Utilization and Effect of Apple Pomace Powder on Quality Characteristics of Turkey Sausages.

The present study was conducted to develop turkey sausages by incorporating freeze-dried apple pomace (FDAP) at 3, 5, and 8% by replacing turkey breast meat. Three sausage formulations and the control of turkey sausages were subjected to physicochemical properties: proximate content, water-holding capacity (WHC), cooking yield, pH, color, textural parameters, antioxidant activity, and microbiological and sensory properties. The parameters were analyzed during storage from days 0 to 7. The addition of FDAP to turkey sausages resulted in a significant (p ≤ 0.05) decrease in moisture and protein contents, whereas no significant difference was found in fat and ash contents. The increased incorporation of FDAP resulted in decreased pH, cooking loss, lightness, redness, and yellowness in turkey sausages, whereas an increase in total phenolic content, fiber content, ABTS, and DPPH values was observed. FDAP, as a low-cost source of valuable phenolic content, strongly inhibited microorganism growth during the storage of turkey sausages. The sensory scores of turkey sausages containing 3% FDAP for other sensory traits, such as flavor, texture, juiciness, tenderness, and overall acceptability, were comparable to those of the control. Scores for sensory attributes declined significantly with a further increase in FDAP in turkey sausages. It is concluded that turkey sausages with very good acceptability can be prepared by incorporating freeze-dried apple pomace each at a 3% level.

From straight to curved: A historical perspective of DNA shape.

DNA is the macromolecule responsible for storing the genetic information of a cell and it has intrinsic properties such as deformability, stability and curvature. DNA Curvature plays an important role in gene transcription and, consequently, in the subsequent production of proteins, a fundamental process of cells. With recent advances in bioinformatics and theoretical biology, it became possible to analyze and understand the involvement of DNA Curvature as a discriminatory characteristic of gene-promoting regions. These regions act as sites where RNAp (ribonucleic acid-polymerase) binds to initiate transcription. This review aims to describe the formation of Curvature, as well as highlight its importance in predicting promoters. Furthermore, this article provides the potential of DNA Curvature as a distinguishing feature for promoter prediction tools, as well as outlining the calculation procedures that have been described by other researchers. This work may support further studies directed towards the enhancement of promoter prediction software.

Impact of neem oil biodiesel blends on physical and chemical properties of particulate matter emitted from diesel engines.

The global searchlight for sustainable alternative fuels to reduce emissions produced from the combustion of fossil fuels illuminates biofuels owing to their matching properties with fossil fuels. This is the impetus for this study which systematically examines the impact of neem biodiesel (NB) blends with pure diesel on the physical and chemical properties of particulate matter (PM) from diesel engines. Pure diesel (B0) and four fuel blends, namely, B5, B10, B15 and B20 are examined. The impact of NB blends on the physical and chemical properties of PM is studied using a single-cylinder, 4-stroke diesel engine. The PM captured directly from the diesel engine at two standard engine speeds is analyzed by physical microscopy techniques and chemical analyses. Comparing the results of gaseous emissions for B0 with those of B20, it is found that B20 decreases CO by 9.6% and 19.3% at low and high engine speeds, respectively, but increases NOX. Regarding PM emission, in comparison to B0, B20 decreases particle sizes from 59.4 ± 8.5 nm to 42.8 ± 4.2 nm and 63.3 ± 8.1 nm to 43.7 ± 5.2 nm; opacities from 15.9% to 9.3% and 21.1%-11.4%; carbon contents from 66.53% to 44.53% and 72.53%-61.99%; and total carbon concentrations (total organic carbon and total inorganic carbon) from 3.6120 mg/L to 1.8435 mg/L and 2.5970 mg/L to 1.6002 mg/L at low and high engine speeds, respectively. Furthermore, B20 increases the unused oxygen content from 14.07% to 21.47% and 16.82%-18.42%; oxygen reactivity from 1.80 ± 0.08 to 2.75 ± 0.18 and 1.10 ± 0.20 to 1.35 ± 0.06; and volatile substances by 68.4% and 57.1% at low and high engine speeds, respectively. This study demonstrates that NB could be a potential alternative fuel for diesel engines regarding PM emissions, where B20 blend has the highest impact on PM properties, but it needs additional NOx mitigation strategies.

First report on regression-based QSAR addressing pesticide dissipation half-life in plants: A step towards sustainable public health.

The excessive use of pesticides (an important group of chemicals) in the agricultural as well as public sectors raises a health concern. Pesticides affect humans and other living organisms via the food chain. Therefore, it is very necessary to calculate the dissipation half-life of pesticides in plants. Experimental prediction of pesticide dissipation half-lives requires complex environmental conditions, high cost, and a long time. Thus, in-silico half-life predictions are suitable and the best alternative. Herein, a total of six PLS (partial least squares) models namely, M1 (overall), M2 (fruit), M3 (plant interior), M4 (leaf), M5 (plant surface), and M6 (whole plant) alongside two MLR (multiple linear regression) models i.e. M7 (fruit surface) and model M8 (straw) were generated using dissipation half-lives (log10(T1/2)) of pesticides in plants and their different parts. Models were constructed in strict accordance with the guidelines outlined by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and extensively validated using globally accepted validation metrics (determination coefficient (R2) = 0.610-0.795, leave-one-out (LOO) cross-validated correlation coefficient (Q2LOO) = 0.520-0.660, MAE-FITTED TRAIN (mean absolute error fitted train) = 0.119-0.148, MAE-LOOTRAIN = 0.132-0.177, predictive R2 or Q2F1 = 0.538-0.567, Q2F2 = 0.500-0.565, MAETEST = 0.122-0.232), confirming their accuracy, reliability, predictivity, and robustness. Lipophilicity, the presence of a cyclomatic ring, suphur, aromatic amine fragments, and chlorine atom fragments are responsible (+ve contribution) for high dissipation half-lives of pesticides in plants. In contrast, hydrophilicity, pyrazine fragments, and rotatable bonds reduce (-ve negative contribution) the dissipation half-lives of pesticides in plants. To address the real-world applicability, the models were employed to screen the PPDB (Pesticide Properties Database) database, which revealed the top 10 pesticides with the highest log(T1/2) in the whole plant and respective parts of the plant body. The present work will aid in developing safer and novel pesticides, regulatory risk assessment, various risk assessments for the sustenance of public health, screening of databases, and data-gap filling.

ProSol-multi: Protein solubility prediction via amino acids multi-level correlation and discriminative distribution.

Protein solubility prediction is useful for the careful selection of highly effective candidate proteins for drug development. In recombinant proteins synthesis, solubility prediction is valuable for optimizing key protein characteristics, including stability, functionality, and ease of purification. It contains valuable information about potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets and helps in early forecasting of neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and cardiovascular disorders. Traditional wet-lab experimental protein solubility prediction approaches are error-prone, time-consuming, and costly. Researchers harnessed the competence of Artificial Intelligence approaches for replacing experimental approaches with computational predictors. These predictors inferred the solubility of proteins by analyzing amino acids distributions in raw protein sequences. There is still a lot of room for the development of robust computational predictors because existing predictors remain fail in extracting comprehensive discriminative distribution of amino acids. To more precisely discriminate soluble proteins from insoluble proteins, this paper presents ProSol-Multi predictor that makes use of a novel MLCDE encoder and Random Forest classifier. MLCDE encoder transforms protein sequences into informative statistical vectors by capturing amino acids multi-level correlation and discriminative distribution within raw protein sequences. The performance of proposed encoder is evaluated against 56 existing protein sequence encoding methods on a widely used protein solubility prediction benchmark dataset under two different experimental settings namely intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic evaluation reveals that from all sequence encoders, proposed MLCDE encoder manages to generate non-overlapping clusters of soluble and insoluble classes. In extrinsic evaluation, 10 machine learning classifiers achieve better performance with proposed MLCDE encoder as compared to 56 existing protein sequence encoders. Moreover, across 4 public benchmark datasets, proposed ProSol-Multi predictor outshines 20 existing predictors by an average accuracy of 3%, MCC and AU-ROC of 2%. ProSol-Multi interactive web application is available at https://sds_genetic_analysis.opendfki.de/ProSol-Multi.

Cross-Species Insights into PR Proteins: A Comprehensive Study of Arabidopsis thaliana, Solanum lycopersicum, and Solanum tuberosum.

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins, focusing on PR1, PR5, and PR10, in three plant species: Arabidopsis thaliana (At), Solanum lycopersicum (Sl), and Solanum tuberosum (St). We investigated various physico-chemical properties, including protein length, molecular weight, isoelectric point (pI), hydrophobicity, and structural characteristics, such as RMSD, using state-of-the-art tools like AlphaFold and PyMOL. Our analysis found that the SlPR10-StPR10 protein pair had the highest sequence identity (80.00%), lowest RMSD value (0.307 Å), and a high number of overlapping residues (160) among all other protein pairs, indicating their remarkable similarity. Additionally, we used bioinformatics tools such as Cello, Euk-mPLoc 2.0, and Wolfpsort to predict subcellular localization, with AtPR1, AtPR5, and SlPR5 proteins predicted to be located in the extracellular space in both Arabidopsis and S. lycopersicum, while AtPR10 was predicted to be located in the cytoplasm. This comprehensive analysis, including the use of cutting-edge structural prediction and subcellular localization tools, enhances our understanding of the structural, functional, and localization aspects of PR proteins, shedding light on their roles in plant defense mechanisms across different plant species. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12088-024-01343-1.

Effect of different blanching methods on kinetics of physico-chemical, functional properties, and enzyme inactivation in baby corn.

Baby corn, characterized by its high water activity and elevated respiration rate, poses a formidable obstacle to prolonged storage under standard ambient conditions and necessitates specialized treatments for transportation to distant locations. One of the primary postharvest challenges associated with baby corn is the occurrence of brown pigment formation because of enzymatic browning at the apex of its immature ovules, cut surfaces, and silk attached to the young ears. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of different blanching treatments on peroxidase inactivation, physicochemical properties, and functional properties of baby corn. The treatments applied were hot water blanching (HWB) at temperatures ranging from 70°C to 90 °C for 30-240 s, steam blanching (SB) for 30-240 s, and microwave blanching (MWB) at power levels of 360 W-900 W for 30-300 s. Results indicated that 90 % peroxidase enzyme inactivation occurred under different methods as 90 °C for 60 s for HWB, 100 °C for 60 s for SB, and 540 W for 30 s for MWB. These blanching methods have shown significant effects on the properties under investigation. MWB demonstrated the highest retention of ascorbic acid (94.15 %) and minimal color changes (ΔE = 5.72) in comparison to hot water and steam blanching. Similarly, the result for total flavonoid content for 540 W, 90 °C and 100 °C for 30, 60, and 60 s were found to be 3.01,1.99 and 2.10 mg QE/100g, phenols 48.98, 47.99 and 48.03 mg GAE/100g and DPPH (%) 42.55, 34.20 and 37.08 % respectively. The findings suggest that microwave blanching of baby corn at 540 W for 30 s holds promise to inactivate the peroxidase enzyme with better retention of physicochemical and functional properties.

[Characteristics of Vegetation and Soil of Degraded Grasslands and Their Relationships in Xizang].

To investigate the characteristics of grassland degradation on a regional scale in Xizang, data on grassland degradation from the second grassland survey of Xizang and 12 vegetation and soil indicators from the National Tibetan Plateau Data Center were collected. Using ArcMap, 10 000 random sample points were selected on raster data （excluding non-grassland, desertification, and salinization data, leaving 7 949 valid sample points）. The multi-value extraction to-point method was applied to extract degradation and indicator data for each sample point. The characteristics of degraded grassland vegetation and soil and their relationships were analyzed in Xizang. Moreover, random forest modeling was conducted to predict the trend of grassland ecosystem changes. The results indicated that： ① The grasslands in Xizang were primarily composed of alpine steppe and alpine meadow types, accounting for 45.83% and 41.15% of the valid sample points, respectively. ② With the intensification of grassland degradation, the number of steppe-type species among the 17 grassland types gradually decreased, and the proportion of steppe dominated by species such as Stipa purpurea and Carex moorcroftii decreased, whereas the proportion of miscellaneous grasses and Dasiphora fruticosa increased. ③ As the degree of degradation increased, vegetation indicators generally showed a declining trend, with soil total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, and organic carbon decreasing, whereas soil pH and bulk density increased, and soil moisture content was not significant. ④ A positive correlation exists between soil moisture content, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, organic carbon, vegetation cover, net primary productivity of vegetation, normalized difference vegetation index, aboveground biomass, and habitat quality. However, there was a negative correlation between pH and soil bulk density, and the correlation coefficients among various indicators decreased with the intensification of degradation. ⑤ The random forest simulation results showed that during the degradation process, the contribution rates of soil bulk density and habitat quality both exceeded 12%, with the model prediction accuracy reaching 78%. The study revealed that grassland degradation in Xizang was closely related to soil bulk density and habitat quality, indicating that higher soil bulk density or lower habitat quality may correspond to more severe grassland degradation. This provides a scientific basis for future grassland conservation and management.

Value addition to dietetic frozen yoghurt through use of fruit peel solids.

The study pertains to preparing value added frozen yoghurt through use of orange peel powder (OPP). The quality aspects of medium-fat (6.0% fat) frozen yoghurt prepared using OPP at three levels (1.5, 2.5, 3.5% as T1, T2 and T3 respectively) was studied. Frozen yoghurt was prepared by freezing blend of fermented yoghurt base with ice cream mix (25:75 w/w); other ingredients were sugar, stabilizer-emulsifier and orange crush. Inclusion of OPP in frozen yoghurt impacted the orange flavour favorably and enriched product with ß-carotene and dietary fiber. The control product (TC) was prepared in similar manner, avoiding OPP. As the level of OPP was raised in formulation, there was a marked increase in the protein, carbohydrate, ash and total solids when compared with TC. Presence of OPP markedly affected the acidity, viscosity, overrun and melting resistance of the product; maximum overrun was associated with TC. Product T3 had the maximum acidity and viscosity; T2 had maximum total sensory score. It is recommended to prepare medium-fat frozen yoghurt utilizing 2.5% OPP along with orange crush as flavouring. Such inclusion of peel solids enriched the product with ß-carotene and dietary fiber, contributed to stabilization of product and enhanced the products sensory acceptance.

Effect of jujube orchard abandonment time on soil properties and enzyme activities at soil profile in the Loess Plateau.

In the Loess Plateau, the impact of abandoned farmland on soil properties and enzyme activity, along with its temporal variations and potential driving factors, remains a mystery. This study was designed to systematically and comprehensively examine the variations in soil enzyme activities, particle size distribution, and stability of soil aggregates at different stages of ecological recovery in the Loess Plateau. Our findings reveal a nuanced temporal pattern: with the progression of cropland abandonment, there is a notable decrease in soil bulk density. Concurrently, a dynamic trend in enzyme activities is observed-initially exhibiting a decline, followed by an increase over extended periods of recovery. Notably, prolonged abandonment leads to marked enhancements in soil structure. Parameters such as the mean weight diameter (MWD) and geometric mean diameter (GMD) of soil aggregates show an overall increasing trend. In terms of the Relative Dissipation Index (RSI), our data indicate a sequence of control > 2 years of abandonment > 4 years > 6 years > 14 years. From this, it can be seen that fallowing may be an effective natural restoration strategy for improving the physical structure of soils in the Loess Plateau and restoring soil nutrients. However, positive changes may take a long time to become evident.

[Interaction Effects of Vegetation and Soil Factors on Microbial Communities in Alpine Steppe Under Degradation].

To clarify the regulating effect of vegetation and soil factors on microbial communities in the alpine steppe under degradation on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, the alpine steppe in the Sanjiangyuan area of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was chosen. We analyzed the differences in vegetation and soil factors in different stages of degradation （non-degradation, moderate degradation, and severe degradation） and detected the variations in microbial community characteristics in the alpine steppe under different degradation stages using high-throughput sequencing technology. Eventually, redundancy analysis （RDA） and multiple regression matrixes （MRM） based on the similarity or dissimilarity matrix were used to identify key environmental factors regulating microbial （bacterial and fungal） community changes under degradation. The results showed that the degradation of the alpine steppe significantly changed the community coverage, height, biomass, and important value of graminae； significantly reduced the contents of soil organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and silt； and increased the soil bulk density and sand content. Degradation did not change the composition of bacteria and fungi, but their composition proportions changed and also resulted in the loss of microbial richness （Chao1 index and Richness index） but did not significantly change the microbial diversity （Shannon index）. With the occurrence of degradation, the vegetation characteristics, soil physicochemical properties, and microbial diversity showed a consistent change trend. Combined with the characteristics of the network topology changes （the number of nodes and clustering coefficient significantly decreased）, it was found that degradation of the alpine steppe led to the decline of interspecies interactions, decentralization of network, and homogenization of microorganisms, but the cooperation relations among the species were maintained （positive correlation connections accounted for more than 90% in all degradation stages）. Under the alpine steppe degradation, the vegetation-soil interaction had the greatest effect on soil bacterial community, whereas soil physicochemical properties had the greatest influence on soil fungal community. Specifically, vegetation community height, biomass, and soil bulk density were the mutual factors regulating soil microorganisms, whereas the vegetation Simpson index, important value of graminae, soil total phosphorus, total potassium, and silt content were the unique factors affecting the soil bacterial community, and soil pH and total nitrogen content were the particular factors affecting the soil fungal community.

Study on the Effect of Magnesium Chloride-Modified Straw Waste Biochar on Acidic Soil Properties.

Soil biochar is a kind of organic matter rich in carbon, which is of great significance in soil fertility improvement, fertilizer type innovation and greenhouse gas emission reduction. In this paper, Mg-modified biochar was prepared by thermal cracking using rice straw and corn straw as raw materials. The Mg-modified biochar and unmodified biochar were fully mixed with prepared soil samples at the addition amounts of 0.5% (w/w), 1% (w/w) and 2% (w/w), respectively, and then simulated indoor soil cultivation experiments were carried out. The effects of magnesium ion-modified biochar and non-modified biochar on soil chemical properties and the effects of different amounts of biochar on soil properties were studied. The results showed that the yield of Mg-modified biochar from rice straw and corn straw, prepared by pyrolysis, was 65%, and the ash content was large. The pH of MG-modified corn stalk biochar (MCBC) is weakly basic (8.55), while the pH of MG-modified rice stalk biochar (MRBC) is basic (10.1), and their internal structures are slightly different. After the application of biochar prepared from rice straw and maize stover, soil indicators were determined. Compared to the control, the chemical properties of the treated soil samples were significantly improved, with an increase in soil pH, an increase in the content of effective nutrients, such as fast-acting potassium, fast-acting phosphorus and alkaline dissolved nitrogen, and an increase in the content of the total phosphorus and total nitrogen, as well as an increase in the content of organic matter. The Mg-modified biochar was generally superior to the unmodified biochar in improving soil fertility, at the same addition level. It was also found that the rice-straw biochar performed better than the corn-stover biochar and had a more obvious effect on soil improvement in terms of fast-acting potassium, ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, total phosphorus and total nitrogen contents.

Bacterial and fungal communities regulated directly and indirectly by tobacco-rape rotation promote tobacco production.

Tobacco continuous cropping is prevalent in intensive tobacco agriculture but often leads to microbial community imbalance, soil nutrient deficiency, and decreased crop productivity. While the tobacco-rape rotation has demonstrated significant benefits in increasing tobacco yield. Microorganisms play a crucial role in soil nutrient cycling and crop productivity. However, the internal mechanism of tobacco-rape rotation affecting tobacco yield through microbe-soil interaction is still unclear. In this study, two treatments, tobacco continuous cropping (TC) and tobacco-rape rotation (TR) were used to investigate how planting systems affect soil microbial diversity and community structure, and whether these changes subsequently affect crop yields. The results showed that compared with TC, TR significantly increased the Shannon index, Chao1 index, ACE index of bacteria and fungi, indicating increased microbial α-diversity. On the one hand, TR may directly affect the bacterial and fungal community structure due to the specificity of root morphology and root exudates in rape. Compared with TC, TR significantly increased the proportion of beneficial bacterial and fungal taxa while significantly reduced soil-borne pathogens. Additionally, TR enhanced the scale and complexity of microbial co-occurrence networks, promoting potential synergies between bacterial OTUs. On the other hand, TR indirectly changed microbial community composition by improving soil chemical properties and changing microbial life history strategies. Compared with TC, TR significantly increased the relative abundance of copiotrophs while reduced oligotrophs. Notably, TR significantly increased tobacco yield by 39.6% compared with TC. The relationships among yield, microbial community and soil chemical properties indicated that planting systems had the greatest total effect on tobacco yield, and the microbial community, particularly bacteria, had the greatest direct effect on tobacco yield. Our findings highlighted the potential of tobacco-rape rotation to increase yield by both directly and indirectly optimizing microbial community structure.

Xeno Nucleic Acids as Functional Materials: From Biophysical Properties to Application.

Xeno nucleic acid (XNA) are artificial nucleic acids, in which the chemical composition of the sugar moiety is changed. These modifications impart distinct physical and chemical properties to XNAs, leading to changes in their biological, chemical, and physical stability. Additionally, these alterations influence the binding dynamics of XNAs to their target molecules. Consequently, XNAs find expanded applications as functional materials in diverse fields. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the distinctive biophysical properties exhibited by various modified XNAs and explores their applications as innovative functional materials in expanded fields.

Impact of Pyrolysis Temperature on the Physical and Chemical Properties of Non-Modified Biochar Produced from Banana Leaves: A Case Study on Ammonium Ion Adsorption.

Given the current importance of using biochar for water treatment, it is important to study the physical-chemical properties to predict the behavior of the biochar adsorbent in contact with adsorbates. In the present research, the physical and chemical characteristics of three types of biochar derived from banana leaves were investigated, which is a poorly studied raw material and is considered an agricultural waste in some Latin American, Asian, and African countries. The characterization of non-modified biochar samples pyrolyzed at 300, 400, and 500 °C was carried out through pH, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and specific surface area measurements. The adsorption properties of banana leaf-derived biochar were evaluated by ammonium ion adsorption experiments. The results demonstrated that the pyrolysis temperature has a large impact on the yield, structure, elemental composition, and surface chemistry of the biochar. Biochar prepared at 300 °C is the most efficient for NH4+ adsorption, achieving a capacity of 7.0 mg of adsorbed NH4+ on each gram of biochar used, while biochar samples prepared at 400 and 500 °C show lower values of 6.1 and 5.6 mg/g, respectively. The Harkins-Jura isotherm model fits the experimental data best for all biochar samples, demonstrating that multilayer adsorption occurs on our biochar.

Alterations in physico-chemical properties, microstructure, sensory characteristics, and volatile compounds of red pepper (Capsicum annuum var. conoides) during various thermal drying durations.

Red pepper (Capsicum annuum var. conoides) is commonly used for dried pepper production in China, and the drying process, particularly the during duration, profoundly affects its quality. The findings indicate that prolonged exposure to high temperatures during thermal drying results in significant darkening, an evident decrease in red and yellow tones, and gradual transformation of the pepper's microscopic structure from granular to compact, along with 88% reduction in moisture content and 81% decrease in thickness. The capsaicinoid content increased, resulting in a 4.3-fold increase in spiciness after drying compared to that of fresh pepper. The pepper aroma shifts from fruity, choking, and grassy to herb, dry wood, and smoky. Compounds such as 2-Acetylfuran, furfural, 2-methylfuran, 1-methylpyrrole, 2-methylpyrazine, and 2,5-dimethylpyrazine exhibited positive correlations with drying time, whereas ethyl 2-methylpropanoate, ethyl butanoate, ethyl 2-methylbutanoate, ethyl hexanoate, and 3-methylbutyl butanoate showed negative correlations, indicating their potential as markers for monitoring thermal drying processes.

Multispecies pasture diet and cow breed impacts on milk composition and quality in a seasonal spring-calving dairy production system.

In recent years, there has been significant emphasis on the composition of pasture-based cow feed and the potential benefits of incorporating multispecies swards to improve sustainability and biodiversity. This study compared the effects of a conventional perennial ryegrass (PRG) monoculture supported by high chemical nitrogen (N) usage with a low chemical N application multispecies sward system (MSS) on the composition and quality of milk across lactation using spring-calving Holstein-Friesian (HF) and Jersey Holstein-Friesian (JFX) cows. Bulk milk samples (n = 144) were collected from each group at morning and evening milking on a weekly basis (n = 36) throughout lactation and analyzed for gross composition and physico-chemical properties. Cow breed had a significant impact on milk profile, with milk from HF cows having significantly smaller milk fat globule (MFG) size, higher instability index values, higher yield, and lower total solids levels, compared with JFX cows. Notably, HF cows had increased milk total solids and fat levels when fed on MSS, as opposed to the PRG-fed HF cows. Feeding MSS pasture increased creaming velocity values in mid and late lactation, and resulted in similar milk gross composition to PRG. In comparison to PRG, MSS-fed groups showed significantly increased total solids yield, including higher levels of protein and fat yield. In late lactation, MSS feeding was associated with reduced MFG size. All physicochemical properties studied (MFG size, creaming velocity, instability index) showed decreasing values from early to late lactation stage. Overall, these findings demonstrate the significant effects of cow diet, breed and stage of lactation on compositional and physico-chemical characteristics of milk, with important implications for milk processing and dairy product quality.

Examination of the natural mineral water quality in the Kesserwan region, Lebanon.

Introduction: Water is an essential element for life, especially the water that we drink. The water is consumable for humans as soon as it meets certain quality requirements. Any chemical, physical, or biological change in water quality may lead to harmful effects on health. Objective: This study presents the updated situation of some spring water from groundwater in Lebanon, specifically in the Kesserwan region. Method: To assess the quality of the water, certain physico-chemical parameters such as total dissolved solids, temperature, pH, and microbiological indicators were monitored on 15 sampling sources covering the Kesserwan region. All the parameters were studied during the winter period. Results: The results identified multiple contaminated sources in Kesserwan. Consequently, groundwater cannot be consumed directly without treatment. Out of the 15 sources tested, only 8 were found to be microbiologically safe, while the remaining 7 were contaminated and required treatment before consumption or use. Conclusion: Each municipality in the region should be responsible for protecting and maintaining the cleanliness of the areas surrounding the spring water. Additionally, regular, systematic testing of the spring water must be conducted to ensure its suitability for drinking by confirming the absence of contaminants.

Demineralization activating highly-disordered lignite-derived hard carbon for fast sodium storage.

Lignite, as one of the coal materials, has been considered a promising precursor for hard carbon anodes in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) owing to its low cost and high carbon yield. Nevertheless, hard carbon directly derived from lignite pyrolysis typically exhibits highly ordered microstructure with narrow interlayer spacing and relatively unreactive interfacial properties, owing to the abundance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and inert aromatic rings within its molecular composition. Herein, an innovative demineralization activating strategy is established to simultaneously modulate the interfacial properties and the microstructure of lignite-derived carbon for the development of high-performance SIBs. Demineralization process not only creates numerous void spaces in the matrix of lignite precursor to assist aromatic hydrocarbon rearrangement, thereby reducing the ordering and expanding interlayer spacing, but also exposes more interfacial oxygen-containing functional groups to effectively increasing the sodium storage active sites. As a result, the optimal demineralized lignite-derived hard carbon (DLHC 1300) delivers a high reversible capacity of 335.6 mAh g-1 at 30 mA g-1, superior rate performance of 246.3 mAh g-1 at 6 A g-1 and nearly 100 % capacity retention after 1100 cycles at 1A g-1. Furthermore, the optimized DLHC 1300 material functions as an outstanding anode in sodium ion full cells. This work significantly advances the development of low-cost, high-performance commercial hard carbon anodes for SIBs.

Physicochemical and mineralogical characterization of silica sand from the Lemi region, Blue Nile Basin, central Ethiopia: Evaluating industrial applications and resource potential.

Silica sand is an essential industrial mineral composed predominantly of quartz, formed through the weathering of rocks. In Ethiopia, silica deposits are geologically widespread, including the Lemi area in the Blue Nile Basin. This study investigates the physicochemical and mineralogical properties of silica sand from the Lemi region to determine its suitability for industrial applications. Samples from four villages in Lemi were collected, prepared, and analyzed using various techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), grain size analysis, bulk density measurement, and geochemical analysis. The results indicate that Lemi silica sand is predominantly composed of medium-sized, well-sorted, sub-rounded to rounded quartz grains with high silica purity (average SiO2 content of 96.13 %). Mineralogical analysis confirms high crystallinity and a low presence of contaminants. The grain size distribution and bulk density of Lemi silica sand meet industry standards for glass, foundry, and abrasive applications. Comparative analysis shows that Lemi silica sand has comparable or superior qualities to other Ethiopian deposits, making it a promising resource for industrial use. The study estimates a total resource of approximately 6.94 billion tons of silica sand in the Lemi area, highlighting its significant economic potential.