Oil Absorption and Sensory Properties of a Snack Food from Chickpea Genotypes

Among the commonly consumed grain legumes the score on general acceptability of a snack food (seviya) was the highest for that from chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) followed by lentil, pigeonpea and green gram, whereas the oil absorption by the product was highest for lentil followed by black gram, chickpea, and green gram. Different methods of dehulling did not cause any notable effects on oil absorption of chickpea seviya. The flour particle size, starch, and protein contents significantly influenced oil absorption of seviya. The oil absorption of the product differed significantly among genotypes, but clear cut differences were not found between desi and kabuli groups of chickpea genotypes.     

APPLICABILITY OF ALGINATE ENTRAPPED YEAST CELLS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF LACTOSE-HYDROLYZED MILK

To overcome the problem of enzyme extraction and poor permeability of cell membrane to lactose, permeabilized Kluyveromyces marxianus NCIM 3465 cells as a source of β‐D‐galactosidase were employed for the production of lactose‐hydrolyzed milk. In view of the advantages of an immobilized cell system over a free cell system, the yeast cells were entrapped in alginate gel for their subsequent use in lactose hydrolysis. Different process parameters (alginate concentration, bead size, biomass load, temperature, agitation and incubation time) were monitored to enhance lactose hydrolysis in milk. Maximum lactose hydrolysis (87.9%) was observed with yeast cells immobilized in 2% (w/v) alginate concentration with a bead size of 2.90 mm at 30C under agitation (80 rpm) after 150 min of incubation. The developed system was highly stable and the alginate entrapped yeast cells can be recycled up to the eight cycle without any marked change in their ability to carry out the lactose hydrolysis.     

Structural characteristics of titanium coating on copper substrates

The growth characteristics of titanium films deposited on glass, silicon (100) and oxygen free high purity copper substrate using magnetron sputtering have been investigated using X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy and scratch indentation techniques. The study of interface between the titanium film and the substrate was carried out to determine coating thickness, as well as intermixing of the elements at the interface. Studies revealed that the interface is free from voids and intermixing of the film and the substrate. Microstructural and diffraction analysis showed that the Ti coating was polycrystalline and exhibited columnar growth. The Ti crystallite size varied between 24 and 58 nm depending on the substrate. The thickness of the films were typically about 4 μm. Scratch test indicated that the films are adherent and the first critical load to failure was observed to be 4·5 N ± 2 N.     

PERFORMANCE AND ANALYSIS OF CHOPPER FED D.C. SEPARATELY EXCITED MOTOR UNDER REGENERATIVE BRAKING

Abstract

A method is presented here to analyse the performance of a separately excited d.c. motor under regenerative braking mode and provides a technique to select the necessary inductance to reduce the ripple in the armature current as well as to eliminate the discontinuous conduction of the armature current and to optimize the regenerative power. The effect of armature reaction and also that of chopper commutation interval have been taken into account. The calculated performance agrees very closely with the experimental results.     

Phenotypic and genotypic characterisation of Lactobacilli isolated from camel cheese produced in India

Thirty‐two Lactobacilli strains were isolated from four samples of camel cheese collected from Bikaner, India. These isolates were identified based on phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. Sequencing of 16S rDNA was performed for species identification and diversity analysis. Lactobacillus delbrueckii and Lb. fermentum were found to be dominant species followed by Lb. plantarum and Lb. casei. On evaluation of technological properties of these isolates, 20 isolates were observed to be good acid producers, eight were found positive for citrate utilisation and 11 showed presence of Prtp gene. Isolates obtained can be potential for development of defined strain starter for camel cheese.     

Local and global optimal control for non-linear systems using two-level methods

The recent co-state coordination algorithm for the two-level optimization of nonlinear discrete dynamical systems with separable quadratic cost functions is specialized to ensure the satisfaction of both necessary and local sufficiency conditions. For an important subclass of the problems, global sufficiency can be guaranteed. This is demonstrated on a simple example where previous methods have yielded worse local optima.     

Comparison of methods for the analysis of smoke related phenols and their conjugates in grapes and wine

Background and Aims: Australian grape growers and winemakers have typically relied on guaiacol and 4‐methylguaiacol measurements to determine smoke exposure of grapes following bushfires or prescribed burns. However, the guaiacol and 4‐methylguaiacol content of grapes does not always correlate with the extent of taint in resultant wines. This study compared several methods for the analysis of smoke related phenols and their conjugates in grapes and wine, to determine their capacity as diagnostic assays for smoke exposure. Methods and Results: Smoke‐affected grapes were sourced from commercial vineyards exposed to bushfire smoke and from experimental field trials involving the application of smoke to grapevines, and small‐scale wines were made from a number of these samples. Several analytical methods were applied to grapes and wine to determine the concentration of smoke related phenols and their conjugates. Strong correlations were observed between the glycoconjugate content of smoke‐affected grapes and the concentration of guaiacol and 4‐methylguaiacol released following acid hydrolysis of juice. Conclusions: Where smoke‐affected grapes contain low or non‐detectable levels of guaiacol and 4‐methylguaiacol, analytical methods that quantify their glycoconjugate forms (either directly or indirectly) provide a better indication of the extent of smoke exposure. Significance of the Study: This is the first study to compare different methods for assessing smoke exposure in grapes and wine, through analysis of free and bound guaiacol and 4‐methylguaiacol. These methods will allow grape growers and winemakers to more reliably assess smoke exposure of grapes, enabling better informed decisions to be made with regards to harvesting and processing smoke‐affected grapes.     

Detection and localization of multiple cracks in a stepped shaft

The presence of a crack in a shaft causes a slope discontinuity in the elastic line of the shaft. There are crack detection techniques, available in the literature, exploiting the slope discontinuity arising because of the crack in the shaft. Steps present in a shaft are expected to interfere with the results obtained through these identification techniques based upon slope discontinuity. It would be even more difficult to identify a crack if it is near a step as both the step and the crack will cause slope discontinuities. A multi‐crack identification technique has been developed (Singh S. K. and Tiwari R. (2010). Mech. Machine Theory 45, 1813–1827; Singh S. K., Tiwari R. and Talukdar S. (2009). IUTAM Proc. in Recent Trends in Rotor Dynamics, March 23–26, IIT Delhi, India) which uses shaft‐forced responses at several frequencies to identify the number of cracks and their locations over the shaft. The algorithm uses normalization of quadratic coefficients obtained from measured responses of a cracked shaft and from simulated responses of the intact shaft for detecting the slope discontinuity. In the present work, the effect of steps in the shaft on crack identification has been analysed. Cracks are assumed to be both near the step and far from the step. The identification algorithm works well for both the simulation cases.