Competition of Ideas for the Design of a Chair

The competition is open worldwide to architects, and designers as well as students enrolled in Tertiary Design Institutes and Fac- ulties of Architecture, who by 8th September 2007 have not reached the age of 40. The brief is the design of an INDOOR CHAIR, making significant use of wood. The     

Effect of a health reminder on consumers’ selection of ultra-processed foods in a supermarket

Consumers report difficulties when trying to make healthy food choices in supermarkets due to environmental cues that favour the acquisition of unhealthy food items. This study’s objective was to investigate food selection in a supermarket to prepare a last minute meal by consumers with different levels of health consciousness. In an experimental design, 50 high (HHC) and 50 low health conscious (LHC) participants (n = 100) were told to choose all food items to prepare a meal for themselves plus a guest. For half the participants (25 HHC and 25 LHC), the expression ‘healthy meal’ was embedded in the instruction. To evaluate shopping healthfulness, foods selected by the participants were categorized according to level of industrial processing in Unprocessed/Minimally Processed (U/MP); Processed Culinary Ingredient (PCI); Processed (P), or Ultra-Processed (UP). The health reminder positively affected the choices of HHC and LHC individuals. Results indicate that placing reminders of healthy eating in shopping environments where P and UP foods sales are heavily promoted, such as supermarkets, can be a useful tool to promote healthy choices in accordance with what is recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population.     

Eri silkworm: a source of edible oil with a high content of α-linolenic acid and of significant nutritional value

BACKGROUND: The study was undertaken to provide value addition to spent eri silkworm as an alternative source of edible oil for the food and feed industry by carrying out a short‐term nutritional and toxicological evaluation of eri silkworm pupae oil using Wistar NIN rats. RESULTS: Growth performance of rats fed either sunflower oil (Control) or eri silkworm pupae oil (Experimental) was comparable. Histopathological examination of the various tissues showed no signs of toxicity even after feeding the eri silkworm oil for 18 weeks. Serum cholesterol and triglyceride was significantly reduced (P < 0.05) while high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol was significantly increased (P < 0.05) which is attributed to the high α‐linolenic acid content of eri silkworm oil. CONCLUSION: The study showed that eri silkworm pupae oil is safe and nutritionally equivalent to commonly used vegetable oils. Eri silkworm pupae can be harvested to provide a cost effective alternative edible oil that can be used to nutritional advantage in the food and feed industry. Therefore eri silkworm and its host plants offer an excellent example of multiple product crops and of sustainable agricultural practice with excellent opportunity for economic and nutritional benefits. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Characteristics of a calcium–milk coagulum

The texture, microstructure and composition of a milk coagulum obtained by coagulating milk with calcium chloride and heat were evaluated. A direct relationship was established between the microstructure and texture of the calcium–milk coagulum. The microstructure was comprised of casein micelles that were interlinked by appendages or fused with each other depending on the nature of the pre-heat treatment employed. The casein micellar network also entrapped fat globules. The pre-heat treatment of milk and the pH of milk during coagulation affected the hardness, adhesiveness, protein content and microstructure of the calcium–milk coagulum significantly. This study characterises a calcium–milk coagulum as a novel dairy product which differs from an acid coagulum in texture, microstructure and composition.     

Assessment of Energy Consumption in a Meat-Processing Plant—a Case Study

Meat-processing plants have their specific characteristics due to quantity of raw materials processed, production technology, degree of mechanisation of production and space utilization. These characteristics affect variability in consumption of energy carriers. This paper presents a case study of energy consumption in a small meat processing plant. It is attempting to identify and evaluate key factors which may be useful in conducting an in-depth analysis of energy consumption in the meat industry, and so this analysis may be important in selecting the best production techniques available. The results of the analysis are of critical importance for the selection of production technology selection assuming high plant efficiency.     

Conservation of Leaves of a Medicinal Plant of Western Algeria （Pistacia atlantica）

In our context, and in the goal to valorize the Pistacia atlantica species Desfthat grows spontaneously in Algeria occidental except the coastline, and that is used by the nomadic populations in their daily consumptions, we are thinking about drying its leaves. Here, the biochemical analysis of dried leaves ofPistacia atlantica is determined, the sorption is other ms are of great importance in the food industry, especially in the drying; the sorption isotherms of pistachio leaves were measured by the gravimetric method at three temperatures 40, 50 and 60 ℃. The equilibrium was achieved after eight days for desorption and seven days for adsorption with water activity ranging from 5% to 90%. Only the GAB and Peleg models were found to be the most suitable for describing the sorption curves. The isosteric heat of sorption of Pistacia atlantica leaves decreases with an increase in moisture content and was found to be an exponential function of moisture content for adsorption and desorption. The pistachio leaves could be considered as a rich natural source of valuable nutriments （carbohydrates, proteins and lipids）; lipid fraction is equal to 2.25%; proteins are the second macronutriment that predominates in these sheets： 4.35%; accordingly carbohydrates content was about 25.77%.     

Determination of the bond strength of treated wood strands embedded in a cement matrix by means of a pull-out test

Effects of chemical treatment of wood on the bonding strength of Norway spruce strands (Picea abies Karst.) embedded in a??cement matrix were investigated by means of a??pull-out test. Strands of varying thickness were used whereas a??strong influence of thickness on bonding strength could be observed. Using thick strands (800?μm) showed negative effect on bonding strength which is due to the swelling effect. The treatment of thin strands (400?μm) showed that using wet strands (～?90% moisture content) leads to the best results compared to untreated dry (12%) strands. By addition of setting accelerators (ammonium chloride) bonding strength of wet strands was even improved. Furthermore, effects of hot water and sodium hydroxide extraction as well as sodium silicate treatment were examined.     

SP,Is a piece of Rizza？

中国菜谱里有“拼盘儿”，欧美人喜欢“Pizza”。这玩意儿，学问可大了.有了他，你请客的时候就不用猜客人的口味刻薄了.     

Characterisation of a β-N-acetylhexosaminidase from a commercial papaya latex preparation

A β-N-acetylhexosaminidase (β-NAHA) (EC 3.2.1.52) with molecular mass of 64.1 kDa and isoelectric point of 5.5 was purified from a commercial papaya latex preparation. The optimum pH for p-nitrophenyl-N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminide (pNP-β-GlcNAc) hydrolysis was five; the optimum temperature was 50 °C; the K_m was 0.18 mM, V_max was 37.6 μmol min⁻¹ mg⁻¹ and activation energy (E_a) was 10.3 kcal/mol. The enzyme was thermally stable after holding at 30–45 °C for 40 min, but its activity decreased significantly when the temperature exceeded 50 °C. Heavy metal ions, Ag⁺ and Hg²⁺, at a concentration of 0.25 mM and Zn²⁺ and Cu²⁺, at a concentration of 0.5 mM, significantly inhibited enzyme activity. The β-NAHA had only one active site for binding both pNP-β-GlcNAc and p-nitrophenyl-N-acetyl-β-d-galactosaminide (pNP-β-GalNAc). A prototropic group with pKa value of about five on the enzyme may be involved in substrate binding and transformation, as examined by Dixon–Webb plots.     

Do street food vendors sell a sufficient variety of foods for a healthful diet? The case of Nairobi

This study examined whether street food vendors sell a sufficient variety of foods for a healthful diet. It was hypothesized that vendors sold only low-cost food groups to enable the buyer to afford the food while the vendor also made a profit. A structured questionnaire was administered to 580 vendors in three selected locations. Data included product names, ingredients, methods of preparation, and the sex of the vendor. A little more than half of the vendors (53%) sold food of only one group; 44% sold cereals. Overall, 36% of vendors, mostly men, sold only carbohydrate products. The percentage of vendors selling foods of more than one group was higher in the working area (53%) than in the slum area (43%, p < .05), and it was higher in both of these areas taken together than in the lower-middle income area (21%, p < .001). Micronutrient and mixed-nutrient products were associated with female vendors. Although a slight majority of all street vendors sell foods of only one group, women vendors are capable of supplying a sufficient variety of food groups that consumers can afford. It appears that consumer purchasing power dictates the food groups provided by vendors, especially cereal-based-foods. A policy on micronutrient fortification of cereal flours and fats used in popular street food preparation needs to be considered. This could be coupled with consumer and vendor education programs focusing on the importance of healthful diets.     

Assessment of a practitioner’s perception of scleral contact lens complications

PurposeThe purpose of this survey was to better understand scleral lens (SL) practitioners’ fitting preferences and minor SL complications and their subsequent treatments.MethodPractitioners who attended the 2017 Global Specialty Lens Symposium were asked to complete an electronic questionnaire that was created by the investigators, a survey that asked practitioners about their SL fitting experience and preferences, their patients’ experience with poor SL wetting, SL fogging, ocular symptoms (redness, pain/discomfort, dryness), and blurred central and side vision, and how the practitioners treated these conditions.ResultsThis study analyzed data from 164 SL practitioners. The practitioners had been in practice for 16.3 ± 13.4 years, had been fitting SL for 5.5 ± 5.0 years, and fit 7.4 ± 7.1 SL/month. Practitioners preferred a SL with a final central corneal clearance of ∼200 μm and an overall diameter between 15.1 mm to 16.5 mm. Poor SL wetting (90.8% of practitioners documented condition), SL fogging (84.8%), blurred central vision (40.2%), ocular redness (34.8%), ocular dryness (24.4%), ocular pain/discomfort (20.7%), and blurred side vision (12.8%) were encountered by the practitioners. Practitioners preferred treating poor wetting and fogging with lens removal, cleaning, and reapplication, blurred central vision with a lens power change, blurred side (peripheral) vision, ocular redness, and ocular pain with a lens parameter change, and dryness with artificial tears.ConclusionsMost SL practitioners preferred a SL central corneal clearance of ∼200 μm, and they occasionally encountered SL-related complications in their practice, which they treated similarly to corneal gas permeable CLs.     

Alteration of apparent viscosity of irradiated pepper — a tool for semi-quantitative estimation of irradiation dose

The feasibility of using apparent viscosity (_a) as a method for detecting the occurrence of previous irradiation of pepper was studied. Apparent viscosity of heat-treated suspensions of white and black pepper, nonirradiated or irradiated with different doses of ionising radiation (), was measured under different shear rates. Results of previous research were therefore expanded and their usefulness examined; low shear rate conditions were found to be preferable for the detection and semi-quantitative evaluation of irradiation doses. The experimental methodology for semi-quantitative estimation was developed and its scope and limitations are presented.     

Extracellular Production of a Novel Ice Structuring Protein by Bacillus subtilis—a Case of Recombinant Food Peptide Additive Production

Bacillus subtilis is an ideal host for the production of extracellular heterologous proteins. Antifreeze protein (ice structuring protein, ISP) is a potent additive in cryogenic preservation of food products. In this investigation, the first production of a recombinant ISP was achieved by using a high-efficient artificial promoter and a signal peptide from subtilisin YaB. The functional ISP was expressed extracellularly at a high level by a protease deficient host, B. subtilis WB800. This study provides an efficient tool to produce recombinant food peptide additive at a high level and overcomes the problem of natural resources limitation as well.     

Exploitation of maize germ for the preparation of a stable oil-body nanoemulsion using a combined aqueous extraction–ultrafiltration method

A natural oil-in-water (o/w) nanoemulsion was prepared from maize germ flour by initially extracting the germ oil bodies with water at pH 9 followed by application of ultrafiltration to concentrate the dilute extract. The resulting o/w emulsion with an oil and protein content of 5 and 3%, respectively, was characterized by a mean surface-volume diameter of 155 nm with 90% of the droplets having a size lower than 100 nm. The very low oil-body size indicated that the application of ultrafiltration to the initial extract prevented the appearance of coalescence phenomena allowing the oil bodies in the resulting concentrated dispersion to retain their natural integrity. The physical stability of the natural emulsion was evaluated both under quiescent storage conditions as well as following extensive heat or freezing treatment. The findings on physical stability are discussed in terms of the presence in the dispersion of both oil-body surface proteins as well as of co extracted non-adsorbed exogenous germ proteins.     

Adsorption of rutin onto a food-grade styrene–divinylbenzene copolymer in a model system

Adsorption of quercetin-3-O-rutinoside (rutin) onto Amberlite^® XAD 16HP was studied applying a modified D-optimal design. Temperature, pH value, rutin concentration and resin amount were studied as independent factors determining rutin adsorption. Using the mathematical model resulting from the analysis of the D-optimal design the optimal conditions for rutin adsorption onto the styrene–divinylbenzene copolymer were determined. Furthermore, the model equation was successfully applied to calculate the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm parameters of this particular solute–sorbent system. In addition, the data obtained from the D-optimal design allowed the calculation of ΔG, ΔH and ΔS for the adsorption process. The results presented in this study are of utmost importance for a better understanding of adsorption phenomena. The more detailed knowledge of such sorbent systems is required to improve the cost-effectiveness of industrial processes for the recovery of secondary plant metabolites, such as polyphenols, based on resin adsorption technology.     

Observation of ClNO₂ in a mid-continental urban environment

In the troposphere, nitryl chloride (ClNO?), produced from uptake of dinitrogen pentoxide (N?O?) on chloride containing aerosol, can be an important nocturnal reservoir of NO(x) (= NO + NO?) and a source of atomic Cl, particularly in polluted coastal environments. Here, we present measurements of ClNO? mixing ratios by chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada over a 3-day period. The observed ClNO? mixing ratios exhibited a strong diurnal profile, with nocturnal maxima in the range of 80 to 250 parts-per-trillion by volume (pptv) and minima below the detection limit of 5 pptv in the early afternoon. At night, ClNO? constituted up to 2% of odd nitrogen, or NO(y). The peak mixing ratios of ClNO? observed were considerably below the modeled integrated heterogeneous losses of N?O?, indicating that ClNO? production was a minor pathway compared to heterogeneous hydrolysis of N?O?. Back trajectory analysis using HYSPLIT showed that the study region was not influenced by fresh injections of marine aerosol, implying that aerosol chloride was derived from anthropogenic sources. Molecular chlorine (Cl?), derived from local anthropogenic sources, was observed at mixing ratios of up to 65 pptv and possibly contributed to formation of aerosol chloride and hence the formation of ClNO?.     

Phytochemical profile of a Japanese black–purple rice

Black–purple rice is becoming popular with health conscious food consumers. In the present study, the secondary metabolites in dehulled black–purple rice cv. Asamurasaki were analysed using HPLC–PDA–MS². The seeds contained a high concentration of seven anthocyanins (1400 μg/g fresh weight) with cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and peonidin-3-O-glucoside predominating. Five flavonol glycosides, principally quercetin-3-O-glucoside and quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, and flavones were detected at a total concentration of 189 μg/g. The seeds also contained 3.9 μg/g of carotenoids consisting of lutein, zeaxanthin, lycopene and β-carotene. γ-Oryzanol (279 μg/g) was also present as a mixture of 24-methylenecycloartenol ferulate, campesterol ferulate, cycloartenol ferulate and β-sitosterol ferulate. No procyanidins were detected in this variety of black–purple rice. The results demonstrate that the black–purple rice in the dehulled form in which it is consumed by humans contains a rich heterogeneous mixture of phytochemicals which may provide a basis for the potential health benefits, and highlights the possible use of the rice as functional food.     

Nanoemulsions of β-carotene using a high-energy emulsification-evaporation technique

Nanoemulsions of β-carotene were prepared using a high-energy emulsification-evaporation technique based on a 2³ level factorial design. Results show that it is possible to obtain dispersions at a nanoscale range. Process parameters such as time and shear rate of homogenization affected significantly particle size distribution in terms of volume-weighted mean diameter and surface-weighted mean diameter. The obtained nanoemulsions presented a volume-surface diameter ranging from 9 to 280 nm immediately after the production of particles, displaying in all cases a monomodal size distribution. Those nanoemulsions showed a good physical stability during 21 days storage. The stability was evaluated by the maintenance of size distribution. However, β-carotene retention inside the micelles and color were affected by storage. Processing conditions also influenced storage stability.