Use of commercial protease preparations to reduce protein and lipid content of maize starch

A method was developed to produce pure maize starch from maize flour using a protease processing step, and additional salt washing and sulphite steeping steps. A range of commercial protease enzymes were evaluated for this purpose. The laboratory scale procedure that was developed, using one protease in particular (Promod P25P, thermolysin), produced relatively pure starch (<0.45% protein). Using the same procedure, but applying to starches which had been produced in advance using traditional wet milling, starch protein contents could be reduced further by 25–50% with the lipid content reduced by up to 25%. The amount of starch damage was minimal using this approach (<1%). This procedure could be developed industrially for a ‘greener approach’ to starch extraction – although it may still be necessary to incorporate sulphite steeping stages to facilitate protein solubilisation and extraction.     

A Propagation Rule for Linear Codes

We establish a general theorem which, given an arbitrary linear code, generates a family of linear codes of larger lengths and higher dimensions. The proof is based on a representation of the given linear code as a (generalized) algebraic-geometry code. Examples yielding many optimal linear codes document the power of this theorem. Received: July 5, 1999     

Testing of controllers for thermal solar systems

One standardised way to determine the performance of thermal solar systems is based on component testing and system simulation. The approach is to test the solar collector, the store, the controller and other selected components separately and to carry out system simulations using the determined parameters. Due to increasingly complex control strategies, particularly implemented within so-called multi-function controllers for solar combisystems, the available test method for controllers – for the time being defined in ENV 12977-2, Annex B – has to be extended. In order to substitute temperature sensors by variable resistors and to document the response of a tested controller, a computer based test facility featuring an input/output-emulator between the controller and a PC has been developed. The emulator generates varying resistance values as input signals for the controller and records the status of the different outputs as its response. Both, manual adjustment and programmed temperature profiles provided by the PC are possible. All transmitted inputs as well as the response of the controller are stored in a data file. Experience gained from testing controllers used in thermal solar systems for combined hot water preparation and space heating, commonly called combisystems shows that alleged advanced control algorithms or fancy features do not inevitably result in an improvement of system performance or increased reliability. The extended test method and the set-up of the test facility described in this paper enable detailed investigations of nearly all kinds of controllers. Particularly with respect to multi-function controller testing, the introduced test method will be one basis for the upcoming standard prCEN/TS 12977-5, replacing ENV 12977-2, Annex B.     

Sensitivity study of a semi-automatic training set generator

This paper addresses the problem of assessing the robustness with respect to change in parameters of an integrated training and classification routine. Extensions to traditional multivariate statistical methods are applied to perform the classification. Training sets are grown from one or a few seed points by a method that ensures spatial and spectral closeness of observations. Spatial closeness is obtained by requiring connectivity. Spectral closeness is obtained by excluding observations that have high Mahalanobis distances to the training class mean. The marginal effects of changes in the parameters that are input to the seed growing algorithm are evaluated. Initially, the seed is expanded to a small area in order to allow for the estimation of a dispersion matrix. This expansion is controlled by upper limits for the spatial and Euclidean spectral distances from the seed point. Second, after this initial expansion, the growing of the training set is controlled by an upper limit for the Mahalanobis distance to the current estimate of the class centre. Also, the estimates of class centres and dispersion matrices may be continuously updated, or the initial estimates may be used. Finally, the effect of the operator's choice of seed among a number of potential seed points is evaluated. An evaluation of the sensitivity of the seed algorithm with respect to parameter settings is carried out by applying it to the classification of minerals commonly encountered in siliciclastic or carbonate rocks from twelve chemical elements mapped from thin sections by energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) in a scanning electron microscope (SEM), using a standard quadratic classifier. The performance for each parameter setting is measured by the overall misclassification rate on an independently generated validation set. The integrated training and classification method is presently used as a routine petrographical analysis method at Norsk Hydro Research Centre.     

Phobia-relevant illusory correlations: The role of phobic responsivity.

The authors investigated the role of phobic responsivity in the generation of phobia-relevant illusory correlations. As a means of disentangling the contributions of prior fear and elicited fear responses, half of a group of phobic women received 1 mg alprazolam (n?=?21), and half received a placebo (n?=?22). A group of nonfearful women (n?=?24) was included to control for prior fear per se. Participants were exposed to slides of spiders, weapons, and flowers that were randomly paired with a shock, a siren, or nothing. Postexperimental covariation estimates and on-line outcome expectancies were assessed. Irrespective of both prior and elicited fear, participants postexperimentally overassociated spiders and shock. Yet, only women with spider phobia displayed a persisting fear-confirming expectancy bias. This bias was similar for the placebo and alprazolam groups. Thus, the bias appeared to be due to preexisting phobogenic beliefs, whereas phobic responsivity played a negligible role. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Non‐Waste‐Wachsschalungen: Neuartige Präzisionsschalungen aus recycelbaren Industriewachsen

Non‐Waste wax formwork‐technology Today's possibilities to realize complex free‐form reinforced concrete shapes, curved walls and filigree details require a formwork technology which meets these challenges. High precision with maximum freedom of form is therefore an essential requirement for the formwork of this new, so‐called freeform architectures. Preconditions for this are the 3D digital design and manufacturing technologies, with their help formwork can be designed and manufactured in high precision and with many degrees of freedom in form. This paper describes a research approach using industrial waxes as formwork materials. Due to the nearly 100 % recyclability of the wax, this approach is an economical and ecological manufacturing process for customized free‐form‐members made of concrete.