The present study aimed to address the potential of ground-based food and sensory research in representing the isolated and confined environment of a spacecraft. Virtual Reality (VR) technology was employed to simulate the experience of perceived isolation and confinement within space. The VR simulation emulates the International Space Station in low Earth orbit, comprising interconnected space modules equipped with integrated sensory analysis tools for evaluating food odor cues within the VR environment (‘Food in Space’, Supplementary A). In our first experiment, 44 healthy participants were asked to rate the intensity of three commercially available food odor samples (vanilla, lemon, almond) and a control on a 5-point Likert scale, in the neutral sitting posture, a NASA-Neutral sitting posture (mimicking a ‘microgravity’ posture using a commercial ‘Zero-gravity’ outdoor chair set at 122–124°), and within the VR simulation. This first phase revealed large individual variations across odors. Importantly, there were no significant differences for most odors when the odor perceptions of the three odors between the neutral and ‘microgravity’ neutral postures were compared. However, there were significant differences for select odors between VR and both the postures (Supplementary B) indicating that the VR ‘Food in Space’ environment may impact odor perception differently across odors. A second pilot study with 16 participants evaluated four food odor samples (vanilla, lemon, almond, eucalyptus) and a control across different contexts (baseline control, virtual reality) and time points during virtual reality. The emotional responses during the experiences were also evaluated explicitly using validated scales such as the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) and the short-formed Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS-SF). This second phase revealed that participants' descriptions of their emotional responses underwent changes before and after their virtual reality experiences. Terms used were generally more neutral and positive before VR (e.g., ‘interested’, ‘attentive’) and more negative after spending an average of 9 min 35 s in virtual reality (e.g., ‘nervous’, ‘guilty’). There was also variation across participants in terms of emotional responses and odor intensity perception (blank control) especially after spending a longer time in the virtual reality environment (Supplementary C). This exploratory study underscores the potential of using VR technology as a space analog to simulate context for studying sensory responses in relation to food as the current data matches anecdotal eating behavior of space travelers. Personal variation in odor perception should also be taken into consideration, especially in creating personalized meal plans for space applications.

The development of sustainable and renewable gasoline additives is necessary to provide green engine fuels in response to environmental issues and the energy crisis. From this angle, the current study aims to assess the impact of environmentally friendly and renewable gasoline additives on generating low-carbon high-octane gasoline biofuel using multiple renewable and sustainable additives. Renewable and sustainable gasoline biofuel additives include ethanol, methanol, ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE), isopropanol, and so on, which have exceptional anti-detonation properties and excellent chemical and physical characteristics. Furthermore, the base commercial gasoline components involve straight-run naphtha (SRN), naphtha made from natural gas condensate, heavy hydrocracked naphtha (HHN), gasoline Fisher Tropsch, and so on, which have poor chemical and physical attributes and low octane rating. Physicochemical characteristics and operational properties of various gasoline biofuel components are studied. Research findings indicated that these encouraging constituents have yielded favorable synergistic chemical, physical, mechanical, and environmental properties when combined with low-octane hydrocarbon fractions. Besides, the results reported that by combining with gasoline components to create high-octane gasoline, the amount and quality of low-octane gasoline fractions were optimized. The primary issues that affect the entire planet are the scarcity of water, energy, and the environment. Two of the above energy and environmental issues might be resolved by utilizing these motor gasoline components. Finally, environmental gasoline offers refining firms favorable prospects due to its low overhead, improved product grade, and significant environmental impact.

Accurate estimation of epidemic outbreak risks at any given time horizon, and in any national province of interest for COVID-19 (novel coronavirus disease, SARS-COV-2), a contagious disease, is of practical importance. This study proposes novel bio and health system's spatiotemporal reliability method, applicable to multi-regional national health systems. This approach enables accurate estimation of future epidemic outbreak risks, suitable for multiregional biological systems. Daily numbers of recorded patients in two different countries were chosen for this study. This study aimed to benchmark state-of-the-art reliability method, by extracting necessary health system information from nationally observed patient numbers, while taking into account national territorial mapping. Proper confidence bands have been estimated for predicted probability levels. Suggested multivariate reliability methodology may be used for various public health applications, based on available in situ clinical survey data. This study analyzed epidemiological dynamics, based on total numbers of nationally daily-recorded patients. It is recommended to study the percentage of infected patients, with respect to the local population tested. The suggested spatiotemporal methodology being general and well suitable for the latter task.

The need of achieving sustainable resource recovery, particularly in relation to critical metals extracted from brine, is a key focus in the development of a circular economy. This study underlines the significance of such recovery processes, with a special focus on lithium (Li) - a vital element in modern industry. An assessment of Li concentrations across distinct brine sources establishes the background for its recovery. The conventional method of extracting resources through evaporation ponds is thoroughly evaluated, emphasizing its limitations including prolonged operational durations, dependence on climate conditions, reliance on chemicals, challenges related to water constraint, and significant carbon emissions. In contrast, the Membrane Crystallization (MCr) process is described as a possible alternative. The research dives into the concepts of MCr, its configurations, and contrasts its operational range versus other membrane processes such as reverse osmosis (RO), forward osmosis (FO), and capacitive deionization (MCDI) processes. Advantages and market potential of MCr are introduced against its limitations. Progress in MCr process development (e.g., LiCl recovery, Li2CO3 recovery, etc.) and membrane developments (e.g., multi-layer nanofiber and 3D printed membranes) are explored. The paper finishes by outlining future research directions for MCr, emphasizing its contribution to the advancement of sustainable resource recovery strategies.

The present study highlights the green synthesis of SnS2 quantum dots over a chitosan surface (SnS2/Ch) using Azadirachta Indica leaf extract via precipitation technique. The photocatalytic performance of the prepared photocatalyst was investigated for the degradation of crystal violet dye through a photocatalytic-assisted advanced oxidation process (AOP). The average crystallite and particle sizes of the SnS2/Ch photocatalyst were 8.8 nm and 3.3 nm, respectively. The effect of various reaction parameters was optimized to achieve maximum degradation efficiency. Maximum degradation of 98.60 ± 1.34% could be achieved under optimum conditions within 70 min of visible light irradiation.

Food scenarios to face climate change and contribute to a better health always involve legumes. However, legumes are under-consumed in France and local production is too low. Pulses are too often considered as sources of protein, whereas they are in fact very diverse whole foods. We've chosen to highlight this diversity with a French gastronomic approach, processing them as little as possible to preserve their excellent environmental impact in the field. The aim is to add value for both the consumer and the producer through the French gastronomic valorization of pulses.Three starting points guide our approach: (i) a multi-sensory gastronomic experience could change the image of pulses by making them more attractive and contribute to changing consumer behavior, (ii) gastronomic chefs are able to create truly new different recipes, by promoting the diversity of pulses (iii) gastronomic recipes use a variety of culinary techniques, and can be simplified into model foods allowing to test in a systematic way the culinary abilities of pulses. This will lead to identify the unknown culinary qualities required and link these qualities to production factors.

The free-linking task has been recently proposed as a new method for rapid similarity testing, in which participants are asked to connect those pairs of samples which they consider similar. Previous results showed that both methods provided highly comparable consensus graphics in the first two dimensions, but free-linking provided more discrimination in dimensions three and four. In this work we compared, for the first time, the free-linking task to the well-known projective mapping task.Popular candies (K = 9), see Fig. 1, were analyzed via their images, using Projective Mapping by N=298 subjects aged between 4 and 66, and using Linking by N=189 subjects aged between 6 and 56. Data from Projective Mapping were analyzed using Multiple Factor Analysis (Fig. 2) and SensoGraph (Fig. 3). Data from Linking were analyzed using DISTATIS (Fig. 4) and SensoGraph (Fig. 5). Stability was checked using Jaccard stability and bootstrapping with adjusted RV.The results show that the higher discrimination capacity of Linking over Projective Mapping is apparent already at the first two dimensions, without the need of checking further dimensions. Thus, the free-linking task may be considered as an alternative not only to the free-sorting task, but also to the projective mapping task.

Individual dietary choices play a crucial role in shaping nutrition-related health outcomes, making it a focal point of ongoing research in sensory nutrition (Forde et al., 2015). Chemosensory function is often considered a key influencer of dietary choices and intake. However, empirical investigations into these sensory-diet links have yielded divergent results (McCrickerd & Forde, 2016; Abeywickrema et al., 2022; Ginieis et al., 2022). We thereby summarised recent findings from our lab, aimed at unravelling chemosensory connections to individual dietary choices and intake, incorporating data from four experiments. Employing robust psychophysical methods (i.e., signal detection theory), we systematically addressed critical questions: [1] the impact of olfactory and gustatory supra-threshold sensitivities on daily energy intake; [2] the relationships between individual chemosensory perception and dietary macronutrient composition; [3] the sensory drivers influencing food choices based on taste quality profiling. Our results indicate that individual olfactory and gustatory sensitivities contribute significantly to food choices (Abeywickrema et al., 2022), with only gustatory sensitivities directly linked to macronutrient intakes (Abeywickrema et al., 2023). Furthermore, profiling food choices based on taste qualities, rather than energy or nutrients, provides novel insights into the potential mechanism underpinning sensory influences on dietary behaviors. Our presentation offers compelling new evidence for the distinct roles of olfactory and gustatory senses in shaping individual food choices.