Active packaging of ground beef patties by edible zein films incorporated with partially purified lysozyme and Na2EDTA

In this study, antimicrobial activity of zein films incorporated with partially purified lysozyme and disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (Na₂EDTA) has been tested on selected pathogenic bacteria and refrigerated ground beef patties. The developed films containing 700 μg cm^?2 lysozyme and 300 μg cm^?2 Na₂EDTA showed antimicrobial activity on Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Salmonella typhimurium. The application of lysozyme and Na₂EDTA incorporated zein films on beef patties significantly decreased total viable counts (TVC) and total coliform counts after 5 days of storage compared to those of control patties (P < 0.05). Zein films incorporated with lysozyme and Na₂EDTA or Na₂EDTA alone significantly slowed down the oxidative changes in patties during storage (P < 0.05). Redness indices of patties coated with zein films were significantly lower than those of uncoated control patties during storage (P < 0.05). This study demonstrated the potential usage of zein films containing lysozyme and Na₂EDTA for active packaging of refrigerated meat products.     

Optimisation of formulations and infrared–microwave combination baking conditions of chestnut–rice breads

The main objective of this study was to design gluten‐free breads containing chestnut and rice flour and xanthan–guar gum blend to be baked in infrared–microwave combination oven. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimise gluten‐free bread formulations and processing conditions. Weight loss, firmness, specific volume and colour change of the breads were determined. Rice flour mixed with different proportions of chestnut flour and different emulsifier contents were used to prepare breads. The gluten‐free formulations were baked using different upper halogen lamp powers, microwave powers and baking time which were varied from 40% to 80%, 30% to 70% and 9 to 17 min, respectively. Gluten‐free breads and wheat breads baked in conventional oven were used for comparison. Breads containing 46.5% chestnut flour and 0.62% emulsifier and baked using 40% infrared and 30% microwave power for 9 min had statistically comparable quality with conventionally baked ones.     

Some properties of set yoghurt made from caprine milk and bovine–caprine milk mixtures fortified by ultrafiltration or the addition of skim milk powder

Set yoghurt was produced from caprine milk (A), 70% caprine-30% bovine (B) and 50% caprine–50% bovine milk (C) mixtures, and stored for 14 days at ±4°C. Two methods of fortification, namely ultrafiltration (UF) and the addition of bovine skim milk powder (SMP), were applied to the milk mixtures. Some chemical, physical, microbiological and sensory properties of the six samples were analysed on the 1st, 7th and 14th days of storage. The effects of milk type, concentration method and storage period on the physicochemical and microbiological properties of the samples were investigated statistically.     

Changes in the Coastline and Water Level of the Akşehir and Eber Lakes Between 1975 and 2009

The Ak?ehir and Eber Lakes, relatively shallow, small freshwater lakes with an area of 361 km² and 150 km² and average depth of 7 m and 2 m (1998), respectively in southwestern Turkey, have experienced a severe decline in water levels in recent decades. This study aimed to investigate coastline and water level changes of lakes and identify the causes for the decline in lake levels. Nine Landsat images from different times, monthly temperature, precipitation, discharge, lake level records and population data were used to analyze these changes. From 1975 to 2009, the water surface areas of the Ak?ehir and Eber Lakes decreased from 356,929 to 126,482 km² and from 119,882 to 85,663 km², a loss of 64.5% and 28.4% over the 34-year period, respectively. From 1975 to 2004, the Ak?ehir Lake level declined by 2.67 m from 956.02 m to 953.35 and the Eber Lake level declined by 2.03 m from 966.75 m to 964.72 m from 1975 to 2004 based on ground lake level data (in situ). The results of the temperature and precipitation analysis showed that although the annual mean climatic factors vary substantially, they show small increasing trend over the record periods. Annual discharge records on the Akarçay River and its tributaries decreased over the basin during the same period. Irrigation systems, three dams and seven pounds built in recent decades for agricultural irrigation and domestic use, made the major impact on lowering the lake levels because they derive water from the river for human use upstream of the lakes’ catchments. Population growth, rising water consumption for agricultural and domestic purposes and building dams has led to lake levels declining. The change of lake levels might depend more on anthropogenic factors than on climatic factors.     

A robust color image watermarking with Singular Value Decomposition method

The performance of a watermarking method based on Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) has been improved for color image in this paper. One of the common methods used for hiding information on image files is Singular Value Decomposition method which used in the frequency domain. In Singular Value Decomposition based watermarking techniques; watermark embedding can usually be achieved by modifying the least significant bits of the singular value matrix. This paper gives application results which show the watermarking security of using this algorithm for the watermarking and demonstrate the accuracy of these methods. The performance comparison of the algorithms was also realized.     

Maximum achievable diversity order for cascaded Rayleigh fading channels

In this Letter, we investigate the error rate performance of coherent M-ary phase shift keying (M-PSK) modulation over cascaded Rayleigh fading with receive antenna diversity. Through the derived symbol error rate (SER) expression, we present the maximum diversity order achievable over such channels and demonstrate the performance degradation in comparison to conventional Rayleigh channels.     

Fatty Acid Composition,Total Sugar Content and Anti-Diabetic Activity of Methanol and Water Extracts of Nine Different Fruit Tree Leaves Collected from Mediterranean Region of Turkey

In this research, the total sugar content, fatty acid compositions, and α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of methanolic and water extracts of nine different fruit tree leaves were determined. α-amylase and α-glycosidase inhibitory activity were determined by using Caraway-Somogyi iodine/potassium iodide and 4-nitrophenyl-α-D-glucopyranoside as substrate, respectively. The total sugar content of the nine different fruit tree leaves varies from 281.02 mg GE/g (glucose equivalents) to 643.96 mg GE/g. Methanolic extract from avocado leaves had the strongest in α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity, 69.21 and 96.26%, respectively. Fatty acid composition of nine fruit tree leaves was characterized by gas chromatography and 24 components were identified. Among the tested fruit tree leaves, the main component was linolenic acid (49.09%). The level of essential fatty acids are over 50% in mulberry, grape, and loquat leaves. Polyunsaturated fatty acids were the major group of fatty acids present in oils of mulberry, fig, pomegranate, grape, and loquat leaves. Therefore, these oils can be considered as a good source of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Furthermore, avocado can be regarded as a new source for diabetic therapies.     

Comparison of the Influence of Silica‐rich Supplementary Cementitious Materials on Cement Mortar Composites: Mechanical and Microstructural Assessment

Silicon - The silica-rich supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) are the key components of mechanical and microstructural properties. The use of SCMs results in improving the mechanical and...     

The contribution of CO2 emissions to environmental stress in the Middle East: challenges and potential solutions

The increasing demand for water and electricity in the Middle East causes environmental stress. Along with the industrial sector, desalination and power plants are linked to fossil fuel combustion, which is chiefly responsible for increased carbon dioxide emissions. The magnitude of certain sustainable development indicators (such as the ecological footprint) has led to growing concern. This paper presents some of the challenges facing the transition to sustainable development.     

Automated malware recognition method based on local neighborhood binary pattern

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Malware recognition has been widely used in the literature. One of the malware recognition methods is the byte code based methods. These methods generally use...