Characteristics of formed Atlantic salmon jerky

Abstract: Smoked salmon (Salmo salar L.) processing may generate large amounts of small pieces of trimmed flesh that has little economic value. Opportunities exist to develop new added‐value foods from this by‐product. Brining was compared with dry salting for the production of formed salmon jerky‐style strips that were then smoked. The formulations also contained brown sugar and potato starch. Salted samples had higher salt concentrations and required less force to break using a TA‐XT2 Texture Analyzer. Brined samples contained more fat and were darker, redder and more yellow than the salted samples. Processing concentrated omega‐3 fatty acids compared with raw salmon, and the brined jerky had the highest omega‐3 fatty acid content. A panel of 57 consumers liked the appearance and aroma of both samples equally (approximately 6.7 for appearance and 6.3 for aroma on the 9‐point hedonic scale. Higher acceptability scores for taste, texture, and overall quality were given to the brined product (6.7 to 6.9 against 6.2 to 6.3). Practical Application: Salmon trim from smoking facilities can be utilized to produce a jerky that is a good source of omega‐3 fatty acids, simultaneously adding value and reducing the waste stream.     

Application of proteomics to understand the molecular mechanisms behind meat quality

The proteome is expressed from the genome, influenced by environmental and processing conditions, and can be seen as the molecular link between the genome and the functional quality characteristics of the meat. In contrast to traditional biochemical methods where one protein is studied at a time, several hundred proteins can be studied simultaneously. Proteomics is a promising and powerful tool in meat science and this is reflected by the increasing number of studies emerging in the literature using proteomics as the key tool to unleash the molecular mechanisms behind different genetic backgrounds or processing techniques of meat. Thus understanding the variations and different components of the proteome with regard to a certain meat quality or process parameter will lead to knowledge that can be used in optimising the conversion of muscles to meat. At present, there has been focus on development of techniques and mapping of proteomes according to genotypes and muscle types. In the future, focus should be more towards understanding and finding markers for meat quality traits. This review will focus on the methods used in the published proteome analyses of meat, with emphasis on the challenges related to statistical analysis of proteome data, and on the different topics of meat science that are investigated.     

Thinking with Diagrams in Architectural Design

The paper discusses the use of freehand diagrams inarchitectural design. It examines the roles ofdiagrams in various contexts: pedagogical books,design studies, designers' introspective accounts andempirical studies of drawing in design. It offersseveral examples of thinking with diagrams in designand concludes with a discussion of the requirementsfor computational support for the diagrams in designthinking.     

Structural Determinants of the Sign of the Pyroelectric Effect in Quasi‐Amorphous SrTiO3 Films

The magnitude and direction of the permanent electric polarization in the non‐crystalline, polar phase (termed quasi‐amorphous) of SrTiO₃ in Si\SiO₂\Me\SrTiO₃\Me, (Me = Cr or W), Si\SrRuO₃\SrTiO₃, and Si\SrTiO₃ layered structures were investigated. Three potential sources of the polarization which appears after the material is pulled through a temperature gradient were considered: a) contact potential difference; b) a flexoelectric effect due to a strain gradient caused by substrate curvature; and c) a flexoelectric effect due to the thermally induced strain gradient that develops while pulling through the steep temperature gradient. Measurements show that options a) and b) can be eliminated from consideration. In most cases studied in this (Si\SrTiO₃, Si\SiO₂\Me\SrTiO₃\Me, M = Cr or W) and previous works (Si\BaTiO₃, Si\BaZrO₃), the top surface of the quasi‐amorphous phase acquires a negative charge upon heating. However, in Si\SrRuO₃\SrTiO₃ structures the top surface acquires a positive charge upon heating. On the basis of the difference in the measured expansion of the upper and lower surfaces of the SrTiO₃ layer in the presence and absence of SrRuO₃, we contend that the magnitude and direction of the pyroelectric effect are determined by the out‐of‐plane gradient of the in‐plane strain in the SrTiO₃ layer while pulling through the temperature gradient.     

Verification of Similar FSMs by Mixing Incremental Re-encoding, Reachability Analysis, and Combinational Checks

State space exploration is often used to prove properties about sequential behavior of Finite State Machines (FSMs). For example, equivalence of two machines is proved by analyzing the reachable state set of their product machine. Nevertheless, reachability analysis is infeasible on large practical examples. Combinational verification is far less expensive, but on the other hand its application is limited to combinational circuits, or particular design schemes. Finally, approximate techniques imply sufficient, not strictly necessary conditions.The purpose of this paper is to extend the applicability of purely combinational checks. This is generally achieved through state minimization, partitioning, and re-encoding the FSMs to factor out their differences. We focus on re-encoding. In particular, we present an incremental approach to re-encoding for verification that transforms the product machine traversal into a combinational verification in the best case, and into a computationally simpler product machine traversal in the general case.Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique on medium-large circuits where other techniques may fail.     

Orientated crystallization in drawn thermoplastic polyimide modified by carbon nanofibers

The solid state crystallization in drawn thermoplastic polyimide films is studied as a function of draw ratio (DR) under the effect of vapor grown carbon fiber nanoinclusions. The nucleating effect of the nanoinclusions coupled with the orientation effect of drawing generates a unique orientated layered lamellar structure, characteristic of smectic‐like mesophase. The degree of draw induced orientated crystallization increases with the content of nanoinclusions and with the DR, and is reflected in the mechanical behavior of the film. Generally, the Young's modulus and the yield point of the drawn crystalline films in the drawing direction are significantly higher compared with the noncrystalline counterparts. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Ambient oxygen ingress rate method—an alternative method to Ox‐Tran for measuring oxygen transmission rate of whole packages

The ambient oxygen ingress rate method (AOIR) is an alternative method to Ox‐Tran for measuring the oxygen transmission rates (OTR) of whole packages. The objective of the present work was (a) to compare OTR values obtained by the two methods, and (b) to evaluate the use of the AOIR method for measuring OTR at realistic food storage temperatures and humidity levels. The AOIR method gave equal OTR values compared to the Ox‐Tran method for the five different types of whole packages used in the experiment, with OTR values in the range 0.06–1.48 ml O₂/day. The repeatability of the AOIR method measured on an HDPE bottle was ±2.6% of the measured value in this experiment. This is slightly higher than the general specifications of the Ox‐Tran method (1% of reading for packages). However, the AOIR method can be considered to be a reliable, precise and cheap alternative method to the Ox‐Tran method for measuring OTR of whole packages. The capacity of the method is also high. The AOIR method showed satisfactory results when comparing OTR for packages tested under realistic food storage conditions covering 23°C/50% relative humidity (RH) and at 4°C/60% RH on the outside, combined with water (100% RH) or dry air inside the packages. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotional distress regulation takes precedence over impulse control: If you feel bad, do it!

Why do people's impulse controls break down during emotional distress? Some theories propose that distress impairs one's motivation or one's ability to exert self-control, and some postulate self-destructive intentions arising from the moods. Contrary to those theories, three experiments found that believing that one's bad mood was frozen (unchangeable) eliminated the tendency to eat fattening snacks (Experiment 1), seek immediate gratification (Experiment 2), and engage in frivolous procrastination (Experiment 3). The implication is that when people are upset, they indulge immediate impulses to make themselves feel better, which amounts to giving short-term affect regulation priority over other self-regulatory goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Calcite Prisms from Mollusk Shells (Atrina Rigida): Swiss‐cheese‐like Organic–Inorganic Single‐crystal Composites

Biogenic single‐crystal composites, such as sea urchin spines and calcitic prisms from mollusk shells, contain organic macromolecules inside of inorganic single‐crystal matrices. The nanoscale internal structure of these materials, however, is poorly understood, especially how the biomacromolecules are distributed within the crystals without significantly disrupting the crystalline lattice. Here, annular dark‐field scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron tomography reveal, in three dimensions, how biomacromolecules are distributed within the calcitic prisms from Atrina rigida shells. Disk‐like nanopatches, whose scattering intensity is consistent with organic inclusions, are observed to be anisotropically arranged within a continuous, single‐crystalline calcite matrix. These nanopatches are preferentially aligned with the (000l) planes of calcite. Along the crystallographic c‐axis, there are alternating organic‐rich and ‐poor regions on a length scale of tens of nanometers, while, in the ab plane, the distribution of nanopatches is more random and uniform. The structural features elucidated in this work have relevance to understanding the structure–property relationships and formation mechanisms of biominerals, as well as to the development of bio‐inspired strategies to extrinsically tune the properties of single‐crystals.