Consumer perceptions of anticake agents on shredded Cheddar cheese

Prepackaged natural cheese shreds are a growing consumer category. Anticake agents are applied to commercial cheese shreds to assist with shelf life and ease of use. The objective of this study was to investigate consumer perception of 3 anticake agents applied at various levels to Cheddar cheese shreds. Three common anticake agents (80% potato starch/20% cellulose blend, 100% potato starch, or potato starch/corn starch/calcium sulfate blend) were applied to duplicate lots of Cheddar cheese shreds at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5% (wt/wt). Control Cheddar cheese shreds with no anticake were also included. Sensory properties (appearance, flavor, texture, and hot texture) were documented using a trained sensory panel (n = 8), and 3 consumer acceptance tests were also conducted. In test 1, consumers (n = 110) visually evaluated liking of cold shred appearance. In test 2, consumers (n = 100) evaluated melted shreds on a flour tortilla for overall liking and appearance, flavor, and texture liking. In test 3, consumers (n = 49) participated in a home usage test. Two-way ANOVA (anticake × anticake application rate) was used to interpret the collected data from each test. Visual appearance of shreds was the primary attribute influenced by anticake application and anticake agent. Trained panel evaluation demonstrated that the 100% potato starch anticake had minimal effects on visual appearance. The other 2 agents (80% potato starch/20% cellulose blend and potato starch/corn starch/calcium sulfate blend) showed increases in visible powder at >3% (wt/wt). Consistent with results from trained panelists, higher application rates decreased consumer appearance and color liking for Cheddar shreds with 80% potato starch/20% cellulose and potato starch/corn starch/calcium sulfate blends at >2 or 3% (wt/wt), respectively. Appearance liking of melted shreds decreased with increased anticake application percent but decreased the most for 100% potato starch anticake at greater than 1% (wt/wt) application. Overall liking, flavor liking, and texture liking attributes for melted shreds were negatively affected at >3% (wt/wt) application regardless of anticake agent used. In general, anticake agents can be applied to Cheddar cheese shreds at up to 3% (wt/wt) with minimal effect on consumer perception.     

Polymerization of MMA at the surface of inorganic submicron particles

Inorganic submicron particles, such as TiO₂, were modified with titanate coupling agents. The structure and stability of some titanates, both in solution and at the particle surface, were investigated by various methods. The modified titanium dioxide was dispersed in a solution of sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS) in water. The surfactant adsorbs at the now hydrophobic particle surface, thus creating a micellelike structure with an inorganic particle in the centre. In this system an emulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate was carried out. Product formed at the particle surface is either physically bound by entanglement or chemically bound by covalent bonding to the titanates. In this way a core-shell morphology is obtained with an inorganic core and a polymer shell. The effects of several reaction parameters on the kinetics of the polymerization were studied. The encapsulated TiO₂ particles may offer interesting prospects in those applications where good coupling between polymer matrix and inorganic particles is necessary, such as latex paints and polymer composite materials.     

异辛醇磷酸酯渗透剂的制备及在制革生产中的应用

以异辛醇和五氧化二磷为原料，讨论了各种试验条件对反应的影响，结合反应转化率和产物渗透性分析，得出了最佳合成工艺条件：n(异辛醇)：n(五氧化二磷)=(2～3)：1，酯化时间3h，酯化温度70℃。并介绍了异辛醇磷酸酯渗透剂在制革生产中的应用。     

Creating Advice-Taking Reinforcement Learners

Learning from reinforcements is a promising approach for creating intelligent agents. However, reinforcement learning usually requires a large number of training episodes. We present and evaluate a design that addresses this shortcoming by allowing a connectionist Q-learner to accept advice given, at any time and in a natural manner, by an external observer. In our approach, the advice-giver watches the learner and occasionally makes suggestions, expressed as instructions in a simple imperative programming language. Based on techniques from knowledge-based neural networks, we insert these programs directly into the agent's utility function. Subsequent reinforcement learning further integrates and refines the advice. We present empirical evidence that investigates several aspects of our approach and shows that, given good advice, a learner can achieve statistically significant gains in expected reward. A second experiment shows that advice improves the expected reward regardless of the stage of training at which it is given, while another study demonstrates that subsequent advice can result in further gains in reward. Finally, we present experimental results that indicate our method is more powerful than a naive technique for making use of advice.     

Effects of the properties of blowing agents on the processing and performance of extruded starch acetate

The extrusion of polysaccharide‐based polymers, such as starch acetate, is quite different from that of ordinary synthetic polymers. To understand how the physiochemical properties of blowing agents affect plasticization and expansion processes, starch acetate was extruded with water, ethanol, and ethyl acetate. The studied properties and factors were the evaporation rate, surface tension, boiling point, solubility index, latent heat of vaporization of blowing agents, extrusion temperature, and nucleating‐ and blowing‐agent concentrations. The properties of the blowing agents and operating conditions affected the solubility of the matrix polymer, the nucleation process, and cell growth, which affected the foam density and specific volume. A high temperature increased the cell density and specific volume when water and ethanol were used because a high temperature increased the solubility of starch acetate in water and ethanol and promoted nucleation. Ethyl acetate already had high solvency to starch acetate and a high evaporation rate. A high temperature reduced the melting strength, thereby reducing the cell density and specific volume. Water evaporation was greater, despite a high latent heat of evaporation (hr) and boiling point, than the average volumes of ethanol and ethyl acetate that evaporated. The blowing‐agent efficiency was a function of the solvency, blowing‐agent evaporation rate, and operating conditions. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 97: 1880–1890, 2005     

INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOR IN MACHINES EMERGING FROM A COLLECTION OF INTERACTIVE CONTROL STRUCTURES

Control strategies that decompose the competence of an agent into independent, task-achieving control structures are emerging as viable alternatives to the notion that a robot is an explicit symbol processing device with input and output extensions in the form of sensors and actuators. This approach draws inspiration from ethology and the cognitive sciences, where the competence of biological creatures is seen to be a result of the successful combination of several distinct behavior patterns that enable them to interact effectively with their environments. The distinction between classical approaches that view intelligent behavior as the outcome of symbolic manipulations and an alternate approach that asserts that it is the careful integration of distributed, goal-competent control structures that lead to intelligent behavior is analyzed in detail. It is found that this dichotomy can be said to arise from the paradigm that is chosen to represent the knowledge at the disposal of the agent. Structurally encoded knowledge requiring an active interpreter for the knowledge to be exhibited in action leads to the symbol processing paradigm for intelligent behavior, whereas the interactive model for knowledge representation assumes that the knowledge at the disposal of an active agent resides within goal-competent, interactive control structures. A formalism is developed for representing the goal-directed nature of these interactive control structures with clear control-module boundaries. An implementation is then presented to demonstrate some of the basic features of this methodology.     

肉桂酸硫酯衍生物的合成及其辐射防护作用研究

为了从肉桂酸硫酯衍生寻找更有效的辐射损伤防护药，改变对羟基肉桂酸和芥子酸的结构，由４’－乙氧羰基－氧基苯丙烯酸酰氯和二乙胺基代乙硫醇，在碱催化下缩合，合成了４‘－乙氧羰基－氧在－２－－氯代苯丙烯酸二乙胺基代乙硫醇酯盐酸盐酸以及３，４，５－三甲氧基苯丙烯酸二乙胺基代乙硫醇酯盐酸盐，经小鼠整体辐射后，早期给药试验证明：小鼠经＾６０Ｃｏγ射线７．５－８．０Ｇｙ照射，３０ｄ存活率治疗组比对照组提高３０％。     

基于移动多智能体的分布式系统软件架构研究

在对比分析当前可用的分布式计算的计算模式的基础上,主要研究基于移动多智能体的分布式系统的软件体系结构。提出了一个基於移动智能Agent的分布式系统构架,给出了一种扩展请求器-中介器-供应器的嵌套式客户/Agent/服务器计算模式。在此基础上,讨论了一个基于Java的智能Agent构建的宏观经济决策支持系统框架和工作机制。经验分析表明,上述基於多智能体的分布式系统架构是可行的,并表现出更大的灵活性、自主性。     

用MSA作释放剂选择性螯合滴定法测定锆

本法提出测定锆的简易、快速螯合滴定法。向含有锆（Ⅳ）和其它阳离子的溶液中，加入过量的ＥＤＴＡ，在ｐＨＳ～６时以ＸＯ（二甲酚橙）－ＣＰＢ（溴化十六烷基吡啶）为混合指示剂，用Ｚｎ（ＮＯ３）。标准溶液返滴过量的ＥＤＴＡ。然后加入巯基丁二酸（ＭＳＡ）分解Ｚｒ－ＥＤＴＡ螯合物，释放出的ＥＤＴＡ，用Ｚｎ（ＮＯ３）２标准溶液滴定．终点变化更加敏锐．研究了各种离子的干扰．此法已被用于测定锆英石矿、高温耐火涂料中的锆，结果是满意的．     

阳离子聚合物防膨抑砂剂的合成与性能评价

合成了两种阳离子聚合物防膨抑砂剂,对其防膨和抑砂性能进行了评价,并与油田常用的一些防膨抑砂剂进行了对比,结果表明产物具有较好的防膨和抑砂性能.研究了石英砂粒径和驱动介质粘度对产物性能的影响,研究结果表明:当石英砂粒径大于0.3 mm、驱动介质粘度大于50 mPa*s时,合成产物基本失去抑砂能力.