Search Results (6,235)

Soil stoichiometric characteristics serve as key indicators for assessing soil nutrient status and quality. Previous studies have predominantly focused on surface soil (0–40 cm), with limited understanding of deep soil (>40 cm) stoichiometric traits and their underlying drivers. In this study, we provide a case study of three typical restoration stands from China’s Loess Plateau, which compared differences between surface and deep soil layers in stoichiometric traits and influencing factors. Soil samples were systematically collected at 20 cm intervals down to bedrock to analyze the reserves and stoichiometric differences in C, N, and P between surface and deep soil layers, and to identify relevant environmental influencing factors. The results showed that: (1) Within this Loess Plateau case study, deep soil accounted for 33%–47% of the total profile storage of C, N, and P, representing a critical nutrient reservoir. (2) The differences from China’s average in C:N and C:P were markedly greater in deep soil (15.55 and 68.62, respectively) than in surface soil (11.63 and 8.31, respectively), indicating more pronounced nitrogen and phosphorus limitations in deep soil. (3) The factors influencing surface soil stoichiometry were mainly climate-related and biological interaction (altitude, soil water content and pH), while those for deep soil layers were factors related to nutrient storage and transport (soil thickness, soil bulk density and altitude). These results highlight that neglecting deep soil can lead to substantial underestimation of ecosystem nutrient reserves and misinterpretation of soil stoichiometry and its drivers. Therefore, we advocate incorporating deep soil into sampling designs in stoichiometric studies and attach more research attention to deep soil’s stoichiometry and its role in biogeochemical cycling. Full article

Fish are nutritionally valuable foods but are also highly perishable, representing a major research focus for the development of effective preservation strategies to delay spoilage while maintaining microbiological acceptability. In this context, edible coatings have gained increasing attention as clean-label tools to extend the shelf life of perishable foods. In this study, an alginate-based emulsion containing oregano essential oil (OEO) was applied to commercial frozen–thawed ready-to-cook (RTC) hake fillets, intentionally selected as a reproducible model system to evaluate coating performance under refrigerated conditions. Coated and uncoated fillets, stored at 4 °C for up to 7 days, were monitored over time for microbiological and physicochemical parameters, including microbial loads, pH, weight loss, and lipid oxidation (TBARS). Compared to uncoated samples, fillets treated with the alginate–OEO emulsion exhibited a marked delay in spoilage-related microbial growth, with a consistent inhibition of Pseudomonas spp. throughout the experimental period, while maintaining microbiological acceptability. Emulsion-based coated fillets also exhibited reduced lipid oxidation, a more uniform surface appearance with only minor visible color changes, and the absence of unpleasant off odors during the refrigerated storage. Overall, the results demonstrate that the alginate–OEO coating could represent an effective strategy for improving the microbiological and oxidative stability of RTC fish fillets under refrigerated conditions, with potential implications for extended shelf life and a reduction in food waste. Full article

Recycling winery by-products into small ruminant diets is an effective strategy to increase the dairy supply chain’s sustainability. The study aimed to assess the effects of a 12% replacement of alfalfa hay with ensiled black grape pomace (BGP) in a Murciano-Granadina goat diet on yogurt’s technological, nutritional and sensory properties. The yogurt was manufactured across three milk samplings in a pilot plant and stored for 1, 14, and 28 days. Data were submitted to ANOVA testing diet and storage factors and their interaction. Compared to the control diet, both in milk and yogurt, BGP significantly increased fat content and reduced yellowness (b*). The winery by-product also affected the yogurt’s fatty acid profile given the increase in C18:1 trans11 and total CLA isomers, and a decrease in PUFA n-3. A moderate influence on sensory traits was observed, including a higher overall acceptance. The yogurt’s storage time did not affect any of the investigated quality traits. The outcomes suggested that the recycling of the winery by-product into the goat diet could enhance the overall quality of the obtained yogurt, as well as the sustainability and circular economy contributing to achieve a zero-waste strategy in the involved dairy goat supply chain. Full article

The interruption of primary conservation procedures during food handling and preparation represents a critical operational phase for food microbiological safety, especially in environments characterized by repeated manipulation and continuous human presence. This study investigates the application of visible blue–violet light irradiation as a non-thermal process to mitigate microbial proliferation during post-processing handling of raw meat. Raw beef hamburgers, selected as the food model substrate, were subjected to irradiation using a blue–violet LED system operating in the 405–420 nm range and compared with non-irradiated controls under ambient and refrigerated conditions representative of real handling scenarios. Microbiological dynamics were evaluated through time-resolved enumeration of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae, while concurrent measurements of moisture loss, texture, and color were performed to assess process-related effects on macroscopic product quality. Visible-light irradiation significantly reduced the rate of microbial growth during handling, with irradiated samples consistently exhibiting lower microbial loads than controls, particularly under ambient conditions (e.g., twofold after 24 h). Under refrigeration, irradiation contributed to stabilizing microbial levels over time, indicating a synergistic effect with low-temperature storage. From a process perspective, irradiation induced moderate and progressive changes in physicochemical attributes, primarily associated with surface dehydration and color variation, without abrupt quality degradation. These results demonstrate that visible blue–violet light irradiation can be integrated as a continuous, non-UV intervention to enhance the microbiological safety of raw meat during post-processing handling, supporting its potential role as an environmental control strategy in food-handling systems. Full article

Mushroom-related intoxications pose a distinctive challenge for forensic medicine because early manifestations are non-specific, latency may be prolonged, and co-exposures can obscure the mechanism of death. This narrative review summarizes key toxic and psychoactive fungi and their principal compounds, spanning organ-toxic syndromes (amatoxins, orellanine) and functional neuropsychiatric intoxications—acute, predominantly functional effects causing impairment rather than organ failure (psilocybin/psilocin, ibotenic acid/muscimol). We propose an integrated diagnostic workflow combining exposure history, biochemical markers of organ injury, mycological assessment, and confirmatory toxicology. Particular emphasis is placed on postmortem interpretation: toxin instability and biotransformation, conjugation, matrix effects, postmortem redistribution (central vs. femoral blood), and postmortem fungal colonization that may alter analyte profiles or generate misleading metabolites. Because robust lethality thresholds are unavailable for most mushroom toxins, conclusions should rely on a multi-source synthesis of scene information, autopsy/histopathology, and time-dependent matrix selection (urine, gastric contents/vomitus, bile, and selected tissues; kidney for late orellanine confirmation). We review current screening and confirmatory methods—ELISA; LC-MS/MS, LC-HRMS/MS, GC-MS—and highlight pre-analytical requirements (rapid sampling, cold storage) to reduce false negatives. Finally, we discuss emerging directions such as point-of-care tests, portable mass spectrometry, and DNA barcoding for species identification. Full article

This study presents the first comprehensive assessment of a bacteriophage P100-activated edible whey-protein solution (WPS) applied to the rind of Sicilian Canestrato Fresco (SCF) cheese. Beyond evaluating its anti-Listeria efficacy in pre- and post-packaging contamination contexts, the work investigates the coating’s effects on chemical composition, volatilome, sensory properties, and consumer responses, including willingness to pay. To assess anti-Listeria activity, all samples were stored at 4 °C for 30 days. Contamination was carried out either before or after coating application, depending on the specific treatment. Listeria monocytogenes was monitored at 0, 1, 3, 7, 15, and 30 days of refrigerated storage. The active coating reduced the pathogen from approximately 3 log CFU/g to undetectable levels (0 log CFU/g) within 3 days, whereas the untreated controls reached about 5 log CFU/g after 30 days. WPS-coated cheeses showed no significant changes in chemical composition (moisture ~33%, protein ~29%, fat ~33%) or fatty acid profile compared to traditional SCF. The volatilome was dominated by hexanoic and butanoic acids and ethyl esters, without significant differences between coated and control samples, as confirmed by Smart Nose^® analysis. Sensory evaluation by trained assessors demonstrated that the bioactive coating did not alter the traditional sensory profile of SCF cheese. A consumer survey conducted with 240 participants from two retail formats revealed significant differences in product familiarity and perceived food safety, while openness to innovation and willingness to pay were similar. More than 90% of respondents were willing to pay a 10% price premium. Overall, phage-based edible coatings appear to be edible, renewable, and biodegradable packaging alternative to improve cheese safety without compromising quality. Full article

Background/Objectives: The effects of thermal drying on the viability of beneficial microorganisms immobilized in biochar, as well as on biochar nutrient retention, remain insufficiently understood. This study aimed to evaluate how drying temperature influences the survival of hyper-ammonia-producing bacteria (HAB) immobilized on pine wood biochar and to assess the impact of subsequent storage on bacterial recovery and nutrient stability. Methods: Biochar was inoculated with HAB and subjected to drying at temperatures ranging from 40 to 60 °C. Following drying, samples were characterized and stored for 30 days. Microbial revival was assessed through reculturing, while changes in surface functional groups were analyzed using FTIR spectroscopy. Nutrient retention, particularly nitrogen content, was also evaluated. Results: Higher drying temperatures resulted in reduced immediate microbial revival during reculturing. However, samples exhibiting limited immediate recovery demonstrated enhanced revival after the 30-day storage period. FTIR analysis revealed that drying temperature modified the availability of surface functional groups associated with microbial attachment and activity. Nutrient analysis indicated only minor reductions in nitrogen retention in biochar dried at temperatures above 55 °C. Conclusions: Drying temperature significantly affects both the short-term survival and post-storage recovery of beneficial microorganisms immobilized in biochar. While elevated temperatures may initially suppress microbial activity, recovery potential during storage remains substantial. Optimizing drying conditions is therefore essential to balance microbial viability with nutrient retention in biochar-based formulations. Full article

Background: Cryopreservation is a key enabling technology for cell-based therapies and regenerative medicine; however, the toxicity associated with permeating cryoprotective agents such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) remains a major limitation, particularly for applications requiring repeated cell administration or long-term storage. Methods: In this study, silk-derived proteins, namely silk fibroin and silk sericin, were investigated as biomaterial-based cryoprotective additives to enable DMSO-sparing cryopreservation strategies. Mouse fibroblasts (3T3) were cryopreserved at −80 °C using conventional DMSO-based media, silk-only formulations, and hybrid formulations combining silk proteins with reduced DMSO concentrations. Post-thaw cell adhesion, metabolic activity, membrane integrity, and cytoskeletal organization were systematically evaluated over a 7-day culture period. Results: Complete replacement of DMSO with silk proteins was insufficient to ensure cell survival, confirming the essential role of permeating cryoprotectants for intracellular protection. In contrast, formulations combining silk fibroin or sericin with 5% (v/v) DMSO supported robust post-thaw viability, preserved cytoskeletal architecture, and promoted favorable recovery kinetics, with cell viability consistently exceeding established biocompatibility thresholds and higher than samples with DMSO alone. Conclusions: These findings support the integration of biomaterial-based components into hybrid cryopreservation formulations and provide design principles relevant to the preservation of more complex multicellular systems. Full article

This study proposed a Kriging surrogate model incorporating active learning to overcome the high computational costs associated with conducting reliability and sensitivity analyses of industrial liquid storage tank structures. In the proposed method, the Kriging surrogate model efficiently captures the functional relationships between basic variables and structural responses. Two learning functions, i.e., the U learning function and the EFF learning function, are adopted to screen the training sample pool to identify and iteratively update the optimal next training sample point in the model. This strategy significantly reduces the number of limit state functions and finite element analysis calculations required, considerably decreasing the computational cost of analysis. Results from the liquid storage tank case study demonstrate that the adaptive learning Kriging method can achieve failure probability estimation at the order of 10⁻⁵ with only approximately 100 limit state function (LSF) evaluations. Additionally, it is found that the pressure exerted by the tank contents has the most significant impact on the tank’s structural reliability, followed by tank thickness and then tank radius. Full article

Edge computing has garnered significant attention in recent years due to its potential in distributed systems. However, the dynamic and heterogeneous nature of edge environments introduces substantial challenges for task scheduling. Conventional rule-based scheduling algorithms often fail to adapt to rapid load fluctuations, resulting in cluster load imbalance and suboptimal resource utilization. To address this issue, we propose a container-based edge cluster scheduling framework designed to enhance load balancing. Within this framework, we introduce an Experience-Prioritized Reinforcement Scheduler (EPRS), which leverages a priority-driven sample selection mechanism to facilitate focused learning of high-value samples. The EPRS dynamically monitors node resource states via a real-time resource monitor and optimizes multi-dimensional resource allocation by jointly considering node-level metrics (e.g., computational resources, memory pressure, storage performance, and container density) and task-specific resource requirements. To validate our approach, we implemented a system prototype integrated with the proposed framework and EPRS in a Kubernetes-based edge cluster. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly improves multi-dimensional load balancing performance, achieving an average gain of 28.25% over existing reinforcement learning-based scheduling approaches and a 29.78% improvement compared with the traditional scheduling algorithm. Full article

Hard-shelled organisms colonizing marine engineering surfaces accumulate carbonate inorganic carbon in their shells, yet quantification typically relies on destructive sampling, hindering long-term monitoring. This study develops a deep learning-based, non-destructive framework to estimate shell carbonate carbon storage from in situ images. Panels of different surface materials were deployed in the nearshore waters of Liuheng Island (Zhoushan) and monitored for five months, yielding 90 panel images from June to October. An improved Mask R-CNN identified barnacles and bivalves and extracted shell dimensions, which were combined with allometric relationships and measured shell carbonate carbon fractions (12.07% for barnacles; 12.14% for bivalves) to estimate carbon storage. Peak colonization occurred on uncoated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) panels in September (~110 individuals per panel), corresponding to 1.061 g carbonate carbon per panel. The model achieved recall/precision of 0.86/0.89 under complex nearshore conditions; image-derived dimensions agreed with manual measurements (R² = 0.95). Allometric models showed R² of 0.82 (barnacles) and 0.90 (bivalves), and panel-scale estimation errors were <15%. The method enables non-destructive quantitative characterization and comparison of shell carbonate carbon storage across materials and exposure conditions for long-term monitoring. Full article

The mixture of honey and propolis has become increasingly popular due to its potential functional and antimicrobial properties, generating interest in its stability and quality during storage. This study aimed to evaluate the evolution of physico-chemical and microbiological parameters of honey enriched with different propolis concentrations (0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%, w/w) over a 30-day period under controlled storage conditions. Honey samples with and without propolis were stored at 20 °C in the absence of light, and physico-chemical parameters (moisture content, electrical conductivity, pH, and acidity), antioxidant-related indicators (total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and DPPH radical scavenging activity), and microbiological parameters (the total aerobic viable count, yeast and mold counts, and coliform bacteria counts) were analyzed at defined intervals. The results showed that the monitored physico-chemical parameters remained stable throughout the storage period, indicating good product stability. Antioxidant-related parameters increased proportionally with the concentration of propolis added, reflecting the contribution of phenolic compounds and flavonoids present in propolis. Microbiological analysis confirmed the absence of coliform bacteria in all samples, while a gradual increase in total viable count and in yeast and mold counts was observed in propolis-enriched honey samples during storage. Overall, the findings indicate that honey–propolis mixtures maintain physico-chemical stability, comply with microbiological safety requirements, and exhibit enhanced antioxidant potential during short-term storage. These conclusions are limited to the 30-day storage period investigated and should not be extrapolated to long-term storage stability. Full article

Grain is highly vulnerable to contamination by fungi during storage, leading to reduced product quality and substantial economic losses. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have the potential to be used as antifungal agents; however, strains aimed at inhibiting stored grain molds remain limited, and the inhibitory mechanisms require further investigation. To solve this problem, 71 LAB strains were isolated from various samples. Among these, 17 strains exhibiting inhibitory activity against A. flavus, A. niger and P. citrinum were selected using a dual-layer plate assay. Based on morphological characterization and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, these strains were classified as Weissella cibaria, Pediococcus pentosaceus, and Lactiplantibacillus paraplantarum. Further investigations involving pH adjustment, catalase, and proteinase K treatments confirmed that organic acids were the primary antifungal substances in LAB cell-free supernatant (CFS). HPLC quantification identified acetic acid, malic acid, lactic acid, phenyllactic acid and citric acid contained in the CFS. Antifungal assays verified that acetic acid and lactic acid exhibited the strongest inhibitory effects against P. citrinum and A. flavus, whereas phenyllactic acid and acetic acid demonstrated the most potent suppression against A. niger. These findings established a theoretical basis for the application of LAB CFS in grain storage. Full article

Egg yolk coloration influences consumer perceptions of table eggs. Red pepper (Capsicum annuum) is a known dietary source of carotenoids, which enhances yolk pigmentation, but its effects in silky fowl (SF) remain unexplored. We examined how dried red pepper flakes influence blood biochemical parameters and egg quality in SF hens. Sixty hens were divided into three groups: basal ration (control), low supplementation (3.5 mg/100 g), and high supplementation (7.0 mg/100 g). During a 35-day feeding period, eggs collected in the final week were maintained at 4 or 25 °C for quality evaluations. Haugh units and the yolk index were decreased significantly in eggs maintained at 25 °C compared with those in the day 0 and 4 °C samples, whereas the yolk carotenoid content decreased with the storage duration, particularly in the high-supplementation group. CIELAB parameters (L*, a*, a/b), except for b*, were more strongly associated with the ZEN-NOH Yolk Color Chart Score than the DSM Yolk Color Fan Score, particularly in the high-supplementation group. In addition, serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was increased, and triglyceride levels were decreased in the high-supplementation group. In conclusion, dietary red pepper flakes enhance yolk pigmentation and lipid metabolism in SF hens. Moreover, ZEN-NOH YCCS provides a reliable indicator of the yolk color after dietary carotenoid supplementation. Full article

In this study, we investigated the electrochemical properties and performance characteristics of Co_xS_y and silicon–carbon-based heterostructures synthesized on nickel foam substrates for energy storage applications. Cobalt sulfide films were successfully electrodeposited on nickel foam (NF) using cyclic voltammetry (CV) from the solutions with different Co²⁺ concentrations. The presence of a silicon–carbon sublayer promotes the deposition of cobalt sulfide material. The amorphous phase of α-CoS was observed by the X-ray diffraction technique. Raman spectroscopy confirmed the formation of CoS and CoS₂ phases. A significant increase in electrode areal capacitance is observed with the silicon–carbon film sublayer from 0.5 to 1.3 F·cm⁻² and from 1.6 to 2.3 F·cm⁻² at 3 mA·cm⁻² for samples prepared from solutions with CoCl₂·6H₂O concentrations of 0.005 M and 0.02 M, respectively. In the case of gravimetric capacitance, an increase is observed in the presence of a silicon–carbon sublayer for the SiC@CoS_0.005 sample, rising from 690 F·g⁻¹ to 748 F·g⁻¹ at 4 A·g⁻¹. Conversely, the SiC@CoS_0.02 sample shows a decrease from 1287 F·g⁻¹ to 6590 F·g⁻¹. It was shown that the capacitance of all the electrodes derives from the mix of diffusion-controlled and surface-controlled capacitance processes. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis indicates that the formation of heterostructure materials significantly alters the electrochemical properties by reducing both R_f and R_s. Full article