In the postharvest storage of Chinese bayberry, microbial loads and exogenous contaminants pose significant challenges, leading to rapid decay and deterioration in quality. This study introduced a ...synergistic approach, combining ultrasonics and slightly acidic electrolyzed water (US + SAEW), to enhance the postharvest storage quality of Chinese bayberry. This approach was benchmarked against conventional water washing (CW), standalone ultrasonic (US), and slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) processing. Notably, compared to CW, the US + SAEW method enhanced iprodione and procymidone removal rates by 69.62 % and 72.45 % respectively, improved dirt removal efficiency by 122.87 %, repelled drosophila melanogaster larvae by 58.33 %, and curtailed total bacterial, mold & yeast growth by 78.18 % and 83.09 %. Furthermore, it postponed the appearance of sample decay by 6 days, compared to 4 days for both US and SAEW alone. From a physicochemical perspective, compared to CW-treated samples, US + SAEW processing mitigated weight loss and color deviations, retained hardness, amplified the sugar-acid ratio, augmented activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase enzymes, suppressed polyphenol oxidase activity and malondialdehyde synthesis, and preserved total phenolic, anthocyanin, and antioxidant levels. These findings underscore the potential of US + SAEW as a strategic tool to preserve the quality of Chinese bayberry during postharvest storage.
•Ultrasound freeze-thawing pretreatments improved the vacuum freeze-drying.•Pretreatment reduced the drying time and energy consumption.•Pretreatment changed the microstructure to various ...extent.•Ultrasound pretreatment retained most of the quality characteristics.•Pretreatment had no effect on the function groups and structure of pectin.
Vacuum freeze-drying is a new and high technology on agricultural product dehydrating dry, but it faces the high cost problem caused by high energy consumption. This study investigated the effect of ultrasound (US), freeze-thawing (including the freeze-air thawing (AT), freeze-water thawing (WT), freeze-ultrasound thawing (UST), and freeze-air ultrasound thawing (AT + US)) pretreatments on the vacuum freeze-drying efficiency and the quality of dried okra. The results indicated that the application of ultrasound and different freeze-thawing pretreatments reduced the drying time by 25.0%–62.50% and the total energy consumption was 24.28%–62.35% less. The AT pretreatment reduced the time by of okra slices by 62.50% and the total energy consumption was 62.35% less. The significant decrease in drying time was due to a change in the microstructure caused by pretreatment. Besides, the okra pretreated with the US retained most of the quality characteristics (flavor, color, hardness, and frangibility) among all methods, while, AT + US had the most changeable characteristics in quality, which is deprecated in our study. The okra pretreated with the US and AT, separately, had the best dry matter content loss (9.008%, 5.602%), lower chlorophyll degradation (5.05%, 5.44% less), and higher contents of total phenolics, total flavonoids, and pectin, with strong antioxidant capacity, compared to other methods. The pretreatments did not have a large effect on the functional groups and the structure of pectin, but slightly affected the viscosity. It can be concluded that AT and US pretreatment methods are better than others.
•US enhances SAEW’s antimicrobial effect by altering the wettability of grape skin.•US + SAEW effectively inhibits microbial growth and decay of grape.•US + SAEW maintains the weight, hardness, ...color, and sugar-acid ratio of grape.•US + SAEW maintains the level of bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity.•US + SAEW modulates metabolic enzyme activities and curtails the synthesis of MAD.
Microbial contamination is the principal factor in the deterioration of postharvest storage quality in grapes. To mitigate this issue, we explored a synergistic treatment which combines ultrasound (US) and slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW), and rigorously compared with conventional water cleaning (CW), exclusive US treatment, and standalone SAEW treatment. The US + SAEW treatment proved to be markedly superior in reducing total bacterial, mold & yeast counts on grapes. Specifically, it achieved reductions of 2.23 log CFU/g and 2.76 log CFU/g, respectively, exceeding the efficiencies of SAEW (0.78, 0.75), US (0.58, 0.65), and CW (0.24, 0.46). The efficacy of this synergistic treatment is attributed to the ultrasound removal of the wax layer on grape skins, which transitions the skin from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. This alteration increases the contact area between the grape surface and SAEW, thereby enhancing the antimicrobial efficacy of SAEW. From a physicochemical quality standpoint, the US + SAEW treatment exhibited multiple advantages. It not only minimized weight loss, color deviations, polyphenol oxidase activity and malondialdehyde synthesis in comparison to CW-treated samples but also preserved firmness, sugar-acid ratio and the activities of key enzymes including phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, superoxide dismutase and catalase, and thus maintaining high levels of total phenolics, total ascorbic acid, total anthocyanins, and antioxidants. Consequently, US + SAEW treatment put off the times of decay onset in grapes by 12 days, outperforming both SAEW (8) and US (4) in comparison to CW. These results highlight the potential of US + SAEW as an effective strategy for maintaining grape quality during their postharvest storage period.
To gain insight into the flow mechanisms and stress sensitivity for fractured-vuggy reservoirs, several core models with different structural characteristics were designed and fabricated to ...investigate the impact of effective stress on permeability for carbonate fractured-vuggy rocks (CFVR). It shows that the permeability performance curves under different pore and confining pressures (i.e. altered stress conditions) for the fractured core models and the vuggy core models have similar change patterns. The ranges of permeability variation are significantly wider at high pore pressures, indicating that permeability reduction is the most significant during the early stage of development for fractured-vuggy reservoirs. Since each obtained effective stress coefficient for permeability (ESCP) varies with the changes in confining pressure and pore pressure, the effective stresses for permeability of four representative CFVR show obvious nonlinear characteristics, and the variation ranges of ESCP are all between 0 and 1. Meanwhile, a comprehensive ESCP mathematical model considering triple media, including matrix pores, fractures, and dissolved vugs, was proposed. It is proved theoretically that the ESCP of CFVR generally varies between 0 and 1. Additionally, the regression results showed that the power model ranked highest among the four empirical models mainly applied in stress sensitivity characterization, followed by the logarithmic model, exponential model, and binomial model. The concept of “permeability decline rate” was introduced to better evaluate the stress sensitivity performance for CFVR, in which the one-fracture rock is the strongest, followed by the fracture-vug rock and two-horizontal-fracture rock; the through-hole rock is the weakest. In general, this study provides a theoretical basis to guide the design of development and adjustment programs for carbonate fractured-vuggy reservoirs.
For rational disposal of solid wastes, low-cost cemented paste backfills (CPB) were prepared with iron tailings, ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), and calcium carbide slag (CS). To ensure ...that CPB can be effectively utilized in mine backfill projects, the effects of solid contents, GGBS content, CS/GGBS ratio, and mixing water on the workability and mechanical properties of CPB were investigated. The results indicated that when the solid content was 70%, the GGBS content was 14%, the CS/GGBS ratio was 0.4, the mixing water was tap water, the fluidity of fresh CPB slurry was 167 mm, and 28d unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of CPB reached 2.89 MPa, at which time the effect of the activation of the GGBS with CS was optimal. The analysis of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopic imaging (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TG-DTG), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) demonstrated that the hydration products are mainly C-S-H gels, C-A-S-H, hemicarbonate, and hydrotalcite in CS-GGBS cementitious material. The C-S-H gel content gradually increased with increasing curing time and CS content (15%–35%). When the CS content was increased to 25%, the C-S-H gel content significantly increased, which improved the overall structural compactness and increased the UCS of CPB.
To investigate the issues related to significant environmental damage and poor resource utilization of soda residue (SR), the composition and microstructure of hydration products of the GGBS (ground ...granulated blast-furnace slag) synergistically activated by NaOH-SR are characterized by an X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), thermogravimetric–differential thermogravimetric (TG-DTG) analysis, and scanning electron microscope X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS). The effect of SR proportion, activator dosage, and water-to-binder ratio on the hydration process is studied. Results indicate that the hydration products mainly include hydrated calcium chloroaluminate (3CaO·Al2O3·CaCl2·10H2O, FS), hydrated calcium aluminosilicate (Ca2Al3(SiO4)3OH, C-A-S-H), halite (NaCl), calcite (CaCO3), and C-S-H gel. With the increase in SR proportion (especially from 80% to 90%), the C-S-H gel yield decreases significantly, while the FS yield rapidly increases, and the T-O-Si (T = Al or Si) peak shifts to a higher wavenumber range (955 cm−1 to 975 cm−1). With the decrease in activator dosage (40% to 15%), the hydration reaction gradually weakens, and the FTIR band of the T-O-Si (T = Al or Si) shifts to the lower wavenumber range (968 cm−1 to 955 cm−1). Then, cemented paste backfills (CPBs) are prepared with iron tailings as the aggregate. At mass content of 75%, SR proportion of 80%, and activator dosage of 30%, the fluidity of the CPB reaches 267.5 mm with a 28-day unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of 2.4 MPa, confirming that SR- and NaOH-synergistically-activated GGBS has great application prospects in backfill mining.
Choosing an appropriate drying method is crucial for producing dried cherry blossoms with desirable quality. This study is designed to assess the effects of seven different drying methods-hot-air ...drying (HAD), infrared hot-air drying (IHAD), catalytic infrared drying (CID), relative humidity drying (RHD), pulsed vacuum drying (PVD), microwave vacuum drying (MVD), and vacuum freeze drying (VFD)-on drying time and various attributes of cherry blossoms, such as appearance, bioactive compounds, antioxidant activity, α-glucosidase activity, and sensory properties. Our findings revealed that MVD recorded the shortest drying time, followed by PVD, CID, IHAD, RHD, HAD, and VFD. In qualities, VFD-dried petals exhibited superior appearance, bioactive compounds, antioxidant activity, and α-glucosidase inhibitory capability; MVD-dried petals were a close second. Furthermore, the quality of tea infusions prepared from the dried petals was found to be significantly correlated with the quality of the dried petals themselves. Regarding sensory attributes, VFD-dried petals produced tea infusions most similar in flavor and taste to those made with fresh petals and received the highest sensory evaluation scores, followed by MVD, PVD, RHD, CID, IHAD, and HAD. These results could offer a scientific foundation for the mass production of high-quality dried cherry blossoms in the future.
N
2
injection process is a potential technique to control the water coning behavior in heavy oil reservoirs. In this paper, by using the methods of experiment and numerical simulation, the N
2
...injection process for controlling the edge water coning behavior is investigated. First, through a visual fluid flow experimental device, the flow behavior of N
2
-water in porous media is discussed. Also, the effects of temperature, pressure, and injection rate were studied. Then, based on the experimental results, aiming at an actual edge water heavy oil reservoir, a reservoir simulation model is developed. Thus, the water coning behavior of edge aquifer is systematically studied. Also, two novel indicators are proposed to evaluate the water coning behavior. Then, a series of numerical models are developed to investigate the performance of N
2
injection process in edge water heavy oil reservoirs after water coning, and the adaptability and the optimal operation parameters are analyzed. Results indicate that under the effect of porous media, N
2
can cut into a series of small gas bubbles. It is a typical dispersed phase and can effectively plug the water coning path. Compared with pressure and injection rate, temperature is a more sensitive factor to affect the plugging performance of N
2
. From the simulation results, it is observed that the permeability, water/oil ratio, and distance between well and aquifer can significantly affect the performance of water coning behavior. N
2
injection process can effectively control the edge water coning and improve the CSS performance. Furthermore, from the simulation results, it is found that the optimal operation parameters for a N
2
injection process is that the total N
2
injection volume should be higher than 6,000 m
3
within one operation cycle and the optimal N
2
injection rate should be lower than 700 m
3
/day. This investigation further clarifies the mechanisms of N
2
injection process to control the water coning behavior in heavy oil reservoirs. It can provide a useful reference for the EOR process of the heavy oil reservoirs with edge water.
•Five drying techniques were used for drying garlic slices.•Different drying techniques significantly affected the quality of garlic.•Freeze dried garlic showed attractive color, low shrinkage and ...low hardness.•Infrared hot air dried garlic had better bioactive compound and antioxidant quality.•Relative humidity dried garlic showed the highest rehydration capacity.
Various drying techniques play an important role in foodstuff preservation. However, the role of different drying techniques on garlic quality is limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of vacuum freeze-drying (VFD), hot air drying (HAD), infrared hot air drying (IRHAD), relative humidity drying (RHD) and pulsed vacuum drying (PVD) on the physical, rehydration, flavor, bioactive compounds and antioxidant characteristics of garlic slices. Results showed that garlic slices treated with VFD had an attractive color, low shrinkage, low hardness, and the lowest rehydration capacity. The volume shrinkage ratio, thermal stability and storage stability of garlic slices after HAD were the highest. Different dried garlic samples had different specific flavor fingerprints. IRHAD and RHD dried samples showed the highest rehydration capacity, content of bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity. The findings could provide a scientific basis to help in future large-scale production of good quality dried garlic products.
•Three pairs of chiral binaphthyl based macrocyclic tetraphenylethylenes (TPEs) with flexible macrocycle backbones and different linkage lengths were designed and synthesized.•The homochiral helical ...orientations of TPEs in the crystal structures demonstrate the successful chirality transfer from chiral binaphthyl to TPE via the soft macrocycle backbone.•Obvious aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and CPL properties can be detected owing to the chiral macrocyclic architectures.•The chiral macrocycle with the longest linkage length can produce the largest aggregation-induced circularly polarized luminescence (AI-CPL) signals in films with luminescence dissymmetry factor (glum) up to 1.9 × 10−3.
Developing chiral macrocycles with intense circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) has received considerable interest. The chirality transfer in the chiral macrocycles with separated chiral sources and luminophores is crucial but rarely explored. In this paper, we designed and synthesized three pairs of chiral binaphthyl based macrocyclic tetraphenylethylenes (TPEs) with flexible macrocycle backbones and different linkage lengths. The homochiral helical orientations of TPEs in the crystal structures demonstrate the successful chirality transfer from chiral binaphthyl to TPE via the soft macrocycle backbone. Obvious aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and CPL properties can be detected owing to the chiral macrocyclic architectures. Most importantly, the chiral macrocycle with the longest linkage length can produce the largest aggregation-induced circularly polarized luminescence (AI-CPL) signals in films with luminescence dissymmetry factor (glum) up to 1.9 × 10−3.
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