Effects of different carbon sources and C/N values on nonvolatile taste components of Pleurotus eryngii

Pleurotus eryngii, the second largest industrial cultivation mushroom in China, is usually cultivated on substrates mainly consisting of sawdust and corncob. In this study, experiments were performed to determine the effects of different carbon sources and C/N values on nonvolatile taste components of P. eryngii. The effects of different carbon sources on nonvolatile taste components levels revealed that sawdust was beneficial to high levels of crude protein, amino acids, 5′‐nucleotides and equivalent umami concentration, while corncob was beneficial to high contents of carbohydrate, polysaccharides and trehalose. At the similar C/N values, relatively higher sawdust content was beneficial to umami amino acid production, while relatively higher corncob content was beneficial to high contents of carbohydrate, polysaccharides and mannitol. Higher C/N value was beneficial to high levels of crude protein, amino acids, 5′‐nucleotides and equivalent umami concentration, while lower C/N value was beneficial to high contents of carbohydrate, polysaccharides and trehalose. These results provided information for P. eryngii fruit body industrial cultivation to obtain specific nonvolatile taste components with high levels.     

Encapsulated sodium supplementation of 4 weeks does not alter salt taste preferences in a controlled low sodium and low potassium diet

Preference for saltiness is learned by oral exposure to salt taste; however, some data suggest a role for bodily sodium and potassium levels on salt taste preferences as well. The objective was to investigate whether encapsulated sodium and potassium supplementation lead to altered salt taste responses among adults with high blood pressure on a low sodium and low potassium diet. Twenty-six participants with untreated upper-range prehypertension or stage 1 hypertension were on a fully controlled low sodium and low potassium diet (both targeted at 2 g/day) for 13 weeks. Participants received capsules with sodium (3 g/d), potassium (3 g/d), or placebo, for 4 weeks each, in randomized order in a double blind crossover design. Sensory evaluation was done before and after each supplementation period and involved ratings of pleasantness and intensity in different salt (NaCl) concentrations in food and water, desire-to-eat salty food, and detection threshold for NaCl. Neither sodium supplementation nor potassium supplementation led to alterations in salt taste responses in food and water, and did not affect detection threshold (P = 0.59). There was no clear role for sodium or potassium supplementation on desire-to-eat salty food. In addition, we did not find effects of reduced oral exposure to salt over weeks, through the sodium-reduced diet, on salt taste preferences, in contrast to earlier studies. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest preference for saltiness is independent of changes in bodily sodium or potassium levels.     

文人画对陶瓷绘画创作的影响

陶瓷绘画最早可以追溯到彩陶时期,陶瓷与绘画相互交融发展。至今,文人画的审美精神和文化内涵一直影响着当代陶瓷绘画,在画面的表现形式和内在精神上都极具中国传统文化的艺术精神。     

Overcoming the Taste Stigma of Soy

ABSTRACT: Can labels unknowingly influence a person's taste perceptions? Using a “phantom ingredient” taste test, the presence or absence of a labeled ingredient (soy) was shown to influence sensory evaluations of a food. In particular, a nutrition bar wrongly purporting to contain soy generated negative ratings of taste, aftertaste, and attitude, yet generated favorable ratings of its nutritiousness. Because there was actually no soy in the product, these differences represent biases caused by ingredient labeling. Given the appropriate segment of consumers (health‐oriented), ingredient labeling may have more favorable consequences. This power of suggestion might also be expanded to other ingredients or processes, such as those involving biotechnology or organic production.     

禅宗解脱:宗教经验的审美化

禅宗解脱的实质是生命的自由。通过明心见性、转迷入悟的途径,心灵摆脱烦恼业障,进入无我境界,从而体验到一种想象的自由。这一过程在很多方面类似审美活动,在体验上具有审美自由的特征。但禅宗的解脱,以及解脱所达到的审美的人生境界之可能,其关键在于生命主体的自我消解。无我的或曰没有主体的自由,并不是一种真正的自由。因而,禅宗关于人的解放的理论和实践,其价值仅仅在宗教方面和美学方面。     

Nonconscious control mimics a purposeful strategy: Strength of Stroop-like interference is automatically modulated by proportion of compatible trials.

The magnitude of the Stroop effect is known to be modulated by the proportion of trials on which the irrelevant word and relevant ink color correspond. This has often been attributed to a conscious strategy of increased (or decreased) reliance on the irrelevant words when these are more likely (or less likely) to correspond to the ink colors. However, the present data from a Stroop-like task involving successively presented arrows indicate instead that this type of modulation can be automatic because it can occur even if the irrelevant stimuli are not phenomenally visible. In this case participants cannot determine the proportion of compatible trials to direct their strategy. An automatic, item-specific associative interpretation can account for these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic playlist generation based on tracking user’s listening habits

Algorithms for automatic playlist generation solve the problem of tedious and time consuming manual selection of musical playlists. These algorithms generate playlists according to the user’s music preferences of the moment. The user describes his preferences either by manually inputting a couple of example songs, or by defining constraints for the choice of music. The approaches to automatic playlist generation up to now were based on examining the metadata attached to the music pieces. Some of them took also the listening history into account. But anyway, a heavy accent has been put on the metadata, while the listening history, if it was used at all, had a minor role. Missings and errors in metadata frequently appear, especially when the music is acquired from the Internet. When the metadata is missing or wrong, the approaches proposed so far cannot work. Besides, entering constraints for the playlist generation can be a difficult activity. In our approach we ignored the metadata and focused on examining the listening habits. We developed two simple algorithms that track the listening habits and form a listener model—a profile of listening habits. The listener model is then used for automatic playlist generation. We developed a simple media player which tracks the listening habits and generates playlists according to the listener model. We tried the solution with a group of users. The experiment was not a successful one, but it threw some new light on the relationship between the listening habits and playlist generation.     

基于非锐化掩模的实时自适应图像增强算法

针对传统的非锐化掩模算法的局限性,依据图像中各像素点及以其为中心的若干相邻像素点的均方差值,提出了自适应图像增强算法的原理,并分析其硬件实现方法,然后给出了该算法与其它算法应用于图像增强的对比结果,最后在FPGA（field programmable gate array）实验板上进行验证.实验结果表明,此算法有效的增强图像的细节区域,防止图像边缘区域出现过冲现象,抑制图像平坦区域的噪声放大.因此,该算法取得了良好的视觉效果,硬件实现简单,适合于实时条件下图像的增强.     

Effects of viscosity on the bitterness and astringency of grape seed tannin

To examine the separate effects of viscosity and sweetness on astringency, aqueous solutions of grape seed tannin (GST) were thickened with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) from 2 to 45 cP (experiment 1) or sweetened with 0 to 1.8 g/L aspartame (experiment 2). Trained subjects continuously rated astringency and bitterness in duplicate. Subjects were categorized by the salivary flow induced by citric acid and ability to taste n-propyl thiouracil (PROP). In experiment 1, maximum intensity and total duration of astringency were significantly decreased as viscosity rose, although time to maximum intensity of astringency was not affected. Maximum intensity and total duration of bitterness were not significantly affected by increasing viscosity; however, the onset of bitterness was significantly delayed. In experiment 2, increasing sweetness had no affect on any astringency parameter, although maximum intensity of bitterness was significantly decreased. Neither PROP nor salivary flow-status had any effect on perception of bitterness or astringency in either experiment.     

Zero aliasing ROM BIST

Signature analyzers are very efficient output response compactors for BIST design. The only limitation of signature analysis is the fault coverage reduction (aliasing) due to the information loss inherent to any data compaction. In this article, in order to increase the effectiveness of ROM BIST, we take advantage from the simplicity of the error patterns generated by ROMs and we show that aliasing free signature analysis can be achieved in ROM BIST.This work was performed when the author was on leave from Minsk Radio Engineering Institute, Computer Department, Belorus.