Gluten-free cakes with walnut flour: a technological,sensory, and microstructural approach

Walnut flour (WF), a by-product of walnut oil production, is characterised by high polyunsaturated fatty acids, proteins, and fibre contents and presents suitability for bakery products. However, when using non-traditional ingredients, it is essential to evaluate the effect on the quality properties of the final product. So, this work aimed to assess the impact of WF on the technological, physicochemical, and sensory properties of gluten-free (GF) cakes. WF was added at a flour blend (cassava (CS) and maize (MS) starches and rice flour) at 0, 10%, 15%, and 20%. The results showed that WF modified starch gelatinisation, increased amylose–lipid complex (ALC) content, and made crumbs easier to chew. Besides, the total dietary fibre (TDF) and protein content significantly increased. Cakes with 15% WF presented the highest specific volume (SV) and no differences in overall acceptability with respect to control. Hence, WF is a suitable ingredient for gluten-free bakery products.     

New sesquiterpenes fromMaytenus species (Celastraceae). Taxonomic and chemotaxonomic considerations concerning chileanMaytenus

Three new dihydro--agarofuran sesquiterpenes from two species ofMaytenus were isolated and their structures were elucidated by means of¹H and¹³C NMR studies. The differences and similarities noted in the chemical content of the dihydro--agarofuran sesquiterpenes from the fourMaytenus species from Chile are in line with the taxonomic characterization of these species; their geographical distribution is also given.     

Self-Organising Maps: A new way to screen the level of satisfaction of dialysis patients

Evaluation of patient satisfaction has become an important indicator for assessing health care quality. Fresenius Medical Care (FME) as a global provider of dialysis services through its NephroCare network has a strong interest in monitoring patient satisfaction.The aim of the paper is to test and validate a methodology for detecting a residual area of low satisfaction in dialysis patients.The FME Patient Satisfaction Programme questionnaire was distributed to haemodialysis (HD) patients treated in 335 centers of its network. It contained 79 questions covering various satisfaction aspects regarding Dialysis Unit, Dialysis Arrangement, Nurses, Doctors, etc.To analyse the data provided by the questionnaire, the Self-Organising Map (SOM) method was used. SOM is a neural network model for clustering and projecting high-dimensional data into a low-dimensional space, preserving topological relationships of original high-dimensional data spaces.10,632 HD patients completed the questionnaire. Mean age was 63.05 ± 14.93 years with 56.69% males. Response rate was 66%. Overall level of satisfaction was 1.99 (range from ?3 to +3). On average patients were very satisfied with all issues. Nevertheless, a group of patients, around 60 years old, balanced gender ratio, whose level of satisfaction was lower than 1, were highlighted.In the NephroCare clinics patient satisfaction with service is rather high. While traditional analysis usually stops here, the SOM method allows identification of areas of potential improvement for specific patient groups.     

Evolutionary authoring tool for adaptive hypermedia with multimodal navigation

This paper discusses the importance of user adaptation and software evolution in hypermedia applications, and reviews some of the most relevant approaches to both fields. The paper describes a model that has been conceived for the development, maintenance and navigation of adaptive hypermedia systems. This model, called SEMantic, systemic and evolutionary model to develop HyPermedia systems (SEM-HP), includes an incremental design process, a layered architecture and an authoring tool integrated with a navigation tool. SEM-HP architecture is composed of four subsystems, which allow the separation of aspects related to knowledge representation, presentation, navigation and user adaptation. In addition, SEM-HP has a higher layer, which acts as a meta-system and allows a consistent evolution of the elements defined in each of the four subsystems, as well as their automatic co-evolution. Regarding user interaction, four alternative ways of navigating hypermedia information are supported. Finally, the paper shows the main results of two case studies carried out with the authoring and navigation tool, JSEM-HP, at the University of Granada, Spain.     

Determination of emotional content of video clips by low-level audiovisual features

Affective analysis of video content has greatly increased the possibilities of the way we perceive and deal with media. Different kinds of strategies have been tried, but results are still opened to improvements. Most of the problems come from the lack of standardized test set and real affective models. In order to cope with these issues, in this paper we describe the results of our work on the determination of affective models for evaluation of video clips using audiovisual low-level features. The affective models were developed following two classes of psychological theories of affect: categorial and dimensional. The affective models were created from real data, acquired through a series of user experiments. They reflect the affective state of a viewer after watching a certain scene from a movie. We evaluate the detection of Pleasure, Arousal and Dominance coefficients as well as the detection rate of six affective categories. For this end, two Bayesian network topologies are used, a Hidden Markov Model and an Autoregressive Hidden Markov Model. The measurements were done using audio-only models, video-only models and fused models. Fusion is done using two different methods, a Decision Level Fusion and Feature Level Fusion. All tests were conducted using localized affective models, both categorial and dimensional. Results are presented in terms of detection rate and accuracy for affective families, affective dimensions and probabilistic networks. Arousal was the best detected dimension, followed by dominance and pleasure.     

Detecting rottenness caused by Penicillium genus fungi in citrus fruits using machine learning techniques

Penicillium fungi are among the main defects that may affect the commercialization of citrus fruits. Economic losses in fruit production may become enormous if an early detection of that kind of fungi is not carried out. That early detection is usually based either on UltraViolet light carried out manually. This work presents a new approach based on hyperspectral imagery for defect segmentation. Both the physical device and the data processing (geometric corrections and band selection) are presented. Achieved results using classifiers based on Artificial Neural Networks and Decision Trees show an accuracy around 98%; it shows up the suitability of the proposed approach.     

2008年切尔西花卉展

传统的切尔西花卉展拉开了本季伦敦社交活动的序幕。此次花卉展具有田园风情、富有创意．在全国范围内掀起了观赏的热潮堪比巴黎时装周。本次花卉展由皇家园艺学会主办，温莎王室赞助，共持续了5天，英国媒体给予了广泛的关注．BBC广播电台进行了全程直播。与往年一样，英国女王伊丽莎白二世受邀出席了此次花卉展。众所周知的绿色空间倡导者——     

Digital modular control of high frequency DC–DC converters

This paper presents a solution for controlling integrated DC–DC converters with high switching frequency (>20 MHz). The increase of the switching frequency is a trend biased by output filter volume restrictions and integration demand. The control of DC–DC converters operating at high frequency presents an opportunity to speed up the converter response time but also a challenge specially for the control solution, quiescent current and to limit the sensitivity to process and operating conditions for the mixed signal circuits involved. The solution presented in this work relies on separating the duty-cycle into three parts: a load-free value that depends only on the input and output voltages, a transient fast correction contribution, and an accurate compensation for the IR drop that depends on the load current. The load-free portion of the duty-cycle has a compensation of PVT variations and the fast transient part of the duty-cycle uses a non-linear sliding mode control solution. All the analog blocks required for the implementation of the proposed solution are detailed.     

Effects of vinyltrimethoxy silane on mechanical properties and morphology of polypropylene‐woodflour composites

The effects of composition and interface modification on the tensile properties and the impact resistance of different woodflour/polypropylene composites (WPC) were studied. The woodflour was treated with vinyltrimethoxy silane as a coupling agent, and its effect on the WPC properties was examined. In addition, the tensile data were fitted with several semiempirical models to clarify the mechanical behavior of the composites. The Pukánszky parameters obtained from the fit of the tensile strength data revealed that the distribution of the filler was more homogeneous in the composites containing silane and that interaction between components was improved. The impact strength was maximal for the composites containing 30% of silane‐treated woodflour. Morphological analysis by SEM revealed that the woodflour tended to form agglomerates when present in relatively high amounts in the formulations. For the silane‐treated composites, the dispersion of the filler into the polypropylene (PP) matrix improved, although surface treatment blocked the inclusion of PP into the wood cells. This probably decreased the elastic moduli, even when the filler‐matrix interaction was improved. The beneficial effects of the coupling agent on the WPC properties were greater in the materials containing a relatively low amount of filler (up to 30%); the effectiveness of 0.5% and 1% organosilane were very similar, demonstrating the effectiveness of the coupling agent. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Measurements of horizontal three‐phase solid‐liquid‐gas slug flow: Influence of hydrate‐like particles on hydrodynamics

Gas hydrate formation is a main flow assurance concern in oil and gas production. Understanding the effects of the introduction of solid particles in the slug flow is essential to improve the efficiency and safety of multiphase production. The purpose of the present work is the experimental characterization of solid‐liquid‐gas slug flow with the presence of dispersed hydrate‐like particles. Experimental tests were carried out with inert polyethylene particles of 0.5‐mm diameter with density similar to gas hydrates (938 kg/m³). The test section comprised a 26‐mm ID, 9‐m length horizontal duct of transparent Plexiglas. High Speed Imaging and resistivity sensors was used to analyze the slug flow unit cell behavior due to the introduction of the solid particles and to measure the unit cell translational velocity, the slug flow frequency, the bubble and slug lengths, and the phase fractions. Two distinct concentrations of solid particles were tested (6 and 8 g/dm³). © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 2864–2880, 2018