Characteristics of tiger nut milk: effects of milling

A standard method for the extraction of tiger nut milk has been introduced. It has been shown that, although milling duration improves the yield of tiger nut milk solids and its nutrient composition, there is a quantifiable loss of nutrient in the pressing residue during milk extraction. Milling duration improved the colloidal stability of the milk against creaming during 16 h of storage. A higher milling intensity resulted in the aggregation of biological polymers which resulted in colloidal destabilisation. Milling improved the lightness and stability and reduced browning rate of the tiger nut milk during storage. This report is important for the production of tiger nut milk of consistent and comparable characteristics. Milling has been introduced as a processing method for the qualitative and quantitative modulation of the properties of tiger nut milk. It is recommended to develop further strategies to improve the colloidal stability of tiger nut milk as a beverage.     

Trend Analysis and Spatial Prediction of Groundwater Levels Using Time Series Forecasting and a Novel Spatio-Temporal Method

Water Resources Management - Overexploitation of groundwater in the Malayer Plain has resulted in a continuous decline of groundwater levels over recent years with associated risks to water...     

Real-time organic aerosol chemical speciation in the indoor environment using extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Understanding the sources and composition of organic aerosol (OA) in indoor environments requires rapid measurements, since many emissions and processes have short timescales. However, real-time molecular-level OA measurements have not been reported indoors. Here, we present quantitative measurements, at a time resolution of five seconds, of molecular ions corresponding to diverse aerosol-phase species, by applying extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (EESI-MS) to indoor air analysis for the first time, as part of the highly instrumented HOMEChem field study. We demonstrate how the complex spectra of EESI-MS are screened in order to extract chemical information and investigate the possibility of interference from gas-phase semivolatile species. During experiments that simulated the Thanksgiving US holiday meal preparation, EESI-MS quantified multiple species, including fatty acids, carbohydrates, siloxanes, and phthalates. Intercomparisons with Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) and Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer suggest that EESI-MS quantified a large fraction of OA. Comparisons with FIGAERO-CIMS shows similar signal levels and good correlation, with a range of 100 for the relative sensitivities. Comparisons with SV-TAG for phthalates and with SV-TAG and AMS for total siloxanes also show strong correlation. EESI-MS observations can be used with gas-phase measurements to identify co-emitted gas- and aerosol-phase species, and this is demonstrated using complementary gas-phase PTR-MS observations.     

Occupational Factors and 5-Year Weight Change Among Men in a Danish National Cohort.

This study explored whether factors related to the work environment could predict changes in body mass index (BMI) and whether the effect of psychosocial factors was dependent on baseline BMI. The sample consisted of 1,980 male employees from the Danish National Work Environment Cohort Study. Changes in BMI between 1995 and 2000 were analyzed, by multiple regression, as a function of background variables and a series of occupational variables obtained in 1995. Age, baseline BMI, job insecurity, and psychological demands predicted changes in BMI. Job insecurity and high or low psychological demands increased the likelihood of weight gain among obese employees, whereas they increased the likelihood of weight loss among employees with a low BMI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of sex steroids on sensory and motor spinal mechanisms

The male copulatory pattern uses muscles in the penis for erection and penile insertion, the lower trunk for pelvic thrusting, and the sex accessory organs for seminal emission. Organization of the nuclei controlling penile muscles is achieved through cell growth, dendritic arborization, and synaptogenesis, actions dependent on androgen but not estrogen. Testosterone (T) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) but not estradiol (E2), stimulate pelvic thrusting vigor by synchronizing discharge of motoneurons innervating pelvic muscles. Pelvic thrusting rhythmicity, regulated by spinal interneurons, is produced in female rabbits by E2 or T but not by DHT. Reflex contraction of the seminal vesicles, due to penile insertion, is facilitated by androgen presumably by its effect on preganglionic neurons of the hypogastric nerve, located in the dorsal commissural nucleus.     

Structural properties and electrical behaviour of thin silicon oxynitride layers

Thin SiO₂ and SiO_xN_y layers were grown on silicon using Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) in either O₂ or N₂O ambient. Subsequent annealing or nitridation was performed in order to improve the electrical stability. The composition of the films, in particular the incorporation of nitrogen and hydrogen, has been studied. We obtained the distribution of states at the Si/insulator interface through the evaluation of CV measurements and investigated the charge trapping in the layers analysing the voltage–time behaviour during Fowler–Nordheim constant current injection. Furthermore, assuming a trap assisted tunneling mechanism, the influence of near interface trap states on the current voltage characteristic was used to derive an effective insulator state distribution.     

Putting it all together – Formal verification of the VAMP

In the verified architecture microprocessor (VAMP) project we have designed, functionally verified, and synthesized a processor with full DLX instruction set, delayed branch, Tomasulo scheduler, maskable nested precise interrupts, pipelined fully IEEE compatible dual precision floating point unit with variable latency, and separate instruction and data caches. The verification has been carried out in the theorem proving system PVS. The processor has been implemented on a Xilinx FPGA. A shorter version of this article with the title “Instantiating uninterpreted functional units and memory system: functional verification of the VAMP” appeared in [8]. The work reported here was done while all the authors were with Saarland University.     

Influence of inulin modification and flour type on the sensory quality of prebiotic wafer crackers

An inulin syrup made from Jerusalem artichoke tubers, either in its commercial form or after ultrafiltration, was freeze-dried and used as a prebiotic ingredient in the small-scale manufacture of wafer crackers. The flours used for the preparation of wafer batters were from wheat, rye or spelt wheat, or 1:1 combinations of wheat flour and rye flour or wheat flour and spelt wheat flour. Batter viscosity was strongly influenced by the selection of the flour type, but remained within technologically acceptable limits. The ultrafiltration of the inulin syrup, using a 1 kDa membrane, resulted in a significant reduction of the content of free sugars and minerals which, in turn, had a significant impact on the CIE-Lab color values of the wafer crackers. Using spelt wheat flour instead of wheat flour significantly increased wafer cracker firmness measured by penetration, as did the incorporation of ultrafiltered freeze-dried instead of native freeze-dried Jerusalem artichoke syrup. Sensory analysis revealed a significant influence of product formulation on appearance, flavor and texture of the wafer crackers. It can be concluded from quality scores, which were calculated by using weighting factors assigned to the sensory attributes, that wheat flour may be partially replaced by rye flour or spelt wheat flour without negatively affecting the sensory properties of the wafer crackers.