The role of homogenization in the manufacture of halloumi and mozzarella cheese from recombined milk*

When halloumi and mozzarella cheese are made from normal recombined milk, neither product exhibits the characteristic stretch and melt behaviour of the fresh milk cheeses. The present study demonstrates that this problem may be overcome either by using low homogenization pressures to prepare the recombined milk or by coating the fat in the recombined milk emulsion with phospholipid and homogenizing at the usual pressure. The influence of homogenization of milk on the properties of the cheese is discussed in terms of a polymer network model.     

MICROFILTRATION of CHICKEN PROCESS WATERS FOR REUSE: PLANT STUDIES and PROJECTED OPERATING COSTS1

Commercial scale ceramic microfilters were used in plant tests to determine flux rate and operating parameters for waters from a poultry scalder, a poultry chiller, and brine from a delicatessen products chiller, under commercial conditions. Filtration produced clear permeate from all waters. Microorganism counts were essentially reduced to zero in scalder and chiller water permeates, with BOD reduced by about 70% in scalder water permeate and about 60% in chiller water permeate. Flux rates were in the range of 224-204 L/m²h for scalder water at 54°C and 114-81 L/m²h for chiller water at ambient temperature. Test results were used to project nonlabor operating savings and/or costs resulting from the use of microfiltration to recondition and reuse bath overflow. For a processing rate of 140 birds/min and bath size of 37,850 L (10,000 gal), an annual savings of $21,000-$26,000 were estimated for scalder water filtration, while annual costs of $65,000-$84,000 were estimated for chiller water filtration. For a deli brine bath size of 1,170 L (300 gal), annual costs of about $700 were estimated. Retentate heating and electrical usage associated with centrifugal filter pumps were projected as predominant cost factors. Besides costs, other factors such as nonchemical control of microbial growth, water savings, and reduced discharge levels may also be important reasons for considering microfiltration.     

CELL WALL CHARACTERISTICS AND FIRMNESS OF FRESH PACK CUCUMBER PICKLES AFFECTED BY PASTEURIZATION AND CALCIUM CHLORIDE1

Changes in cell wall pectic substances, degree of pectin methylation, bound Ca⁺⁺, neutral sugar composition, and firmness were determined in mesocarp tissue of pasteurized and nonpasteurized fresh pack cucumber pickles. Large changes in solubility characteristics of pectic substances occurred in cell walls of nonpasteurized pickles that were attenuated by pasteurization. In particular, water and alkali soluble pectins declined, and nonextractable pectins increased during the first month of storage. The major changes in pectic substance solubility appeared to be related to reductions in the degree of pectin methylation with a minor influence of CaCl₂. Galactose in cell walls of nonpasteurized pickles was substantially reduced, and the reduction in galactose was hindered by CaCl₂ or pasteurization. The amount of bound Ca⁺⁺ appeared to be associated with tissue firmness after one month in storage, since firmer tissue had more cell wall bound Ca⁺⁺. While firmness was associated with the amount of bound Ca⁺⁺, the amount of bound Ca⁺⁺ was dependent on the supply of Ca⁺⁺ and the degree of pectin methylation.     

EFFECTS OF SALT AND SUCROSE ADDITION ON THERMAL DENATURATION AND AGGREGATION OF WATER-LEACHED FISH MUSCLE1

Heat-induced denaturation of water-leached fish muscle proteins, as affected by addition of sucrose and/or salt, were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Net enthalpic changes for these muscle proteins were always endothermic in nature, and of a greater magnitude at faster heating rates. This was interpreted to infer that aggregation at lower heating rates led to formation of a gel structure in which potential bondings were more completely accomplished; that is, a more energetically favorable structure was attained with slow heating. The stabilization of proteins by sucrose, and destablization of proteins by salt, were revealed by shifts in transition peaks and activation energies, the latter determined by two methods of kinetic analysis.     

Model-updated image guidance: initial clinical experiences with gravity-induced brain deformation

Image-guided neurosurgery relies on accurate registration of the patient, the preoperative image series, and the surgical instruments in the same coordinate space. Recent clinical reports have documented the magnitude of gravity-induced brain deformation in the operating room and suggest these levels of tissue motion may compromise the integrity of such systems. We are investigating a model-based strategy which exploits the wealth of readily-available preoperative information in conjunction with intraoperatively acquired data to construct and drive a three dimensional (3-D) computational model which estimates volumetric displacements in order to update the neuronavigational image set. Using model calculations, the preoperative image database can be deformed to generate a more accurate representation of the surgical focus during an operation. In this paper, we present a preliminary study of four patients that experienced substantial brain deformation from gravity and correlate cortical shift measurements with model predictions. Additionally, we illustrate our image deforming algorithm and demonstrate that preoperative image resolution is maintained. Results over the four cases show that the brain shifted, on average, 5.7 mm in the direction of gravity and that model predictions could reduce this misregistration error to an average of 1.2 mm.     

New high-rate wireless LAN standards

After the IEEE 802.11 standardization group established the first wireless LAN, several efforts were started to increase data rates and also to use other bands. This article describes the new wireless LAN standards developed by IEEE 802.11, ETSI BRAN, and MMAC. The new standards are targeting data rates up to 11 Mb/s in the 2.4 GHz band and up to 54 Mb/s in the 5 GHz band     

Impurity effects on photoluminescence in lateral epitaxially overgrown GaN

Using a two-photon laser-scanning microscope (LSM), the spectral and intensity variations of photoluminescence (PL) in a lateral epitaxially overgrown GaN film were mapped with submicron resolution. The PL results are correlated with the carrier-density variation obtained by confocal-Raman microscopy and the surface Fermi-level positions measured by scanning Kelvin-force microscopy. Near-bandgap emission spectra taken in the wing regions provide support for the previously proposed, compensated-impurity band, which arises from the incorporation of a high concentration of impurities, resulting in a carrier density of ∼10²⁰ cm⁻³.     

Thin-film reactions during diffusion soldering of Cu/Ti/Si and Au/Cu/Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> with Sn interlayers

The multilayer thin-film systems of Cu/Ti/Si and Au/Cu/Al₂O₃ were diffusion-soldered at temperatures between 250°C and 400°C by inserting a Sn thin-film interlayer. Experimental results showed that a double layer of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) η-(Cu_0.99Au_0.01)₆Sn₅/δ-(Au_0.87Cu_0.13)Sn was formed at the interface. Kinetics analyses revealed that the growth of intermetallics was diffusion-controlled. The activation energies as calculated from Arrhenius plots of the growth rate constants for (Cu_0.99Au_0.01)₆Sn₅ and (Au_0.87Cu_0.13)Sn are 16.9 kJ/mol and 53.7 kJ/mol, respectively. Finally, a satisfactory tensile strength of 132 kg/cm² could be attained under the bonding condition of 300°C for 20 min.     

Phase-shifted Bragg grating filters in polymer waveguides

We fabricated a very narrow-band 0.03-nm (5-GHz) phase-shifted Bragg grating filter at 1290 nm on an LD-3 polymer ridge waveguide. The grating was post processed onto the waveguide by photobleaching using a 457-nm argon ion laser with a phase mask. We present the details of the fabrication process and a measurement of the filter spectrum with an analysis.     

Chromatic dispersion and bandshape improvement of SOI flatband AWG multi/demultiplexers by phase-error correction

By measuring the phase and amplitude distribution of the optical paths in a flatband arrayed waveguide grating, the array mask was redesigned to correct for the slow varying phase errors within the array waveguides, leading to a reduction in both the chromatic dispersion across the passband of the device and in the transmission band tilt.