Effects of ingredients and process conditions on 'Amaretti' cookies characteristics

This research aimed at determining the influence of different factors (i.e. ingredients and process conditions) on the most important characteristics defining consumers' appreciation of 'Amaretti' cookies using DOE (design of experiment) technique. A different recipe than the original one was used in the manufacturing of the cookies, where saccharose was partially replaced with fructose and bamboo fibre was added as a new ingredient. Besides fructose/saccharose ratio and fibre, the effect of egg white, baking time and baking temperature on quality responses (hardness, water activity, moisture content and colour) of 'Amaretti' was measured by using a fractional factorial design in a screening test. Responses were affected mostly by changes in temperature and fructose/saccharose ratio levels and then by baking time; bamboo fibre had a statistically significant influence only on hardness. The power of fit of the regression models was significant for all four responses and had R ² value in the range of 0.886–0.997. However, the power of prediction was significant only for hardness, moisture content and colour and had Q ² value in the range of 0.584–0.965. The mathematical model for water activity resulted inappropriate to explain the link between factors and response. The achieved results can represent a useful tool to address and facilitate the next phase of optimisation.     

Context‐aware Android applications through transportation mode detection techniques

In this paper, we study the problem of how to detect the current transportation mode of the user from the smartphone sensors data, because this issue is considered crucial for the deployment of a multitude of mobility‐aware systems, ranging from trace collectors to health monitoring and urban sensing systems. Although some feasibility studies have been performed in the literature, most of the proposed systems rely on the utilization of the GPS and on computational expensive algorithms that do not take into account the limited resources of mobile phones. On the opposite, this paper focuses on the design and implementation of a feasible and efficient detection system that takes into account both the issues of accuracy of classification and of energy consumption. To this purpose, we propose the utilization of embedded sensor data (accelerometer/gyroscope) with a novel meta‐classifier based on a cascading technique, and we show that our combined approach can provide similar performance than a GPS‐based classifier, but introducing also the possibility to control the computational load based on requested confidence. We describe the implementation of the proposed system into an Android framework that can be leveraged by third‐part mobile applications to access context‐aware information in a transparent way. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Disinfection of Dental Instruments Contaminated with Streptococcus mutans Using Ozonated Water Alone or Combined with Ultrasound

Ozone gas diluted in water has been shown to produce significant results in terms of the elimination of microorganisms. Streptococcus mutans is the etiologic agent of dental caries. Methods using water containing ozone and an ultrasonic cleaner were employed for the disinfection of a curette. Streptococcus mutans was grown in a selective medium. The curette was submitted to disinfection by water containing ozone, by ultrasound, and then both techniques were combined. The results show that either method produced a significant microbial reduction, but the efficacy of both methods combined was greater. This method of disinfection proved to be both viable and cheap.     

Tract‐tracing study of the extrabulbar Olfactory projections in the brain of some teleosts

The extrabulbar olfactory projections (EBOP) is a collection of nerve fibers that originate from primary olfactory receptor neurons. These fibers penetrate into the brain, bypassing the olfactory bulbs (OBs). While the presence of an EBOP has been well established in teleosts, here we morphologically characterize the EBOP structure in four species each with a different morphological relationship of OB with the ventral telencephalic area. Tract‐tracing methods (carbocyanine DiI/DIA and biocytin) were used. FMRFamide immunoreactive nervus terminalis (NT) components were also visualized to define any neuroanatomical relationship between the NT and EBOP. Unilateral DiI/DiA application to the olfactory chamber stained the entire olfactory epithelium, olfactory nerve fibers, and ipsilateral olfactory bulb. Labeled primary olfactory fibers running ventromedially as extrabulbar primary olfactory projections reached various regions of the secondary prosencephalon. Only in Moenkhausia sanctaefilomenae (no olfactory peduncle) did lipophilic tracer‐labeled fibers reach the ipsilateral mesencephalon. The combination of tracing techniques and FMRFamide immunohistochemistry revealed a substantial overlap of the label along the olfactory pathways as well as in the anterior secondary prosencephalon. However, FMRFamide immunoreactivity was never colocalized in the same cellular or fiber component as visualized using tracer molecules. Our results showed a certain uniformity in the neuroanatomy and extension of EBOP in all four species, independent of the pedunculate feature of the OBs. The present study also provided additional evidence to support the view that EBOP and FMRFamide immunoreactive components of the NT are separate anatomical entities. Microsc. Res. Tech. 78:268–276, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Imidazolium salts as liquid coupling agents for the preparation of polypropylene‐silica composites

This article describes the application of ionic liquid 1‐decyl‐3‐methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate in the preparation of polypropylene‐silica composites. The sol‐gel technology was used to prepare xerogel silica‐ionic liquid hybrid S1 , which was obtained as a free flowing powder of aggregated spherical particles. Ionic liquid free silica S2 was obtained by extraction and calcination of S1 . Melt blending of isotactic polypropylene with S1 and S2 afforded the composites C1 (with ionic liquid) and C2 (without ionic liquid), respectively. The presence of ionic liquid on the S1 silica surface promoted significantly improved silica dispersion in the polymer matrix and prevented compression of the silica particles. Furthermore, the crystallization temperature of composite C1 was significantly higher, which indicated that silica‐ionic liquid filler S1 acted as nucleating agent. The resistance to thermal decomposition of both composites was increased, but this was higher in the presence of ionic liquid. These results show that liquid salts can function as coupling agents and compatibalizers for the preparation of polymeric composites with differentiated properties. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Principal component analysis for the identification of pollution sources in mussel survey by trace metals

Summary Principal component analysis has been applied to analyze the correlation matrix obtained from a 8 × 43 data matrix. The 8 trace metals are Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Hg, Ph, which are contained in the soft part of mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck). Mussels were sampled from two sites in the Gulf of Trieste. In both samples, 76–78% of the total variance is explained by the four principal components. The orthogonally rotated factor matrix indicates that Co and Ni are bonded to the first principal component and Cd and Pb to the first (site 2) or second principal component (site 1). The origin of trace metals in the soft part of mussels from the Gulf of Trieste is discussed.

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Analyse der Hauptkomponenten zur Identifizierung der Verunreinigungsursachen von Muscheln über die Spurenmetalle

Zusammenfassung Die Analyse der Hauptkomponenten wurde auf die Korrelationsmatrix, die aus der 8 × 43-Datenmatrix hervorgeht, angewandt. Diese 8 Spurenmetalle sind Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Hg, Pb, die im Fleisch der Miesmuscheln (Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck) gefunden worden sind. Die Miesmuscheln stammen aus zwei Gegenden des Golfes von Triest. Vier Hauptkomponenten erklären 76–78 % der totalen Varianz der beiden Stichproben. Die orthogonale-rotierte Faktorenmatrix zeigt, daß Co und Ni an die erste Hauptkomponente und Cd und Pb an die erste (Lage 2) oder an die zweite Hauptkomponente (Lage 1) gebunden sind. Die Herkunft der Spurenmetalle im Muschelfleisch aus dem Golf von Triest wird diskutiert.

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L. Felician is the author of the statistical analysis for site 1 as a part of his thesis in Commodity Science, Faculty of Economics, University of Trieste- L. Gabrielli Favretto is the author of the statistical analysis of the data for site 2. All authors contributed to the rest of the paper     

Development of composites based on recycled polyethylene/sugarcane bagasse fibers

In this work, sugarcane bagasse fibers were used as filler in composites having recycled high‐density polyethylene (PEr) as matrix. Because of the poor interaction between fibers surface and the PEr, the surface of bagasse was chemically modified. This modification consists of washing with water at 80°C, a mercerization process using sodium hydroxide and acetylation reaction with acetic anhydride. The chemical modification was characterized by Fourier transform infrared–horizontal attenuated total reflectance (FTIR‐HATR) and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies (NMR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The composites were prepared from modified and unmodified fibers into PEr matrix, containing 5, 10, and 20% (w/w) of fiber. The samples were processed by extrusion and molds were prepared by injection process in order to perform mechanical tests. These materials were analyzed by SEM, TGA, and the water uptake was evaluated. Also, their mechanical properties were analyzed. Morphological analysis indicated that the chemical modification of sugarcane bagasse increased the compatibility between matrix and reinforcement. Tensile, flexural, and impact tests showed that the mechanical properties of the composite were improved compared to PEr due to the presence of the fibers. POLYM. COMPOS., 35:768–774, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

A comparison index for interval ordering based on generalized Hukuhara difference

Interval methods is one option for managing uncertainty in optimization problems and in decision management. The precise numerical estimation of coefficients may be meaningless in real-world applications, because data sources are often uncertain, vague and incomplete. In this paper we introduce a comparison index for interval ordering based on the generalized Hukuhara difference; we show that the new index includes the commonly used order relations proposed in literature. The definition of a risk measure guarantees the possibility to quantify a worst-case loss when solving maximization or minimization problems with intervals.     

Limit analysis of masonry arches with finite compressive strength and externally bonded reinforcement

The collapse load of masonry arches with limited compressive strength and externally bonded reinforcement, such as FRP, is evaluated by solving the minimization problem obtained by applying the upper bound theorem of limit analysis. The arch is composed of a finite number of blocks. The nonlinearity of the problem (no-tension material, frictional sliding and crushing) is concentrated in the interface between two adjacent blocks. The crushing in the collapse mechanism is schematised by the interpenetration of the blocks with the formation of hinges at internal or boundary points of the interface. The minimization problem is solved with linear optimization, taking advantages of the robust algorithms offered by linear programming (LP). The optimal solution of the linear programming problem approximates the exact solution to any degree of accuracy. The dual of the minimization problem is also formulated and is solved in order to present the statics (thrust curve, locus of feasible internal reactions, etc.) of the reinforced arch as a consequence of the kinematical assumptions used in the primal minimization problem. Numerical examples are presented in order to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. Finally, it is shown that the results provided by the proposed LP are in good agreement with an experiment on a FRP-strengthened arch characterized by crushing failure of the masonry.