CONTAMINATION OF SEVERAL BREAKFAST CEREALS BY METHYL CHLOROFORM

The analysis of several breakfast cereals has shown that methyl chloroform (MCF, 1,1,1-Trichloroethane), a solvent found to be present in the adhesive of the outer box, can migrate from the adhesive through the box and the waxed liner into the cereal. The levels of MCF in the adhesive, the outer box, the waxed liner and the cereal were found to range from 0 to 2.3%, 0 to 19.4 ppm, 0 to 4.8 ppm, and 0 to 0.40 ppm, respectively, in 11 breakfast cereals. The MCF residues were determined using a closed system-vacuum distillation gas chromatographic technique with both electron capture and electrolytic conductivity detection. The results were confirmed by high resolution mass spectrometry.     

Reconstruction of the rose of directions from a digital microhologram of fibres

Digital holography makes it possible to acquire quickly the interference patterns of objects spread in a volume. The digital processing of the fringes is still too slow to achieve on line analysis of the holograms. We describe a new approach to obtain information on the direction of illuminated objects. The key idea is to avoid reconstruction of the volume followed by classical three-dimensional image processing. The hologram is processed using a global analysis based on autocorrelation. A fundamental property of diffraction patterns leads to an estimate of the mean geometric covariogram of the objects projections. The rose of directions is connected with the mean geometric covariogram through an inverse problem. In the general case, only the two-dimensional rose of the object projections can be reconstructed. The further assumption of unique-size objects gives access with the knowledge of this size to the three-dimensional direction information. An iterative scheme is suggested to reconstruct the three-dimensional rose in this special case. Results are provided on holograms of paper fibres.     

Effect of high intensity pulsed electric fields on enzymes and vitamins in bovine raw milk

Pulsed electric fields (PEF) were applied to fresh bovine raw milk using a laboratory-scale continuous PEF system to study the impact on selected native enzyme activities and on vitamin degradation. The activities of protease, lipase, alkaline phosphatase and lactoperoxidase following PEF treatment at electric field strengths ranging from 15 to 35 kV/cm for treatment times of 12.5 µs to 75 µs were examined. Reductions in enzyme activity, even under the most severe conditions employed, were quite modest, amounting to 14%, 37% and 29% for lipase, protease and alkaline phosphatase, respectively, while the activity of lactoperoxidase remained unchanged. The PEF treatment had no effect on the levels of thiamin, riboflavin, retinol and α-tocopherol in the milk .     

Implementation of a dynamic scheduler for apparel computer integrated manufacturing systems

A major problem faced by the typical apparel manufacturer in day-to-day operations is the need for an effective scheduler to determine actions required because of operator and/or machine non-performance. The dynamic resource allocation system (DRAS) scheduler described in this paper is the natural outgrowth of previously funded research related to the design, development, technology transfer and installation of a CIM system in an apparel plant. The already developed CIM system provides a way for the DRAS scheduler (described in this paper) to change a production process dynamically. The implementation and modeling approach of the scheduler is described. The underlying system model is based on Petri nets and object-oriented databases. Petri nets provide a dynamic model of the CIM system, while object-oriented databases provide necessary information about system components and overall system activity. The data from the CIM system is used by the scheduler in the simulation mode. The daily production plan is used as a guideline to determine how to react to and correct production problems.     

Development of Children's Seriation: A Connectionist Approach

This paper presents a modular connectionist network model of the development of seriation (sorting) in children. The model uses the cascade-correlation generative connectionist algorithm. These cascade-correlation networks do better than existing rule-based models at developing through soft stage transitions, sorting more correctly with larger stimulus size increments and showing variation in seriation performance within stages. However, the full generative power of cascade-correlation was not found to be a necessary component for successfully modelling the development of seriation abilities. Analysis of network weights indicates that improvements in seriation are due to continuous small changes instead of the radical restructuring suggested by Piaget. The model suggests that seriation skills are present early in development and increase in precision during later development. The required learning environment has a bias towards smaller and nearly ordered arrays. The variability characteristic of children's performance arises from sorting subsets of the total array. The model predicts better sorting moves with more array disorder, and a dissociation between which element should be moved and where it should be moved.     

Driving Information Systems Security through Innovations—First Indications

Modern organizations and even nations are increasingly dependent on information systems (IS) security, and their economic prosperity is strongly linked to innovation. Do these two important issues also relate one to another, and how? Can some lessons be learned that are important not only to security professionals but also to organizational and other important systems managing decision makers? Assuming that the answer is yes, how can we deploy innovation techniques to further improve IS security? Because this interdisciplinary area has not been addressed so far, this article presents one of the first attempts to address it on the basis of statistically relevant data on a national and international scale. It provides experimental results that imply some important statistical interdependencies that call for further study and also identifies systemic limitations, including those that exist on the European Union scale, that should be addressed to enable progress in this area.     

Proton Low-Field NMR Measurements on Crackers

We have shown that the signal obtained for crackers (3.5% water content) by low resolution NMR method using the CPMG sequence, described the relaxation of the protons of fat. For water content up to 7.1% the water signal is not seen by a CPMG sequence, the water has therefore a very short spin-spin relaxation time (T2 < 0.5 ms). However, that water modifies the mobility of protons of fat at solid-liquid interfaces. Protons exchangeable by deuterium affect neither the relaxation time of the short component (about 1 ms), nor its intensity. Between 7.1% and 14.8%, the water had a spin-spin relaxation time of about 1 msec and its signal was added to the short component of the fat. Thus, low resolution NMR could be used to follow the crystallization of fat in such samples after cooking.     

A Seminar for Real‐time Interactive Simulation of Engineering Projects: An Innovative Use of Video‐conferencing and IT‐based Educational Tools

Graduate‐level programs in project management continue to attract many engineers looking for tools and methods to help them deal with the complexity of their activities. In order to meet this demand, many universities are experimenting with new teaching methods, based on information and communications technologies. This article presents a teaching approach which consists in recreating the organizational context in which engineers generally have to manage their projects. In practical terms, it is a full‐day seminar that involves simulating a project from its launch until product delivery. Like most real projects, the activity takes place at more than one location simultaneously and relies on the intensive use of communications technologies, including video‐conferencing, to coordinate the work teams. Although the primary client base is graduate students, this method is just as relevant for professional engineers and undergraduate students. Over 400 participants have taken part in this seminar to date.     

PHYSICAL AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF CORNFLAKES CRISPNESS

Three compression systems were used to study the mechanical behavior of cereal flakes of 13 commercial cornflakes brands that were also evaluated by sensory analysis. A Kramer cell, on an Instron testing machine, allowed to simultaneously record force in the range 0–5 kN and sound in the frequency domain 0–22 kHz during the crushing of 20 mm thick beds of cereal flakes tested in bulk. It was shown to be the most reliable and efficient method for discrimination. Acoustic emission has been shown to correlate with crispness perception. Uncrispy‐perceived products emitted signals with lower average amplitude and higher peaks, at low frequencies – less than 3 kHz – and opposed a high mechanical resistance to compression. On the opposite, the crispiest flakes emitted sounds with larger average amplitude, fewer high peaks and uniformly distributed in the frequency domain with a moderated mechanical resistance. Links between texture perception and structure were improved and results validated the developed system, which may be used for quality evaluation of particle solid foam foods.