Soft-tribology is emerging as an important field of research for quantifying the physics occurring during oral tribological processes. In a food oral processing context, recent research indicates that tribology measurements are providing insights into several texture-related sensory percepts, but obtaining quantitative empirical relationships between the two is challenging. Choosing a physiologically relevant tribological 'system' is paramount to the successful application of tribology as an indicator for texture perception; the choice of instrument, surfaces and model food system, as well as the role of saliva, should be carefully considered. Tribology and sensory perception are affected by multiple physico-chemical properties, and therefore integrative approaches that combine tribology with other characterisation techniques are necessary for mechanistic understanding on their interrelationship.
Here we provide a comprehensive review of the knowledge base of soft tribology, the study of friction, lubrication, and wear on deformable surfaces, with consideration for its application toward oral tribology and food lubrication. Studies on “soft‐tribology” have emerged to provide knowledge and tools to predict oral behavior and assess the performance of foods and beverages. We have shown that there is a comprehensive set of fundamental literature, mainly based on soft contacts in the Mini‐traction machine with rolling ball on disk configuration, which provides a baseline for interpreting tribological data from complex food systems. Tribology‐sensory relationships do currently exist. However, they are restricted to the specific formulations and tribological configuration utilized, and cannot usually be applied more broadly. With a careful and rigorous formulation/experimental design, we envisage tribological tools to provide insights into the sensory perception of foods in combination with other in vitro technique such as rheology, particle sizing or characterization of surface interactions. This can only occur with the use of well characterized tribopairs and equipment; a careful characterization of simpler model foods before considering complex food products; the incorporation of saliva in tribological studies; the removal of confounding factors from the sensory study and a global approach that considers all regimes of lubrication.
The results of a systematic investigation into the gelation behavior of α-cyclodextrin (α-CD) and Pluronic (poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) block copolymers) pseudopolyrotaxane (PPR) hydrogels are reported here in terms of the effects of temperature, α-CD concentration, and Pluronic type (Pluronic F68 and Pluronic F127). It was found that α-CD significantly modifies the gelation behavior of Pluronic solutions and that the PPR hydrogels are highly sensitive to changes in the α-CD concentration. In some cases, the addition of α-CD was found to be detrimental to the gelation process, leading to slower gelation kinetics and weaker gels than with Pluronic alone. However, in other cases, the hydrogels formed in the presence of the α-CDs reached higher moduli and showed faster gelation kinetics than with Pluronic alone and in some instances α-CD allowed the formation of hydrogels from Pluronic solutions that would normally not undergo gelation. Depending on composition and ratio of α-CD/Pluronic, these highly viscoelastic hydrogels displayed elastic shear modulus values ranging from 2 kPa to 7 MPa, gelation times ranging from a few seconds to a few hours and self-healing behaviors post failure. Using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), we probed the resident structure of these systems, and from these insights we have proposed a new molecular mechanism that accounts for the macroscopic properties observed.
BackgroundThe temporal dynamics and formation of plant-pollinator networks are difficult to study as it requires detailed observations of how the networks change over time. Understanding the temporal dynamics might provide insight into sustainability and robustness of the networks and how they react to environmental changes, such as global warming. Here we study an Arctic plant-pollinator network in two consecutive years using a simple mathematical model and describe the temporal dynamics (daily assembly and disassembly of links) by random mechanisms.ResultsWe develop a mathematical model with parameters governed by the probabilities for entering, leaving and making connections in the network and demonstrate that A. The dynamics is described by very similar parameters in both years despite a strong turnover in the composition of the pollinator community and different climate conditions, B. There is a drastic change in the temporal behaviour a few days before the end of the season in both years. This change leads to the collapse of the network and does not correlate with weather parameters, C. We estimate that the number of available pollinator species is about 80 species of which 75-80% are observed in each year, D. The network does not reach an equilibrium state (as defined by our model) before the collapse set in and the season is over.ConclusionWe have shown that the temporal dynamics of an Arctic plant-pollinator network can be described by a simple mathematical model and that the model allows us to draw biologically interesting conclusions. Our model makes it possible to investigate how the network topology changes with changes in parameter values and might provide means to study the effect of climate on plant-pollinator networks.
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