OCCURRENCE OF RUPTURES ON THE SURFACE OF FOODS DURING FRYING

An attempt was made to clarify the mechanism of ruptures on the surface of foods occurring during frying. Two different products were fried in a corn oil bath at a temperature of 160C or 180C. One of the products was ellipsoidal croquettes coated by the crust with different thicknesses ranging from 1 mm to 4 mm, while the other was ring doughnuts consisting of the three different compositions of a fixed size. The type of ruptures on the crust of croquette samples could roughly be divided into two categories according to the results obtained by the precise observations during the process of frying, i.e., a small hole and a crack. The small hole, like a pinhole, occurred in the crust of the croquette with 1 mm thickness early in the procedure, while the cracks could be observed with the crusts of croquettes more than 2 mm thicknesses after 120 s or more of frying time. The cracks also occurred on the curved surface of all the doughnut samples tested, although the location of cracks on the three surfaces, i.e., upper, outer and inner, was much influenced by the composition of the samples. A variety of measurements were made to obtain information on the changes in mechanical properties of the core region and crusted surfaces of the samples in the frying process so as to confirm generalized simple considerations assumed for the occurrence of ruptures.     

超薄钛酸铅纳米管铁电性和力电耦合特性的第一性原理研究

利用基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理的方法研究了超薄钛酸铅(PbTiO₃)纳米管的铁电性及力电耦合特性。研究发现对于钛酸铅铁电纳米管结构, 即使在其特征尺寸小于铁电薄膜的铁电临界尺寸时, 依然存在自发极化。钛酸铅铁电纳米管结构不存在铁电临界尺寸。对纳米管力电耦合效应的研究发现, 轴向应变作用会引起包括极化沿轴向方向的铁电相、顺电相和极化沿周向方向的铁电相在内的丰富的相转变。这种相的转变是由于轴向应力所导致的Pb-O共价键的变化所引起的。另一方面, 研究了钛酸铅纳米管结构的机械强度, 明确了在轴向拉伸和压缩作用下纳米管的临界载荷。     

Functional Improvement of Alginic Acid by Conjugating with β-Lactoglobulin

Two bovine β-lactoglobulin-alginic acid (β-LG-ALG) conjugates were prepared to improve the function of ALG by using water-soluble carbodiimide and the Maillard reaction. Fluorescence studies suggested that the conformation around Trp had been changed in each conjugate and that the surface of each conjugate was covered with polysaccharide chain. Structural analyses with monoclonal antibodies indicated that the conformation around 15Val-29IIe (β -sheet) in each conjugate had changed, while the native structure was maintained around 125Thr-135Lys (α-helix). After conjugating with β -LG, ALG showed retinol-binding and high emulsifying ability. The aggregating property of ALG in acid and in the presence of Ca²⁺ was improved in each conjugate.     

GMDH utilizing BDS with insufficient modelling data

It has been pointed out that the group method of data handling algorithm has a disadvantage that predicts an abnormal result in the event of shortage of modelling data. This paper presents a method of modelling that avoids the emergence of abnormal predicted values. For estimation of partial polynomial parameters, a bad data suppression estimator is employed. It is based on a non-quadratic cost function that reduces to the weighted least squares estimator in the absence of bad data. Real data are used to illustrate that this method prevents abnormal results.     

Synthesis and Thermal Stability of Aluminum Titanate Solid Solutions

Aluminum titanate solid solutions with empirical formulas of Al₂Ti_1-xZr_xO₅, Al_6(2-x)(6+x)Si_6x/(6+x)□_6x/(6+x)TiO₅, and Al_2(1-x)Mg_xTi_1+xO₅ were synthesized by reaction sintering and annealed at 900° to 1300°C in air to evaluate the thermal stability. Substitution of Al in Al₂TiO₅ by Si and 2Al by Mg and Ti ions to form solid solutions such as AI_{6(2-x)/(6+x)l-Si}6x/(6+x)□_6x/(6+x)TiO₅, and Al_2(1-x)Mg_xTi_1+xO₅ was effective in controlling the thermal decomposition, but substitution of Ti by Zr had little effect.     

Fabrication of Si3N4 Ceramics with Metal Nitride Additives by Isostatic Hot-Pressing

High-density Si₃N₄ ceramics with nitride additives such as TiN, AlN, ZrN, VN, NbN, YN, TUN, Mg₃N₂, and HfN were fabricated by isostatic hot-pressing. The temperature dependence of Vickers microhardness, fracture toughness, and thermal conductivity were measured; these properties, as well as microstructure, were strongly influenced by the additive used.     

Activities of Enzymes of Sugar Metabolism in Gamma-Irradiated Potato Tubers

The sucrose content of potato tubers was increased by gamma-irradiation. The activities of enzymes responsible for sugar metabolism in irradiated potato tubers were measured during storage after irradiation. The activities of phosphorylase, sucrose synthase and sucrose phosphate synthase were significantly enhanced by irradiation and remained at a high level while sucrose was accumulated in irradiated tubers. The activities of phosphoglucomutase and phosphoglucose isomerase were little influenced by irradiation. The activity of UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase was enhanced slightly by irradiation and decreased to a level lower than unirradiated tubers depending upon irradiation dose.     

EFFECT OF PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF FOOD PARTICLES ON THE DEGREE OF GRAININESS PERCEIVED IN THE MOUTH

Nineteen food materials were pulverized and passed through standard sieves to prepare samples with different particle sizes (23–500 μm). Each sample was tested for physical properties, and sensory evaluation tests were conducted to obtain the graininess threshold value and the degree of graininess discrimination. The graininess threshold value tended to decrease and the degree of graininess discrimination tended to increase with increasing degree of circularity, with decreasing solubility, with decreasing water absorption rate- particle size coefficient, and with increasing WK₂/K₁. The degree of graininess discrimination tended to increase with increasing particle size and increasing WK₂. With a multiple-regression analysis, the graininess threshold value was expressed by six physical properties, and the degree of graininess discrimination was expressed by eight physical properties, each with high contribution rates.     

Structure of Inclusion Complexes of Cyclodextrins with Triglyceride at Vegetable Oil/Water Interface

The interfacial tension of vegetable oil (soybean oil or coconut oil)/ water interface decreased with the increase of cyclodextrin (CD) concentration. The interfacial excess and interfacial area were calculated from the Gibbs’ adsorption equation. The average number of CD molecules including a fatty acid residue of soybean oil at the interface was estimated at 2.4 for each of α-CD and β-CD. The average number of CD molecules complexed with a fatty acid residue of coconut oil was 1.8 for α-CD and 1.7 for β-CD. These results suggested that the CD molecules formed the inclusion complex with the triglyceride according to the chain length of fatty acid residue at the interface.     

Influence of grain size on the low-cycle fatigue lives of austenitic stainless steels at high temperatures

The influence of grain size on the fatigue lives was investigated for eight kinds of austenitic stainless steels with the grain size numbers from 9 to 1. Fatigue tests were carried out at 600 and 700 °C under triangular wave shapes at strain rates of 6.7 × 10^-3/s and 6.7 × 10^-5/s, respectively, and under truncated wave shape with 30 m;n hold-time at tension side. When a strain rate was 6.7 × 10^-3/s at both 600 and 700 °C, the fracture modes were always transgranular, and the fatigue lives scarcely depended on the type of steels or the grain size. When a strain rate was 6.7 × 10^-5/s at 600 °C, the fracture modes changed from a dominantly transgranular mode to a completely intergranular one and the fatigue lives decreased with decreasing the grain size number. When a strain rate was 6.7 X 10^-5/sVs at 700 °C, grain size dependence of the fatigue lives was divided into two groups of the steels depending on the type of steel. The fracture modes of some types of the steel were completely intergranular, and others mixed. In hold-time tests, the grain size dependence of the fatigue lives was similar to that in the tests of triangular wave shape at a strain rate of 6.7 × 10^-5/s.