With fresh bitter melon and green tea as main ingredients, xylitol, sucrose and citric acid as auxiliary ingredients, a new cool health tea beverage was developed. The optimum formula of low sugar bitter melon green tea compound beverage was developed by single factor experiment and orthogonal test based on sensory evaluation. The results showed that the optimum formula was as follows: Bitter melon juice was added at 7%, green tea extract was added at 20%, total xylitol and sucrose was 6% (mass ratio 1:1), citric acid was added at 0.2%, and the volume was fixed to 100% with deionized water. The product has light green color, harmonious aroma, moderate acidity and sweetness, and clear texture. The aftertaste is long, with tea polyphenol content of 342 mg/kg, soluble solids of 5.2% and pH 5.8.

Magnesium hydroxide/melamine phosphate borate (nano MH/MPB), a novel nano-composition intumescent flame retardant, was synthesized with the in-situ reaction method from MgCl₂·6H₂O sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and melamine phosphate borate (MPB) in the absence of H₂O. The structure of the product was confirmed by EDAX IR and XRD. The effects of reaction temperature and time on the dimension of magnesium hydroxide were observed. The effects of mass ratio of magnesium hydroxide to MPB on the flame retardancy of nano-MH/MPB/EP were examined with the limiting oxygen test. The results show that the optimal condition of synthesis of MH/MPB is m_MH/m_MPB = 0.25, reacting under 75 ℃ for 30 minutes. Finally, the mechanism for flame retardancy of nano-MH/MPB/EP was pilot studied by means of IR of char layer and TG of MH/MPB.

It increased the demands on ground-water supplies that prolonged drought and improper maintenance of water resources. So it is necessary to evaluate ground-water resources in the hard rock terrain. In recent years, Remote-Sensing methods have been increasingly recognized as a means of obtaining crucial geoscientific data for both regional and site-specific investigations. This work aims to develop and apply integrated methods combining the information obtained by geo-hydrological field mapping and those obtained by analyzing multi-source remotely sensed data in a GIS environment for better understanding the Groundwater condition in hard rock terrain. In this study, digitally enhanced Landsat ETM+ data was used to extract information on geology, geomorphology. The Hill-Shading techniques are applied to SRTM DEM data to enhance terrain perspective views, and extract Geomorphological features and morphologically defined structures through the means of lineament analysis. A combination of Spectral information from Landsat ETM+ data plus spatial information from SRTM-DEM data is used to address the groundwater potential of alluvium, colluvium, and fractured crystalline rocks in the study area. The spatial distribution of groundwater potential zones shows regional patterns related to lithologies, lineaments, drainage systems, and landforms. High-yielding wells and springs are often related to large lineaments and corresponding structural features such as dykes. The results show that the combination of remote sensing, GIS, traditional fieldwork, and models provide a powerful tool for water resources assessment and management, and groundwater exploration planning.

A geologic and geomorphologic study aimed at solving some geological and geotechnical problems, regarding the massive seepage of meteoric waters in the coastal cliffs of the Island of Procida (Naples Bay, Southern Italy) composed of both tuffs and loose pyroclastic deposits, has been carried out in the geosites of Terra Murata (Middle Ages village and coastal cliff towards the Corricella Bay) and Centane-Panoramica (coastal cliff facing on the Tyrrhenian Sea).

A detailed geologic and geomorphologic survey has allowed to suggest solutions to the applied geological and geotechnical problems related to the occurrence of massive seepages of waters at the physical interface between pyroclastic rocks and loose pyroclastic deposits, characterized by different density, permeability and porosity and also controlled by a dense network of fractures, involving the pyroclastic deposits cropping out in the selected areas.

Field sampling and geotechnical laboratory analyses have been carried out to calculate the values of main geotechnical parameters of the yellow tuffs cropping out at the Terra Murata Promontory. At the same time, a detailed monitoring of the seepages of waters has been carried out through a detailed geological survey of the tuff outcrops of the promontory. The obtained results have suggested a strong control from both the geomorphologic instability of the coastal cliff and tectonic setting. At the Centane-Panoramica geosite, the geological survey, coupled with geotechnical analyses and standard penetrometric tests, has accordingly evidenced that the geomorphologic instability was mainly concentrated in the sectors of the tuff coastal cliffs facing seawards towards the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Land use or land cover (LU/LC) mapping serves as a kind of basic information for land resource study. Detecting and analyzing the quantitative changes along the earth’s surface has become necessary and advantageous because it can result in proper planning, which would ultimately result in improvement in infrastructure development, economic and industrial growth. The LU/LC pattern in Madurai City, Tamil Nadu, has undergone a significant change over the past two decades due to accelerated urbanization. In this study, LU/LC change dynamics were investigated by the combined use of satellite remote sensing and geographical information system. To understand the LU/LC change in Madurai City, different land use categories and their spatial as well as temporal variability have been studied over a period of seven years (1999-2006), by analyzing Landsat images for the years 1999 and 2006 respectively with the help of ArcGIS 9.3 and ERDAS Imagine 9.1 software. This results show that geospatial technology is able to effectively capture the spatio-temporal trend of the landscape patterns associated with urbanization in this region.

Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) was introduced to Mexico in 1959. Currently there is an estimated planted area of 835.96 ha and a production of 8,730.27 tons. The fruit is mainly consumed fresh, but quickly loses its external appearance due to dehydration and browning, which limits its commercialization, an alternative may be minimal processing and adjuvant treatments that extend the shelf life. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of coating with cactus mucilage (Opuntia ficus-indica), in the preservation of minimally processed rambutan stored at 5 °C, in two types of packaging. The rambutan was sanitized with chlorinated water (80 ppm), the epicarp was removed and batches were formed for each treatment. The factors were type of container (polyethylene bag and polystyrene container), coating (with and without coating) and time (0, 3, 6, 6, 10 and 12 d). The coating consisted of mucilage obtained from developing cladodes (15–21 cm), applied by dipping. All treatments were stored at 5 ℃. Total soluble solids (TSS), firmness (N) and color (L*, a*, b*, chroma and hue angle) were evaluated at each storage period. Also, 40 untrained judges (47% male and 53% female) evaluated sensory acceptability, consumption intention and acceptance/rejection. The results showed significant effect (p ≤ 0.05) of package type on firmness, chroma and hue angle. Coating had an effect on L* value and product acceptability. Consumption intention was higher, and was maintained for 10 days, in fruits with coating and packaged in polyethylene bags, stored at 5 ℃.