Physicochemical parameters and mineral components in Vietnam honey as a promising tool for classifying biological origin of honeys

Honey is known as a natural sweetener agent with high nutritional value and health benefits, especially premium honey because of its desirable flavour and medicinal properties. Because of this, honey has been a target of adulteration through the mixing of low-quality honey and mislabelling of the honey’s origin. The aim of this research considers the potential of using mineral and physicochemical data to authenticate the origin of honey. To this end, 40 samples of 8 botanica collected from 18 different regions of Vietnam were analysed for its metal contents (Na, K, Mg, Ca, Al, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, Pb, Cd, Ni, Cr, Co, As, Hg) and physicochemical parameters (pH and electrical conductivity). The data were processed by multivariate analysis, which allowed the classification of honey according to its botanical origin.

6′-O-Lactose Ester Surfactants as an Innovative Opportunity in the Pharmaceutical Field: From Synthetic Methods to Biological Applications

Glycolipid surfactants are biocompatible and biodegradable compounds characterized by potential applications in various sectors including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, agriculture, and food production. A specific overview regarding synthetic methodologies and properties of 6′-lactose-based surfactants is presented herein, particularly all the synthetic approaches to this class of lactose esters, such as enzymatic and traditional organic syntheses. Moreover, detailed descriptions of physicochemical data and biocompatibility properties of these molecules, that is, surface tension, critical micelle concentration, emulsifying ability, foaming, particle size distribution, biocompatibility, and safety, are described. Biological applications with a focus on permeability enhancing, antimicrobial activity, and antibiofilm properties of 6′-lactose-based esters are also reported.

Study of the water quality of shallow wells in the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ

Groundwater is an important source of supply, is available in almost all regions of the Earth, constituting an important natural resource. In addition, having knowledge of this resource in terms of quality and quantity is of paramount importance, as these waters are often used for human supply, for irrigation in rural areas and for industrial purposes. In this context, the North Fluminense region, especially the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes, has been demanding more and more for the use of water resources, due to the population and business increase, motivated, above all, by the huge undertaking that is the Açu port complex, installed in the neighboring municipality, São João da Barra. This reality points to the relevance of developing work that will contribute to a better knowledge of groundwater. This research aims to contribute to a better knowledge of the water quality of the shallow free aquifers in the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes. As for the methodology, the following steps will be carried out: collection of bibliographic and documentary data, such as conference proceedings, books, ordinance, laws, articles, theses, dissertations, and others; literature review; selection of physicochemical data from existing shallow wells; comparison of physical-chemical parameters with the maximum values allowed with Consolidation Ordinance Nº. 5 established by the Ministry of Health; map creation; and elaboration of table and graphs. It is expected with this research to produce and make available information that can contribute to the sustainable management of underground water resources in the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes

New Alkaloids From a Hawaiian Fungal Strain Aspergillus felis FM324

Two new alkaloids tryptoquivaline Y (1) and pseurotin I (2), together with eight known compounds (3–10), were purified from a fungal strain Aspergillus felis FM324, which was isolated from a Hawaiian beach soil sample. The absolute configuration and physicochemical data of tryptoquivaline Z (3) were reported for the first time here in this paper. Compound 1 is an uncommon tryptoquivaline analog containing a 3-O-isobutanoyl group. The structures of the new compounds 1–2 and known compound 3 were elucidated through HRESIMS, NMR spectroscopy and ECD analysis. All the compounds were evaluated for their antiproliferative, antibacterial and NF-κB inhibitory activities. Compound 4 showed weak antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis with the same MIC value of 59.2 µM. Compounds 3 and 2 inhibited NF-κB with IC50 values of 26.7 and 30.9 μM, respectively.

A Rule-Based Quality Analytics System for the Global Wine Industry

The global wine-making industry has faced challenges due to the increasing demands of consumers, particularly in emerging markets such as China, Brazil, India, and Russia. Controlling the quality during wine production is one of the key challenges faced by global winemakers to produce wine with appropriate sensorial properties tailored to specific markets. The wine production quality is constituted from a number of environmental factors such as climate, soil, and temperature, which affect the sensorial properties and the overall quality. This paper proposed a rule-based quality analytics system (RBQAS) to capture physicochemical data during wine production and to investigate the hidden patterns from the data for quality prediction. It consists of IoT for data capture on a real-time basis, followed by association rule mining to identify relationships between sensorial and physicochemical properties of wine.

Landscape-scale Remote Sensing and Classification of Pond and Lake Habitat Diversity in a Tropical City

Ponds and lakes are common freshwater habitats in urban landscapes, and often have a high biodiversity and conservation value. The importance of landscape-scale conservation of pond networks has recently been recognised, yet the categorisation and classification of pond network spatial structures is missing. Developing spatial methods and tools to characterise and understand pond networks is a critical first step to accurately conserve pond habitats and inhabiting species. This paper presents an inventory of ponds and lakes in Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, characterising their distribution, abundance and type. Remote sensing was first employed to map and characterise these habitats, followed by multivariate cluster analysis to classify and develop a typology of the ponds identified. Physicochemical data was collected from a sample (n=60) of ponds to compare with the remotely sensed pond classification. Results demonstrated that multi-source remote sensing can be highly accurate and effective in inventorying ponds and lakes of varying sizes. A total of 1013 ponds and lakes were identified within the Greater Kuala Lumpur region and were found to be highly environmentally heterogeneous. Typology clusters were driven by land cover rather than local physicochemical variables demonstrating that specific remotely-sensed variables may be sufficient proxies for certain chemical variables. Landscape-scale conservation and management of pond networks should utilise remote sensing tools, to establish pond network structure, and to maintain wide environmental heterogeneity among pond habitats. Incorporating remote sensing tools into pond conservation will ensure that effective pond conservation can be achieved and biodiversity protection can be maximised.

A Rule-Based Quality Analytics System for the Global Wine Industry

The global wine-making industry has faced challenges due to the increasing demands of consumers, particularly in emerging markets such as China, Brazil, India, and Russia. Controlling the quality during wine production is one of the key challenges faced by global winemakers to produce wine with appropriate sensorial properties tailored to specific markets. The wine production quality is constituted from a number of environmental factors such as climate, soil, and temperature, which affect the sensorial properties and the overall quality. This paper proposed a rule-based quality analytics system (RBQAS) to capture physicochemical data during wine production and to investigate the hidden patterns from the data for quality prediction. It consists of IoT for data capture on a real-time basis, followed by association rule mining to identify relationships between sensorial and physicochemical properties of wine.

Thermodynamics of formation and evaporation of lead-tin alloys

Only a few works have been devoted to thermodynamic studies of the lead-tin system by methods including the volatile components evaporation process. When the binary system is separated into metals by distillation, the volatile component is removed from the alloy and the low-volatile component accumulates in the bottom products, that is, there are alloy composition changes over the entire concentration range. It is necessary to know the boundaries position of the melt and vapor coexistence fields on the state diagram, especially for solutions beneficiated with non-volatile metal to assess the quality of the vapor phase by the content of the low-volatile component. In this regard, the study has been completed with the purpose to clarify the values of the thermodynamic functions of the formation and evaporation of lead-tin melts required to calculate the boundaries of the liquid and vapor coexistence fields on the state diagram that enables us to judge the amount of a low-volatile component in the vapor phase under equilibrium conditions. The thermodynamic activity of lead was calculated, as well as the numerical integration of the Gibbs-Duhem equation using the substitution proposed by Darken is the thermodynamic activity and pressure of saturated tin vapor Based on the values of the saturated lead vapor pressure, determined by the boiling point method (isothermal version) for alloys predominantly of the lead edge of the phase diagram. The thermodynamic constants thus obtained will add to the base of physicochemical data and will be used to calculate the boundaries of the vapor-liquid equilibrium fields on the phase diagram, allowing to determine the possibility and completeness of the distillation separation of metals.