Muscle tissue structural changes and texture development in sea bream, Sparus aurata L., during post-mortem storage

Sea bream, Sparus aurata L., specimens were studied in pre-rigor (3 h) and during the following post-mortem days: 1, 5, 10, 15 and 22. Muscle and textural parameters were evaluated on 6 specimens/stage. Structural results showed scarce fibre-to-fibre detachment on pre-rigor, which increased during the post-mortem degradation. Ultrastructural changes revealed rapid muscle degradation. In pre-rigor myofibrils were detached to both sarcolemma and endomysium. Intermyofibrillar spaces increased and some mitochondriae and sarcoplasmic reticulum were swollen. After 1 day, the sarcolemma appeared occasionally disrupted and the interfibrillar spaces increased. From 5 to 10 days, the I-band and Z line presented some alterations, although these were more severe at 15-22 days. Thus, in these two last stages, loss of I-band, Z line and actin filaments was observed, that coincides with the alteration of the hexagonal arrangement in these advanced stages. Also, the fragmentation of myofibrils increased from 5 to 10 days on. Sarcolemma and endomysium were gradually disrupted throughout the post-mortem stages with total loss at 22 days. Consequently, the interfibrillar spaces increased at last stages. Autophagic mechanisms increased from 5 days on, with an intense destruction of all the intracytoplasmic organelles. Textural parameters decreased from pre-rigor until 5-10 days, mainly associated to detachment of myofibers to sarcolemma-endomysium.     

Poisoning and conditioned drinking.

Produced conditioned drinking in 73 male Sprague-Dawley albino rats by conditioned stimuli paired with hypertonic procaine, isotonic procaine, and hypertonic saline, in that order of effectiveness. When these solutions were paired with the taste of saccharin, they produced taste aversions in the same order of effectiveness. Lithium chloride, a well-known poison, produced taste aversions but, in contrast, conditioned decreases in drinking. Like taste aversions which develop after 1 trial, conditioned drinking also developed in 1 trial. Results suggest that procaine and hypertonic saline may be poisons, since the malaise they produce is relieved by drinking, can be classically conditioned, and is indexed by conditioned drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multi-user adaptive orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing system for indoor wireless optical communications

An adaptive orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system is proposed for multi-user communications over indoor wireless optical channels. The designed system uses multi-user least-squares detection techniques applied to space-division multiple access and OFDM schemes, in conjunction with angle-diversity reception. The system, which does not present an excessive increase in complexity with respect to the previous schemes, can support high bit rates for multiple users, beyond 100 Mbits/s. It also mitigates the channel fluctuations induced when either the space distribution or the number of emitters and receivers varies. The performance of the new proposed scheme is compared with that of a non-adaptive multi-user system and an adaptive single-user system, both described in the previous works, when they face similar environmental situations. The obtained results show a significant enhancement with respect to both the previous multi-user system and the adaptive single-user one, since the new scheme allows adaptively managing the system throughput on a multi-user environment     

Design of an analytic constrained predictive controller using neural networks

This paper shows how the solution of the standard predictive control problem can be recast as a continuous function of the state, the reference signal, the noise and the disturbances, and hence can be approximated arbitrarily closely by a feed-forward neural network. The existence of such a continuous mapping eliminates the need for linear independency of the active constraints, and therefore the resulting analytic constrained predictive controller will combine constraint handling with speed while being applicable to fast and complex control systems with many constraints. The effectiveness of the proposed controller design methodology is shown for a simulation example of an elevator model and for a real-time laboratory inverted pendulum system.     

Co-existence and traceability of GM and non-GM products in the feed chain

According to the European Regulations (EC) 1829/2003 and 1830/2003, products which are, consist of or contain GMOs should be labelled and traceable in each stage of production, processing and distribution. Only in cases where the GMO level is below 0.9% and this presence is due to accidental contamination or is technically unavoidable, no labelling is required. As it is very unclear how feed manufacturers have implemented these new regulations, a Belgian survey was held to evaluate the current situation at importer and feed production level. Several bottlenecks were encountered, at the level of acquisition of raw materials and at production level, such as carry over of GM with non-GM soy in the production lines. Next to this, some weaknesses in the analysis of GMOs were also revealed.     

Effect of montmorillonite clay addition on the morphological and physical properties of Jatropha curcas L. and Glycine max L. protein concentrate films

Protein concentrates from jatropha (JPC) and soy seeds (SPC) were obtained by solubilization and acid precipitation of proteins. JPC and SPC films were prepared by the casting method, using two different montmorillonite (MMT) clay concentrations and plasticized with glycerol. Film properties were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, tensile properties, water retention, and water vapor transmission rate (WVRT). Typical tactoid microcomposite structures were found to be heterogeneously dispersed in the films containing MMT. A small XRD peak was found in films with MMT. Slight improvements in thermal stability and tensile strength were observed in the films with MMT. Reductions in water retention and WVRT were obtained when MMT was added into the films. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44459.