The effect of kefir addition on microstructure parameters and physical properties of porous white bread

The effect of kefir concentration on the quality of porous white bread has been investigated. Quality evaluation was done using flatbed scanning (FBS) for measuring crumb porosity, instrumental texture profile analysis (TPA), crust and crumb color (L ^* a ^* b ^*), moisture, specific volume, and density determination techniques. The correlations between porosity, brightness, and firmness were also investigated. Long fermentation time of the sourdough changed significantly (p<0.05) the cell mean area (mm²), cell mean perimeter (mm), firmness (N), chewiness (N), light reflectance, and specific volume (ml/g). A strong correlation was found between microstructure of porous white bread, brightness (L), and firmness from TPA test. Kefir prolonged the shelf life of bread.     

Local Structure of Sodium Aluminum Metaphosphate Glasses

High-resolution solid-state ³¹P, ²⁷Al, and ²³Na nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Raman spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and density measurements were used to characterize the local structure of the glasses (1− x )(NaPO₃)₃· x Al(PO₃)₃. A systematic increase in density, glass transition temperature ( T _g), and frequencies of P–O stretching vibrations for terminal nonbridging oxygens (NBOs) was observed as the Al content was increased. A change of slope in the behavior of T _g as a function of x was clearly detected around x = 0.25 ± 0.03. Also, changes of behavior in the ²³Na NMR line shape and in the Raman band of the PO₂ symmetric vibration are detected for concentrations higher than x = 0.17. According to these facts, a reorganization of the network affecting the degree of connectivity between phosphate chains is proposed to explain the observed behaviors of T _g and P–NBO vibrations in these glasses.     

Development of a predictive model for choosing cure agents for elastomer blends

In elastomer blends with either polarity differences or unbalanced double bond concentration, cure agents have a preferential partition to one of the phases, with a tendency of having overcure in one phase and undercure in the other. To achieve proper vulcanization and improved performance in the final product, it is essential to have a correct balance between solubility and miscibility of each of the various cure agents in the elastomer blend composite. Cure agents with varying polarities and various reactivities have different crosslinking densities in the rubber compound. A homogeneous crosslinking density leads to superior mechanical properties. The method presented in this work includes a new tool based on a genetic optimization algorithm for assessing the partitioning of cure agents in different elastomers and their blends. The quantitative data allowed for a series of analyses of the solubility of the cure agents in the elastomer mixtures of different phases and was validated by correlation with their physico–chemical and mechanical properties of the resulting blend. This is an important tool for planning a cure system in rubber blends and to avoid incorrect partitioning of cure agents and consequent uneven curing of the final compound. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41929.     

Methods for the determination of organochlorine pesticide residues in human serum

The effectiveness of solid-phase extraction with Florisil for the determination of 12 organochlorine pesticide residues from human serum was examined. Recoveries greater than 84% and coefficients of variation better than 19% were obtained. Others methods, such as column partition and matrix solid-phase dispersion, were compared. The better method provides quantification limits ranging from 1.08 microg/l for gamma-HCH and 37.5 microg/l for p,p'-DDT when capillary gas-liquid chromatography with electron-capture detection is used for the final determination.     

Automatic sleep staging: A computer assisted approach for optimal combination of features and polysomnographic channels

To improve applicability of automatic sleep staging an efficient subject-independent method is proposed with application in sleep–wake detection and in multiclass sleep staging (awake, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep). In turn, NREM is further divided into three stages denoted here by N1, N2, and N3. To assess the method, polysomnographic (PSG) records of 40 patients from our ISRUC-Sleep dataset, which was scored by an expert clinician in the central hospital of Coimbra, are used. To find the best combination of PSG signals for automatic sleep staging, six electroencephalographic (EEG), two electrooculographic (EOG), and one electromyographic (EMG) channels are analyzed. An extensive set of feature extraction techniques are applied, covering temporal, frequency and time–frequency domains. The maximum overlap wavelet transform (MODWT), a shift invariant transform, was used to extract the features in time–frequency domain. The extracted feature set is transformed and normalized to reduce the effect of extreme values of features. The most discriminative features are selected through a two-step method composed by a manual selection step based on features’ histogram analysis followed by an automatic feature selector. The selected feature set is classified using support vector machines (SVMs). The system achieved the best performance by combining 6 channels (C3, C4, O1, left EOG (LOC), right EOG (ROC) and chin EMG (X1)) for sleep–wake detection, and 9 channels (C3, C4, O1, O2, F3, F4, LOC, ROC, X1) for multiclass sleep staging.     

First plasma operation of the enhanced JET vertical stabilisation system

A project dedicated to the enhancement of the JET vertical stabilization system was launched in 2006, including an upgrade of the Power Supply of the Radial Field Amplifier, of hardware and software of the vertical stabilization control system. The main aim was to double the JET capability in stabilising high current plasmas when subject to perturbations, in particular large Edge Localised Modes. We present here the results of first plasma operation with the new Enhanced Radial Field Amplifier and its data acquisition and control system, focussing on the benefits of an approach based on phased commissioning, modelling and offline algorithm validation.     

Processing of Nb–10W alloy via aluminothermic reduction–electron beam melting and evaluation of its cold plastic deformation behaviour

A Nb–10%W (wt-%) alloy ingot was produced via aluminothermic reduction of a Nb₂O₅+ WO₃ mixture followed by electron beam melting. The O and N contents of the ingot after triple EBM steps were 63?wt-ppm and 32?wt-ppm, respectively. This alloy presents potential for application as artificial pinning centre (APC) in Nb–Ti superconducting wires due to its high residual resistivity compared to pure Nb, which is a necessary characteristic to increase critical current density at high magnetic fields. The cold plastic deformation behaviour of this material was studied and compared to that of Nb–Ti and pure Nb. The hardening behaviour of the Nb–10W alloy was unusual as compared to others Nb alloys presumably due to unexpected inhomogeneity of the alloy even after cold plastic deformation and annealing at 1300°C for 4?h.     

Comparison of Variance-Reduction and Space-Filling Approaches for the Design of Environmental Monitoring Networks

Abstract:   This article focuses on the design of groundwater monitoring networks to detect contamination with nitrates from agricultural origin. This is a problem that has been in the minds of the general public, scientists, governmental agencies, and legislators for some time now. If one looks at European statistics, despite still incomplete data, in 13% of the regions the 50 mg/l European water quality standard for drinking water (Drinking Water Directive, 98/83/EC) is exceeded in more than 25% of the monitoring stations. A compliance groundwater nitrate-monitoring network is developed for a case study in the south of Portugal (Gabbro of Beja aquifer system), using both variance-reduction and space-filling approaches. In the first the variance of the error of estimation obtained by ordinary kriging is used, after building a covariance model, and the objective is to minimize the average kriging variance. In the second approach a criterion for the quality of spatial coverage is used, usually based on a metric. The objective here is also usually to minimize a function of the metric (criterion). The search for a solution is made in an iterative manner, by replacing one station, analyzing the result, and deciding whether to keep the solution or not. Due to the enormous number of possible combinations even for small networks, a structured search method, the simulated annealing method, is used to obtain the final network.     

外国公司如何构建客户忠诚度工程

客户的忠诚度也许是管理学中最重要、也最棘手的课题之一. 最近的一项埃森哲客户忠诚度研究表明,忠诚的客户将掏出更多的钱--81%的客户称会继续在他们所忠诚的企业购买商品或服务,约一半人称他们会在所忠诚的企业购买更多的商品,或对促销商品有所反应.