Enhancement of pasta antioxidant activity with oregano and carrot leaf

Five different pasta formulations were prepared using different concentrations of carrot leaf meal (CLM) and oregano leaf meal (OLM). One control formulation (wheat flour and semolina, 70:30 w/w) and four other formulations were prepared using the following amounts of leaf meals: 5% CLM and 5% OLM (I), 10% CLM (II), 10% OLM (III), and 10% CLM, 10% OLM (IV). The highest content of alpha-linolenic acid was found in formulations II and IV, which also had a reduced n-6/n-3 ratio, 3.6 (IV), when compared to the control, which was 19.8. All the samples enhanced with leaf meals showed antioxidant activity by the DPPH radical method; however, it was higher in formulation IV, which was the same observed for phenolic compounds. Pasta added with leaf meals lost more solubles, had shorter cooking time and a lower weight increase than the control pasta. All formulations had significant sensory acceptance.     

Prevalence and contamination levels of Listeria monocytogenes in smoked fish and paté sold in Spain.

From March to November 2000, 170 samples of smoked fish and 182 samples of paté for sale in retail outlets and supermarkets in the nine provinces of Castilla and León (Spain) were analyzed for the prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes and other Listeria spp. L. monocytogenes was isolated from 38 (22.3%) of the 170 samples of smoked fish analyzed. Twenty of these positive samples contained L. monocytogenes at >100 CFU/g. Other Listeria spp., such as Listeria innocua (26 isolates), Listeria grayi (9), Listeria welshimeri (3), Listeria seeligeri (3), and Listeria ivanovii (2), were also detected. L. monocytogenes was isolated from 5.4% of the 182 samples of paté. Only 1 of the 10 positive samples harbored >100 L. monocytogenes CFU/g. Two other species of Listeria were observed in paté: L. innocua (12 isolates) and L. grayi (2).     

Voces abriendo caminos (voices foraging paths): A qualitative study of the career development of notable Latinas.

This study used qualitative methodology to investigate the career development of 20 notable Latinas. The emergent theory proposed that Latina career development is influenced by sociopolitical, cultural, contextual, and personal variables. Results suggested that (a) career paths tended to be unplanned and nonlinear; (b) background variables, socioeconornic status, and educational experiences influenced the participants' sense of self and career motivation; (c) family, culture, and cultural identity werr influential; (d) relational support systems, particularly those that involved extended family, spouses, and mentors, were important; and (e) the participants' optimism, persistence, passion, and capacity for cognitive reframing helped them cope with challenges and remain true to their values, beliefs, and sense of self. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of dispersant size on rheology of non-aqueous ceramic particle suspensions

The surface of alumina, which is hydrophilic in general, was made hydrophobic either by adsorption of polymer (phys-adsorption) or by an alkylation reaction with alcohol (chem-adsorption) to enable dispersion in dodecane. Hypermer A70 (8.2 nm) was used as the polymer and 1-octanol (1.2 nm), 1-decanol (1.5 nm) and 1-hexadecanol (2.5 nm) were used as the alcohol (values in brackets are the approximate thickness of the steric barrier). Rheological measurements of ceramic suspensions indicate that it is possible to achieve a high solid loading (50 vol.%) with relatively low viscosity (0.25 Pa s at 100 s^?1, the typical shear rate for pumping of liquids in pipes) as long as the stabilising molecule is large enough. The observed rheological behaviour fitted the Quemada viscosity model quite well when excluded volume effects were taken into account. Addition of 2.8 wt.% of Hypermer A70 with respect to weight of alumina was enough to stabilise the particles.     

The effect of chlorine and oxygen concentrations on the removal of mercury at an FGD-batch reactor

A series of laboratory scale experiments were conducted in an FGD-batch reactor. A synthetic flue gas was produced and directed through a CaCO₃ suspension contained in a glass reactor vessel. The suspension temperature was set at 54 °C through a water bath. In order to observe the distribution of mercury species in the system, solid, liquid and gaseous samples were taken and analysed. For gaseous mercury determination, continuous measurements were carried out, up and downstream the reactor. Furthermore, the concentration of chlorine in the scrubber solution of the system was varied from 0 to 62 g/l under different oxidative conditions.In a first approach, a concentration drop of elemental mercury coming out of the system was observed. The latter occurs only when high concentrations of Cl⁻ are present, combined with a high O₂ availability in the scrubber. It was also observed that mercury species distribution in the different phases varies, depending on the available chemical form of chlorine and oxygen concentration.     

Compact multiplexing of monodisperse electrosprays

Widespread application of the cone-jet electrospray has been hampered by the low flow rate at which the spray is dispersed, despite the unique ability of this device to disperse quasi-monodispersed particles over a phenomenal size range. Compact multiplexing, that is, with a high number of sources per unit area, is indispensable for dramatically increasing the throughput and reducing the cost per electrospray source. We demonstrate the successful operation of multiplexed electrospray systems with an unprecedented packing density of up to 11,547 sources/cm². The devices were fabricated and operated by implementing three criteria: (a) the extractor electrode configuration should be used to localize the electric field; (b) the viscous pressure drop acting on the liquid should dominate with respect to the electrostatic pulling force by the electric field; and (c) the electric field “driving” the droplets between the extractor electrode and the collector should be sufficiently intense to avoid reversal of the droplet motion near the extractor (satellite trapping). All devices showed excellent droplet size uniformity across the entire spray region, which indicates effective decoupling of the electrospray sources even for closely packed nozzles. The experimental results show that these design criteria provide effective and reliable guidelines for the successful design and operation of multiplexed devices from first principles, that is, based only on knowledge of the suitability of a liquid for electrospray dispersion and of the critical liquid properties such as surface tension, viscosity and electric conductivity. As a result, the design of these devices for a given application is achievable without costly trial-and-error microfabrication trials. This development opens the door for applications requiring flows from multiplexing 10⁶–10⁷ individual electrospray sources from industry-standard 12-in silicon wafers.     

Simultaneous determination of flavor enhancers in stock cube samples by using spectrophotometric data and multivariate calibration

Spectrophotometric data followed by a suitable treatment of chemometric analysis were used for the simultaneous determination of monosodium glutamate (MSG), guanosine 5′-monophosphate (GMP) and inosine 5′-monophosphate (IMP) in stock cube samples, without any previous extraction step. By this way, the overlapping of the absorption spectra was resolved using a PLS-1 model. The concentration for experimental calibration matrix were varied between 5.03–34.2 μg mL⁻¹ for IMP and GMP, and 448–1399 μg mL⁻¹ for MSG. The relative errors of prediction (REPCV %) were 1.8, 2.8 and 3.1 for IMP, GMP and MSG, respectively.     

Hybrid integral transforms analysis of the bioheat equation with variable properties

Pennes’ equation is the most frequently employed model to describe heat transfer processes within living tissues, with numerous applications in clinical diagnostics and thermal treatments. A number of analytical solutions were provided in the literature that represent the temperature distribution across tissue structures, but considering simplifying assumptions such as uniform and linear thermophysical properties and blood perfusion rates. The present work thus advances such analysis path by considering a heterogeneous medium formulation that allows for spatially variable parameters across the tissue thickness. Besides, the eventual variation of blood perfusion rates with temperature is also accounted for in the proposed model. The Generalized Integral Transform Technique (GITT) is employed to yield a hybrid numerical–analytical solution of the bioheat model in heterogeneous media, which reduces to the exact solution obtained via the Classical Integral Transform Method for a linear formulation with uniform coefficients. The open source UNIT code (“UNified Integral Transforms”) is utilized to obtain numerical results for a set of typical values of the governing parameters, in order to illustrate the convergence behavior of the proposed eigenfunction expansions and inspect the importance of accounting for spatially variable properties in predicting the thermal response of living tissues to external stimulus.