scholarly journals Hop Leaves as an Alternative Source of Health-Active Compounds: Effect of Genotype and Drying Conditions

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Valentina Macchioni ◽  
Valentina Picchi ◽  
Katya Carbone
Keyword(s):  
Central Italy ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Drying Methods ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
Molecular Fingerprints ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Drying Treatment ◽  
Valuable Product ◽  
Drying Conditions

In hop cultivation, one-third of the crop is a valuable product (hop cones), and two-thirds is unexploited biomass, consisting mainly of leaves and stems, which, in a circular economy approach, can be recovered and, once stabilized, supplied to industrial sectors, such as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and phytotherapy, with high added value. In this regard, this study aimed to investigate the effects of two different drying methods: oven drying (OD) at 45 °C and freeze-drying (FD), on the overall nutraceutical profile (i.e., total phenols, total flavans and total thiols), pigment content (i.e., carotenoids and chlorophylls) and the antioxidant potential of leaves from five different Humulus lupulus varieties grown in central Italy. Moreover, attenuated total reflectance infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy was applied to dried leaf powders to study the influence of both the variety and treatment on their molecular fingerprints. The spectral data were then analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA), which was able to group the samples mainly based on the applied treatment. Considering the overall phytochemical profile, FD appeared to be the most suitable drying method, while OD provided higher carotenoid retention, depending on the genotype considered. Finally, unsupervised chemometric tools (i.e., PCA and hierarchical clustering) revealed that the two main clusters contained subclusters based on the drying treatment applied; these subgroups were related to the susceptibility of the variety to the drying conditions studied.

scholarly journals Biodegradable and Compostable Shopping Bags under Investigation by FTIR Spectroscopy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 621
Author(s):  
Silvana Alfei ◽  
Anna Maria Schito ◽  
Guendalina Zuccari
Keyword(s):  
Principal Component Analysis ◽  
Ftir Spectroscopy ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Poly Lactic Acid ◽  
Chemometric Methods ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Fresh Food ◽  
Extruded Films ◽  
Productive Process ◽  
Non Destructive

In the recent years, plastic-based shopping bags have become irregular and progressively replaced by compostable ones. To be marketed, these “new plastics” must possess suitable requirements verified by specific bodies, which grant the conformity mark, and the approved physicochemical properties are periodically verified. The fast, inexpensive, non-destructive, easy to use, and reproducible Fourier-Transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a technique routinely applied to perform analysis in various industrial sectors. To get reliable information from spectral data, chemometric methods, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), are commonly suggested. In this context, PCA was herein performed on 4, 5, and 21 × 3251 matrices, collecting the FTIR data from regular and irregular shopping bags, including three freshly extruded films from the Italian industry MecPlast, to predict their compliance with legislation. The results allowed us to unequivocally achieve such information and to classify the bags as suitable for containing fresh food in bulk or only for transport. A self-validated linear model was developed capable to estimate, by acquiring a single FTIR spectrum if, after the productive process, the content of renewable poly-lactic-acid (PLA) in a new produced film respect the expectations. Surprisingly, our findings established that among the grocery bags available on the market, irregular plastic-based shopping bags continue to survive.

scholarly journals Remaining Useful Life Prediction of Broken Rotor Bar Based on Data-Driven and Degradation Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 7175
Author(s):  
Islem Bejaoui ◽  
Dario Bruneo ◽  
Maria Gabriella Xibilia
Keyword(s):  
Principal Component Analysis ◽  
Induction Motor ◽  
Life Prediction ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Component Analysis ◽  
Remaining Useful Life ◽  
Degradation Model ◽  
Broken Rotor Bar ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Useful Life

Rotating machines such as induction motors are crucial parts of most industrial systems. The prognostic health management of induction motor rotors plays an essential role in increasing electrical machine reliability and safety, especially in critical industrial sectors. This paper presents a new approach for rotating machine fault prognosis under broken rotor bar failure, which involves the modeling of the failure mechanism, the health indicator construction, and the remaining useful life prediction. This approach combines signal processing techniques, inherent metrics, and principal component analysis to monitor the induction motor. Time- and frequency-domains features allowing for tracking the degradation trend of motor critical components that are extracted from torque, stator current, and speed signals. The most meaningful features are selected using inherent metrics, while two health indicators representing the degradation process of the broken rotor bar are constructed by applying the principal component analysis. The estimation of the remaining useful life is then obtained using the degradation model. The performance of the prediction results is evaluated using several criteria of prediction accuracy. A set of synthetic data collected from a degraded Simulink model of the rotor through simulations is used to validate the proposed approach. Experimental results show that using the developed prognostic methodology is a powerful strategy to improve the prognostic of induction motor degradation.

scholarly journals Voxelwise Principal Component Analysis of Dynamic [S-Methyl-11C]Methionine PET Data in Glioma Patients

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2342
Author(s):  
Corentin Martens ◽  
Olivier Debeir ◽  
Christine Decaestecker ◽  
Thierry Metens ◽  
Laetitia Lebrun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Principal Component Analysis ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Component Analysis ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Time Activity ◽  
Positron Emission ◽  
Activity Curve ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Mean Time ◽  
Met Pet

Recent works have demonstrated the added value of dynamic amino acid positron emission tomography (PET) for glioma grading and genotyping, biopsy targeting, and recurrence diagnosis. However, most of these studies are based on hand-crafted qualitative or semi-quantitative features extracted from the mean time activity curve within predefined volumes. Voxelwise dynamic PET data analysis could instead provide a better insight into intra-tumor heterogeneity of gliomas. In this work, we investigate the ability of principal component analysis (PCA) to extract relevant quantitative features from a large number of motion-corrected [S-methyl-11C]methionine ([11C]MET) PET frames. We first demonstrate the robustness of our methodology to noise by means of numerical simulations. We then build a PCA model from dynamic [11C]MET acquisitions of 20 glioma patients. In a distinct cohort of 13 glioma patients, we compare the parametric maps derived from our PCA model to these provided by the classical one-compartment pharmacokinetic model (1TCM). We show that our PCA model outperforms the 1TCM to distinguish characteristic dynamic uptake behaviors within the tumor while being less computationally expensive and not requiring arterial sampling. Such methodology could be valuable to assess the tumor aggressiveness locally with applications for treatment planning and response evaluation. This work further supports the added value of dynamic over static [11C]MET PET in gliomas.

scholarly journals Sprouting of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench): Effect of Drying Treatment on Protein and Starch Features

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia Marchini ◽  
Alessandra Marti ◽  
Claudia Folli ◽  
Barbara Prandi ◽  
Tommaso Ganino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
High Exposure ◽  
Effective Technology ◽  
Drying Treatment ◽  
Higher Temperature ◽  
Lower Temperature ◽  
The One ◽  
Drying Conditions ◽  
Sorghum Bicolor L

The nutritional and physicochemical properties of sorghum proteins and starch make the use of this cereal for food production challenging. Sprouting is a cost-effective technology to improve the nutritional and functional profile of grains. Two drying treatments were used after sorghum sprouting to investigate whether the drying phase could improve the protein and starch functionalities. Results showed that the drying treatment at lower temperature/longer time (40 °C for 12 h) extended the enzymatic activity that started during sprouting compared to the one performed at higher temperature/shorter time (50 °C for 6 h). An increased protein hydrolysis and water- and oil-holding capacity were found in the flour obtained by the former treatment. Higher protein matrix hydrolysis caused high exposure of starch to enzymes, thus increasing its digestibility, while worsening the technological functionality. Overall, modulating drying conditions could represent a further way, in addition to sprouting, to improve sorghum flour’s nutritional profile.

scholarly journals Natural Drying of Astringent and Non-Astringent Persimmon “Rojo Brillante”. Drying Kinetics and Physico-Chemical Properties

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 647
Author(s):  
Cristina M. González ◽  
Rebeca Gil ◽  
Gemma Moraga ◽  
Alejandra Salvador
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Drying Kinetics ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Diospyros Kaki ◽  
Drying Characteristics ◽  
Water Diffusivity ◽  
Physico Chemical ◽  
Drying Treatment ◽  
Effective Water ◽  
Natural Drying

Persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.f.) crop has markedly increased in Spain, and “Rojo Brillante” persimmon is the main cultivated variety. This astringent cultivar requires de-astringency treatment before commercialization, which may involve an extra cost. Its short commercial season implies handling large volumes of fruits with consequent postharvest losses. Therefore, the development of derived added-value products is of much interest. In this study, astringent and non-astringent “Rojo Brillante” persimmons were dehydrated by following a natural drying method used in Asia. The drying kinetics and physico-chemical properties were analyzed for 81 days. The results indicated subsequent reductions in weight, water content, and water activity throughout the drying process, and the equatorial diameter decreased. All the employed thin-layer mathematical models were suitable for representing the drying characteristics of both products with similar behavior. The effective water diffusivity values were 5.07 × 10−11 m2 s−1 and 6.07 × 10−11 m2 s−1 for astringent and non-astringent persimmon samples, respectively. The drying treatment significantly decreased the soluble tannins content, and the astringent samples obtained similar values to those obtained for the non-astringent samples in 20 days. The external and internal flesh of the astringent fruit remained orange through the drying period, while brown coloration in the non-astringent fruit was observed after 57 drying days. Therefore, prior de-astringency treatment would not be necessary.

scholarly journals Functional ANOVA approaches for detecting changes in air pollution during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Acal ◽  
Ana M. Aguilera ◽  
Annalina Sarra ◽  
Adelia Evangelista ◽  
Tonio Di Battista ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Functional Data ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Functional Principal Component Analysis ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Pm 10 ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Monitoring Stations

AbstractFaced with novel coronavirus outbreak, the most hard-hit countries adopted a lockdown strategy to contrast the spread of virus. Many studies have already documented that the COVID-19 control actions have resulted in improved air quality locally and around the world. Following these lines of research, we focus on air quality changes in the urban territory of Chieti-Pescara (Central Italy), identified as an area of criticality in terms of air pollution. Concentrations of $$\hbox {NO}_{{2}}$$ NO 2 , $$\hbox {PM}_{{10}}$$ PM 10 , $$\hbox {PM}_{2.5}$$ PM 2.5 and benzene are used to evaluate air pollution changes in this Region. Data were measured by several monitoring stations over two specific periods: from 1st February to 10 th March 2020 (before lockdown period) and from 11st March 2020 to 18 th April 2020 (during lockdown period). The impact of lockdown on air quality is assessed through functional data analysis. Our work makes an important contribution to the analysis of variance for functional data (FANOVA). Specifically, a novel approach based on multivariate functional principal component analysis is introduced to tackle the multivariate FANOVA problem for independent measures, which is reduced to test multivariate homogeneity on the vectors of the most explicative principal components scores. Results of the present study suggest that the level of each pollutant changed during the confinement. Additionally, the differences in the mean functions of all pollutants according to the location and type of monitoring stations (background vs traffic), are ascribable to the $$\hbox {PM}_{{10}}$$ PM 10 and benzene concentrations for pre-lockdown and during-lockdown tenure, respectively. FANOVA has proven to be beneficial to monitoring the evolution of air quality in both periods of time. This can help environmental protection agencies in drawing a more holistic picture of air quality status in the area of interest.

scholarly journals Influence of Pear Variety and Drying Methods on the Quality of Dried Fruit

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (21) ◽  
pp. 5146
Author(s):  
Agata Marzec ◽  
Hanna Kowalska ◽  
Jolanta Kowalska ◽  
Ewa Domian ◽  
Andrzej Lenart
Keyword(s):  
Principal Component ◽  
Acoustic Method ◽  
Drying Methods ◽  
Drying Method ◽  
Drying Time ◽  
Good Taste ◽  
Dried Fruit ◽  
Breaking Work ◽  
Alexander Lucas

In this study, the impacts of two different pear cultivars, “Conference” and “Alexander Lucas”, on the kinetics and the final quality of samples dried by convection (CD) and microwave-convection (MCD) methods, were investigated. The quality of dried material was evaluated by the analysis of water activity, porosity, color, acoustic emission (AE) and mechanical and sensory properties. The required drying time to obtain 0.2 kg H2O/kg dry solid (d.s.) was longer for “Conference” than “Alexander Lucas” and was 20 min by CD and 5 min by MCD. The pear cultivar, in conjunction with the drying method (CD or MCD), affected the number of AE events and the work of breaking. The CD pear of the “Conference” cultivar was characterized by higher force, higher breaking work and stronger AE relative to the CD pear of the “Alexander Lucas” cultivar. There were no differences in taste or overall quality, but the hardness was higher for the CD “Conference” pear. A principal component analysis showed that panelists preferred dried fruit with good taste and overall quality but lower hardness. A positive correlation was found between the number of acoustic events and sensory hardness; thus, an acoustic method can be useful for effectively evaluating the texture of dried pears. These results show that the dried pear slices that generated fewer AE events upon breaking were perceived as better by the panelists.

scholarly journals Studies on drying characteristic, nutritional composition, and antioxidant properties of Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) leaves

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolanda B. Moguel-Ordóñez ◽  
Diana L. Cabrera-Amaro ◽  
Maira R. Segura-Campos ◽  
Jorge C. Ruiz-Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
Antioxidant Properties ◽  
Reducing Power ◽  
Stevia Rebaudiana ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Nutritional Composition ◽  
Antioxidant Compounds ◽  
Drying Methods ◽  
Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni ◽  
Trolox Equivalent ◽  
Drying Treatment

Abstract Drying characteristics of Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) leaves using radiation drying, convection drying, sun drying, and shade drying treatments were investigated in a convective type. Results for all treatments indicated that drying took place in the falling rate period. The chroma of the dried samples ranged between 29.66 and 23.85. Convection and shade drying samples were found better in colour and had the highest content of total pigments. The proximate and fibre composition were affected by the drying treatments. Extracts obtained from convection drying and shade drying leaves exhibited higher values of Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacities 416.89-423.64 mM mg−1 and ferric reducing power 85.19-87.97%. These extracts also showed ion chelating capacity 59.05-60.21% for Cu+2 and 55.05-59.11% for Fe+2. The results indicate that it is possible to select the drying treatment to obtain the best nutritional and biological properties. Convection drying and shade drying were the least aggressive treatments and leaf powders obtained by these drying methods could be used as sources of nutrients, fibre, and antioxidant compounds.

The Impact of Drying Methods on Paper Physical Properties

2012 ◽  
Vol 602-604 ◽  
pp. 2267-2272
Author(s):  
Shu Lei Zhao ◽  
Zheng Yuan Wei ◽  
Xiao Tian Ding ◽  
Qiang Lin
Keyword(s):  
Physical Properties ◽  
Vacuum Drying ◽  
Drying Methods ◽  
Mechanical Pulp ◽  
Bursting Strength ◽  
Tensile Index ◽  
Chemical Pulp ◽  
Drying Conditions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Tearing Resistance

This paper experimentally examined the impact of four different drying methods (free drying, press drying, vacuum drying and impingement drying) on paper physical properties including roughness, elongation, air permeance, tearing resistance, tensile index and bursting strength. The handsheets materials are HWBKP (Hardwood Bleached Chemical Pulp), SWBKP (Softwood Bleached Chemical Pulp), CTMP (Chemical Thermo mechanical Pulp) and ATMP (Advanced Thermo Mechanical Pulp). Good experimental data were obtained for the four pulps under different drying conditions. The results of our investigation indicate that press drying have lower surface roughness, elongation and air permeance but higher tearing resistance; the vacuum drying have higher roughness, tensile index and bursting strength; the impingement drying have lower tearing resistance, tensile index and bursting strength but higher elongation and air permeance. Selection of different drying conditions for effective productivity and quality improvement potential is proposed as a direction for the future dryer design.

Towards Chinese smart manufacturing ecosystem in the context of the one belt one road initiative

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafif Al-Sayed ◽  
Jianhua Yang
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Industrial Clusters ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Smart Manufacturing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Regional Collaboration

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically China’s determined thrust to attain a high level of technological innovation and the factors affecting moving towards a smart and sophisticated manufacturing ecosystem in conjunction with the Belt and Road Initiative (OBOR). Design/methodology/approach This research provides empirical determination of the factors affecting moving towards smart manufacturing ecosystems in China. The method is based on combining two approaches: semi-structured interview and questionnaire-based with academics, experts and managers in various Chinese industrial sectors. The results are based on the multivariate analysis of the collected data. A case study of the current manufacturing ecosystem was also analyzed, in order to understand the present state as well as the potential for China’s competitive edge in the developed OBOR countries. Findings The results illustrate the importance of the infrastructure dimension comprising variables related to ecosystems, industrial clusters and Internet of Things IoT and other advanced technologies. A case study of the city of Shenzhen’s transformation into a smart cluster for innovative manufacturing points out how China’s OBOR initiative for regional collaboration will further transform the regional smart clusters into an ultra-large innovation based smart ecosystem. Originality/value This research is the first to study China’ policies towards playing a prominent role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution 4IR in the context of the OBOR initiative, through empirically defining the factors affecting moving towards a knowledge-intensive smart manufacturing ecosystem where the added value is mostly innovation based.

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