Egg washing at home is generally discouraged in some regions because it can damage the egg's natural protective cuticle and increase the risk of bacterial penetration. However, little is known about how consumers in Southeast Asia wash and handle eggs in domestic settings. This study aims to investigate egg washing and handling practices among consumers using a mixed-method approach. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with consumers from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. This was followed by 24 domestic kitchen observations and semi-structured interviews in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and logistic regression. Qualitative data were analysed thematically. The majority of participants reported washing eggs before cooking. More than half of those who washed eggs indicated that they would still wash eggs even when they appeared visually clean. Eggs were commonly rinsed under tap water, often to remove dirt, faeces, slime, or feathers. Respondents from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and those with greater perceived risk of Salmonella contamination in eggs were more confident in following the message. Observations revealed appropriate handwashing after handling or cracking eggs was rare and cross-contact opportunities were frequently observed. Semi-structured interview findings showed that egg washing was closely linked to perceived beliefs about cleanliness and safety, habitual practice, and uncertainty about how eggs had been handled before purchase. Some participants also described wiping as an alternative cleaning strategy, while informal information sources appeared to influence views on egg washing. Practical guidance should emphasise
Watercore is a physiological disorder that reduces fruit quality in durian, yet its underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. This study compared the tolerant cultivar ‘Monthong’ (MT) and the susceptible cultivar ‘Chanee’ (CN) to identify structural, physiological, biochemical, and molecular traits associated with watercore development. CN developed watercore symptoms earlier and reached nearly 100% incidence at the overripe stage, whereas MT exhibited only mild symptoms. These differences were not associated with fruit maturity, transpiration, fruit surface water uptake, or vascular structure. Instead, CN exhibited higher specific gravity and lower intercellular gas content in both the whole fruit and central axis, indicating smaller intercellular air spaces. Ripening was accompanied by greater accumulation of glucose, fructose, and total sugars in the central axis of CN than in MT, although these changes were not consistently associated with the expression of DzSUC2, DzN3, or DzCWINV1. Osmotically driven water uptake was evident following vacuum infiltration, whereas apoplastic soluble solids concentration did not differ between cultivars in healthy fruit. During watercore progression, only apoplastic fructose increased significantly with symptom severity. Membrane deterioration occurred only during advanced ripening. Collectively, these findings suggest that limited intercellular air space is the primary factor associated with watercore susceptibility, while ripening-associated changes in sugar composition may contribute to symptom development.
The objective of this investigation was to understand the influence of a pulsed coaxial dielectric barrier discharge (PCDBD) plasma loop-tubing system with a pulsed-plasma-like application on the physicochemical properties and Escherichia coli K12 inactivation in a 5% glucose solution flowing (Q) at 1, 2 and 3 l/min. The system enabled repeated pulsed exposure by featuring defined plasma discharge and non-discharge zones in a closed loop. Significant inactivation of E. coli K12 occurred despite a brief total plasma exposure of 46.9 s within 1200 s of circulation. Lower flow rates extended exposure per loop, enhancing lethality. Real-time IoT-based sensing showed linear decrease in oxidative-reductive potential (ORP) and pH but linear increase in electrical conductivity (EC) and temperature with pseudo-zero-order kinetics. E. coli K12 inactivation pseudo-kinetics followed a sigmoidal pattern well described by the Baranyi model. Secondary Ratkowsky-type models related plasma residence time per cycle D-1 to physicochemical and microbial pseudo-kinetic parameters more effectively than flow rate Q. Among physicochemical indicators, ORP showed the strongest correlation with microbial lethality, supporting its use as a primary real-time control variable. Machine-learning models trained on operational and microbial parameters, and sensor data achieved high predictive accuracy (R-2 > 0.97), with an artificial neural network outperforming gradient boosting and random forest models, particularly under noisy and interpolation conditions. These findings encourage the integration of a PCDBD loop-tubing reactor with real-time sensing, kinetic modeling and ANN-based soft sensing to provide a robust framework for intelligent cold-plasma decontamination of glucose-based liquids.
Re-liquefying boil-off gas consumes 2.24 MW aboard a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, and the nitrogen reverse Brayton cycle (N2RBC) used is limited by 32 °C seawater. No unified energy, exergy, economic and environmental (4E) assessment exists for an exhaust-driven ammonia-water absorption refrigeration cycle (ARC) coupled to such a plant, nor any marine costing basis. The two cycles are solved as one steady-state model against the unmodified seawater-intercooled plant, with three least-dependent criteria optimized simultaneously and TOPSIS, LINMAP and entropy weighting compared. Chilling the intercooler water to 5.3 °C lowers the compressor inlet from 37 to 10.3 °C and cuts specific energy consumption 8.8 percent, from 0.691 to 0.630 kWh per kilogram. Net auxiliary demand falls 198 kW and second-law efficiency rises from 30.70 to 33.68 percent, the absorption chiller yield cooling power 1.30 MW with two main engines 272 °C exhaust gas. Irreversibility in the nitrogen loop falls 12.6 percent, but the absorption subsystem adds more than it removes; that destruction is drawn from exhaust the baseline vents, carrying no fuel penalty. Moreover, land-based costs corrected for shipboard material, geometry, and installation yield absorption-plant capital from 1.37 million USD, against 1.50 million USD total incremental capital. For the economic viability, Discounted payback is 9.97 years at 8 percent over 20 years, internal rate of return 13.81 percent, and 869 tonnes of carbon dioxide are avoided annually. Last but not least, assessed for tropical service at 0.8 USD per kilogram of fuel over 7,224 operating hours per year, the retrofit loses its positive net present value if capital exceeds the estimate by more than 47 percent or fuel falls below 0.55 USD per kilogram.
This study presents a tannic acid (TA)-mediated strategy to engineer the structure and functionality of chitosan/ polyvinyl alcohol (CS/PVA) packaging films by simultaneously crosslinking polymers and integrating nanoparticles. TA served as a multifunctional structuring agent, forming extensive hydrogen-bonding networks within the CS/PVA matrix and coordinating with MgO-TiO2 nanoparticles to generate stable metal-phenolic interfaces. This dual interaction produced a more compact, integrated film network with enhanced interfacial compatibility and reduced polymer chain mobility. Consequently, the composite film showed a 79% increase in tensile strength (29.3 MPa), along with significant reductions in water vapor permeability (21%) and oxygen permeability (36.4%), indicating improved barrier performance through increased network density and tortuous diffusion pathways. TA-mediated coordination further modified the optical properties of MgO-TiO2, enabling visible-light responsiveness and promoting reactive oxygen species generation, which contributed to strong antibacterial activity, with bacterial reduction exceeding 5 log CFU mL- 1 against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus within 24 h. In addition, the films exhibited enhanced antioxidant activity and complete UV shielding. When applied to banana preservation, the optimized film effectively delayed ripening, extending shelf life by approximately four days while maintaining acceptable quality. Overall, this work highlights a synergistic approach to tailoring hybrid film networks via polyphenol-mediated crosslinking and metal-phenolic coordination, providing insights into structure-property relationships for the design of advanced active packaging materials.
