Dynamics of Solidification in 2% Corn Starch-Water Mixtures: Effect of Variations in Freezing Rate on Product Homogeneity

Directional solidification studies of gelatinized corn starch-water mixtures were undertaken in order to examine, in situ, the freezing behavior of this food model. The solidification rate was controlled by varying sample cell velocity as it moved from a 25°C hot stage to a -25°C cold stage. While freezing at cell velocities ≤7.5 μm/sec, starch granules were alternately pushed or entrapped by the advancing solid-liquid interface producing a segregated structure consisting of alternating high-starch and low-starch bands. At a cell velocity of 10 μm/sec, the frozen product was homogeneous. The relationship between the solid-liquid interface velocity and segregation behavior was quantified and compared to an existing model of particle-interface interactions.     

Lithium Chloride as a Preferred Extractant of Fish Muscle Proteins

Lithium chloride yielded better extraction of fish muscle protein than sodium or potassium chloride under most conditions. In addition, constancy of extracted protein was better with lithium compared to potassium or sodium chlorides with respect to blending time, salt concentration, pH, temperature and foaming. With stored red hake muscle, LiCl was superior to NaCl with better extractability of protein and more linear reduction of extractability with storage time. Evidence indicated the superior performance of lithium compared to sodium was due to stabilization by lithium chloride of fish proteins towards denaturation.     

MODELLING FACIAL COLOUR AND IDENTITY WITH GAUSSIAN MIXTURES

An integrated system for the acquisition, normalisation and recognition of moving faces in dynamic scenes is introduced. Four face recognition tasks are defined and it is argued that modelling person-specific probability densities in a generic face space using mixture models provides a technique applicable to all four tasks. The use of Gaussian colour mixtures for face detection and tracking is also described. Results are presented using data from the integrated system.     

Entanglement of orbital angular momentum for the signal and idler beams in parametric down-conversion

We calculate the anticipated correlation between measurements of the orbital angular momentum of the signal and idler beams for parametric down-conversion. These calculations apply to the experiments where the orbital angular momentum state is measured by the use of computer-generated holograms. Displacement of these holograms with respect to the beam axis allows the measurement of superpositions of Laguerre—Gaussian modes. The correlations between such superposition modes of the signal and idler beams show their entanglement and could be used for Bell-type tests of nonlocality.     

Comparison of numerical methods for solving Liapunov matrix equations†

A numerical comparison is made of most published methods for solving the linear matrix equations which arise when a quadratic form Liapunov function is applied to a constant linear system (continuous or discrete, real or complex). Generally, for the real equations direct methods are satisfactory for systems of order ten or less, whereas for larger order systems iterative methods (based upon expressing the solution in terms of an infinite series) are to be preferred. For the complex equations the most convenient numerical method uses an explicit representation for the solution in terms of the eigenvalues and vectors of the system matrix. If the system matrix is in companion form then algorithms taking account of this structure offer minor improvements.     

Adaptive forecasting techniques

The class of exponential smoothing models which vary the values of their parameters to adapt to changing conditions in a time series are referred to as adaptive forecasting techniques. In this article criteria for evaluating forecasting models are presented and the features of a simple exponential smoothing model that are exploited by the adaptive techniques are discussed. Several adaptive forecasting schemes are described and classified, and examples of the performance of these techniques are presented.     

Retrodiction as a tool for micromaser field measurements

We use retrodictive quantum theory to describe cavity field measurements by successive atomic detections in the micromaser. We calculate the state of the micromaser cavity field prior to detection of sequences of atoms in either the excited or ground state, for atoms that are initially prepared in the excited state. This provides the POM elements, which describe such sequences of measurements.     

A low magnetic field gyrotron—gyro-magnetron

A gyrotron device operating at a substantially reduced magnetic field is proposed. The operating beam voltage is moderately low and the waveguide circuit resembles the anode block of a conventional magnetron. The dispersion relationship is given. A proof of principle experiment is suggested.     

NITROSAMINES IN ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

A limited survey was carried out to determine the nitrosamine content of several varieties of alcoholic beverages (beer and ale, whiskey, wine, cider, etc.) sold in Canada. Of 22 samples of different beers and ales analyzed all but one contained traces of dimethylnitrosamine; the overall mean level found was 1.5 ppb. Only one Canadian rye and one Scotch whiskey out of a total of 13 samples contained traces of either dimethylnitrosamine or diethylnitrosamine. All the 8 wines and 7 cider samples were negative.