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The process conditions of ultrasonic-assisted ethanol extraction of resveratrol in peanut roots and the purification of resveratrol by macroporous resin were studied. The effects of ethanol concentration, ultrasonic power, ultrasonic time and solid-liquid ratio on the extraction rate of resveratrol from peanut root were investigated. After optimization by single-factor experiments and response surface methodology, a promised yield of resveratrol (175.53±1.57 μg/g) was obtained under optimal conditions: Ethanol concentration 90%, ultrasonic power 290 W, ultrasonic time 12 min, and solid-liquid ratio 1:38 (g:mL). Analysis of variance was performed to find that the effects of ultrasonic time, ultrasonic power and ethanol concentration on the extracted content of resveratrol reached the significance level (P

Dust aerosols can participate in the heterogeneous nucleation process as effective ice nucleation particles, thus changing the physical properties of clouds. In this paper, we used an eye-safe 1550 nm micropulse polarization single photon lidar combined with meteorological stations, HYSPLIT backward trajectory analysis, ERA5 reanalysis data, CALIPSO, Himawari-8 and Terra-MODIS satellite data to compare the difference in cloud characteristics between dust and clean cirrus cases in Jinan from 26–29 March 2022. The study found that the aerosol affected the cloud effective radius, and the cloud top temperature impacted the properties of depolarization of dust ice clouds. According to the statistical results of the upper and lower quartiles, the depolarization ratio (DPR) range of dust cirrus on 26 March was 0.46–0.49, a similar range to the clean cirrus, while that of dust cirrus on 27 March was 0.54–0.59, which seemed much larger. Different height and temperature conditions lead to differences in the habits of ice crystals in clouds, thus changing the DPR. However, the range of the DPR between clean cirrus and dust cirrus showed no obvious difference, as the former was 0.43–0.53 and the latter was 0.46–0.59. Under the condition of higher aerosol loading, the lidar range-corrected signal (RCS) of cirrus clouds was stronger, and the cloud effective radius was 48 μm, larger than that of clean cirrus (32 μm). This may be the effect of dust on the microphysical properties of clouds. This study discusses the indirect effects of dust aerosols on cirrus clouds and the underlying mechanisms from the perspectives of microphysics and optics, which can provide more references for urban air pollution processes and aerosol-cloud interactions.

Energy saving in higher education institutions holds significant importance in the establishment of environmentally friendly and low-carbon societies, with the energy-saving behaviors of university students playing a pivotal role in the development of sustainable campuses. However, there is a clear need for customized strategies to encourage energy-saving habits among university students in areas of China with extreme weather conditions, such as hot summers and cold winters. This study offers a thorough examination of the literature regarding energy-saving behaviors among college students and presents a new theoretical framework based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). A survey questionnaire is conducted at universities in regions with hot summers and cold winters across China, with the goal of identifying the main factors that influence students' intentions and actions regarding campus energy conservation. From July to August 2022, we collected 512 survey responses from different university campuses in China's hot summer-cold winter weather zone. The survey asked about subjective norms, understanding of energy conservation, and the importance of saving energy. Utilizing the Structural Equation Model (SEM), we examined how influencing factors are associated with energy conservation behaviors. Our findings indicate that (1) both the significance of energy conservation and subjective norms significantly drive energy-saving actions; (2) distinct factors impact different forms of energy-saving practices; and (3) the inclination to save energy partially mediates the relationship between comfort choices and the significance of energy conservation. This study presents a validated behavioral model tailored for regions experiencing hot summers and cold winters, offering valuable insights for college administrators in managing energy usage while also serving as a theoretical reference for establishing environmentally sustainable campuses.

The effects of salt–enzyme–alkali progressive tenderization treatments on porcine cortical conformation and collagen properties were investigated, and their effectiveness and mechanisms were analyzed. The tenderization treatment comprised three treatment stages: CaCl2 (25 °C/0–30 min), papain (35 °C/30–78 min), and Na2CO3 (25 °C/78–120 min). The textural, microscopic, and collagenous properties (content, solubility, and structure) of pork skin were determined at the 0th, 30th, 60th, 90th, and 120th min of the treatment process. The results showed that the shear force, hardness, and chewability of the skin decreased significantly (p < 0.05), and the elasticity exhibited a gradual increase with the progression of tenderization. The content and solubility of collagen showed no significant change at the CaCl2 treatment stage. However, the soluble collagen content increased, the insoluble collagen content decreased, and the collagen solubility increased by 18.04% during the subsequent treatment with papain and Na2CO3. Meanwhile, the scanning electron microscopy results revealed that the regular, wavy structure of the pig skin collagen fibers gradually disappeared during the CaCl2 treatment stage, the overall structure revealed expansion, and the surface microscopic pores gradually increased during the papain and Na2CO3 treatment stages. The findings of the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis indicated that the hydrogen bonding interactions between the collagen molecules and the C=O, N-H and C-N bonds in the subunit structure of collagen were substantially altered during treatment and that the breakage of amino acid chains and reduction in structural ordering became more pronounced with prolonged treatment. In the tertiary structure, the maximum emission wavelength was blue-shifted and then red-shifted, and the fluorescence intensity was gradually weakened. The surface hydrophobicity was slowly increased. The salt–enzyme–alkali tenderization treatment considerably improved the physical properties and texture of edible pork skins by dissolving collagen fibers and destroying the structure of collagen and its interaction force.

The use of plant-derived emulsified gel systems as fat substitutes for meat products has always been an important direction in the development of healthy foods. In this study, a composite matrix emulsion gel was prepared with soy protein isolate (SPI) and different concentrations of cassia bean gum (CG), and then the selected emulsion gel was applied to meat sausage as a fat substitute to explore its stability. Our results showed that the hardness, chewiness, viscosity, shear stress, and G′ and G″ moduli of the emulsion gel increased considerably with the cassia bean gum concentration, the thickness of the emulsion gel increased, and the pore size decreased. The gel strength of the 1.75% CG/SPI emulsion gel was the highest, which was 586.91 g. The elasticity was 0.94 mm, the masticability was 452.94 mJ, and the water-holding capacity (WHC) was 98.45%. Then, the 1.75% CG/SPI emulsion gel obtained via screening was applied as a fat substitute in meat sausage. With an increase in the substitution amount, the cooking loss, emulsification stability, pH, color difference, texture, and antioxidant activity of the meat sausage before and after freezing and thawing increased first and then decreased. The indexes of meat sausage with 50% fat replacement were not considerably different from those of full-fat meat sausage. This study can provide a theoretical basis for the application of plant-derived emulsified gel systems as fat substitutes in meat sausage.

This study aimed to develop a product that closely replicates the texture and appearance of tripe. The effect of three different proteins (soy protein isolate (SPI), pea protein isolate (PPI), and whey protein isolate (WPI)) at different protein levels and processing conditions (heating (90 °C, 1 h) followed by cooling (4 °C, 12 h) and heating (90 °C, 1h) followed by freezing (−18 °C, 12 h)) of konjac glucomannan (KGM) was analyzed. The optimal formulations for simulating tripe were screened by examining their similarity to real tripe in terms of texture, color, and sensory experience. The screened formulations were also subjected to a preliminary mechanistic investigation. The results show that all three proteins improved the gel’s textural properties to varying degrees. At the same concentration, the hardness and chewiness of the KGM/WPI composite gel were significantly higher than those of the other two KGM/protein composite gels, among which the composite gel obtained by adding 8% WPI and 5% KGM heating-frozen (FWK4) had the greatest hardness and chewiness of 4338.07 g and 2313.76, respectively, and the springiness differences in all of the composite gels were small. In addition, the addition of protein increased the whiteness of the hybrid gels, with WPI having the most significant effect on the whiteness of the composite gels (whiteness increased from 30.25 to 62.80 as the concentration of WPI increased from 0 to 10%). Freezing increased composite gel hardness and chewiness, but reduced gel springiness and whiteness. Cluster analysis showed that the composite gel obtained by heating–cooling 8% WPI and 5% KGM (WK4) was very similar to the real tripe in terms of chewiness and whiteness, and WK4 had the highest sensory scores for color, tissue morphology, tactile sensation, taste, and odor. The acceptability score in terms of tissue morphology reached 4.3. Meanwhile, the characterization results of WK4 indicate the presence of large junction areas in the gel network. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, X-ray diffraction, and intermolecular force contributions indicated that the incorporation of WPI promoted integral interactions, and that hydrophobic interactions and disulfide bonding played a key role in the WK4 composite gel system. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) also showed that the combination of WPI and konjac glucan resulted in a more compact gel structure. This study is informative for the development of the field of bionic tripe processing.

Multicomponent organic solar cells (OSCs), such as the ternary and quaternary OSCs, not only inherit the simplicity of binary OSCs but further promote light harvesting and power conversion efficiency (PCE). Here, we propose a new type of multicomponent solar cells with non-fullerene acceptor isomers. Specifically, we fabricate OSCs with the polymer donor J71 and a mixture of isomers, ITCF, as the acceptors. In comparison, the ternary OSC devices with J71 and two structurally similar (not isomeric) NFAs (IT-DM and IT-4F) are made as control. The morphology experiments reveal that the isomers-containing blend film demonstrates increased crystallinity, more ideal domain size, and a more favorable packing orientation compared with the IT-DM/IT-4F ternary blend. The favorable orientation is correlated with the balanced charge transport, increased exciton dissociation and decreased bimolecular recombination in the ITCF-isomer-based blend film, which contributes to the high fill factor (FF), and thus the high PCE. Additionally, to evaluate the generality of this method, we examine other acceptor isomers including IT-M, IXIC-2Cl and SY1, which show same trend as the ITCF isomers. These results demonstrate that using isomeric blends as the acceptor can be a promising approach to promote the performance of multicomponent non-fullerene OSCs.

In order to clarify the influence of Lactiplantibacillus pentosus fermentation on the structure of peanut proteins, changes in the structure of peanut protein isolate (PPI), arachin and conarachin before and after fermentation were studied. The results showed that L. pentosus fermentation significantly increased the free sulfhydryl content, surface hydrophobicity and denaturation temperature, and significantly reduced the β-folding content and denaturation enthalpy of arachin (P < 0.05). It reduced the free sulfhydryl content, surface hydrophobicity, and denaturation enthalpy, and significantly increased the degeneration temperature and α-helix content of PPI and conarachin (P < 0.05). Through particle size, potential and spectral analysis, we found that L. pentosus fermentation significantly improved the particle size and zeta potential of each protein component, and resulted in a red shift in their fluorescence peaks. In contrast to PPI and conarachin, the maximum fluorescence emission wavelength of arachin showed a 1.3 and 2.4 nm red shift, and arachin exhibited a 19.54% and 14.75% higher increase in thermal denaturation temperature, respectively. Thermal properties and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis showed that arachin had maximum structural unfolding and higher thermostability after fermentation, indicating that L. pentosus fermentation is more likely to promote the molecular modification of arachin, and contributes to the gel modification of peanut proteins.