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This study focuses on developing a fried fish cake prototype with improved quality and extended shelf-life, enabling room-temperature distribution through an innovative high-temperature and high-process retort method. Surimi-based products typically necessitate cold storage and a refrigerated distribution system, affecting their physical properties and flavor while escalating costs. By incorporating Transglutaminase (TGase), trehalose, and herbal oils, and optimizing the heating process using the response surface methodology, this research addresses challenges related to changes in physical properties, color, and off-flavors during high-temperature and high-pressure treatment. The addition of 0.37% ACTIVA-K TGase significantly enhanced gel strength by promoting protein cross-linking, while 0.75% trehalose improved color stability by suppressing browning, thus enhancing visual appeal. A 0.1% concentration of bay oil effectively enhanced the flavor profile by masking undesirable odors without compromising the sensory quality. Optimized processing conditions maximized DPPH radical scavenging activity, whiteness, and gel strength, ensuring superior product quality and safety. Nutritional analysis confirmed a balanced composition of moisture, protein, essential amino acids, and minerals, in accordance with Korean national standards for acid values. Microstructural examination revealed a uniform network structure, contributing to excellent texture and sensory evaluations. Shelf-life predictions indicated a storage duration of approximately 19 months, surpassing commercially available products and offering a competitive edge. This novel approach allows surimi-based products to be stored and distributed at room temperature, while also providing the potential for increased profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating seismic interpretation facilitates the discernment of tectonostratigraphic evolution in the eastern Korean continental margin, East Sea. The sedimentary succession of this margin is divided into three major seismic units based on distinct unconformities. These unconformities and their associated seismic characteristics indicate that the eastern Korean continental margin has experienced four evolutionary stages through extensional and subsequent two‐phase tectonic inversions. Early Miocene back‐arc opening of the East Sea triggered the extension of NNW–SSE and N–S trending rifts, resulting in non‐marine to deep‐marine deposition of typical rift‐related linked sedimentological systems in the eastern Korean continental margin. In the early Late Miocene, changes in plate motion and the subduction mode of the Japanese island (NW–SE compression) caused the positive inversion of extensional fault‐bounded half‐grabens in the eastern Korean continental margin, and the Hupo Basin was likely created by the regional flexural response. During this depositional period, hemipelagic sedimentation accompanied by episodic gravity‐controlled slope failures was predominant in the deep‐water environment. The subsidence of the Hupo Basin was enhanced by crustal shortening (E–W compression) that was induced by subduction initiation at the western margin of the Ulleung Basin during the late Early Pliocene (ca. 3.8 Ma). At that time, sedimentary environment gradually became shallower with time and coarse‐grained terrigenous input into the Hupo Basin began so that shallow‐ to deep‐marine sedimentation occurred. In the Quaternary period, the uplift of the Hupo Bank and coeval subsidence of the Hupo Basin were maintained by continued compressive neotectonics. The shallow‐ to deep‐marine deposition continued, but greater quantities of coarse‐grained terrestrial sediment were transported into the Hupo Basin due to combined effects on tectonics and eustasy. Based on the tectonostratigraphic reconstruction developed in this study, we propose that the Hupo Basin is likely a Late Miocene–Quaternary compression‐related basin induced by crustal or thrust loading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces oxygen-deficient black TiO2 with hierarchically ordered porous structure fabricated by a simple hydrogen reduction as a carbon- and binder-free cathode, demonstrating superior energy density and stability. With the high electrical conductivity derived from oxygen vacancies or Ti3+ ions, this unique electrode features micrometer-sized voids with mesoporous walls for the effective accommodation of Li2O2 toroid and for the rapid transport of reaction molecules without the electrode being clogged. In the highly ordered architecture, toroidal Li2O2 particles are guided to form with a regular size and separation, which induces the most of Li2O2 external surface to be directly exposed to the electrolyte. Therefore, large Li2O2 toroids (≈300 nm) grown from solution can be effectively charged by incorporating a soluble catalyst, resulting in a very small polarization (≈0.37 V). Furthermore, disordered nanoshell in black TiO2 is suggested to protect the oxygen-deficient crystalline core, by which oxidation of Ti3+ is kinetically impeded during battery operation, leading to the enhanced electrode stability even in a highly oxidizing environment under high voltage (≈4 V). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is confirmed that oxygen‐deficient black TiO2 can operate as a stable cathode for Li‐O2 batteries, where the morphology of black TiO2 was modified to be hierarchically porous. This innovative cathode renders the reaction molecules and air (O2) to permeate reversibly, analogous to the function of the human respiratory system, while generating electricity from the reactions of Li and oxygen. This is reported by Seunghoon Nam, Yongjoon Park, Byungwoo Park, and co‐workers in article number 1700814. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 16,000 chemicals are incorporated into plastics to impart properties such as color, flexibility, and durability. These chemicals may leach from plastics, resulting in widespread human exposure during everyday use. Two plastic-associated chemicals-bisphenol A (BPA) and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)-and a class of chemicals-brominated flame retardants [polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)]-are credibly linked to adverse health and cognitive impacts. BPA exposures are associated with ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke, DEHP exposure with increased all-cause mortality among persons 55 to 64 y old, and prenatal PBDE exposures in mothers with IQ losses in their children. We estimate BPA, DEHP, and PBDE exposures in 38 countries containing one-third of the world's population. We find that in 2015, 5.4 million cases of IHD and 346,000 cases of stroke were associated with BPA exposure; that DEHP exposures were linked to approximately 164,000 deaths among 55-to-64 y olds; and that 11.7 million IQ points were lost due to maternal PBDE exposure. We estimate the costs of these health impacts to be $1.5 trillion 2015 purchasing power parity dollars. If exposures to BPA and DEHP in the United States had been at 2015 levels since 2003, 515,000 fewer deaths would have been attributed to BPA and DEHP between 2003 and 2015. If PBDE levels in mothers had been at 2015 levels since 2005, over 42 million IQ points would have been saved between 2005 and 2015., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.