Technological and sensorial properties of liquid nitrogen ice cream enriched with protein from brewing waste (trub)

Debittered trub (brewing waste) is an important source of protein source (70.26%). Trub and whey protein were used for 5% protein enrichment of ice cream frozen by liquid nitrogen. Three formulations were elaborated: ice cream standard (ICS), ice cream with whey protein (ICW) and ice cream with trub (ICT). Chemical composition, rheological properties, texture, overrun, melting rate, scanning electron microscopy and a sensorial test were performed. Results showed that ICT presented a higher viscosity, obtained on the upward curve up to 6.76 Pa s⁻¹, consistency index (22.96 (Pa s⁻¹)ⁿ), hysteresis area (140.40 mPa s⁻¹) and hardness (31113.33 g) but a lower melting rate (0.38 g min⁻¹), overrun (13.92%) and sensorial acceptability than the other formulations. The addition of trub debittered for protein enrichment improved ice cream properties and demonstrated that it could be used as a food ingredient.     

Kinetic,thermodynamic parameters and in vitro digestion of tannase from Aspergillus tamarii URM 7115

Tannase is an enzyme used in various industries and produced by a large number of microorganisms. The aim of this study was to evaluate tannase production to determine the biochemical, kinetic, and thermodynamic properties and to simulate tannase in vitro digestion. The tannase-producing fungal strain was isolated from “jamun” leaves and identified as Aspergillus tamarii. Temperature at 26°C for 67?h was the best combination for maximum tannase activity (6.35-fold; initial activity in Plackett–Burman design—15.53?U/mL and average final activity in Doehlert design—98.68?U/mL). The crude extract of tannase was optimally active at 40°C, pH 5.5 and 6.5. Moreover, tannase was stimulated by Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, and Mn²⁺. The half-life at 40°C lasted 247.55?min. The free energy of Gibbs, enthalpy, and entropy, at 40°C, was 81.47, 16.85, and ?0.21?kJ/mol?·?K, respectively. After total digestion, 123.95% of the original activity was retained. Results suggested that tannase from A. tamarii URM 7115 is an enzyme of interest for industrial applications, such as gallic acid production, additive for feed industry, and for beverage manufacturing, due to its catalytic and thermodynamic properties.     

Mining statistically significant associations for exploratory analysis of human sleep data.

We introduce a specialized association rule mining technique that can extract patterns from complex sleep data comprising polysomnographic recordings, clinical summaries, and sleep questionnaire responses. The rules mined can describe associations among temporally annotated events and questionnaire or summary data; e.g., the likelihood that an occurrence of a rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stage during the second 100 sleep epochs of the night is associated with moderate caffeine intake. We use chi2 analysis to ensure statistical significance of the mined rules at the level P < 0.05. Our results, obtained by mining sleep-related data from 242 human subjects, reveal clinically interesting associations among the polysomnographic and summary variables. Our experience suggests that association mining may also be useful for selection of variables prior to using logistic regression.     

Off-Site Exposure to Respirable Aerosols Produced during the Disk-Incorporation of Class B Biosolids

Field experiments were conducted at a Class B biosolids land application site in central Arizona to measure, model, and source-track the off-site transport of aerosols emitted when biosolids were disk-incorporated into soils. Real-time PM10 monitoring provided time-resolved aerosol information sufficient for verifying both off-site concentration and off-site exposure time model results. Under the conditions considered and at a distance of 165?m from the aerosol source, biosolids disk-incorporation resulted in an intermittent exposure to biosolids-derived aerosol concentration between 15 and 40?μg/m3 and an inhalable biosolids dose between 2 and 8?μg. Transport modeling predicted that these doses will decrease with increasing wind speed. In addition, three DNA sequence-based biosolids source tracking methods were applied to aerosol samples and confirmed the presence of biosolids in aerosols at 5, 65, and 165?m from the aerosol source. Field measurements and modeling indicate that the nature of biosolids-derived aerosol exposure is a series of intermittent high concentration puffs, rather than a continuous low concentration.     

Modeling the sequential switching shunt series regulator

This letter characterizes, in terms of the bandwidth and limit cycle frequency of its constituent subsystems, the sequential switching shunt series regulator -S/sup 4/R, a high-efficiency, low-mass and volume power cell devised to power the next generation of regulated power buses in telecommunication spacecrafts. Transconductance power source modeling is used to obtain linear and nonlinear models. These are used to establish a design control strategy which involves the dynamic response in large load requirements or at the end of the satellite life. Simulations and experimental results are also given to demonstrate the validity of the model.     

Nonlinear adaptive algorithms for equalisation in mobile satellite communications

This paper considers the equalisation problem in Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying (QPSK) modulated signals which have been distorted by the passage through a transmission channel. The channel is modelled as a Rician fading channel to simulate the behaviour of the transmission channel in the mobile satellite context. The equalisation is treated as the generalisation of the channel behaviour, and some algorithms with the structure of an artificial neural network using the Multilayer Perceptron, Volterra Series and Radial Basis Function are described. Results for the BER performance of typical transversal equalisers, with Square-Root Kalman adaptation algorithm, and algorithms with artificial neural network structure are also reported and evaluated. Improved performance is exhibited by the artificial neural network approaches.     

The effect of the addition of chemical materials on the sintering of biomass ash

In this work the use of chemical materials (additives) in order to reduce the biomass ash sintering tendency is investigated. A total of seven additives (kaolin, limestone, lime, dolomite, calcined dolomite, ophite and alumina) and silica utilised as reference material were mixed in different proportions with the ash of five different biomasses, and then a laboratory sintering test was performed on the mixtures to determine the effect of the additives on the sintering. The biomasses studied in this work were: thistle biomass, brassica carinata biomass, barley straw, almond shell and orujillo (olive oil extraction residue). The sintering decrease among the additives was studied using X-ray diffraction.Kaolin, lime, calcined dolomite and ophite are proved to be suitable to reduce the biomass sintering in all the considered cases. Dolomite, limestone and, particularly, the tabular alumina, offer poorer results. The dilution of the biomass ash is considered the main process involved in the decrease of the sintering for most of the additives, with the exception of kaolin whose chemical reactions could be more important than the dilution effect.     

Effect of sodium nitroprusside on compound action potential thresholds in the gerbil cochlea

OBJECTIVE: Trials that do not allow rejection of the null hypothesis of no treatment effect may have had an inappropriate design. Trials are virtually never assessed for correlation between responses to different treatment modalities. METHODS: Using a hypothetical example and several published studies we examine the influence of correlation levels between treatment modalities on the sensitivity of testing. RESULTS: The level of correlation between responses to different treatment modalities is a major determinant of the sensitivity both of crossover and parallel group clinical trials. CONCLUSIONS: It is very relevant to assess a priori correlation levels between responses to the different treatment modalities of a trial. If a negative correlation is anticipated, a crossover design is likely to lack sensitivity. If a positive correlation is anticipated a parallel-group design seems less appropriate, because it would lack the extra sensitivity of accounting for the positive correlation. Both designs would seem suitable for approximately zero correlations (e.g. comparison vs baseline or vs placebo under the assumption that the number of placebo responders is negligible.