Effect of a cold‐active pectinolytic system on colour development of Malbec red wines elaborated at low temperature

The effect of a new cold‐active pectinolytic system on colour of Malbec wines was studied under the following winemaking conditions: (i) fermentation at low temperature (20 °C) and (ii) prefermentative cold maceration (PCM) (5 °C–7 days) followed by traditional fermentation (28 °C). The pectinolytic system was mainly composed of polymethylgalacturonase and pectin lyase activities, detected under similar conditions to those in winemaking (pH 3.6–20 °C). The results show that the enzyme system significantly accelerated colour extraction by reducing the maceration time necessary for vinification at low temperature and shortening the PCM stage. Enzyme‐treated wines exhibited better chromatic parameters than their controls at devatting and after 6 months of storage. The cold‐active enzyme compensated the decrease in colour extraction due to the low maceration temperature, achieving high‐quality wines with chromatic characteristics similar to those of traditional wines.     

Grape seed removal: effect on phenolics,chromatic and organoleptic characteristics of red wine

Winemakers are interested in wines with low bitterness and astringency, and therefore, there is a preference for a higher presence of skin proanthocyanidins in wines. However, the information regarding the effect of reducing or eliminating seed proanthocyanidins from the must or fermenting wine on the characteristics of finished wines is scarce. For this reason, we elaborated a wine using Monastrell grapes from which the seeds had been removed and compared it with a control wine (CW) made from intact grapes. The anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin concentration and profile, and the chromatic and sensory characteristics were studied. The absence of seed proanthocyanidins did not affect anthocyanin concentration, although the proanthocyanidin concentration was 40% lower than in the CW. The copigmentation (CA) study showed that both wines had a similar extent of CA phenomena although colour intensity was higher when seed proanthocyanidins were present. The panellist evaluated the wines elaborated without seeds as being fruitier, less astringent and with an overall higher quality.     

Optimization of Sesame Oil Extraction by Screw-Pressing at Low Temperature

Box-Behnken designs were used to optimize a process for sesame oil extraction by screw-pressing at low temperature (50 °C). Experimental designs included seed moisture content (SMC), pressing speed (PS), and restriction die (RD) as the main processing parameters. Extractions at pilot plant scale showed a peak in oil recovery (OR, 71.1 ± 2.80%) at 12.3% SMC, 4 mm RD, and 20 rpm PS. Theoretical models were scanned against experimental data in order to scale up the proposed oil extraction process to industrial scale. A fitted model for OR showed a maximum predicted value similar to the highest experimental value (74.4 ± 1.23%) under the following conditions: 8.03% SMC, 10 mm RD, and 20 rpm PS. Chemical quality parameters of oils obtained at both pilot and industrial scales were in the ranges stated in Codex (FAO/WHO) standards for non-refined sesame oil.     

A semantic role labelling-based framework for learning ontologies from Spanish documents

Currently, most of the information available in the Web is adapted primarily for human consumption, but there is so much information that can no longer be processed by a person in a reasonable time, either in digital or physical formats. To solve this problem, the idea of the Semantic Web arose. The Semantic Web deals with adding machine-readable information to Web pages. Ontologies represent a very important element of this web, as they provide a valid and robust structure to represent knowledge based on concepts, relations, axioms, etc. The need for overcoming the bottleneck provoked by the manual construction of ontologies has generated several studies and research on obtaining semiautomatic methods to learn ontologies. In this sense, this paper proposes a new ontology learning methodology based on semantic role labeling from digital Spanish documents. The method makes it possible to represent multiple semantic relations specially taxonomic and partonomic ones in the standardized OWL 2.0. A set of experiments has been performed with the approach implemented in educational domain that show promising results.     

Enhancement effect on apparent viscosity of aqueous tragacanth gum dispersions promoted by sugars

Flow curves of aqueous dispersions of tragacanth gum (T) with sucrose and glucose at different temperatures were determined using a controlled‐stress rheometer. The effect of sodium chloride without or with sucrose (at the highest content) on the rheology of T dispersions was evaluated. The presence of sucrose and glucose promoted a noticeable enhancement impact on the apparent viscosity of aqueous T dispersions, which depended on sugar type/content, shear rate and temperature. In all cases, the glucose addition led to the largest enhanced viscosities at low shear rates (<10 s^?1) and temperature. The joint action of sugar and salt exhibited a notable effect on apparent viscosity at low shear rates, softening the strong shear‐thinning behaviour of T samples. Flow curves of T in the presence of sugars were satisfactorily described by the Cross‐Williamson model, being semi‐empirical correlations of the model parameters with ingredients content and temperature stablished.     

Playing on a holo-stage: towards the interaction between real and virtual performers

This paper presents a number of ongoing projects that will be valuable to the development of technologies for digital theatre and performance. This paper describes an EU ACTS project called RESOLV which develops an integrated system to capture real 3D environments using laser and video. Current research on motion tracking, statistical behaviour modelling and simulation is presented, and possible applications, both for visual augmentation and audio generation, are discussed. The projects presented were not originally designed in the domain of theatre and performance, however their results and output seem to be well suited to be applied in this area.     

Propagating and evanescent waves associated with inhibited reflection in uniaxial crystals: Extraordinary incidence

Abstract

When an extraordinary wave under inhibited reflection conditions is incident on an interface between a uniaxial crystal and an isotropic medium, the reflected extraordinary wave is evanescent and the polarization of the refracted wave changes from linear to elliptical. In the present paper it is shown that the refracted ray undergoes a shift which is not only longitudinal (as the Goos—Hänchen effect in total reflection in isotropic interfaces) but also transversal. The structure of the evanescent reflected wave is studied and the polarization of the transmitted wave is analysed.     

pH-responsive drug delivery system based on hollow silicon dioxide micropillars coated with polyelectrolyte multilayers

We report on the fabrication of polyelectrolyte multilayer-coated hollow silicon dioxide micropillars as pH-responsive drug delivery systems. Silicon dioxide micropillars are based on macroporous silicon formed by electrochemical etching. Due to their hollow core capable of being loaded with chemically active agents, silicon dioxide micropillars provide additional function such as drug delivery system. The polyelectrolyte multilayer was assembled by the layer-by-layer technique based on the alternative deposition of cationic and anionic polyelectrolytes. The polyelectrolyte pair poly(allylamine hydrochloride) and sodium poly(styrene sulfonate) exhibited pH-responsive properties for the loading and release of a positively charged drug doxorubicin. The drug release rate was observed to be higher at pH 5.2 compared to that at pH 7.4. Furthermore, we assessed the effect of the number of polyelectrolyte bilayers on the drug release loading and release rate. Thus, this hybrid composite could be potentially applicable as a pH-controlled system for localized drug release.