The human gut microbiota has been proposed to serve as a multifunctional organ in host metabolism, contributing effects to nutrient acquisition, immune response, and digestive health. Fasting during Ramadan may alter the composition of gut microbiota through changes in dietary behavior, which ultimately affects the contents of various metabolites in the gut. Here, we used liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry-based metabolomics to investigate the composition of fecal metabolites in Chinese and Pakistani individuals before and after Ramadan fasting. Principal component analysis showed distinct separation of metabolite profiles among ethnic groups as well as between pre- and post-fasting samples. After Ramadan fasting, the Chinese and Pakistani groups showed significant differences in their respective contents of various fecal metabolites. In particular, L-histidine, lycofawcine, and cordycepin concentrations were higher after Ramadan fasting in the Chinese group, while brucine was enriched in the Pakistani group. The KEGG analysis suggested that metabolites related to purine metabolism, 2-oxocarboxylic acid metabolism, and lysine degradation were significantly enriched in the total subject population pre-fasting vs. post-fasting comparisons. Several bacterial taxa were significantly correlated with specific metabolites unique to each ethnic group, suggesting that changes in fecal metabolite profiles related to Ramadan fasting may be influenced by associated shifts in gut microbiota. The fasting-related differences in fecal metabolite profile, together with these group-specific correlations between taxa and metabolites, support our previous findings that ethnic differences in dietary composition also drive variation in gut microbial composition and diversity. This landscape view of interconnected dietary behaviors, microbiota, and metabolites contributes to the future development of personalized, diet-based therapeutic strategies for gut-related disorders. Sutterella and Parabacteroides, with implied health benefits in some individuals  to sunset (Iftar) during the holy month of Ramadan each year, which lasts between 28 and 30 days , enhanceividuals .Gut microbiota have been described as a new metabolic organ that participates in regulating host metabolism , 13. AccIn this study, we investigated the influence of fasting during Ramadan on the gut metabolic profiles in fecal samples obtained from healthy Chinese and Pakistani subjects living in Lanzhou, China, using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based metabolomics analysis. This study was conducted with three main objectives. First, we sought to better understand whether caloric restriction during Ramadan fasting is a determining factor for metabolite profiles. Second, this study aimed to identify differences in metabolite profiles between the Pakistani and Chinese Hui ethnic groups, and to investigate whether these differences were diet-related. The third objective of this work was to test whether the diversity of intestinal flora is correlated with metabolite profile.All procedures performed were approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the School of Public Health at Lanzhou University (GW-20171013). Participants received the detailed information about the study and informed consent before sampling.Participants' mental and physical health were included as criteria. We excluded volunteers in case of (1) gastrointestinal diseases, chronic diseases, anorexia nervosa, and cachexia, (2) insufficiency of liver and kidney, (3) smoking or drinking alcohol, (4) Bristol Stool Form Scale (<3/>4), and (5) antibiotics usage within last 3 months . AccordiFecal samples were collected for all participants on the morning of 15 May 2018 (before fasting) and 15 June 2018 (after fasting). Samples were frozen in liquid nitrogen immediately upon receipt to maintain sample stability, then transferred to the laboratory, and further stored at −70°C for future experiments.PRJEB38231 (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB38231), and the results have been presented in previous studies  was added prior to transfer into injection vial. The treated samples were used for untargeted metabolomics analysis of metabolic characteristics, assisted by Shanghai Tianhao Biotechnology Co., Ltd.The ACQUITY UPLC system  was used to analyze metabolic profiles in Electrospray ionization (ESI)-positive and ESI-negative modes. ACQUITY UPLC HSS T3  column was used for positive and negative modes. The binary gradient elution system consists of (A) water  and (B) acetonitrile, separated using the following gradient: 0 min, 5%B; 1 min, 5%B; 12 min, 95%B; 13.5 min, 95%B; 13.6 min, 5%B; and 16 min, 5%B. The flow rate was 0.3 ml/min, and the column temperature was 40°C.Quality control (QC) samples that were included in batches of analytical samples during the course of the study were considered to monitor the overall quality of the sample pretreatment and mass spectrometry analyses. The data were collected using feature extraction and preprocessed using the Compound Discoverer software (Thermo), and then normalized and edited into two-dimensional data matrix using the Excel 2010 software, including retention time (RT), compound molecular weight (compMW), observations (samples), and peak intensity.T-test combined with multivariate analysis OPLS-DA was used to screen out the metabolites that differed between groups (VIP > 1 and p < 0.05). Differential metabolites obtained from the comparison between groups were input into MetaboAnalyst 3.0. Cluster analysis was performed on different substances in different groups to check the relative changes in the contents of these different substances in different groups, and pathway attribution was carried out to locate the differential metabolites into metabolic pathways. Metabolite data were entered into the KEGG database using comprehensive analysis  of the pathways where the differential metabolites were located, and we could further screen the pathways and find the key pathways with the highest correlation based on the difference in metabolites.Unsupervised principal component analysis (PCA) was used to observe the overall distribution among samples and the degree of dispersion between groups. Then, supervised orthogonal partial least squares discrimination analysis (OPLS-DA) was used to distinguish the overall differences of metabolic profiles among groups and to search for the metabolites that differed between groups. In the OPLS-DA analysis, the Variable Importance for the Projection (VIP) > 1 was set as the difference variable. U test was used for comparisons between ethnic groups . In addition, Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlation between fecal metabolite and the relative abundance of intestinal microorganisms.The Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare the “before vs. after Ramadan fasting” groups , and the Mann–Whitney The SPSS version 23.0 was used for all statistical analyses. R (phearmap) was used to analyze the correlation between fecal metabolites and intestinal flora, and Pearson's correlation coefficient  was used to indicate the degree of correlation . The corp = 0.01) but no significant difference between groups after fasting . In contrast, 118 metabolites were different after fasting in the Chinese groups (CBF vs. CAF) and 500 metabolites were unique to pre- or post-fasting Pakistani groups (PBF vs. PAF)  or within ethnic groups before and after Ramadan fasting (CBF vs. CAF and PBF vs. PAF), and among total subjects before and after fasting (TBF vs. TAF). A total of 257 different metabolites were detected between before and after samples from total subjects  and in the total subject population (TBF vs. TAF) . Total sWe next identified the differences in fecal metabolite profiles before and after fasting that were attributable to ethnicity. PCA showed that the significant separation of metabolite profiles between Chinese and Pakistani groups before fasting (CBF vs. PBF) could be largely explained by PC1 (31%)/PC2 (8%), as were differences in metabolite profiles between ethnic groups after fasting PC1 (32%)/PC2 (9%) (CAF vs. PAF). Moreover, the separation was more obvious after fasting . OPLS-DAN-α-acetyl-lysine, were all higher before fasting, whereas cyclohexylamine, virol B, ecgonine methyl ester, deoxycytidine, and adenine levels were all significantly higher after fasting compared to their pre-fasting levels  indicated that ethephon, diethofencarb, sodium oleate, montanol, and nafcillin were enriched in samples from Chinese subjects, while picolinic acid, rehmaionoside C, homobaldrinal, cyclohexylamine, and N6-trimethyl-L-lysine were all higher in Pakistani subjects. After fasting (CAF vs. PAF), diethofencarb, soyasapogenol E, norcodeine, ethephon, and hexylamine were higher in the Chinese group, while ergothioneine, dicrotophos, nabilone, bufadienolide, and luffariellolide were enriched in the Pakistani group . Kyoto EWe then evaluated possible correlations between fecal metabolites and intestinal microbiota between ethnic groups before and after fasting using Pearson's correlation analysis. Correlations between the top 30 most abundant metabolites and gut microbiota (genus level) in different groups  are shown in Prevotella was positively correlated with cyclohexylamine  but negatively correlated with ethephon , whereas Bacteroides was positively correlated with ethephon  and negatively correlated with cyclohexylamine . Catenibacterium was positively correlated with cyclohexylamine . In the pre- and post-fasting Chinese groups (CBF and CAF), Escherichia/Shigella was positively correlated with musk ambrette and cordycepin , while Faecalibacterium was positively correlated with cordycepin  and negatively correlated with zearalenone . Gemmiger showed a positive correlation with lycofawcine , and Oscillibacter was positively correlated with 12α-chloromethyl-12-hydroxy-pregn-4-ene-3, 20-dione .Among the total subjects (TBF vs. TAF), Prevotella and 12-oxo-9Z-dodecenoic acid, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, montanol, and cyperolone . Coprococcus was positively correlated with L-ornithine, D-proline, and Isofebrifugine , but was negatively correlated with 12-oxo-9Z-dodecenoic acid, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, dibutyl succinate, and cyperolone . Blautia abundance was positively correlated with hexylamine  and negatively correlated with brucine , while Dialister was positively correlated with oxadixyl , and Bacteroides was negatively correlated with montanol  (Comparisons of Pakistan groups before and after fasting (PBF and PAF) revealed a positive correlation between  < 0.01) .Prevotella and nafcillin, 9-fluoro-16α-hydroxyandrost-4-ene-3,11,17-trione, and cyphenothrin . Oscillibacter was negatively correlated with trans-trans-farnesyl phosphate and sodium oleate , and Faecalibacterium was negatively correlated with ethephon . Catenibacterium shared a positive relationship with azacitidine , but was negatively correlated with 17α-methyl-5α-androstane-3β-11β-17β-triol and trans-trans-farnesyl phosphate . Bacteroides was positively correlated with 9-fluoro-16α-hydroxyandrost-4-ene-3-11-17-trione  and negatively correlated with leonuridine, cyclohexylamine, theobromine, N6-trimethyl-L-lysine, cis-acetylacrylate, picolinic acid, gaboxadol, calystegin A3, gabaculine, methionine sulfoxide, and carteolol .Comparisons of pre-fasting ethnic groups (CBF vs. PBF) showed a negative correlation between p < 0.01). Prevotella was positively correlated with N6-trimethyl-L-lysine, methylone, calystegin A3, dicyclomine, kikkanol B, and deoxycytidine . Oscillibacter had positive correlations with homobaldrinal, cyclohexylamine, nabilone, methylone, cis-acetylacrylate-2-hydroxy-2,4-pentadienoate, dicrotophos, dioctyl phthalate, cassaidine, bufadienolide, and kikkanol B , but was negatively correlated with norcodeine . Escherichia/Shigella was negatively correlated with N6-trimethyl-L-lysine, rehmaionoside C, and testosterone enanthate , while Bacteroides was negatively correlated with 6-eenzylaminopurine   showed that romboutsia was negatively correlated with N6-trimethyl-L-lysine and calystegin A3  .To date, several studies have examined the effects of Ramadan fasting on gut microbiota. However, the results have been inconsistent, largely due to heterogeneity in age, sex, ethnicity, and/or health status, as well as in methodology. In addition, the effects of dietary behavior  on the relationship between gut microbiota and fecal metabolites have not yet been investigated. In this study, we applied untargeted metabolomics to detect differential metabolites between Chinese and Pakistani ethnic groups before and after fasting for Ramadan to identify characteristic fecal metabolites and enriched KEGG pathways that are potentially influenced by either dietary behavior (fasting) or host factors (ethnicity), or both.Dorea, Klebsiella, and Faecalibacterium were more abundant after fasting in the Chinese group, while Sutterella, Parabacteroides, and Alistipes were significantly increased after fasting in the Pakistani group. Further analysis of gut microbiota and dietary composition by principal co-ordinates analysis (PCoA) showed similar patterns of slight separation of samples across fasting groups, but dramatic distinctions between ethnic groups. These findings, together with obvious correlations between dietary intake and microbial composition, strongly suggested that differences in gut microbiota among the two ethnic groups were likely driven by differences in dietary intake  in the full study population and identified several taxa as indicators of host ethnicity and/or changes in dietary behavior. Notably, y intake .Lachnospiraceae and Erysipelotrichaceae after fasting, which was associated with the accumulation of short-chain fatty acids  led to a decline in this population, rather than enrichment, but further evidence examining microbiota in food sources from geographically isolated regions is necessary to test this possibility.Intermittent fasting has been shown to trigger substantial remodeling of the gut microbiota . For exaty acids . HoweverLycopodium that reportedly exerts anti-inflammatory and anti-cytotoxic biological activities , play important roles in maintaining the intestinal barrier,  providinIn summary, our findings suggest that intermittent fasting can affect the composition and diversity of intestinal microbiota, and hence microbial metabolites, possibly resulting in different effects on human health. Other studies have also shown that intermittent fasting can have profound beneficial effects on animal and human health –53, althOur results suggest that fasting leads to changes in metabolite profiles specific to each ethnic group in a manner dependent on dietary components. These changes are correlated with dynamic shifts in microbiota composition and diversity which, in conjunction with dietary changes during Ramadan fasting, lead to enrichment or depletion of various functional metabolites. Future work should examine whether these changes in metabolite profiles are also correlated with the expression of biomarkers to determine if there are ethnicity-specific differences in adaptive response to Ramadan fasting. In addition, future work with more stringent controls will examine whether and to what extent environmental factors also contribute to shifts in metabolite profiles during Ramadan fasting.The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found in the article/The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Medical Ethics Committee of School of Public Health in Lanzhou University. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.XH and RL: study design. XH: funding acquisition. SC and IA: investigation. SC, IA, XL, and DL: data analysis. SC: writing. XH, RL, and YZ: manuscript review and editing. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.This work was supported by research grants from NSFC , the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University (lzujbky – 2019-48) and the funds for International Cooperation Hub of Mountain Eco-Agriculture of Gansu Province.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


Banana is a tropical fruit crop that is consumed at large, not only because of the quantity produced but also because it serves the calorific needs of millions of people. Banana is a potential source of high starch content (more than 60%). The application of starch for various purposes is dependent upon its structural, physicochemical, and functional properties. A native starch does not possess all required properties for specific use in the food product. To improve its application, starch can be modified physically, chemically, and enzymatically. Each of these modification methods provides different characteristics to the modified starch. This review aims to examine the chemical composition, granule morphology, crystallinity, pasting, thermal properties, and digestibility of banana starch, and discusses the various modifications and potential applications of banana starch in the food industry. Musa sp.) is a widespread tropical fruit crop, largely consumed in the world; it consists of two major subgroups: banana and plantain. Both have high production and sources of calories that are required for millions of individuals, particularly across Asia and Africa. The term “banana” is used to extensively mean the dessert form and certain cooking types, while “plantain” is used for starchy bananas that are regularly cooked or processed [Banana  and Musa balbisiana [Based on their genomic synthesis, palatable bananas are classified into 3 types: diploid (AA and AB), triploid , or tetraploid . Nonetheless, most pertinent bananas are triploid and are obtained from the wild species lbisiana . Generallbisiana .The chemical composition of bananas depends on the variety and ripening state; however, climatic conditions, agronomic traits, and type of soil also alter the major and minor components of banana. A previous study reported that unripe banana pulp has a lower moisture content than ripe banana pulp, and the carbohydrate content was higher in the unripe banana sample than in a ripe banana, but the opposite was true for fiber content . FurtherNative banana starch has higher resistant starch content 65–98%) ,8,9 than% ,8,9 thGenerally, the application of bananas is still limited as a raw material for traditional foods. Banana has the potential to be processed into semifinished products such as starch or flour, which has several advantages: it is easier to apply and has a longer shelf life than the fresh form. Banana flour has the potential to replace wheat flour as a raw material in the manufacture of various bakery products such as bread, cookies, cakes, pasta, and others.Native starch has several poor characteristics such as low thermal stability, creation of hard-formed gel, and creation of too-sticky pasta , making With the increasing demand for starch by the food industry, banana starch may be an alternative conventional starch source, which is used for various food industry applications. To support the current information on banana starch, a review is required to summarize various aspects of banana starch, i.e., extraction, chemical composition, structure, physicochemical properties, digestibility, modification, and potential applications in food products.Banana in a mature green stage is a great source of starch. The green banana pulp contains up to 70–80% starch on a dry weight basis . A wet mZhang et al.  discoverThe chemical composition of starch extracted from various types of bananas and plantains is presented in Generally, banana starch granules from various banana varieties are irregular, elongated, and round/spheroidal in shape ,20,24,29The granule size of banana starch depends on the cultivar and the ripening state . Based oStarch granules are semicrystalline crystals that can be determined by an X-ray diffractometer (XRD). Several previous studies have reported that native banana starch exhibits various types of crystal structures, such as type-B ,22,24,34The crystalline type and relative crystallinity of various banana starch varieties are presented in The pasting properties of starch are analyzed using a Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA) to provide information on the alteration of starch paste viscosity produced by heating and cooling starch in water. Pasting properties include pasting temperature (PT), peak viscosity (PV), holding viscosity (HV), breakdown viscosity (BV), final viscosity (FV), and setback viscosity (SV).The botanical source of starch is one of the factors that affects the pasting properties of starch . Banana The pasting properties of different banana starch cultivars have been reported ,21,22,28Furthermore, Alimi et al.  reportedoT), peak temperature (pT), conclusion temperature (cT), thermal transition temperature (cT − oT), and the overall enthalpy (ΔH).Thermal properties of starch-based systems provide information about the gelatinization process, which occurs when the molecular order of starch granules is permanently lost and starch granules melt to generate the gel structure. The analysis of the thermal properties of starch is based on the heat absorption or loss that occurs as a result of phase changes  or chemical processes  when a system is heated . SeveraloTs of cooking and plantain banana starch were 59.98–76.02 °C and 76.02 °C, respectively. The oT of banana starch is slightly higher than the oT of Mung bean starch [The thermal properties of banana starch are varied depending on the cultivar and other factors. n starch , potato n starch , sweet pn starch , rice stn starch , and when starch .oT, pT, cT, and cT − oT compared to the cooking banana planted in Mexico. The thermal properties analysis of the starch system using DSC also provides information about the gelatinization enthalpy or ΔH, measured as Joule per gram of sample. The internal arrangement of starch granules was measured by gelatinization enthalpy. A lower ΔH value indicates poor starch molecular structure. The ΔH value is related to the changes that occur during the melting of the crystallites and serves as a measure of the degree of crystallinity or damage in the starch structure before gelatinization. The ΔH value of banana starch ranged from 9.45 to 16.68 J/g. ΔH value is inversely related to amylose concentration, tiny granules, and disordered starch structure [Furthermore, Agama-Acevedo et al.  reportedtructure .Functional properties of starch include several parameters, i.e., swelling power (SP), solubility (SOL), water absorption capacity (WAC), oil absorption capacity (OAC), and freeze-thaw stability (FTS). The swelling power and solubility are useful metrics for determining the starch granule’s integrity. The proportion of soluble particles in the dry sample determines the solubility, allowing treatments based on gelatinization, dextrinization, and subsequent starch solubilization to be used . The funThe swelling power and solubility of banana starch were 1.38–97.96 g/g and 1.29–11.76%, respectively. Banana starch also has relatively low freeze-thaw stability, indicated by the high syneresis of 12.16–44.40%. The WAC banana starch has a range from 130.45% to 251%. Meanwhile, plantain starch has a lower range of WAC value compared to cooking banana starch, which is 54.40% to 65.40%. The oil absorption capacity of banana starch ranges from 136.77% to 194.05%.Digestion of starch granules is a complex process, which includes various phases: the diffusion of enzymes towards the substrate on the impact of the porosity of the substrate, enzyme adsorption on starch-containing materials, and hydrolytic events. Starch hydrolysis is also influenced by the crystallinity and granule surface properties of the native starch.Increased blood glucose concentration after consuming foods containing high starch is due to the process of amylolysis of starch in the gastrointestinal tract, particularly maltose, maltotriose, and α-limit dextrin. Based on the length of time starch is digested in human digestion, starch can be classified into rapidly digestible starch, slowly digestible starch, and resistant starch . RapidlySome of the digestibility features of native banana starch, which usually expressed as rapidly digested starch (RDS), slowly digested starch (SDS), and a resistant starch fraction . RDS andNative banana starches exhibit a low digestibility feature with RS content ranging from 65.3% to 98.98% , which iMarta et al.  reportedThe properties of starch can be modified through physical, chemical, and enzymatic methods. Starch can be physically modified to change particle size and improve water solubility. The physical methods involve the treatment of native starch granules under different moisture and temperature combinations, shear pressure, and irradiation to alter the physical size of starch granules . The phyPhysical alterations of starch are changes given by physical treatments that do not result in modification of the starch polymer molecules’ D-glucopyranosyl units. By modifying the starch using physical treatment, only the arrangements of the starch polymer within the granules and the overall starch structure are changed. These changes could provide a significant effect on the properties of the starch, such as the properties of the pastes, gels, and the digestibility properties of the modified starch. Many modified starch users are interested in physically modified starch because it does not require any chemical reagent, thus they do not need to label the starch as a modified starch product. Physical modification of starch is usually divided into thermal  and nonthermal modification .w/w) during a certain period (15 min–16 h) at a certain temperature range (84–120 °C) [Heat-moisture treatment (HMT) of starch is a physical treatment in which starches are treated at varying moisture levels (<35% moisture –120 °C) ,64. Amon–120 °C) .HMT promotes the interaction of polymer chains by disrupting the crystalline structure and dissociating the double-helical structure in the amorphous region, followed by the rearrangement of the disrupted crystals . Heat-mogT) and below onset temperature of gelatinization (oT). ANN alters the physicochemical characteristics of starch by enhancing its crystalline perfection and promoting interactions between starch chains. The ANN process retains the intact granular form of the starch with some notable changes on the surface of the starch granule, including crack and pore formation and increased roughness [Annealing (ANN) is another starch modification technique which heats the starch and holds it in excess water (>40%) for a certain amount of time. The starch is heated at the temperature above its glass transition temperature  has been gelatinized and pasted before it was dried and finally ground. These starches’ granules are often substantially degraded, and they are normally soluble in room-temperature water. Due to the modification process, the newer product, which is still intact but has a gelatinized starch granule, is formed. The starch granules have lost crystallinity and swell to form a paste when it is incorporated into the water.Several studies have reported the application of pregelatinized banana starch and flour in food products. Loypimai and Moongngarm  have repChemical modification is accomplished by inserting a functional group into the polymer molecule of the starch granule in its native form, resulting in different changes in the physicochemical characteristics of the starch molecule. Chemical modification entails changing the physiochemical characteristics of starch by adding new chemical or functional groups into the starch without causing physical changes to the shape and size of the molecule . Starch The starch esterification process could produce acetylated starch, monostarch phosphate, and starch 2-octenyl succinate. Acetylated starch esters are usually made by subjecting the starch granules to the alkaline slurry and acetylating them using acetic anhydride where the acetyl group will replace the hydroxyl groups on C2, C3, and C6 positions. The resulting starch, when it has a degree of substitution (DS) of 0.09 or lower , generally has lower gelatinization and pasting temperature, has better clarity after the pasting process, and better stability to retrogradation and freeze-thaw process when compared to the native/uncooked starch . AcetylaThe acetylation process promotes cracks on the starch granule surface. The acetylation increases swelling capacity, water absorption capacity, and pasting properties, and decreases the solubility of native banana starch . ConversoT, pT, cT, and ΔH compared to the native starch [oT, pT, cT, and ΔH after OSA modification are also reported on wheat starch, rice starch, corn starch, waxy corn starch, kidney bean starch, and sweet potato starch [pT, might be due to the insertion of octenyl-succinic groups into highly stabilized starches, resulting in chain instability and linearity. Bello-Pérez et al. [Banana starch can also modify using octenyl succinic anhydride by esterification. Carlos-Amaya et al.  have repe starch . The deco starch . Furthero starch  have expz et al.  have repz et al. .Starch etherification is one of the starch stabilization processes. In most cases, native starch was etherified by reacting it with alkyl halides, acrylonitrile, or alkylene oxides in the presence of an alkaline catalyst. The active area in starch where etherification occurs was determined by the botanical source, the alignment of amylose and amylopectin, and the distribution of amorphous and crystalline regions . HydroxyoT, pT, cT and ΔH values after hydroxypropylation were also reported on hydroxypropylated finger millet [Dioscorea alata starch [Waliszewski et al.  have repr millet , Dioscora starch , high-ama starch , and yela starch .Hydroxypropylated banana starch has a higher granule swelling capacity and solubility compared to the native banana starch. The increase in granule swelling and solubility was also reported by several previous studies ,94,95,96Hydroxypropylated banana starch has a lower tendency toward retrograde and syneresis. The gel clarity of the hydroxypropylated banana starch was better than the native one. Amylose crystallization, intermolecular associations (including possible amylose–amylopectin interactions), and crystallization of amylopectin molecules’ exterior chains are reduced by the conversion of hydroxyl groups of starch molecules into larger hydroxypropyl groups via the reduction in inter-and intramolecular forces. The higher the degree of molar substitution (MS), the higher the gel clarity of the hydroxypropylated starch .3), a mixture of adipic acid and acetic anhydride, and vinyl chloride [Cross-linking occurs in the majority of modified food starches. When starch granules are treated with bifunctional reagents that react with hydroxyl groups on two distinct molecules or neighboring chains inside the granule, cross-linking occurs. The most common method of cross-linking is the formation of distarch phosphate esters. The main food-grade reagents are sodium trimetaphosphate (STMP), monosodium phosphate (SOP), sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), epichlorohydrin (EPI), phosphoryl chloride , the outcome is oxidized starch. To oxidize starch, oxidants such as potassium permanganate, sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, nitrogen dioxide, and chromic acid have been used. The most often used commercial oxidant for this method is sodium hypochlorite .Sánchez-Rivera et al.  reportedThe oxidation decreased the crystallinity of native banana flour and did not change the starch crystalline type . This reFood processing is an attempt to transform the shape of food, including agricultural and animal crops, into the intended food items so that the food has additional value in terms of quality, acceptance, and storage stability. Banana is a highly perishable fruit, so needs to be processed to improve self-life such as processing into flour or starch. Transforming a banana into flour or starch not only improves its self-life but is also widely used in many different products. Banana flour can apply as a wheat flour substitute in pasta and bakery products  and banana starch can apply as a thickening agent, fat replacer, edible coating, etc.Banana starch has not been used commercially. Native banana starch has different characteristics depending on some factors such as the variety and growing environment. Ambon variety banana starch has good freeze-thaw stability , so it iNative banana starch was modified to improve its application. HMT starch can increase the thermostability of banana starch and decrease swelling volume and solubility ,105,106.OSA-modified starch also has the potential to be used as a fat replacer. Some previous studies have reported OSA-modified starch to have amphiphilic properties ,84,109, Several previous studies have reported the application of banana starch (in flour form) in food products such as pasta ,111, breBanana starch can also be used as the base ingredient in a biodegradable film. However, the film produced from banana starch still has several flaws in its physical properties. Therefore, some research groups attempted to reinforce the banana starch film by adding another compound to improve the film’s physical properties. Pelissari et al.  reportedBanana starch can be utilized not only on food products but also for non-food products. Banana starch is one of the potential primary materials to produce a bio-based film, such as film-type packaging . FurtherArtocarpus heterophyllus seed starch as a porous material for capacitor and flexible film from Manihot esculenta. They reported that this all-solid-state electric double-layer capacitor has great sustainability with superior electrochemical performance and stability. Furthermore, Kumar et al. [Starch, other than being utilized as the biofilm-making material, also has the potential to be transformed as porous carbon materials to produce an environment-friendly capacitor with high efficiency. Supercapacitors are being evaluated as prospective energy storage devices in applications with rising power needs because of their superior electrochemical characteristics . From thr et al.  reportedBanana starch has good potential to be developed as an ingredient in the food industry. Banana starch has a high level of resistant starch, so it can be used as an ingredient in functional foods, such as food for diabetics. In addition, several banana varieties also have unique functional properties, such as having good stability when stored at low and frozen temperatures (high freeze-thaw stability), making them suitable for use as ingredients in frozen foods.However, native banana starch has some drawbacks, so modifications are needed to expand its application. Several studies on the modification of banana starch, both physically and chemically, indicated that the modification treatment could improve the characteristics of native banana starch, such as increased thermal stability, amphiphilic characteristics, increasing slowly digestible starch (SDS) content, and others. Food products with high SDS content are also suitable for consumption by diabetic patients. Furthermore, SDS can be used as an ingredient for long-lasting energy products, because products high in SDS have a slower rate of digestion, decrease glucose and insulin response, and increase the subsequent feeling of satiety.Further studies are needed to modify banana starch using other methods, such as enzymatic and nonthermal physical , to obtain more information and alternative methods to improve banana starch characteristics. Conversely, the application of banana starch (in the form of flour) as a substitute for wheat flour must be studied, not only partially replacing but also 100% replacing the use of wheat flour to produce gluten-free products as a functional food for people with special diets, i.e., celiac disease and autism.


Hybrid coronary revascularization consists of left internal thoracic artery (LITA) graft to the left anterior descending (LAD) artery and transcatheter revascularization of the non‐LAD stenosis in specific settings to achieve complete coronary revascularization. Technique to perform the LITA to LAD graft has ranged from median sternotomy with cardiopulmonary bypass to robotically assisted totally endoscopic coronary bypass surgery using beating heart revascularization. Hybrid coronary revascularization (HCR) first described in 1996The reduction in postoperative blood loss along with reduced blood transfusion requirements is one of the most consistent advantages reported and has been confirmed in several meta‐analyses.Robotically enhanced HCR is a niche area of coronary revascularization that requires the highest degree of technical expertise. Unlike PCI alone, it accomplishes revascularization of the LAD with the best graft, the LITA, and thus provides the best of both worlds. The technique needs to be evaluated from a clinical outcome perspective but also from the economic perspective as well as the patient's perspective. From an economic perspective, studies attempting the cost–benefit assessment have shown considerable variations based on the surgical access or utilization of robotic assistance. Two studies with a similar design, where HCR was carried out as a single‐stage procedure using mini‐thoracotomy for a LITA to LAD anastomosis, reported a nonsignificant increase in costs associated with HCR when compared to conventional OPCAB.From the patient's perspective, assessments are generally done based on pain scores, quality of life assessment, and markers of functional recovery like the ability to return to work. While one study showed that the pain scores after robotically assisted HCR were surprisingly similar with OPCABClinical outcomes constitute the most important aspect of comparison for any intervention and are evaluated by the feasibility and safety of the procedure in the short term as well as longer‐term outcomes. The safety and feasibility of HCR have now been well‐established through different studies and several meta‐analyses. Two randomized controlled studies have been published comparing HCR with CABG. The 5‐year report of the HYBRID (hybrid revascularization for multivessel coronary artery disease) trial published recently reported similar all‐cause mortality, myocardial infarction (MI), repeat revascularization, stroke, and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) between HCR and CABG.Besides, both these RCTs have brought out an important issue, which is the conversion rate among patients designated to undergo HCR. In the HYBRID trial, only 93.9% of patients randomized to HCR actually received the intervention. Six (6.1%) required a sternotomy and two (2.04%) had failed PCI.The need for specialized operative infrastructure and specialized hybrid suites has been an important deterrent for robotically assisted HCR. Robotically assisted HCR is appealing as far as patient satisfaction is concerned, however, the reported advantage of reduced requirement for blood transfusion and shorter hospital length of stay are now being challenged by RCTs. This in turn negates the economic benefit argument with HCR even further. The conversion rates associated with HCR bring the issue of expertise into the discussion as well and may further deter uptake of robotically assisted HCR. In the absence of overwhelming superiority of HCR, it is unlikely that robotically assisted HCR will be practiced by surgeons widely in the near future and it is very likely to remain confined to certain centers of excellence.The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests.


The Karadon mine, where field studies were carried out, is located in the north west of Turkey and is considered to be a highly gaseous coal mine. Explosives and ignition systems used in underground coal mines are determined by laws, statutes, regulations and strict rules. Restrictions arising from legal requirements, such as restrictions on charging and stemming lengths and blasting agents to be used, make the use of well-known tunnel blasting techniques difficult or sometimes not possible. In such cases, the designs made with the equations given in the literature must be revised and rearranged. The objective of this study is to recommend solutions to the blasting difficulties that are encountered in gaseous underground coal mines in which there are limitations arising from legal requirements. This study summarizes and analyses the blasting practices currently employed at Karadon mine along with their disadvantages. New blasting designs were then made using the methods suggested in the literature, and these designs were revised according to legal requirements. By keeping the charge concentration constant relative to its original value, the burden and spacing distances were adjusted. As a result of this study, it has been seen that rearrangement by keeping the charge concentration constant compared to its original value is an appropriate engineering solution. Tunnel and underground rock excavation have largely relied on drilling and blasting methods in recent years4. Quantity and type of explosives, drilling patterns, and the sequence of initiation are all critical to the successful excavation of rock masses5.Explosives are probably the most cost-effective method of rock excavation in underground mining operationsBlasting in a tunnel or drift always begins with the "cut" -a pattern of holes designed to provide the most efficient line of deformation- at or near the centre of the face. Each blast creates more space for the following ring of blast holes. It is imperative to blast the cut section successfully for the whole round to be successful. In mining and construction, various cut types have been applied, but they fall essentially into two categories: parallel holes and holes drilled at angles. Today, the most commonly used parallel hole cut method is the four-section large hole cut, whereas the most commonly used cut with angled holes is the V-cut. This type of cut is effective for tunnels with a fairly large cross-section and requires fewer holes than a parallel cut. When the first mechanized drilling machines were introduced, the parallel cut enabled accurate parallel drilling. The use of this type of cut is also common in small tunnels with long rounds.13 examined cut blasting and proposed a variety of cut patterns. As far as cutting methods are concerned, Shapiro14 compared V-cuts to other cuts and concluded that the V-cut provides the maximum blasting efficiency when the hole is less than 2.5 m deep. Chakraborty et al.15 showed that parallel cuts were not as productive as V-cuts in small tunnels, and an empirical relationship was developed. In different blasting models, Soroush et al.16 investigated the effect and sensitivity of hole diameter and tunnel face area on blasting results and pointed out that V-cut requires more cut holes than parallel cut under similar conditions. Cardu and Seccatore17 report that tunnel rounds with parallel hole cuts tend to have a higher pull efficiency than tunnel rounds with inclined hole cuts. According to Wang et al.18, V-cuts have the advantages of fewer boreholes, easy rock casting, and low drilling accuracy requirements. However, the trend toward parallel hole cuts has emerged as a result of the development of hydraulic jumbos with one or more booms. Moreover, parallel hole cuts do not require a change in feed angle and advance is not affected by tunnel width as much19.The type of cut chosen depends not only on the physical nature of the rock and the presence of weakness and crack sets, but also it depends on the equipment used, the cross-sectional area and the preferred advance rate. Over the years since explosives were first used to excavate tunnels in the 1860s, tunnel blasting has gained enormous experience. Many researchers20. Assuming that the bottom, left, and right sides of the cut rock mass were broken by explosion, and that shear failure occurred on the upper and lower sides, the failure modes of the different sides of the cut rock mass were fully considered by Dai and Du21. The mechanism of cavity formation in V-cuts was qualitatively explained by them. A calculation method for determining the critical depth of the central hole was proposed by Lou et al.22 based on his theory of the V-cut blasting mechanism.The lack of a free surface makes cut blasting more difficult than open-pit blasting23. Based on their study of cavity formation in gutters, Lin and Chen24 concluded that rock would be thrown out under the action of gas generated by a high-pressure explosion. Field tests were conducted by Liu et al.25 to determine how the central hole affects stress concentration. According to the above-mentioned researchers, the hole boosts cyclic advancement by enhancing rock fragmentation via reflection of tensile waves. In order to combine the advantages of parallel and angled cutting, Shan et al.20 invented quasi-parallel cutting with a centre hole. Furthermore, Shan et al.20 proposed an angle between the main cut and the working face, while the auxiliary cut was perpendicular. By using a central hole, Yang et al.26 demonstrated that the throwing effect of broken rocks and the utilization of cut holes could be greatly improved. Wang et al.4 conducted numerical simulations to analyse the explosive stress field generated by the first-order cut hole. According to the same authors, the increase in the diameter of an empty hole made the stress wave peak value around the hole more than twice as high as in a rock mass with no empty hole. Zuo et al.27 observed the blasting process at different hole diameters using high-speed photography and explained the relationship between cavity volume and hole diameter using high-speed photography.The existence of empty holes can create favourable crushing conditions for rock during the blasting process of straight cuts. Therefore, the primary way to increase the blasting effect of mine tunnelling is to optimize and improve the cutting methodThe above researches are primarily focused on the cutting mechanism and cutting method, but the researches on gallery blasting in gaseous underground coal mines are not sufficiently mentioned. As a result of mining, methane is released from coal and the surrounding rock strata. It is extremely dangerous to mix methane with air in mines because of its explosive properties. For this reason, explosives and ignition systems used in gaseous underground coal mines are determined by laws, statutes, regulations and strict rules. These legal requirements, which restrict charging and stemming lengths, blasting agents to be used and the use of delayed capsules, make the use of well-known tunnel blasting techniques difficult and sometimes impossible. In this case, the blastholes cannot be drilled to the required length or cannot be charged with sufficient explosives. Due to this, the required linear charge concentration cannot be achieved. Additionally, when the delayed capsules are not used, each blasthole group such as cut, stoping and perimeter have to be blasted at the same time. It usually takes two or three steps to drill and blast (charging and ignition) blastholes when delayed detonators are not used. In this case, rocks become more fixed and more difficult to break and evacuate from the face. Also hard rock blasting is very challenging with methane safe permissible dynamites due to their low relative weight strength. Consequently, such difficulties result in insufficient blasting or insufficient advancement in excavation, especially in gaseous hard coal mines. In such cases, it is unclear how tunnel blasting techniques recommended in the literature produce a solution that complies with these limitations, especially in gaseous underground hard coal mines. There are no formulas given in the literature that can be used directly in such special cases. To overcome these difficulties, designs made with the equations given in the literature must be revised and rearranged considering specific charge concentrations.In the Turkish Hard Coal Enterprise (TTK) which is the largest hard coal producer in Turkey, large galleries such as development roadways (excavated in rock) are blasted by parallel hole cut method whereas short and narrow galleries such as gateroads and drifts  are blasted by V-cut method. In this study, the blasting practices currently employed at Karadon mine are summarized and the current situation is presented with its disadvantages. Then, firstly, new blasting designs that would increase the current advance were made using the methods suggested in the literature, and then these designs were revised considering the legal requirements. By keeping the charge concentration constant relative to its original value, the burden and spacing distances were adjusted. Parallel hole cut designs were made for development roadways, whereas angled hole cut designs were made for gateroads and drifts. The drilling pattern, the numbers and amounts of the required delayed blasting caps and the amount of dynamites were provided in this context.28. In these two legislations, the articles including drilling and blasting applications specific to underground coal mining are included only in the first one. Summary of these articles related to tunnelling in coal mines is provided as in the following:Article 14—In the construction of mines, quarries and tunnels only blasting agents of the type permitted by the Ministry can be used. The blasting agents to be used gaseous, coal dust mines and sulphur mines must be of the quality required by the safety of these mines.Article 26—The height of the explosive charge cannot exceed half the hole depth. The remaining space is filled with stemming material.Article 27—In mines with flammable and combustible gases and danger of dust burning and explosion, firing with fuse cannot be madeArticle 35—Fire-proof electrical ignition device will be used in gaseous and coal dust mines.Article 38—c) Delay capsules can only be used in coal mines for blasting in rock;d) If sudden gas release in coal mines is suspected or if gateroads are approaching the coal seam, safe capsules are used instead of delayed ones.Article 39—a) In coal mines, gateroads can only be ignited by electric capsules.b) Capsules with aluminium shells cannot be used in coal and sulphur mines.The use of explosives and ignition systems in underground coal mines is governed by laws, statutes, and regulations. There are two specific laws in Turkey which clearly outline the use of explosives in mines and occupational safety. The first legislation is the requirements set forth in the decree no 87/12028 "Regulations/Directives about Procedures and Principles for Hunting Materials and Similar Items related with Non Monopoly Explosive Articles" and the other one is the "Regulation on OHS to be taken in the Mining and Quarrying Operations and Tunnel Construction"Drilling and blasting in coal mines are difficult to design due to the above-mentioned requirements.The main hard coal deposits in Turkey are located in the Zonguldak basin, between Ereğli and Amasra on the Black Sea coast, with a distribution of 160 km. As the largest producer of hard coal in Turkey, TTK manages all hard coal activities in the country as a state-owned enterprise. Due to the dispersed nature of the Zonguldak hard coal basins, TTK has established five production areas: Armutcuk, Kozlu, Uzulmez, Karadon, and Amasra. The first four of the establishments are within the borders of Zonguldak province and the last one within the province of Bartın , where field studies were carried out, continues its production activities in an area of 32 kmIn order to determine the elastic and mechanical properties of the surrounding rock, rock mechanics experiments were conducted on 15 different mineable coal seams by sampling the floor and roof strata. The surrounding rock is mainly composed of sandstone, siltstone and conglomerate Fig. . The sum29 in terms of uniaxial compressive strength of rock materials, the distribution of tested rock samples is shown in Fig. According to the classification suggested by ISRMBased on experience from the mine, the formations encountered in the field are divided into categories according to rock strength for simplicity. These categories include medium hard formations and relatively weak formations. The rock mass characteristics in the region are variable and the average RQD  is around 90% in medium hard formations which contain massive sandstone while this value is around 20% in relatively weak formations that consist of siltstone-sandstone. RMR (Rock Mass Rating) values are around 70 in medium hard formations with massive sandstone, and 40 to 60 for relatively weak formations with weak siltstone, sandstone, and conglomerate transition units.Process of excavating tunnels, galleries, drifts, etc. are called tunnelling. Drilling and blasting are a widely used excavation method in tunnelling applications due to its versatility, lower initial investment cost and easier applicability compared to mechanical excavation. Although tunnelling machines are used in many transportation tunnel projects today, by far the most common technique of underground rock excavation is that of drilling and blasting.7. The purpose of the cut is to create a primary cavity in the tunnel line. This is where the remaining holes can easily expand and blast the remaining rock towards this opening.Bench blasting differs from tunnel blasting in that bench blasting is directed toward multiple free surfaces whereas tunnel blasting is directed toward a single free surface. As a result, there is a limit on the round length and volume of rock that can be blasted simultaneously. In order for the rock to break and be thrown away from the surface, a second free face must be formed. A cut in the tunnel face produces this second faceMining and construction use a variety of cut types, but they fall mainly into two categories: parallel-hole cuts and angle-hole cuts. Although there are many different subtypes of each major cut type, the most common types of cut today are parallel hole and V-cut.11. All holes are drilled parallel to each other in this type of cut. A large drill hole is used as an opening for blasting. The most used parallel hole cut method today is the four-section large hole cut, which is also known as the Swedish method. Originally developed by Langerfors and Kihlstrom6, a complete design model was later published by Holmberg9 for this cut design. Recently, it was updated by Persson et al.13.With the introduction of mechanized drilling machines, parallel hole cut was introducedIn parallel hole cut, the advance of the round is restricted by the diameter of the empty hole and the deviation of the charge holes. Since drifting will be quite expensive if the advance is much less than 95% of the drilled hole depth, the average advance (I) can reach 95% of the blasthole depth (H).0 denotes the empty hole diameter (m)13. Olofsson10 also proposed the chart shown in Fig. In four-section parallel hole cuts, the depth of the blasthole can be estimated by the following equation;12. For the overall blasting procedure, determining the burden of cut holes is crucial30. For an effective breakage process, the distance between the empty hole and the blasthole in the first quadrangle B1 should not exceed 1.7 times the diameter of the empty hole D06. For burdens larger than 2D0, the break angle is too small and a plastic deformation of rock between the blastholes is produced. If the rock burden is under D0, cut failure will occur. For this reason it is recommended that the burdens to be calculated as B1 = 1.5D0. According to Persson et al.13, if the drilling deviation is more than 1%, the burden in the first quadrangle is practically calculated as follows;e is the angular deviation in m/m. H is the hole depth in meters, and βe denotes the collaring deviation in meters. The linear charge concentration q (expressed in kg/m), is calculated from the following equation13;h denotes the blasthole diameter (m), D0 indicates the diameter of the empty hole (m), B is defined as the maximum distance between holes and burden (m), c is the rock constant and RWS is expressed as the relative weight strength of the explosive with respect to ANFO. Assuming that the burden in the first quadrangle (B1) are known, the following formula is used for the geometric design of width of first quadrangle10.The breakage mechanism is greatly dependent upon the type of explosive, the rock properties and the distance between the empty hole and the charged blastholesst quadrangle. The breakage, however, occurs towards a rectangular opening instead of a circular one. There are many well-tested variants of the parallel hole cut patterns that function well11. According to Langerfors and Kihlstrom6, the burden (B) for the remaining quadrangles of the cut should be 0.7 times the width (W) of the existing opening in order to provide maximum breakage (Bn = 0.7Wn). Then, the width (Wn) of the remaining quadrangles can be calculated geometrically as in the following8;After the first quadrangle is calculated, the burden for the following quadrangles should be solved geometrically. Blasting toward a circular hole demands a higher charge concentration than blasting toward a rectangular opening. This occurs due to higher and less effective stress wave reflection. The calculation method for the remaining quadrangles of the cut is essentially the same as for the 112. The stemming length (ho) should be estimated as 10 times the blasthole diameter.The four-section large hole cut design dimensions are shown in Fig. 10. Figure h denotes the blast blasthole diameter (mm) and qb is the bottom charge concentration (kg/m). Calculation of bottom charge concentration is as in the following10;e is the explosive density (g/cm3) and AWS is absolute weight strength (1 for Dynamex M)31. When the burden (B), the hole depth (H) and the bottom charge concentration (qb) are known, Table When the cut holes (A) have been calculated, the rest of the tunnel round may be calculated. The round is divided into: stoping holes with breakage upward and horizontally (B), stoping holes with breakage downwards (C), contour holes  (D) and floor holes (lifters) (E)entclass1pt{minima32. In wide tunnels where drilling is not limited by tunnel width, it is still commonly used.The most commonly used cut with angled holes is the V-cut. Using symmetrically drilled angled holes, the V-cut is a traditional cut. The lower middle of the face is usually pierced with wedge-shaped angled holes. The first detonation will remove the material in the wedge, allowing subsequent detonations to break the wedge10.V-cuts require a certain tunnel width in order to accommodate drilling equipment Fig. . Therefo22. Each V’s burden depends on the amount of explosive with which the blasthole diameter can be charged. In the Swedish model the equation that gives the burden, depends mainly on linear charge concentration (drillhole diameter) and type of explosive. The relation that gives the burden is;h denotes the blast blasthole diameter (mm), f is the burden correction coefficient according to angle of cut holes αv  and qb is the bottom charge concentration (kg/m) and can be calculated from Eq.  provided that it complies with the legal requirements previously mentioned. The technical properties of methane safe permissible type dynamite and gelatine dynamite are listed in Table Physical and chemical examinations and gallery tests must be carried out to determine whether the explosives used in underground coal mines are safe against fire and coal dust. Before using any type of explosives, it is absolutely necessary to obtain the permission of the regulatory agency. Two types of dynamite are used in Karadon TIM as explosives, namely methane safe permissible dynamite and gelatine dynamite. Methane safe permissible dynamite is primarily suitable for underground coal blasting operations and for the blasting of soft rocks. Hard rock blasting cannot be accomplished with this type of dynamite due to its low relative weight strength. Additionally, it is the only reliable product tested in underground coal mines in Turkey for mine gases (particularly methane) and coal dustThe development roadways (opened in rock formations) in Karadon TIM are excavated with gelatine dynamite using the parallel-hole cut method. In this method, blasting is done in two stages; first the cut and cut spreader holes are blasted, then the rest of the roadway face is drilled and blasted . The empty hole is first bored 38 mm and then gradually expanded to 76 or 115 mm, depending on rock strength.2 cross-section area with 90 blastholes. Based on experience from the mine, the diameter of the empty hole should be 115 mm in medium hard formations and 76 mm in relatively weak formations. Therefore, two different blasting designs were considered according to rock strength.The nominal diameter and length of the used drill at the mine are 0.038 m and 3 m, respectively. For the electro-hydraulic drilling equipment used, the angular and collaring deviations were estimated as 0.2 m/m and 0.2 m, respectively. 2.4 m of advance is provided for a 14 mThe length of the used drill at the mine is 3 m, so it would be appropriate to take the actual hole depth as 2.85 m (H = 2.85 m). In this case, the average advance can be achieved in one round with 95% efficiency, which corresponds to 0.95 H = 2.7 m. Practical burden can then be calculated from Eq. 3 for massive sandstone formations and 0.45 kg/m3 for relatively weak siltstone, sandstone and conglomerate transition formations. Thus, using Eq. In this work, the rock constant c was chosen as 0.4 kg/mAs can be seen, the linear charge concentration of gelatine dynamite (1.20 kg/m) used exceeds the required linear charge concentration in the blasthole. This may cause rock residues left at the hole bottom after blasting to bulge and even cause cutting failure. To prevent this phenomenon, it is necessary to calculate the distance between the empty hole and the blasthole in the first quadrangle according to the current dynamite features. These calculations can be made by trial and error method until reaching the required linear charge concentration of gelatine dynamite. In this manner, the burden distance is adjusted so that the charge concentration of the dynamite used will provide the required charge concentration. When these calculations are made, the practical burdens are obtained as 0.113 and 0.182 mm for 76 and 155 mm empty hole diameters, respectively.Thereafter, as shown in Fig. As can be seen from Fig. 3 and 0.8, the bottom charge concentration is calculated from Eq. Since the density and relative weight strength of gelatine dynamite are 1.5 g/cmThe burden can then be calculated from Eq. b) are known, Table When the burden (B), the hole depth (H) and the concentration of the bottom charge (qBy applying the burden and spacing distances as well as stemming lengths given in Table 3/kg) and the geometric properties of the cross section were taken into account. In other words, rearrangement was performed keeping the charge concentration constant relative to its original value. In this case, it will be necessary to use seven cartridges of gelatine dynamite in the stoping holes and 6 cartridges in the contour holes. The floor holes will be charged half-length of the blasthole as described earlier. Plastic water cartridges were used to stem the uncharged parts of the blastholes.Blasting patterns were prepared for both empty hole diameters by taking into consideration the drilling and charging geometry data given in Table 2 cross-section development roadways for 76 mm and 115 mm empty hole diameters is presented in Figs. In brief, the burden and spacing distances are adjusted to ensure that the specific charge concentration is the same as the value obtained in the calculations if the blasthole is charged to half the hole depth. The arrangement of blastholes and firing sequences in excavation of 14 m10. Look-out is about 19 cm in this case.The contour holes  must be angled out of the contour so that the tunnel can be opened with its designed cross-sectional area. There is an angle between the practical (drilled) tunnel profile and the theoretical tunnel profile called the look-out angle. In a tunnel drilled parallel to its theoretical line, the face gets smaller and smaller after each round. It is recommended that the look-out does not exceed 10 cm + 3 cm/m hole depthThe mine uses methane safe permissible dynamite to create gateroads (headgates and tailgates) and drifts because the electro-hydraulic drill is inefficient in such short and narrow galleries.2 or 10 m2 cross-sections with 60–90 blastholes.At the mine, blasting is done in three stages; first the cut holes are blasted, then stoping holes are drilled and blasted. In another shift, the remaining holes in the roadway face (contour holes) are drilled and blasted. 1 m of advance is provided for 12.5 m2 cross-section with the targeted advance being 1.3 m and 2.4 m by using single and double V-cut designs. Drills of 1.6 m were included in the single V design and 2.4 m in the double V design. Both drills used at the mine have a diameter of 32 mm.In this section, two different V-cut designs were made for 12.5 mo = 1.3 m. In a similar manner, the average hole depth can be drilled by a 2.4 m drill with 95% efficiency is H = 2.3 m. To provide the 60° peak angle, theoretical advance is A = H.Cos30o = 2.0 m.The average hole depth can be drilled by a 1.6 m drill with 95% efficiency is H = 1.5 m. To provide the 60° peak angle of cut holes, theoretical advance is A = H.Cos303 and the relative weight strength of methane safe dynamite S = 0.56, the bottom charge concentration qb is calculated from Eq.  are known, Table Since the spacing (E) for the cut holes should be 0.8 times the burden (B), the spacing for the cut holes is E = 0.46 × 0.8 = 0.37 m. When the burden (B) and the concentration of the bottom charge  of blastholes can be done in one step, they are done in three stages as mentioned above. Further, the simultaneous firing of three rows of cut holes increases rock fixation and makes it more difficult to break and evacuate rocks from the face.1 and B2 for the cut are determined to be 1.35, 0.950 and 0.725, respectively, for a linear charge concentration of methane safe dynamite of 0.625 kg/m.By using a 1.6 m drill, it is possible to provide 1.3 m advance in theory with the classic single V-cut blasting pattern. In order to make more advance, it is necessary to switch to the double V-cut pattern. To achieve this, a drill of 2.4 m must be used. With the use of a drill of this size, it will theoretically be possible to provide 2.0 m of advance. Using the chart in Fig. According to this calculation, it will be necessary to use six cartridges of methane safe dynamite in the cut holes, stopping holes and wall holes, five cartridges in the roof holes and seven cartridges in the floor holes. As previously mentioned, the cut and floor holes will again contravene relevant legislation. Under these conditions, the amount of dynamite should be rearranged so that the height of the explosive charge does not exceed half the hole depth. This is done by bringing the holes closer together, as previously done in the parallel hole cut.2 cross-section galleries for double V-cut pattern is presented in Fig. The arrangement of double V-cut holes is shown in Fig. 2 cross-section is presented.In Table In the Karadon mine, coal production is carried out by Kilimli and Gelik Enterprises. Two different real cases were selected according to the conditions encountered at the mine. In the first case, a coal seam of 1 m thickness with 45° inclination was selected in the 54,516 south gallery which crosses the Kurul seam at the −460 level of Kilimli Enterprise. For the selected gateroad example, the required free surface will be created by first excavating the coal at the gateroad face. After that, as shown in Fig. In the second case, a case with a coal seam with a thickness of 1 m and an inclination of 55° with intercalations parallel to the seam was chosen in the 41,505 north gallery which crosses the Akdag seam at the −460 level of Gelik Enterprise. If the free surface is created by excavating the coal seam at the face, the first holes can be drilled perpendicularly to the face. This is similar to the first example explained previously. This time, the case of not excavating the coal seam was discussed.In this case, the first holes to be blasted will be drilled along a line parallel to the coal seam at 40 cm burden and 40 cm spacing. This is shown in Fig. After the first blastholes are blasted and the tallow is taken, the contour holes should be drilled at 2.1 m depth with an angle of 6° to the outward as shown in Fig. The objective of this study is to recommend simple solutions to the blasting difficulties that are encountered in coal mines in which there are limitations arising from legal requirements. Turkish mining legislation contains some information about drilling and blasting applications in underground coal mines. However, the lack of specific design criteria in the literature for such conditions causes ineffective blast designs. In addition, rock excavation is inefficient because of this ineffective blast design.The relevant legislation articles will be violated if blast design values are calculated according to the equations suggested in the literature for coal mine blast designs. On the other hand, if the blastholes are charged as required by the relevant legislation, the burden and spacing distances calculated from the equations given in the literature may not work as desired or even unsuccessful blasting may be encountered.This study summarizes and analyses the blasting practices currently employed at Karadon mine along with their disadvantages. Following that, using the methods suggested in the literature, new blasting designs were made, and these designs were revised in accordance with legal requirements. Parallel hole cut designs were made for development roadways, whereas angled hole cut designs were made for gateroads and drifts. In order to comply with legal regulations, the explosive charge in each blasthole has been rearranged so that the explosive charge does not exceed half the depth of the blasthole. In this case, the burden and spacing distance of each blasthole are adjusted to achieve the same specific charge concentration obtained from the equations given in the literature. Among the information provided in this context were the drilling pattern, the amount of delayed blasting caps, and the amount of dynamites. Consequently, a shortening of the required work cycle and an increase in progress per shift have been achieved as a result of the designs implemented in the application mine. One of the key findings of this study is that rearrangement of the burden and space distances of blastholes by keeping the charge concentration constant from its original value calculated from literature, is an appropriate engineering solution for blast designs in underground coal mines. This proposed approach can be applied in similar applications.


Changes in international lawmaking brought about by new actors and processes were the theme of the Annual ESIL Meeting, held in Stockholm. For the first time, due to the pandemic, the conference was organized in a hybrid format, with more online participants than on-site attendants; itself already a powerful sign of change. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden opened the conference. She recalled that Stockholm was, in 1972, the site of the 1st United Nations World Conference on the Environment (UNCHE), which adopted the Stockholm Declaration , the greatest enemy of the rule of law is corruption; the former is indispensable for justice, stability and security. The rule of law is now threatened even in democracies such as Poland. The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) provides politicians worldwide with an informative guide to the rule of law in 26 languages RWI . Pål WraSarah Nouwen (EUI Florence) and Marrti Koskenniemi (Helsinki) discussed the current political implications of global lawmaking against the background of historical developments. Property and sovereignty are the “yin and yang” of international law and its generous gift to the respective holders of positions of power, but this no longer applies exclusively to states; in this respect, one should no longer postulate the ideal type of the state-centered Westphalian system. According to Nouwen, decision-making and regulation processes in international law now also take place very much on the corporate side, beyond the sphere of sovereignty, a process whose channels of influence and decision-making need to be made (more) transparent. Furthermore, the mere invocation of the binding force of formally correct norms is no longer sufficient in a world marked by global injustice; international law and politics are inextricably interwoven; one must ask much more consciously about the winners and losers of international regulations and take a more conscious look at the diversity of the different perspectives on  law, for which deeper encounters are indispensable to promote mutual understanding.Koskenniemi asked about the historical premises for the development of international law in Europe , guiding principles, action plans, codes of conducts, etc., as legal texts informally adopted free of mandatory procedural and formal requirements, are an undeniable expression of the increasing complexity of international law; they are also undoubtedly norms in the sociological and political sense, but ultimately non-binding under international law for lack of a sufficient state consensus. Without a minimum of procedural formality, one could not speak of binding law. Nevertheless, this category of norms was not without influence on international law; thus, the establishment of new binding law could be triggered or existing law could be further developed by way of interpretation. Ultimately, however, the reasons for this type of informal law-creation were predominantly of a non-normative nature, namely considerations of flexibility and efficiency. According to Anna Leander (IHEID Geneva), the trend towards increasingly deformalized law and rule-making is closely linked to the changes in government forms: however, we also need to think more carefully about what is actually meant by ‘deformalization’; in her view, the focus has so far been too actor-centered, and there is an underexposed material side to this phenomenon. As examples, she cited the role of documents in international financial law or the embedding of code-based technologies in everyday life. Law is undergoing massive change at its margins, she said, noting a sociological transformation through the mediatization of law into a technological element. States are not opposing this process, but involved in it, yet the necessary public discussion does not take place, the commercially practice-relevant formation of norms also takes place precisely by avoiding a general debate. The phenomenon of this deformalization of law requires further, more in-depth conceptualization and discussion.Globally positioned and networked activists deliberately use national jurisdictions as an arena to initiate and drive global change, as the example of the LGBTQIA* movement vividly demonstrates. According to Balakrishnan Rajagopal (MIT), in order to better explore this dynamic and tense change due to the increasing influence of non-state actors on international lawmaking, the reference to the pluralization of institutional forums is more appropriate than the reference to legal pluralism, which is empirically undeniably given, but too state-centered and therefore analytically insufficient. Theories of international law also remain stuck in Westphalian categories, this even applies to feminist approaches or the Third World Approach to International Law (TWAIL). Pluralization encompasses political antagonisms between states and social movements, forms of institutional and extra-institutional disputes, hierarchical and pluralistic relationships, as well as the relationship between states of the Global North and the Global South. The latter is a key question, as one can observe the beginnings of a hegemonic power formation in the Global South. Regarding the issue of overcoming the climate crisis, the North increasingly forms the counter-hegemonic position.Raffaela Kunz (MPI Heidelberg) spoke about the imminent danger of the research-based knowledge system being captured by powerful market players in science publishing. In order to narrow the knowledge gap, the innovative Open Science movement had aimed to transform the scientific publishing system with its oligopoly-like structures, high publication costs and exorbitant profit margins, driven by actors from the public sector such as universities, libraries and researchers, to whom a high degree of legitimacy is attributed. However, the results achieved by Project DEAL or Plan S, for example, tend to perpetuate the status quo and the power relations in the science publishing system, causing the knowledge gap to widen; moreover, there is a shift in charging, away from reading towards publishing, which leads to new exclusions. In South America, which pursues a different Open Access (OA) method, the worldwide dominance of the heavily criticised gold OA approach is feared and perceived as a neo-colonial instrument. The fundamental problem, she argues, is the lack of public and political accountability in the field of this informal norm-setting, compounded by the fact that the interests of dominant actors are even more powerful here than in the field of traditional international lawmaking.Giedre Jokubauskaite (Glasgow) argued that not every participation of non-state actors in the norm-setting process is tantamount to lawmaking from below. The decisive factor, she said, was who could set the agenda and determine the debates; the dominant discourses were still those on security and the economy, with questions about the assumption of historical liability on the margins. The starting point was therefore the inclusion of representatives who were in a disadvantaged position, in order to be able to actually speak of legislation from below. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) serves as an example; human rights were indispensable as a ‘living instrument’ in this area , however, drew attention to new developments, particularly in the area of investment, with a view to South America. There, local referenda by affected groups on the legitimacy of investment projects by multinational corporations in the mining sector have become increasingly legally binding since 1999. Even smaller communities with no more than 6000 members could thus bring such large-scale investments by transnational corporations to an end. The balance of power and hierarchies has leveled out where the corporations no longer had any influence on determining local consent. It is a sub- as well as a multinational regulatory process with the participation of transnational actors, enriched by conflicting goals between  economic development and  interests of the affected local population. (Mega)cities and metropolitan regions are key actors in the decentralized fight against climate change, Maša Kovič Dine (Ljubljana) said. The Edmonton Declaration signed by more than 3400 cities in North America, the Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA) and the Paris Declaration supported by more than 100 cities worldwide are proof of this. Although the commitments vary, what they have in common is a commitment to more stringent commitments than those made by states, and a system based on city cooperation. This urban practice is a central element that can no longer be isolated from international lawmaking, and cities must therefore be much more involved in it as stakeholders.Friends and companions commemorated James Crawford (ICJ), who died on 31 May 2021, with a special panel. Kaj Hobér  called Crawford a giant of international law, of formidable competence, and yet always pursuing a practical and pragmatic approach. He had always particularly appreciated his work as a judge in international commercial disputes because of the dynamics prevailing in this area of law. Laurence Boisson de Chazournes (Geneva) said that there were very few international lawyers whose first name alone was enough to know who they were talking about; his contributions to international law were indispensable readings Crawford , 2019, tA visibly moved Alain Pellet (Paris Nanterre) paid tribute to his friend James Crawford – a modest man and firm Australian – as a fantastic team player and attentive listener, who was very interested in promoting young talent. Despite his training in common law, he had always been aware that international law was an interplay of continental law and common law. His sense of compromise had worked wonders in the adoption of the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts by the International Law Commission (ILC) in August 2001  also praised Crawford’s never-to-be-forgotten role as ILC’s last of five Special Rapporteurs in this regard, not least due to his pragmatic streamlining of the draft, including the abandonment of the controversial concept of ‘international crime’. Crawford’s view had been that the draft first had to prove itself in practice, which is why he had not pushed for the conclusion of a binding convention; he had been right in doing so, the draft articles on state responsibility had asserted itself, it was accepted by the states and meanwhile counted among the most cited international law documents in court. Unfortunately, he had not been able to work on the history of international law, which had been planned in three volumes.In addition to Crawford’s immense dedication to his work, all speakers emphasized his collegiality, fairness, friendliness, his famous smile and his sense of family. It was unmistakable that the human loss was felt to be at least as great as the professional one.For Bryan Mercurio (Hong Kong), the Covid-19 crisis does not represent a paradigm shift, it merely reinforces the already tangible departure from liberal principles in (economic) international law: firstly, a shift of production capacities back to the domestic economy is taking place, especially by large states, combined with increasing protectionism; in this respect, the pandemic is a welcome occasion to reduce dependencies on China within the global supply chain. Second, the willingness of states to engage in international lawmaking is declining, not least due to a lack of confidence, exacerbated by the uncertainties still associated with Covid-19. Thirdly, there is an increasing shift away from multilateral agreements towards bilateral treaties, which are also limited to specific sectors. In view of the major challenges posed by the Covid-19 crisis, this should have led to greater cooperation between states within the framework of multilateral agreements such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), but the opposite is the case. Instead, there will be more bilateral agreements in niche areas; in this respect, smaller states in particular will have to act and react skilfully. The Covid effect will have a significant impact on future international lawmaking. However, the WTO rules on intellectual property  would not hinder the necessary innovations; in the fight against the pandemic, it was the insufficient production of vaccines and not a lack of innovation that was the big problem in the first place; moreover, the pharmaceutical companies would have no interest in refusing licences for vaccine production. If Covid-19 has shown anything, it is the paramount importance of cooperation in the scientific field, not only in the development of vaccines, said Gian Luca Burci (IHEID Geneva). A science-policy interface must therefore be integrated into a future WHO agreement on pandemic prevention; the potential danger of a virus pandemic originating from mass animal husbandry, for example, affects cross-cutting problems of food production, animal husbandry and health, public health and, last but not least, economic interests. He did not expect a fundamental change in the rules on intellectual property, but waivers under the TRIPS Agreement could be considered.Diane Desierto (Notre Dame) sees the danger of a normalization and proliferation of legal emergency regimes due to the pandemic. 109 states worldwide have enacted regulations on states of emergency. At the same time, democratic control mechanisms for reviewing these emergency measures would be weakened; should the Covid-19 pandemic become endemic, it would not be possible to remain in emergency mode permanently. Human rights activists would have to become more active and concern themselves more with (world) trade, economics and health, because at the moment too many restrictions are justified with reference to the pandemic. The pandemic also exposes inequalities and asymmetries: countries with the least access to vaccines are among the most affected by Covid-19. For Martin Scheinin (Oxford), the Covid-19 pandemic cannot be overcome without respecting human rights. The decisive factor is not how the virus behaves, but how people behave, which is why more emphasis must be placed on persuasion rather than on governmental instruction. Instead, overreactions and underreactions were observed in pandemic management. Unlike after 11 September 2001, there had been no power grab at the United Nations Security Council, although measures could be justified under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Should a global agreement on pandemic prevention and control be reached, human rights would have to be included.For Andrea Leiter (Amsterdam), a transnationally understood global law makes it possible to overcome the conceptual weaknesses of the classical doctrine of international law with its focus on states as the authoritative legal entities and creators of law (Art. 38 ICJ Statute). New concepts are urgently needed in this regard in order to be able to better meet the current challenges and shifts in power – not least through innovations in technology and digitalization – as well as the associated injustices; such a reconceptualization also by no means implies forgetting history. Anne Orford (Melbourne) was very sceptical about the characterization of international law as conservative in contrast to the allegedly dynamic nature of global law. One must ask themself who is propagating global law as a new category of thought and action, why and with which possibilities of influence; it also has to be examined who ultimately benefits from it. She rather sees the danger of re-colonialization if the consensus of states necessary for lawmaking in international law should lose importance in favor of private and transnational actors, especially since there is no international political institution that is constituted in a way that enables it to adequately represent and integrate all actors of global law. It is more important to fight for a different, a better international law.For Makane Mbengue (Geneva), international law has never been purely ‘westphalian’, it has always been ‘global’, not least because of its evolutionary and adaptive nature. International law and global law would be mutually supportive, the latter being a means to an end in order to improve international law. As evidence, he pointed to the 2017 draft of a Global Pact for the Environmemt: stemming from a private initiative by authoritative lawyers, its modus operandi was clearly attributable to the sphere of influence of global law, but its goal was the deliberate strengthening, and not the replacement, of already existing  international law – now affirmed by a United Nations General Assembly resolution .German full-text translation of the Conference Report of the 16th Annual Meeting of the European Society of International Law (ESIL) by Hubert Mayer