Preparation of tambacu protein concentrates using different methodologies

The aim of this study was to develop methodologies to obtain fish protein concentrates from tambacu filleting residues, characterize their physical-chemical composition and evaluate their sensory profile. Concentrates were prepared by one of three methodologies: cooking of the raw material and subsequent drying (FPC1); cooking, drying, lipid removal with ethanol at 70 °C and final drying (FPC2); and three washing steps of the raw material with ethanol at 70 °C and drying (FPC3). FPC2 had a lower final yield (15.5%) and chroma a* (1.77) and chroma b* values (14.12) but higher moisture (5.22%) and protein content (80.39%) and luminosity (74.97), in addition to having the weakest fish taste compared to FPC1 and FPC3. FPC1 had the strongest odour, darkest colour, and strongest fish taste compared to FPC2 and FPC3. Ash, pH values, and water activity were not different between the concentrates. It is concluded that the methodology where lipid removal steps are carried out after cooking and drying (FPC2) is more effective for the removal of lipids and deodorization of tambacu protein concentrate.

Effect of plant growth regulators on two different types of eggplant flowers regarding style length and fruit setting

Aim of study: (i) to explore differences between eggplant flowers capable of setting fruit including long (LGs) and medium style flowers (MEs) and those which suffer from severe problems with fertility and fruit setting including short style ones (SRTs); (ii) to study the effect of plant growth regulators on floral morphology and fruit setting. Area of study: Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran, 2017 and 2018. Material and methods: First the floral morphology and initial fruit setting of 13 eggplant genotypes from Iran were investigated. Then the differences between LGs and SRTs of two genotypes were explored. Finally, the effect of 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and spermidine (Spd) on floral morphology and initial and final fruit setting of these two genotypes was determined. Main results: Results showed SRTs were not capable of fruit setting. Compared to SRTs, LGs had larger central canals, higher protein, total sugar, reducing sugar and K concentrations, as well as longer polar axis and pollen tubes and greater pollen viability. Although 1.5 mM Spd and 20 mg L-1 NAA resulted in increasing of LGs and MEs, and also total initial fruit set, surprisingly, no significant differences were observed in the final yield and final fruit set between the control and these treatments. Researching highlights: Since the rate of fruit dropping was higher in those treatments compared to the control, plants with more SRTs likely regulate their final load by abscising their flowers, and plants with more LGs regulate them by abscising their fruits.

Development of Decision Support System Based on the Bayes ARD Algorithm for Irrigation of Cotton

Cotton is a plant, which is mainly cultivated in regions where the irrigation is necessary as rainwater is not adequate. Researches in the recent years have showed that the irrigation water used could be declined. Improvements in the technological field has made Decision Support Systems combined with Neural Networks and data analysis, an important tool of sustainable agriculture. Cotton producers need to reduce irrigation water needs and that can be achieved by using new technologies. The development Decision Support System was conducted, having 3 different types of input. Data derived from a variety of IoT sensors, weather stations, and on-site measurements (yield and ΕΜ38) derived from 3 fields in Greece, creating a dataset of 9 different inputs. A total of 13 different algorithms were tested and evaluated in order to determine which one is the ideal for our dataset. The adoption of this technology in real data predicted the reduction of the irrigation times, ensuring that there will be no losses in the final yield.

Data-driven predictive control for the swing process of a cutter suction dredger

The working process of cutter suction dredger is complex, so it is difficult to establish accurate model by traditional physical modeling method. The final yield of cutter suction dredger is directly related to the density of the slurry in the pipeline, while the density is controlled by the swing process. Therefore, by analyzing the measured data of the dredger, it establishes the swing process mathematical model based on subspace theory. The algorithm is based on input–output data, simulation results show the algorithm is effective for the control application.

Detection and Verification of QTL for Salinity Tolerance at Germination and Seedling Stages Using Wild Barley Introgression Lines

Salinity is one of the major environmental factors that negatively affect crop development, particularly at the early growth stage of a plant and consequently the final yield. Therefore, a set of 50 wild barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum, Hsp) introgression lines (ILs) was used to detect QTL alleles improving germination and seedling growth under control, 75 mM, and 150 mM NaCl conditions. Large variation was observed for germination and seedling growth related traits that were highly heritable under salinity stress. In addition, highly significant differences were obtained for five salinity tolerance indices and between treatments as well. A total of 90 and 35 significant QTL were identified for ten investigated traits and for tolerance indices, respectively. The Hsp introgression alleles are involved in improving salinity tolerance at forty (43.9%) out of 90 QTL including introgression lines S42IL-109 (2H), S42IL-116 (4H), S42IL-132 (6H), S42IL-133 (7H), S42IL-148 (6H), and S42IL-176 (5H). Interestingly, seven exotic QTL alleles were successfully validated in the wild barley ILs including S42IL-127 (5H), 139 (7H), 125 (5H), 117 (4H), 118 (4H), 121 (4H), and 137 (7H). We conclude that the barley introgression lines contain numerous germination and seedling growth-improving novel QTL alleles, which are effective under salinity conditions.

Overexpression of full-length and partial DREB2A enhances soybean drought tolerance

Soybean is an important commodity worldwide. Abiotic conditions can adversely disturb crop growth and final yield. The transcription factor Dehydration-Responsive Element-Binding Proteins 2 (DREB2) act as a regulator of drought-responses. This study aimed to characterize soybean plants genetically modified with GmDREB2A;2 FL and GmDREB2A;2 CA for molecular, physiological, and agronomic responses, at different developmental periods. Results showed that seedlings from GmDREB2A;2 FL event presented lower growth reduction under osmotic treatment during germination. The GmDREB2A;2 FL and GmDREB2A;2 CA events showed improved performance in experiments of water deficit imposed in the vegetative period and higher rates in physiological parameters. In the reproductive period, there was a trend of higher yield compounds in GM GmDREB2A;2 FL event when compared to other genotypes and treatments. It was suggested that GmDREB2A;2 FL event presented superior performance due to the higher expression levels of the cisgene and drought-induced genes.

Sustainable roll-to-roll manufactured multi-layer smart label

Sustainability in electronics has a growing importance due to, e.g. increasing electronic waste, and global and European sustainability goals. Printing technologies and use of paper as a substrate enable manufacturing of sustainable electronic devices for emerging applications, such as the multi-layer anti-counterfeit label presented in this paper. This device consisted of electrochromic display (ECD) element, NFC (near field communication) tag and circuitry, all fully roll-to-roll (R2R) printed and assembled on plastic-free paper substrate, thus leading to a sustainable and recyclable device. Our setup uses harvested energy from HF field of a smartphone or reader, to switch an electrochromic display after rectification to prove authenticity of a product. Our novelty is in upscaling the manufacturing process to be fully printable and R2R processable in high-throughput conditions simulating industrial environment, i.e. in pilot scale. The printing workflow consisted of 11 R2R printed layers, all done in sufficient quality and registration. The printed antennas showed sheet resistance values of 32.9±1.9 mΩ/sq. The final yield was almost 1500 fully printed devices, and in R2R assembly over 1400 labels were integrated with 96.5% yield. All the assembled tags were readable with mobile phone NFC reader. The optical contrast (ΔE*) measured for the ECDs was over 15 for all the printed displays, a progressive switching time with a colour change visible in less than 5 s. The smart tag is ITO-free, plastic-free, fully printed in R2R and has a good stability over 50 cycles and reversible colour change from light to dark blue.

Silver Nanoparticles and Silver Ions Differentially Affect the Phytohormone Balance and Yield in Wheat

This study aimed to examine the hypothesis that silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and silver ions might induce specific changes and thereby affect plant development and final yield. The experiment was performed on spring wheat, cultured hydroponically with two types of negatively charged AgNPs of an average size of 13–15 nm and silver ions for 14 days and then transplanted to pots with soil. Our results indicated that treatment with the AgNPs stabilized by specific compounds resulted in growth promotion and a reduced number of days to flowering, while that with the ionic form of Ag only caused greater growth in height without influencing the time to heading. Accelerated flowering was caused by changes in phytohormone balance, with GA6 found to be especially favorable. Nanoparticles and silver ions affected the function of photosystem II and the transport and partitioning of assimilates. Increases in the transport form of sugars such as sucrose, raffinose and sorbitol were associated with a considerable improvement in wheat yield, especially in the case of plants treated with the nanoparticle forms, which were more stable and resistant to oxidative dissolution.

NEW NANO-TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE EXTRACTION AND USE OF HYDROCARBONS, BASED ON THE USE OF UNIVERSAL MODULES OF INDUSTRIAL DISINTEGRATORS/ACTIVATORS

UMoID/A, developed by the authors of this work, have unique technical characteristics (extremely high magnetic induction density, close to one hundred percent efficiency, low material consumption. reliability), which allows them to provide grinding of various materials up to nano-sizes for various fields of industrial production, chemistry and medicine. These unique characteristics of UMoID/A allowed to effectively use these disintegrators into proprietary technologies to produce cheap alkaline nano-cement /concrete, cheap and ecologically-safe wood concrete, diesel/fuel oil, local ash, clean processing of toxic heavy fuel oil, increasing the final yield of light fractions of oil, further the standard process of cracking as mixers for high-quality suspensions in the oil, coal and construction industries and all this for the first time in the world to obtain fundamentally new and previously unknown materials and products, existing superior in quality and economy.