sugar content increases with yellow color intensity. The blue to yellow hue of the peel color also positively correlates with citric acid content. Full article

An interfacial adhesion improvement between low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and aluminum (Al) foil is an important challenge in designing multilayered packaging (TetraPak packaging type) due to insufficient inherent adhesion between both untreated materials. Therefore, extra adhesive layers are often used. The hydrophobic character of LDPE is responsible for poor adhesion to Al and can result in delamination. This study deals with the comparative study of the bulk modification of LDPE with various commercially available adhesive promoters with different chemical compositions to increase LDPE’s adhesive characteristics and ensure good adhesion in LDPE/Al laminates. A copolymer of ethylene and methacrylic acid; a terpolymer of ethylene, maleic anhydride, and acrylic ester; or maleated polyethylene (PE) were used as adhesive promoters, and their effect on adhesion improvement of LDPE to Al was investigated. The best adhesion improvement was observed in LDPE-modified samples with maleated PE, while 0.1 wt.% additive content significantly increased peel resistance (from zero to 105 N/m). An additional increase in additive content (0.5 wt.%) in LDPE led to stronger adhesion forces than the cohesion forces in Al foil. Adding 0.5 wt.% of maleated PE into LDPE improved the LDPE/Al laminates’ adhesion and can be applied in multilayered lamination applications. Full article

Disporopsis longifolia Craib is an Asian medicinal plant belonging to the Asparagaceae family. The plants are well known for their steroidal saponins and phenolic compounds and are traditionally used as tonics for back pain, bellyache, cough, diabetes, asthma, pneumonia and rheumatism. However, they are challenging to identify to species level using morphology. This raises a serious concern for their medicinal applications where botanical quality control is essential. The most appropriate morphological, anatomical and pollen characters for species diagnosis were therefore determined. Synonyms were identified and lectotypification provided. The morphological characters were described from 76 fresh and dried specimens to include a broad range of materials from differing habitats and locations. Paraffin and peeling methods were applied for anatomical studies of leaves and stems and a modified acetolysis method was undertaken for pollen morphology. This paper compares the new character data to published data from other species in the genus, namely D. aspersa, D. fuscopicta, D. jinfushanensis, D. pernyi and D. undulata. This is the first report of such anatomical and pollen morphology characters for D. longifolia. The results provide accurate morphological, anatomical and palynological characters for quality control and are best applied in combination with each other. Full article

The color of fruit peel is an economically important character of eggplant, and black-purple eggplant has received much attention for being rich in anthocyanin. However, the reason why different fruit peel colors form in eggplant is not well understood. In the present study, an integrative analysis of the metabolome and transcriptome profiles was performed in five eggplant varieties with different fruit colors. A total of 260 flavonoids were identified, and most of them showed significantly higher abundance in black-purple varieties than in other varieties. The transcriptome analysis indicated the activation of early phenylpropanoid biosynthesis genes (SmPAL, SmC4H, and Sm4CL) was more responsible for anthocyanin accumulation, while SmF3′5′H was the key factor for the formation of a purple color. Furthermore, two transcription factors, SmGL2 and SmGATA26, were identified as new hub genes associated with anthocyanin accumulation. The silencing of SmGL2 and SmGATA26 reduced anthocyanin accumulation in eggplant fruit peels, suggesting the possible involvement of SmGL2 and SmGATA26 in regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis. In addition, the pathway of plant hormone signal transduction was significantly enriched, indicating that phytohormones may cooperatively interact to modulate flavonoid biosynthesis. This study provides comprehensive information of flavonoid metabolites and new insights into the regulatory network of fruit coloration, which might be useful for the molecular breeding of eggplant. Full article

Cucumis debilis W.J.de Wilde & Duyfjes is an annual and monoecious plant. This species is endemic to Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam. However, C. debilis is rarely studied, and no detailed information is available regarding its basic chromosome number, 45S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) status, and divergence among other Cucumis species. In this study, we characterized the morphological characters and determined and investigated the basic chromosome number and chromosomal distribution of 45S rDNA of C. debilis using the fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) technique. A maximum likelihood tree was constructed by combining the chloroplast and internal transcribed spacer of 45S rDNAs to infer its relationship within Cucumis. C. debilis had an oval fruit shape, green fruit peel, and protrusion-like white spots during the immature fruit stage. FISH analysis using 45S rDNA probe showed three pairs of 45S rDNA loci located at the terminal region in C. debilis, similar to C. hystrix. Meanwhile, two, two, and five pairs of 45S rDNA loci were observed for C. melo, C. metuliferus, and C. sativus, respectively. One melon (P90) and cucumber accessions exhibited different chromosomal localizations compared with other members of Cucumis. The majority of Cucumis species showed the terminal location of 45S rDNA, but melon P90 and cucumber exhibited terminal–interstitial and all interstitial orientations of 45S rDNA loci. Based on molecular cytogenetics and phylogenetic evidence, C. debilis is more closely related to cucumber than melon. Therefore, C. debilis may serve as a potential parental accession for genetic improvement of cucumber through interspecific hybridization. Full article

The aim of the present study is the isolation and characterization of the lactic acid bacteria from idly batter, a traditional Indian fermented product. To achieve the aim, 10 idly batter samples were selected from different regions of Kadapa district. In the primary isolation and screening process, 50 lactic-acid-producing bacteria were isolated, and from them, six strains were selected based on their lactic acid yielding capacity for further evaluation. The selected cultures were studied for their phenotypic characters, and all cultures were Gram positive, cocci, and catalase negative. All the six strains were tested for their growth and lactic acid production at above 35 °C, and finally, one strain that showed good growth at 50 °C was selected for further characterization. Molecular characterization by 16S rRNA gene analysis and BLAST analysis revealed 99% similarity with Pediococcus pentosaceus Ni1142. The isolated culture was named as Pediococcus sp. HLV1, and the sequence was submitted to the NCBI databank as accession number MH921241. The isolated strain is able to utilize a wide range of carbohydrate substrates including glucose, fructose, sucrose, lactose, maltose, and xylose. The major fermentation product from glucose is lactic acid. Pediococcus sp. HLV1 showed optimum growth and production of lactic acid with glucose as carbon source (10%) and yeast extract as nitrogen source (0.3%) at pH 7.0 and 40 °C. As well-known probiotic bacteria, the isolated Pediococcus spp. also showed antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and more specifically inhibited Gram-positive Bacillus. Using the above optimal conditions, lactic acid from a fresh mango peel extract was studied, and at the end of the fermentation, 5.2% (v/v) of lactic acid was produced. In conclusion, the isolated LAB Pediococcus sp. strain HLV1 is able to grow and produce lactic acid at a high temperature (45 °C) and to survive at 50 °C. Mango peel, a by-product of mango pulp industries, can be utilized as one of the economically cheap feedstocks for industrial production of lactic acid by the Pediococcus sp. strain HLV1. Full article

The breeding of tropical fruit trees for improving fruit traits is complicated, due to the long juvenile phase, generation cycle, parthenocarpy, polyploidy, polyembryony, heterozygosity and biotic and abiotic factors, as well as a lack of good genomic resources. Many molecular techniques have recently evolved to assist and hasten conventional breeding efforts. Molecular markers linked to fruit development and fruit quality traits such as fruit shape, size, texture, aroma, peel and pulp colour were identified in tropical fruit crops, facilitating Marker-assisted breeding (MAB). An increase in the availability of genome sequences of tropical fruits further aided in the discovery of SNP variants/Indels, QTLs and genes that can ascertain the genetic determinants of fruit characters. Through multi-omics approaches such as genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and proteomics, the identification and quantification of transcripts, including non-coding RNAs, involved in sugar metabolism, fruit development and ripening, shelf life, and the biotic and abiotic stress that impacts fruit quality were made possible. Utilizing genomic assisted breeding methods such as genome wide association (GWAS), genomic selection (GS) and genetic modifications using CRISPR/Cas9 and transgenics has paved the way to studying gene function and developing cultivars with desirable fruit traits by overcoming long breeding cycles. Such comprehensive multi-omics approaches related to fruit characters in tropical fruits and their applications in breeding strategies and crop improvement are reviewed, discussed and presented here. Full article

The reuse of food chain residues is topical. This revaluation can extract bioactive compounds from these residues. However, extraction involves chemicals that cause environmental damage. In the present work, an experimental design with natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) has been carried out for extracting bioactive compounds from orange peel residues. NADES have a very low environmental impact. The tests were performed with five different NADES, mixed with 70% water. The results were compared with ethanol–water 50%, v:v, showing that NADES solvents provided better extraction of phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity. The shelf-life of the extracts was also evaluated, based on the above tests, for 4 weeks, finding significant changes from day 15 of storage at 4 °C. Full article