Studies on the development of infant foods from plant protein sources. Part III. Preparation, processing and properties of various products developed

Studies have been carried out on the development of a low-cost, high-quality infant food of low paste viscosity from rice, chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and cow's milk. In order to improve the overall quality of the product, chickpea was processed by different methods prior to its incorporation. A number of formulations was prepared by mixing 52% rice, 30% each, the processed chickpea sample, and 18% whole milk powder. These mixtures were processed by extrusion cooking or drum drying. In the case of the extrusion cooking method, from the nutritional and technological points of view, it was found advantageous to incorporate milk powder after cooking a mixture of rice and chickpea. The values of net protein ratio (NPR) of the products developed, whether processed by extrusion cooking or drum-drying methods, were statistically equal, and not significantly different from those of casein. Supplementing the product with methionine and threonine showed no effect in improving the NPR value, suggesting that these amino acids were not limiting. There were slight differences in the digestibilities of proteins in the products developed and all were lower than that of casein. Depending on the processing method, differences were observed in paste viscosities of the products. After partial hydrolysis of the products with pounds amylase, both the cold and hot paste viscosities were greatly reduced and were comparable with those of whole milk powder. From the results herein reported, it can be concluded that the drum-dried product prepared using rice:chickpea (carbonate presoaked):milk (52:30:18) is the best of all the products developed. Its amino acid composition compares favorably with that of the milk proteins.     

Resistance Variation of Salmonella enterica Serovars to Pulsed Electric Fields Treatments

ABSTRACT: Inactivation of Salmonella serovar Enteritidis and Salmonella serovar Typhimurium by pulsed electric fields has been investigated. A tertiary model based on the Weibull distribution ( n = 0.262) and on a new parameter ( Z_PEF ), accurately described the kinetics of inactivation of these microorganisms among 15 and 28 kV/cm. In the range of 19 to 28 kV/cm, this model also described previously published data of inactivation of serovar Senftenberg when the n value was set at 0.437. The Z_PEF value for the 3 Salmonella serovars was 15.787 kV/cm. From 19 to 28 kV/cm, the time to inactivate 5 Log₁₀ cycles of the population of serovar Enteritidis was 2.06 and 2.66 times lower than that to inactivate serovar Typhimurium and serovar Senftenberg, respectively.     

Three-dimensional profiling with binary fringes using phase-shifting interferometry algorithms

Three-dimensional shape measurements by sinusoidal fringe projection using phase-shifting interferometry algorithms are distorted by the nonlinear response in intensity of commercial video projectors and digital cameras. To solve the problem, we present a method that consists in projecting and acquiring a temporal sequence of strictly binary patterns, whose (adequately weighted) average leads to a sinusoidal fringe pattern with the required number of bits. Since binary patterns consist of "ones" and "zeros"--and no half-tones are involved--the nonlinear response of the projector and the camera will not play a role, and a nearly unit contrast gray-level sinusoidal fringe pattern is obtained. Validation experiments are presented.     

Optical characterization of HfO2 thin films

Hafnia films prepared onto silicon wafers at three substrate temperatures of 40, 160 and 280 °C are optically characterized utilizing the multi-sample method. The characterization uses the combination of variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry and spectroscopic reflectometry within the spectral region 1.24-6.5 eV (190-1000 nm). The structural model of the HfO₂ films includes boundary nanometric roughness, thickness non-uniformity and refractive index profile. Spectral dependences of the film optical constants are expressed using a recently developed parametrized joint density of states model describing the dielectric response of both interband transitions and excitations of localized states below the band gap. It is shown that the observed weak absorption below the band gap does not correspond to the Urbach tail.     

Influence of Enzymatic Clarification with a Pectin Methylesterase on Cider Fermentation

In this study, the effect of two apple juice treatments (clarification with a pectin methylesterase in the presence and absence of sulphiting) on the cidermaking process was investigated. Pre‐fermentative clarification with the pectin methylesterase (Rapidase CPE) slowed the alcoholic fermentation in respect to traditional fermentation, the greatest effect being found for the combination of the enzymatic treatment with sulphur dioxide addition. With this treatment the start of the fermentation was delayed seven days. Enzymatic clarification delayed malolactic fermentation (MLF) and the interaction of both treatments produced a cider in which malolactic fermentation had not occurred. Both treatments ensured that the volatile acid levels during the maturation phase were significantly lower than in the traditional fermentation. Enzymatic clarification led to lower levels of yeasts during the active phase of alcoholic fermentation with respect to the control. When this treatment was combined with sulphiting, a decrease in apiculate yeast numbers during alcoholic fermentation was observed and a better survival of these species was noted after 59 days of fermentation.     

Ultrastructural and rheological changes during the gelation of giant squid (Dosidicus gigas) muscle

The giant squid or dosidicus (Dosidicus gigas) is normally shipped frozen from the coasts of America. During the period prior to freezing-when conditions are not always optimum-and during frozen storage, the functional capacity of the muscle proteins declines, rendering the material useless for certain processes such as conversion to gel. This paper examines the reasons for the lack of a good gel-forming capacity as measured both rheologically (breaking force, breaking deformation and gel strength) and in terms of ultrastructure (scanning microscopy). The study was carried out at four different temperatures known to be critical for fish muscle protein gel formation, and at two salt concentrations. At 35°C the structure was spongier in gels made with 1.5% NaCl, although a true gel was still not formed, as shown by rheological measurements. Above 30°C, the ultrastructure became more cellular, particularly in samples made with 2.5% NaCl, at which concentration gel strength values were higher. However, at neither salt concentration nor at any of the experimental temperatures was the mesh as spongy as in other fish gels reported in the literature. The values of rheological analysis and folding test were correspondingly low.     

Consistent modeling of a single PEM fuel cell using Onsager's principle

In this paper a novel approach is proposed for a three-dimensional (3D) modeling of a High Temperature Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (HTPEMFC). This new modeling is based on Onsager's principle of minimum energy dissipation that is applicable for near equilibrium and coupled irreversible systems. In particular, for low conductivity membranes, this leads to a one directional proton movement through the membrane. The resulting equations are numerically solved for a real single cell geometry, using a 3D finite volume discretization. Results are analyzed and validated against experimental data.