Consumer context-specific sensory acceptance tests: Effects of a cognitive warm-up on affective product discrimination

For simple hedonic ratings, product range effects often limit the reliability and accuracy of consumer affective discriminations among multiple products. In the present study, a cognitive warm-up (CWU) procedure was applied to consumer acceptance tests in order to stabilize consumers’ evaluative criteria by evoking their personal evaluation context. The effects of such procedure on the robustness of the affective product discriminations were investigated using two sets of comparison experiments, each using a related samples design. Consumers with equivalent sensory preference profile for skin lotions were screened and divided into High Reflection Thinkers (HRT) and Low Reflection Thinkers (LRT) using the Cognitive Reflection Test. They were then randomly, but evenly assigned to either a treatment (Group I) or a control (Group II) group, in which hedonic rating was performed either with or without the preceding CWU procedure, thus forming four sub-groups (treatment group-HRT, treatment group-LRT, control group-HRT, and control group-LRT subjects). For each sub-group, discriminability between the two chosen products in terms of d′ value was compared across the two experimental conditions consisting of different product ranges. The results indicated that only in the control group-LRT subjects, the two conditions displayed different product discrimination. It suggests that for LRT subjects who are assumed to be more intuitive and thus might be more vulnerable to such product range effects, the CWU had a stabilizing effect on the evaluative criteria, resulting in more robust product discrimination.     

Effects of initial albumen quality and mineral oil–chitosan emulsion coating on internal quality and shelf‐life of eggs during room temperature storage

Effects of mineral oil (MO) and mineral oil–chitosan emulsion (MO:CH = 25:75) as coatings on internal quality and shelf‐life of eggs were evaluated during 5‐week storage at 25 °C. Eggs with three different initial albumen qualities [Haugh unit (HU): H = 87.8, M = 75.6 and L = 70.9] were evaluated. As storage time increased, HU and yolk index values decreased whereas weight loss increased. Coating with MO and/or 25:75 MO:CH emulsion could preserve the internal quality for at least 4 more weeks for H‐eggs and at least 3 more weeks for M and/or L‐eggs, all with weight losses <0.92%. All coated eggs had >70% positive purchase intent, and their colour differences at week 0 could not be detected by naked human eye (ΔE^* < 3.0, noncoated eggs as reference). Consumers significantly differentiated freshly MO‐coated from noncoated eggs on overall surface appearance. This study demonstrated that MO and 25:75 MO:CH emulsion coatings could preserve internal quality and prolong shelf‐life of eggs.     

入侵检测中基于SVM的两级特征选择方法

针对入侵检测中的特征优化选择问题,提出基于支持向量机的两级特征选择方法。该方法将基于检测率与误报率比值的特征评测值作为特征筛选的评价指标,先采用过滤模式中的Fisher分和信息增益分别过滤噪声和无关特征,降低特征维数;再基于筛选出来的交叉特征子集,采用封装模式中的序列后向搜索算法,结合支持向量机选取最优特征子集。仿真测试结果表明,采用该方法筛选出来的特征子集具有更好的分类性能,并有效降低了系统的建模时间和测试时间。     

Effect of air temperature and velocity on moisture diffusivity in relation to physical and sensory quality of dried pumpkin seeds

Understanding the effect of drying process parameters on food quality is helpful in process optimization and control. The objective of this work is to understand the effect of mild and harsh effective moisture diffusivity (D_eff), varied by air temperature and velocity, of drying processes on the physical and sensory quality of flat food products. Pumpkin seeds were selected as a food representative. It was found that increments of air temperature and velocity resulted in increased D_eff and brown color on seed hull surfaces and embryos, but decreased hardness of seed embryos. Changes in taste and aroma of seed embryos were able to be sensed. Indicating that D_eff is related to seed physical quality. Similar phenomena occurred with both tray and fluidized bed drying. Air temperature, velocity, and D_eff should be controlled to ensure the best dried flat food products. Mild drying conditions are potentially preferred for good physical and sensory quality.     

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of the Supplementary Motor Area in the Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Multi-Site Study

Recently, strategies beyond pharmacological and psychological treatments have been developed for the management of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Specifically, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been employed as an adjunctive treatment in cases of treatment-refractory OCD. Here, we investigate six weeks of low frequency rTMS, applied bilaterally and simultaneously over the sensory motor area, in OCD patients in a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. Twenty-two participants were randomly enrolled into the treatment (ACTIVE = 10) or placebo (SHAM = 12) groups. At each of seven visits (baseline; day 1 and weeks 2, 4, and 6 of treatment; and two and six weeks after treatment) the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) was administered. At the end of the six weeks of rTMS, patients in the ACTIVE group showed a clinically significant decrease in Y-BOCS scores compared to both the baseline and the SHAM group. This effect was maintained six weeks following the end of rTMS treatment. Therefore, in this sample, rTMS appeared to significantly improve the OCD symptoms of the treated patients beyond the treatment window. More studies need to be conducted to determine the generalizability of these findings and to define the duration of rTMS’ clinical effect on the Y-BOCS. Clinical Trial Registration Number (NCT) at www.clinicaltrials.gov: {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT00616486","term_id":"NCT00616486"}}NCT00616486.     

测量不确定度对En值法评价气体检测能力验证结果的影响探究

在环境空气检测能力验证工作中,由于气体容器、充装方法等影响,气体样品的制备通常会采用逐瓶制备的方式,每瓶气体样品的指定值会存在一定的差异,因此气体检测能力验证结果往往采用E_n值法进行评价。采用E_n值法时,实验室测量不确定度直接影响能力验证评价结果,实验室正确评定其测量不确定度是E_n值法得以正确合理使用的必要条件。以空气中二氧化硫检测能力验证计划为例,通过分析E_n值与不确定度的关系,确定实验室测量不确定度的有效范围,并据此给出两组实验室的能力评定标准差分别为0.64 μmol/mol和1.23 μmol/mol;有效的不确定度范围分别为0.34~1.92 μmol/mol和0.66~3.69 μmol/mol,为有效采用E_n值法评价实验室结果和指导实验室正确评定测量不确定度提供参考。     

植物蛋白肉产品品质评价及过敏原分析

为考察不同类别、不同品牌植物蛋白肉的品质,对市售18种植物蛋白肉产品进行感官评价及仪器检测,并对感官评价结果与仪器分析结果进行关联性分析,进一步探讨了过敏原的存在风险.通过外观、风味、口感等方面的指标可对植物蛋白鸡块、牛肉饼、肉馅品类有效评价产品像真性.全质构分析(TPA)参数中的咀嚼性和剪切力可以有效地评价感官指标,...     

Causal Effects of Aroma Compounds on Royal Gala Apple Flavours

Volatile flavour compounds produced by Royal Gala apple have been identified by GC-MS. Major components were 2-methylbutyl acetate, butyl acetate, hexyl acetate, butanol, 2-methylbutanol and hexanol. Odour-port evaluation of the components separated by GC indicated that the first four compounds were important contributors to the aroma and flavour. Use of analytical sensory panels revealed that 2-methylbutyl acetate, butanol and hexyl acetate had the greatest causal effect on those aroma and flavour attributes considered important for Royal Gala apples.