Sodium reduction in foods: Challenges and strategies for technical solutions

In many parts of the world, sodium consumption is higher than recommended levels, representing one of the most important food-related health challenges and leading to considerable economical costs for society. Therefore, there is a need to find technical solutions for sodium reduction that can be implemented by food producers and within food services. The aims of this review are to discuss the barriers related to sodium reduction and to highlight a variety of technical solutions. The barriers relate to consumer perception, microbiology, processing, and physicochemistry. Existing technical solutions include inhomogeneous salt distribution, coated salt particles, changing particle sizes and forms, surface coating, multisensory combinations, sodium replacements, double emulsions, adapted serum release by microstructure design, and adapted brittleness by microstructure design. These solutions, their implementation and the associated challenges, and applicable product categories are described. Some of these solutions are ready for use or are in their early development stages. Many solutions are promising, but in most cases, some form of adaptation or optimization is needed before application in specific products, and care must always be taken to ensure food safety. For instance, further research and innovation are required in the dynamic evolution of saltiness perception, consumer acceptance, the binding and migration of sodium, juiciness, microbiological safety, and the timing of salt addition during processing. Once implemented, these solutions will undoubtedly support food producers and food services in reducing sodium content and extend the application of the solutions to different foods.     

Effect of Ti sublayer on the ORR catalytic efficiency of dc magnetron sputtered thin Pt films

A series of thin Pt films were deposited by dc magnetron sputtering directly on a commercial hydrophobic carbon paper substrate having a thin microporous Vulcan-XC72 layer or upon a thin Ti sublayer sputtered on the top of the microporous carbon film. The electrocatalytic properties of the sputtered Pt films toward the oxygen reduction reaction were investigated in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ solution and in a hydrogen PEM fuel cell. The catalyst with ultralow Pt loading of 22 μg cm⁻² deposited on a 33 Å thick Ti sublayer is robust, mechanically stable, possesses highly developed surface area and improved catalytic efficiency. Its performance as a MEA cathode in a single hydrogen PEM fuel cell (577 mA cm⁻² at 0.4 V cell voltages and a maximum power of 0.954 W) proved to be much superior compared to that of MEA with the same cathode Pt loading but without Ti sublayer (173 mA cm⁻² at 0.4 V, 0.231 W, respectively).     

Context-specific energy strategies: coupling energy system visions with feasible implementation scenarios

Conventional energy strategy defines an energy system vision (the goal), energy scenarios with technical choices and an implementation mechanism (such as economic incentives). Due to the lead of a generic vision, when applied in a specific regional context, such a strategy can deviate from the optimal one with, for instance, the lowest environmental impacts. This paper proposes an approach for developing energy strategies by simultaneously, rather than sequentially, combining multiple energy system visions and technically feasible, cost-effective energy scenarios that meet environmental constraints at a given place. The approach is illustrated by developing a residential heat supply strategy for a Swiss region. In the analyzed case, urban municipalities should focus on reducing heat demand, and rural municipalities should focus on harvesting local energy sources, primarily wood. Solar thermal units are cost-competitive in all municipalities, and their deployment should be fostered by information campaigns. Heat pumps and building refurbishment are not competitive; thus, economic incentives are essential, especially for urban municipalities. In rural municipalities, wood is cost-competitive, and community-based initiatives are likely to be most successful. Thus, the paper shows that energy strategies should be spatially differentiated. The suggested approach can be transferred to other regions and spatial scales.     

Long-term evolution and trends of the hydrological and hydrochemical parameters in Bulgarian Black Sea waters during the period 1992-2000.

The dynamics of chemical parameters in the Bulgarian Black Sea during the 1990s reflects the complex relations in the ecosystem itself and the influence of the Danube water discharge, which is a major climatic and anthropogenic factor for the Western Black Sea. Analyses of hydrological (temperatures, salinity) and hydrochemical (dissolved oxygen, oxygen saturation, nitrite nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen) data collected during the period 1992-2000 in the 30-miles zone offshore along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast were carried out in the framework of the "DANUBS" project. In the period 1995-2000 gradually the winters were becoming warmer, the springs colder and the summers were short and hot. The long-term averages show spatially a minimum of salinity in front of the Cape Galata at 10 miles offshore, whereas in front of the Cape Emine the salinity increases gradually from the coast towards the 30-miles zone offshore. In the late 1990s very low summer values or even complete absence of inorganic nitrogen in the Bulgarian Black Sea were registered. Seasonally the oxygen varied in broad terms, however on average the surface waters were saturated or slightly oversaturated with oxygen. There was a regular decrease in oxygen concentrations with depth.     

Ursolic and Oleanolic Acids: Plant Metabolites with Neuroprotective Potential

Ursolic and oleanolic acids are secondary plant metabolites that are known to be involved in the plant defence system against water loss and pathogens. Nowadays these triterpenoids are also regarded as potential pharmaceutical compounds and there is mounting experimental data that either purified compounds or triterpenoid-enriched plant extracts exert various beneficial effects, including anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and anticancer, on model systems of both human or animal origin. Some of those effects have been linked to the ability of ursolic and oleanolic acids to modulate intracellular antioxidant systems and also inflammation and cell death-related pathways. Therefore, our aim was to review current studies on the distribution of ursolic and oleanolic acids in plants, bioavailability and pharmacokinetic properties of these triterpenoids and their derivatives, and to discuss their neuroprotective effects in vitro and in vivo.     

Interface Behavior of a Bimaterial Plate under Dynamic Loading

The paper deals with interface behavior of bimaterial ceramic-metal composites under dynamic time-harmonic load. The first plate is precracked with a normal crack touching the interface between the plates. It is assumed that the respective restriction for the ratio of energy release rates of the plates allowing the occurrence of an interface single delamination before the initiation of the normal crack in the second plate is satisfied. The growth of interface delamination is not considered. The used approximate shear-lag dynamic approach gives a possibility to obtain solutions in a closed form for axial and shear stresses of the structure. At an elastic-brittle interface behavior theoretical predictions for single debond length of two bimaterial structures are calculated. The parametric analysis reveals the sensitivity of the interface single debond length and shear stress to the type of bimaterial structure and to the characteristics of the dynamic load—in particular its frequency and amplitude. All results are illustrated in figures and tables and are discussed.     

3-D object segmentation using ant colonies

3-D object segmentation is an important and challenging topic in computer vision that could be tackled with artificial life models.A Channeler Ant Model (CAM), based on the natural ant capabilities of dealing with 3-D environments through self-organization and emergent behaviours, is proposed.Ant colonies, defined in terms of moving, pheromone laying, reproduction, death and deviating behaviours rules, is able to segment artificially generated objects of different shape, intensity, background.The model depends on few parameters and provides an elegant solution for the segmentation of 3-D structures in noisy environments with unknown range of image intensities: even when there is a partial overlap between the intensity and noise range, it provides a complete segmentation with negligible contamination (i.e., fraction of segmented voxels that do not belong to the object). The CAM is already in use for the automated detection of nodules in lung Computed Tomographies.     

Conversion of Oak to Cellular Silicon Carbide Ceramic by Gas-Phase Reaction with Silicon Monoxide

Oak has been converted to a porous biocarbon template by annealing in an inert atmosphere above 800°C. Subsequent infiltration with gaseous SiO at 1550–1600°C under flowing argon of atmospheric pressure finally resulted in the formation of a porous, cellular β-SiC ceramic. The conversion retains the biomorphic cellular morphology of oak tissue. While pores in the cell walls with a diameter less than ∼1 μm vanished, two distinct pore channel maxima representing tracheidal cells and large vessels remained in the SiC ceramic. Depending on the cellular morphology of different kinds of wood, e.g., strut thickness and pore size distribution, gas-phase conversion to single-phase β-SiC can be used to manufacture cellular ceramics with a wide range of pore channel diameters.     

Subliminal processing of smoking-related and affective stimuli in tobacco addiction.

Cognitive processing biases toward smoking-related and affective cues may play a role in tobacco dependence. Because processing biases may occur outside conscious awareness, the current study examined processing of smoking-related and affective stimuli presented at subliminal conditions. A pictorial subliminal repetition priming task was administered to three groups: (1) Nonsmokers (n = 56); (2) Smokers (≥10 cigarettes/day) who had been deprived from smoking for 12 h (n = 47); and (3) Nondeprived smokers (n = 66). Prime stimuli were presented briefly (17 ms) and were followed by a mask (to render them unavailable to conscious awareness) and then a target. Participants were required to make a speeded classification to the target. A posttask awareness check was administered to ensure that participants could not consciously perceive the briefly presented primes (i.e., smoking paraphernalia, neutral office supplies, and happy, angry, and neutral facial expressions). The groups differed in the degree to which they exhibited a processing bias for smoking-related stimuli, F(2, 166) = 4.99, p = .008. Deprived smokers exhibited a bias toward processing smoking (vs. neutral office supply) stimuli, F(1, 46) = 5.67, p = .02, whereas nondeprived smokers and nonsmokers did not (ps > .22). The three groups did not differ in the degree to which they exhibited a subliminal processing bias for affective stimuli. Tobacco deprivation appears to increase smokers' subliminal processing of smoking-related (vs. neutral) stimuli but does not influence subliminal processing of affective stimuli. Future research should investigate whether subliminal biases toward smoking-related stimuli influence relapse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)