Physico-Chemical Properties and the Degradation of Oat Bran Polysaccharides in the Gut of Pigs

Physico-chemical properties and the digestibility of carbohydrates (starch, β-glucan and arabinoxylan (AX)) were studied in the gastrointestinal contents of pigs fed diets based on oat bran. One diet was made of commercially prepared oat bran and another of oat bran milled to pass a 1 mm screen. The pigs were slaughtered and samples were collected quantitatively from 10 sites of the gastrointestinal tract either 1 or 3 h after the morning feeding. The viscosity of the liquid phase (obtained by centrifugation) of the stomach and small intestinal contents varied greatly between animals, and was not significantly different between segments of the upper gastrointestinal tract. The molecular weight of β-glucan was reduced up to 20-fold in the upper gastrointestinal tract but was of a relatively low digestibility until the terminal ileum. The solubility (the fraction of the total content in the liquid phase of digesta after centrifugation) of β-glucan varied from 0·25 to 0·58 in the stomach and small intestine, whereas the solubility of AX was in the range of 0·04–0·16. Microscopic examination of digesta showed that β-glucan was retained in intact endospermic cell wall structures, which remained evident until the distal small intestine but was completely disrupted in the caecum. In spite of a cumulative digestibility of non-starch polysaccharides and AX of ∽0·90 in the large intestine, identifiable fragments of aleurone cell walls resistant to complete microbial degradation remained. © 1997 SCI.     

Circulating dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DbetaH) and catecholamines in a paediatric phaeochromocytoma

Nasal airways resistance was measured in ten patients with allergic rhinitis during intranasal application of an extract of grass pollen. Pretreatment with placebo did not inhibit the increase in nasal airways resistance, whereas ICI 74,917 administered from a pressurized aerosol gave almost complete protection. ICI 74,917 was well tolerated and no evidence was obtained of local hyposensitization during the period of the study.     

Nonlinear optimization of steel production using traditional and novel blast furnace operation strategies

The high energy requirements in primary steelmaking make this industrial sector a major contributor to the global emissions of carbon dioxide. Ways to suppress the use of fossil reductants and the emissions from the processes should therefore be developed. The present work applies simulation and optimization for studying the economic feasibility of recycling blast furnace top gas to the combustion zones after CO₂ stripping. The study comprises the unit processes in an integrated steel plant, paying special attention to the blast furnace and the preheating of the blast or the recycled top gas. The system is optimized with nonlinear programming with respect to some central variables under different CO₂ sequestration and emission costs, which yields information about the economic feasibility of the concept. It is demonstrated that the optimal states of the plant show complex transitions, where the costs play a decisive role. It is also shown that hot gas recycling with CO₂ capture and storage would dramatically reduce the harmful emissions from the process. The conditions under which top gas recycling is economically feasible are also reported, as well as the effect of omitting oil injection in a blast furnace with top gas recycling.     

Modeling the effectiveness of oil combating from an ecological perspective--a Bayesian network for the Gulf of Finland; the Baltic Sea

Maritime traffic poses a major threat to marine ecosystems in the form of oil spills. The Gulf of Finland, the easternmost part of the Baltic Sea, has witnessed a rapid increase in oil transportation during the last 15 years. Should a spill occur, the negative ecological impacts may be reduced by oil combating, the effectiveness of which is, however, strongly dependent on prevailing environmental conditions and available technical resources. This poses increased uncertainty related to ecological consequences of future spills. We developed a probabilistic Bayesian network model that can be used to assess the effectiveness of different oil combating strategies in minimizing the negative effects of oil on six species living in the Gulf of Finland. The model can be used for creating different accident scenarios and assessing the performance of various oil combating actions under uncertainty, which enables its use as a supportive tool in decision-making. While the model is confined to the western Gulf of Finland, the methodology is adaptable to other marine areas facing similar risks and challenges related to oil spills.     

Liver paté enriched with dietary fibre extracted from potato fibre as fat substitutes

This experiment included studies of the functionality of three new enzymatically extracted fibres as ingredients in pig liver paté prepared using reduced amounts of pig fat with dry potato pulp and a commercial potato fibre (Potex) as references. The measured quality characteristics included colour, flavour, and texture profile analysis. Dry potato pulp, Potex and two of the new enzymically extracted fibre 1 and 2 with high contents of cellulose and lignin resulted in very hard patties with a high level of deformation energy, gumminess, and modulus that had a detrimental effect on paté texture and flavour. The enzymatically extracted fibre 3 with a low content of cellulose and lignin and a high content of soluble non-starch polysaccharides (SNSP) resulted in patties with a very delicious texture and flavour and values of the measured texture characteristics determined by texture profile analysis. The colour of the patties processed using the enzymatically extracted fibre 3 were darker, more red and less yellow compared to patties processed using Potex, dry potato pulp and new fibre 1 and 2. Baking loss that varied from 9.2 to 11.3 g/100 g was the lowest for patties processed using the new extracted fibre 3. The content of total dietary plant fibre in liver patties varied from 4.0 to 6.2 g/100 g paté.     

Electron spin resonance spectroscopy as probes for spices. Detection of treatment with ionizing radiation]

Detection of irradiated spices by electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements was not successful in the past because a central line of unknown origin was detected in the ESR-spectra of both irradiated and unirradiated samples. Identification of irradiated samples by measuring the increase of intensity of this signal after irradiation is limited because the signal intensity decreases over a period of some weeks of storage and reaches the range of unirradiated samples. By changing the measurement conditions (low microwave power) we could detect two additional lines on both sides of the main signal. This line pair appears only in the spectra of irradiated spices. A similar line pair was found in the spectra of irradiated nutshells and possibly derives from cellulose radicals in the sample. For some spices, especially paprika, the identification of irradiated samples by detecting these additional lines was possible even after relatively long periods of storage.     

Multi-component kinetics of activated sludge treatment of bleached kraft mill effluent.

This study investigated the discrepancies between the BOD removal rates measured during short term assays and those measured during continuous activated sludge treatment of bleached kraft mill effluent (BKME). A combination of batch tests and fed batch tests with oxygen uptake rate (OUR), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS) measurements were used to characterize the degradation rates for the activated sludge treatment of BKME and to divide the soluble readily biodegradable substrate into two to five separate fractions based on biodegradation rates. The removal rates varied by over an order of magnitude between the most readily degradable substrates (1 x 10(-3) mg COD/mg MLVSS minute), and the more slowly degradable substrates (2 x 10(-5) mg COD/mg MLVSS minute). If the readily biodegradable fraction of BKME was modeled as one substrate, initial rate kinetic measurements from batch tests were heavily influenced by the fractions with the greatest degradation rates, while any remaining BOD in the treated effluent was predominantly from the slowly degradable fraction, giving inconsistent results. Taking the multi-component nature of the wastewater into account, batch test results can be used to predict fed-batch and continuous activated sludge reactor performance.     

Phase structural analyses of polyethylene extrusion coatings on high‐density papers. I. Monoclinic crystallinity

In the present work the morphology of high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) extrusion coating layer on high‐density paper (HDP) has been investigated. An uneven layer with a high content of crystallinity against the paper surface was discovered. The methods applied were solid‐state ¹³C NMR Spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy. The highly crystalline layer was found to be mainly monoclinic crystallinity. The formation of the monoclinic crystallites was probably initiated by orientation of the polyethylene molecules by drawing, adhesion to the fibrous paper surface, and pressure. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 91: 218–225, 2004