Modifying Bitterness in Functional Food Systems

The functional foods sector represents a significant and growing portion of the food industry, yet formulation of these products often involves the use of ingredients that elicit less than desirable oral sensations, including bitterness. Promising new functional ingredients, including polyphenolics, may be more widely and readily employed in the creation of novel functional foods if their aversive bitter taste can be significantly reduced. A number of approaches are used by the industry to improve the taste properties and thus the acceptance of conventional foods that elicit excessive bitterness. This article reviews the most commonly employed techniques, including the use of bitter-modifying additives, which may prove useful for successfully introducing new functional ingredients into this rapidly growing sector.     

Predicting post-treatment-initiation alcohol use among patients with severe mental illness and alcohol use disorders.

Few investigators studying alcohol abuse among individuals with a severe mental illness (SMI) have examined predictors of posttreatment alcohol outcomes. In the present study, a multivariate approach based on a theoretical model was used to study the relationship between psychosocial factors and post-treatment-initiation alcohol use. Predictors of alcohol use outcomes were examined in 278 individuals diagnosed with a current schizophrenia-spectrum or bipolar disorder and an alcohol use disorder (AUD). At 6-months follow-up, 144 of 228 available participants (63%) had good clinical outcomes. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that type of pretreatment residential setting was directly related to treatment, with participants who lived in supervised settings (41%) reporting significantly more days of treatment (β = .34, p     

Energy research and technology development data collection strategies: The case of Greece

The European Union (EU) from the beginning of 2007 has focused its emphasis on the development of a new policy that puts energy back at the heart of EU action. Indeed, it has very often been stated that the difficulty and complexity of achieving green energy targets in the EU will require strengthened measures to promote implementation of new energy technologies (NET), as well as measures to support the related energy Research and Technology Development (R&TD). Often forgotten is the fact, that most of all, a European-wide co-ordinated forum is needed to continuously develop and sophisticate the monitoring and methodology results, bringing together specialised statisticians, energy researchers and experts on energy socio-economics. Today a nebulous picture prevails on the existence of categorized data with regards to energy Research and Technology Development (R&TD) expenditure. In this context, aim of this paper is the presentation of energy R&TD data collection strategies, as well as the related findings for the Greek energy market.     

Dissemination of the Coping Power program: Importance of intensity of counselor training.

This study examined an important but rarely investigated aspect of the dissemination process: the intensity of training provided to practitioners. Counselors in 57 schools were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: Coping Power–training plus feedback (CP-TF), Coping Power–basic training (CP-BT), or a comparison condition. CP-TF counselors produced reductions in children’s externalizing behavior problems and improvements in children’s social and academic skills in comparison to results for target children in both the comparison and the CP-BT conditions. Training intensity was critical for successful dissemination, although the implementation mechanism underlying this effect remains unclear, as condition effects were not significant for completion of session objectives but were significant for the quality of counselors’ engagement with children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation between microstructure and glass transition temperature of poly[(methyl methacrylate)‐co‐(ethyl acrylate)]

The glass transition temperature of a series of samples of the poly[(methyl methacrylate)‐co‐(ethyl acrylate)] copolymer, synthesized at low conversion, were calculated theoretically using the equations of Barton and Johnston. The values obtained are more precise when the probabilities of the compositional diads are derived from the ¹³C NMR data instead of the classical method utilizing reactivity ratios. This can be observed more clearly when the copolymer samples are synthesized at high conversion. Introduction of configuration (tacticity) at the diad level confirms the above observations and slightly improves the calculated values of T_g compared to the initial formulae which were only taking into account the compositional sequences of the copolymer. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry     

Isotopic composition of soil,vegetation or cattle hair no suitable indicator of nitrogen balances in permanent pasture

Stable isotope signatures of cattle tail switch hair or meadow vegetation have been found to be related to nitrogen (N) surpluses of whole farms and of meadows, respectively. Permanent pastures are more patchy in terms of nutrient inputs and outputs and N balances for the whole plot do not necessarily give correct impressions of losses. We here investigated correlations between isotopic signatures and N balances calculated for different spatial and temporal scales in permanent pastures. N concentrations and δ¹⁵N values of cattle tail switch hair, vegetation and soil samples were measured in an experiment with different grazing intensities started in 2002. Results were compared to soil surface balances calculated for the whole plot or for plot areas affected by either dung, urine, grazing without excreta input, or the pasture area without dung pats. There were no significant correlations between plant or cattle hair isotopic signatures and any of the balances. N fixation probably influenced vegetation signatures, making the isotopic values less dependent on soil and more on atmospheric N. The cattle preferred short mixed vegetation with more legume biomass, which also influenced the ¹⁵N values of their hair. The ¹⁵N signatures of soil samples were the best indicators of partial N balances in these heterogeneous pastures, probably because soil values are most directly influenced by N inputs and outputs. Still, soil signatures only explained between 15 and 35% of the variation in balance results. Thus, none of the tested parameters can be used as a reliable indicator of N balance results in this heterogeneous system with small differences in budgets among treatments and potentially small plot-scale N losses.     

Energy cultures: A framework for understanding energy behaviours

Achieving a ‘step-change’ in energy efficiency behaviours will require enhanced knowledge of behavioural drivers, and translation of this knowledge into successful intervention programmes. The ‘Energy Cultures’ conceptual framework aims to assist in understanding the factors that influence energy consumption behaviour, and to help identify opportunities for behaviour change. Building on a history of attempts to offer multi-disciplinary integrating models of energy behaviour, we take a culture-based approach to behaviour, while drawing also from lifestyles and systems thinking. The framework provides a structure for addressing the problem of multiple interpretations of ‘behaviour’ by suggesting that it is influenced by the interactions between cognitive norms, energy practices and material culture.     

Burn threshold prediction for High Efficiency Deep Grinding

Burn threshold diagrams are useful for the prediction of thermally induced grinding damage and were originally developed to describe the conventional shallow cut grinding regime. With the development of new high stock removal grinding processes such as High Efficiency Deep Grinding (HEDG), the prevention of thermal damage to the workpiece is of particular concern. The principle of HEDG is based around the change in thermal characteristics of the grinding process at high Peclet numbers, whereby less heat is partitioned to the workpiece. Conventional burn threshold diagrams are valid for Peclet numbers below 50, well below the values expected in HEDG. This study presents a modified approach to the construction of burn threshold diagrams which takes account of the change in thermal partitioning with Peclet number. The approach has been validated through grinding trials over a range of specific material removal rates.