Iodine stability in iodized salt dual fortified with microencapsulated ferrous fumarate made by an extrusion-based encapsulation process

The development of a novel, extrusion-based process for making microencapsulated ferrous fumarate for salt double fortification has been reported earlier. This paper focuses on the results of a one-year storage test, specifically the stability of both iodine and ferrous iron in the double fortified salt (DFS) samples prepared using optimal formulations of the iron premix. The study was devised to test the effectiveness of the encapsulation system in the prevention of interaction between ferrous fumarate and iodine, and preservation of the iodine in iodized salt. The results confirmed that direct iodine–iron interaction occurred in the DFS samples when the iron compound was added without proper coating. However, when an appropriately encapsulated iron premix was used, the interaction could be completely prevented. The extrusion-based process has proven to be an effective approach to producing a stable, bioavailable iron premix, suitable for incorporation into iodized salt for combating iodine and iron deficiencies.     

Production of mustard protein isolates from oriental mustard seed (Brassica juncea L.)

A membrane-based process to produce protein isolates from seeds of oriental mustard (Brassica juncea) was developed by modifying a method originally developed for rapeseed. The optimized process consisted of extraction at pH 11, ultrafiltration with concentration factor 4, diafiltration with diavolume 3, and precipitation at pH 5. The process, based on defatted oriental mustard seed containing 45–50% protein, recovered 81% of the protein in useful products: 47.3% in precipitated protein isolate (PPI), 3.8% in soluble protein isolate (SPI), and 13% in meal residue. Mass yields were 21.9% in PPI, 2.8% in SPI, and 38.4% in meal residue. The losses in the system included ∼10% loss of nonprotein nitrogen, and <9% into permeate and transfer losses. The PPI compared favorably with soy protein isolate in typical meat products in terms of color, texture, and flavor. The work confirms that oriental mustard is a potentially useful source of edible protein.     

Batch reactor optimization under liquid swelling safety constraint

This article presents the modeling and optimization of an industrial batch reactor operation with regard to production safety constraint which is represented by the reactor content swelling. Swelling occurs due to the evacuation of a coupled product which passes through the liquid in order to reach the reaction mass surface. In order to model the reaction system a chemical model linked to a hydrodynamic model is developed. The goal of the optimization is to calculate the temperature and pressure profiles which maximize conversion rates, without exceeding the maximum reactor level. The optimal temperature profile is calculated using the optimal control optimization method and the results show that a productivity increase of up to 36% can be achieved as compared to the industrial process.     

Rare earth elements in α-Ti: A first-principles investigation

The interaction energies between substitutional rare earth (RE) atoms, between RE and interstitial C, N, O, H atoms, as well as between RE and vacancies in α-Ti are calculated via first-principles density-functional theory with projector augmented-wave (PAW) pseudopotentials. The results show that the RE–vacancy and RE–RE interactions are attractive due to the weaker RE–Ti bond than the host Ti–Ti bond. All of the RE atoms investigated in this paper are repulsive to C and N, but attractive to H. RE–O interactions are repulsive for the light RE atoms, though the interactions are very weak for the heavy RE atoms. The mechanism underlying the interactions and their possible influence on the properties of Ti alloys are discussed.     

Determining the minimum grain size in severe plastic deformation process via first-principles calculations

Although the stacking fault energy (SFE) is a fundamental variable determining the minimum grain size (d_min) obtainable in severe plastic deformation (SPD) processes, its accurate measurement is difficult. Here we establish the SFEs of binary Pd–Ag, Pd–Cu, Pt–Cu and Ni–Cu solid solutions using the axial interaction model and the supercell model in combination with first-principles theory. The two models yield consistent formation energies. For Pd–Ag, Pd–Cu and Ni–Cu, the theoretical SFEs agree well with those from the experimental measurements. For Pt–Cu no experimental results are available, and thus our calculated SFEs represent the first reasonable predictions. We discuss the correlation of the SFE and d_min in SPD experiments and show that the d_min values can be evaluated from first-principles calculations.     

Stimulating Cooperation in Self-Organizing Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

In military and rescue applications of mobile ad hoc networks, all the nodes belong to the same authority; therefore, they are motivated to cooperate in order to support the basic functions of the network. In this paper, we consider the case when each node is its own authority and tries to maximize the benefits it gets from the network. More precisely, we assume that the nodes are not willing to forward packets for the benefit of other nodes. This problem may arise in civilian applications of mobile ad hoc networks. In order to stimulate the nodes for packet forwarding, we propose a simple mechanism based on a counter in each node. We study the behavior of the proposed mechanism analytically and by means of simulations, and detail the way in which it could be protected against misuse.     

Oil-free protein isolates from full-fat,dehulled mustard flour by microfiltration

New microfiltration (MF)-based aqueous processes for the extraction of oil-free protein isolates from full-fat, dehulled mustard flour have been developed. The processes used hydrophilic MF membranes to separate oil and protein. The most successful processing sequence consisted of alkaline extraction of oil and protein from the flour at pH 11, centrifugation to remove undissolved solids, and an initial microfiltration step to separate oil and dissolved protein. This was followed by proteolytic enzyme treatment of the retentate and a second-stage MF step to recover further protein. The proteolytic enzyme treatment was designed to break aggregated proteins into smaller fractions to permit their passage through the MF membrane. The permeates from the two microfiltration steps were ultrafiltered to concentrate the protein and remove antinutritional compounds and highly fragmented peptides. With this process, 60% of the protein originally in the flour was separated from the oil phase. Approximately 40% of the protein present in the flour was recovered in the form of two oil-free protein isolates—a soluble protein isolate containing 91% protein and a precipitated protein isolate containing 100% protein. The process proves the potential of MF as an effective method of extracting oil-free protein isolates from oilseeds without the use of organic solvents. Based on a presentation at the 16th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Section of AOCS held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, September 29–October 1, 2001.     

BoostingTree: parallel selection of weak learners in boosting, with application to ranking

Boosting algorithms have been found successful in many areas of machine learning and, in particular, in ranking. For typical classes of weak learners used in boosting (such as decision stumps or trees), a large feature space can slow down the training, while a long sequence of weak hypotheses combined by boosting can result in a computationally expensive model. In this paper we propose a strategy that builds several sequences of weak hypotheses in parallel, and extends the ones that are likely to yield a good model. The weak hypothesis sequences are arranged in a boosting tree, and new weak hypotheses are added to promising nodes (both leaves and inner nodes) of the tree using some randomized method. Theoretical results show that the proposed algorithm asymptotically achieves the performance of the base boosting algorithm applied. Experiments are provided in ranking web documents and move ordering in chess, and the results indicate that the new strategy yields better performance when the length of the sequence is limited, and converges to similar performance as the original boosting algorithms otherwise.     

Pilot-scale two-phase extraction of canola

An extraction process was developed in our laboratory for rapeseed (canola) with 10% (w/w) ammonia in methanol, containing 5% (vol/vol) water, and hexane to simultaneously produce an improved meal and a high-quality oil. To remove the hazards associated with the use of ammonia, a two-phase solvent extraction, with 0.08% (w/w) sodium hydroxide replacing the ammonia, was tested on a semipilot scale with a Szego mill and a Karr reciprocating-plate extraction column. Flooding curves and appropriate agitation parameters were examined for this system. Then, the effects of polar solvent-to-seed ratio, slurry-to-hexane flow ratio, plate amplitude and plate agitation frequency on extraction efficiency were investigated. The process is technically viable for industrial application. A meal that contained 0.9% residual oil, 44.4% protein and 2.79 mmol/kg glucosinolates (moisture and oil-free basis) and a miscella with 19.5% oil were obtained.