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Effects of forced-air precooling, °C transportation and different retailing methods on the quality of peach
Get PDFThe objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of different retailing methods on the maintenance of peach quality after pre-cooled to 5°C and transportation at 0°C. ‘Okubao’ peaches were film wrapped using 35 um anti-fogging cast polypropylene (CPP) and stored for 3 days at 0°C or 4°C to simulate refrigerated display cabinet condition. Some other peached directly stored at 20°C unwrapped after transportation. Results revealed that softening and deterioration occurred quickly in 20°C. Peach stored in 20°C lost significantly more weight, 3.7%. 0°C and 4°C resulted in less weight loss of the packaged peach, 0.7% and 1.7%, respectively. After shelf life, 0°C retailed peach wrapped in CPP showed the highest sensory quality, lost less weight, was firmest, and retained color better than either 4°C or 20°C retailed peach. Additionally, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, soluble sugar and ascorbic acid concentration significantly remained when retailed at 0°C
Review on Photovoltaic Agriculture Application and Its Potential on Grape Farms in Xinjiang, China
Get PDFPhotovoltaic industry has become extremely important in China as a strategic emerging policy since 2012, and how to widen the domestic demand to overcome the problem of overcapacity has drawn much attention. The so-called "Agrivoltaic", or, photovoltaic agriculture, could provide a possibly superior approach to providing green and sustainable electricity simultaneously. Xinjiang province, located in Northwestern China, is abundant in renewable energy resources such as wind power and solar radiation; on the other hand, Xinjiang is famous for its growth of grapes with high-intensity of sweetness. Hence, in this paper we firstly introduce some new opportunities for photovoltaic agriculture applications in China, such as photovoltaic greenhouse, photovoltaic water pumping and photovoltaic water purification. Then we focus on one of the applications – the Agrivoltaic potential on grape farms in Xinjiang, and investigate the potential co-develop between the grape production and the solar PV farms, so that the farmers could use the electricity generated from the PV station and simultaneously got the second income from selling the electricity to the grid, without noticeable influence on the crop production output. The results indicate a positive economic value from this hypothesis agrivoltaic system, with green electricity generation, village electrification and the maintenance of the approximately same production of grapes. However, more researches and empirical explorations should be implemented further to draw some unified standard on the agrivoltaic system, so that the output could be stabilized and more and more farmers would be convinced and join the program
Determination of Catechol by Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide Functionalized Graphene Modified Electrode
Get PDFA simple and sensitive electrochemical sensor was prepared by using electrodeposition of the cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide (CTMAB ) functionalized Graphene (GR) on the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to determine Catechol (CC) in water. The performance of the CTMAB functionalized GR sensor was studied and the analysis conditions of the CC were optimized. The experimental results showed that, compared with bare GCE, the redox peak current of CC on the modified electrode was obviously enhanced. Under the optimized conditions, the oxidation and reduction peak current all showed a good linear relationship with the concentration of CC from 5μmol/L to 1000 μmol/L. The detection limit of oxidation peak is 2.92 μmol/L, and that of reduction peak is 2.44 μmol/L. The recovery was founded to be in the range of 92.70 %~101.80 %. Moreover, the sensor could be used for the determination of CC in real samples with satisfactory results. And the mechanism of the sensitization of CC detected by CTMAB-GR modified GCE was discussed preliminarily
Thermosensitive hybrid system based on pluronic F127 and nanoclay laponite for sustained local release of lidocaine hydrochloride
Get PDFA novel thermosensitive local drug release system was prepared by incorporation of biocompatible nanoclay laponite into pluronic F127 solution and characterized by rheological measurements, zeta potential measurement and in vitro drug release measurement in the presence of lidocaine hydrochloride. All the systems transited from sol to gel with increase of temperature. The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the composite matrix changed little with increase in the mass of incorporated nanoclay, but the modulus increased with increase in the mass of incorporated nanoclay. Thein-vitrorelease experiments revealed that the novel system provided an extended duration of drugs compared to the pluronic F127 alone. This unique feature is attributed to the interaction of nanoclay laponite with lidocaine hydrochloride and increased modulus with incoporation of nanoclay laponite. The merits of the novel system, such as good cytocompatibility, thermosensitive properties, and improved sustained local release ability, make them a promising platform for the delivery of other drugs
Short-Term Model-Based Production Optimization for a Gas Field in North Africa
Get PDF This paper presents a model-based optimization solution suitable for short-term production optimization of large gas fields with wells producing into a common surface network into a shared gas treatment plant. The proposed methodology is applied to a field consisting of one dry gas reservoir with a CO2 content of 7.3% and one wet gas reservoir with a CO2 content of 2.8% and initial CGR of 15 stb/MMscf. 23 wells are producing, and all gas production is processed in a common gas treatment plant where condensates and CO2 are extracted from the reservoir gas. The final sales gas must honor compositional constraints (CO2 content and heating value). The proposed solution consists of a bi-level optimization algorithm. A Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation of the optimization problem is solved, assuming some key parameters in the gas plant to be constant. Hydraulic performances of the system, approximated using SOS2 piecewise linear models, and condensates and CO2 extraction, captured using simplified models, are included in the MILP. After solving the MILP, the values of the key parameters are calculated using a full simulation model of the gas plant and the new values are substituted in the MILP input data. This iterative procedure continues until convergence is achieved. Results show that the proposed methodology can find the optimum choke openings for all wells to maximize the total gas rate while honoring numerous surface constraints. The solution runs in 30 sec. and an average of 3-4 iterations is needed to achieve convergence. It is therefore a suitable solution for short-term production optimization and daily operations
Effect of Supplementation Followed by Processing on Nutritional Quality of Protein, Ca, P and Fe of Millet Flour
Get PDFThe effect of processing methods on millet flour supplemented with different levels (5, 10 and 15%) of defatted seed flour of Moringa (DSFM) and fenugreek (DSFF) on antinutritional factors, protein content and digestibility and total and extractable Ca, P and Fe was investigated. The antinutritional factors were increased (P≤0.05) with an increase in supplementation levels. However, processing of both raw and supplemented flour decreased (P≤0.05) the antinutritional factors. The reduction in antinutrients was accompanied by an increase (P≤0.05) in protein content, IVPD, total and extractable Ca, P, and Fe of supplemented flour compared to that of raw samples. Fermentation increased (P≤0.05) the protein content, IVPD, total and extractable Ca, P and Fe contents of the samples with supplementation level. Cooking of fermented dough slightly increased the protein content and IVPD of the samples but lowered both total and extractable Ca, Fe and P. Higher antinutritional factors, protein and IVPD were observed in millet dough supplemented with DSFM compared to that of DSFF while the total and extractable minerals of the supplemented flours are varied. Results obtained revealed that addition of DSFM and DSFF followed by the cooking of the fermented dough is a useful method to improve the nutritional value of millet flour
Research on the Relationship between CEO's Overconfidence and Corporate Investment Financing Behavior
Get PDFAt present, the classic corporate finance theory is challenged by various behavioral visions of corporate leaders in the actual decision-making of corporate finance. From the perspective of behavioral finance, this paper selects the data of A-share listed companies in China's Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2003-2016 to study the relationship between CEO's overconfidence and business operations. The study found that: Overconfidence CEOs will tend to increase the level of leverage, increase the number of loans, especially to increase the number of short-term loans; When the economic growth is faster, the listed company's CEO is more inclined to overconfidence; However, unlike the results of foreign studies, overconfident companies did not replace CEOs more frequently than non-overconfident companies, and did not increase the probability of bankruptcy. Finally, the CEO of a state-owned company does not appear to be more overconfident than the CEO of a private company
Experimental study on the effect of different air supply temperature on forced-air precooling of lettuce
Get PDFDuring the forced-air precooling, the air supply temperature was the cold storage environment temperature. The air supply temperature was the most important factor to impact the fruits and vegetables precooling time and energy consumption in the condition of constant wind speed. In this experiment, the head lettuces precooled from 22 ℃ to 3 ℃. From 22 ℃ to half cooling time, it was selected 0 ℃, 2℃ and 4℃ as the air supply temperature in the precooling process of lettuces. Next the precooling was carried out from the half cooling time to 3°C at the blowing temperature of 0°C. The results were indicated that the air supply temperature changed from 2°C to 0°C was the best pre-cooling program to cooling down and save energy. In the actual production, it could develop the changed air temperature pre-cooling technology vigorously
Effects of Sodium Metabisulphide Treatment and Modified Atmosphere Packaging on Cold Storage of Carrots
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to investigate the effects of sodium metabisulphide (SMBS) treatment and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on the quality of ‘Nanco F1’ variety of Nantes group carrots grown in Kırıkhan during cold storage. Harvested carrots were placed in imperforated bag, and/or MAP and applied SMBS (dose of 1%) after washing with tap water for 3 minutes and stored at 0±0.5 °C and 90±5.0% relative humidity for 5 months and analyzed every month. In addition, carrots were kept at 20±0.5 ºC and 75±5.0 % relative humidity for 7 days in order to study its shelf life. The weight loss, carrot color (L* and h°), appearance (1-9), rooting and sprouting rate, rooting and sprouting degree, incidence of fungal decay, physiological disorders, carrot firmness, total soluble solid content, pH value, titratable acid content and taste (1-9) were determined during shelf life and storage. According to the findings, weight loss in imperforated bag was higher than MAP treatments during storage. It was determined that using ImPBTW (imperforated bag and washing with tap water) and ImPBTW + SMBS treatments, ‘Nanco F1’ type carrots could be kept at 0 °C for 3 months and 85-90% relative humidity without any quality deterioration. It was also determined that using MAPTW (modified atmosphere packaging and washing with tap water) + SMBS treatment, ‘Nanco F1’ type carrots could be stored for 4 months and using MAPTW treatment, they could be stored for 5 months at 0 °C and 85-90% relative humidity without losing much of the quality for local and distant markets. Also, it was found that SMBS treatments were not sufficient to prevent rooting and sprouting
Study of Salicylic Acid Influence on Seedling Growth and Nitrogen Metabolism in Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.)
Get PDFSalicylic acid is involved in the regulation of metabolic activity and defense mechanism in plants under various stress conditions. Present study was conducted to determine the effects of salicylic acid (10 to 500 μM) on seedling growth, development and nitrogen use efficiency in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.) plants with or without nitrogen nutrient. Salicylic acid increased contents of chlorophyll, total non-structural carbohydrate and total nitrogen, as well as nitrate assimilation through the induction of nitrate reductase (EC 1.6.6.1) activity in isolated watermelon cotyledons. Accumulation of salicylic acid was two-fold higher in cotyledons without nitrate supply in comparison to that with nitrate supply. Further 50 μM of SA induced enhancement in seed germination and growth characteristics. However higher salicylic acid concentrations inhibited above physiological characteristics. Results show that, field application of salicylic acid need optimum physiological concentration (e.g., 50 μM) to increase nitrogen use efficiency particularly during germination and seedling growth