Effect of Methionine Supplementation on Nitrogen Balance in Infants Fed a Low-Cost Soy-Oats Formula

A nitrogen balance study, comparing a low-cost soy-oats infant formula with and without supplemental methionine, was carried out with infants of ages 3 - 26 months at a single equivalent level of nitrogen intake (approximately 850 mg/kg/day). Nitrogen retention was found to be unaffected by methionine supplementation. Com- parison of data obtained in this study with previous research re- vealed that a critical value for intake of total L-sulfur amino acids apparently exists in infants 3 - 26 months of age, below which methionine supplementation will increase nitrogen retention, but above which it will not. This value appears to coincide with that of 49 mg/kg/day recommended for infants by the FNB.     

THERMAL DEATH TIMES OF ESCHERICHIA COLI IN YOUNG COCONUT ENDOSPERM BEVERAGE

The decimal reduction times (D values) of Escherichia coli (American Type Culture Collection 25922) were established in a young coconut endosperm beverage, a famous local drink in the Philippines and in many tropical countries. Artificially inoculated cells were heated to 60, 70 and 80C at various heating times prior to survivor enumeration by surface plating onto pre-solidified Eosine Methylene Blue Agar. Results showed that the surviving populations significantly (P  <  0.05) decreased with increasing exposure time and temperature. The calculated D values ranged from 0.26  ±  0.01 to 0.56  ±  0.08   min. Validation of the results by establishing the thermal resistance of other E. coli isolates in the coconut beverage medium was recommended.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

The study established the thermal inactivation rates of Escherichia coli (American Type Culture Collection 25922) in a young coconut endosperm beverage medium in various heating temperatures. The results obtained from this study may be used in the calculations of appropriate thermal process schedules for the test beverage against the test organism.     

Turbidity of Beverages with Citrus Oil Clouding Agent

Basic principles of light scattering were used to predict turbidity in cloudy beverages for monodisperse and polydisperse systems of suspended citrus oil globules. Predicted values for specific turbidity agreed well with experimental values for diluted citrus oil-in-water beverage cloud emulsions. Citrus oil-in-water cloud emulsions were prepared with a pressure homogenizer at different pressures (4.1–27.56 kPa). Size distributions obtained for the emulsions fit the long-normal distribution and the distribution curves became more narrow as pressure of homogenization increased.     

THE COMPROMISE DECISION SUPPORT PROBLEM: MODELING THE DEVIATION FUNCTION AS IN PHYSICAL PROGRAMMING

The Archimedean and preemptive formulations that are currently used in the goal formulation of the Compromise Decision Support Problem (DSP) suffer two major drawbacks related to the arbitrary definition of priority levels and targets for multiple objectives. The Archimedean formulation is very difficult to implement because there is no consistent way to determine a prioria correct set of weights. Thus, choosing weights is either done arbitrarily or by cumbersome iterations. In the preemptive approach one objective is assumed to be infinitely more important than the others. Also, in the Compromise DSP it is necessary to define targets for each goal, and usually those targets are selected based on “educated guesses” or through an inefficient process of iteration. These shortcomings undermine the effectiveness of the Compromise DSP as a design tool. These problems can be amended by modifying the Compromise DSP according to the Linear Physical Programming (LPP) formulation. In this paper the modification of the Compromise DSP and its advantages are described, and the method is illustrated with a case example of the preliminary design of an absorption chiller.     

Model for Evaluating Turbidity in Cloudy Beverages

A model was developed to simulate diluted emulsions of clouding agents in beverages using uniform latex particles (ULP) at different concentrations and particle sizes ranging from 0.10 to 5.85 μm. The model allows determination of optimum concentration and diameter of suspended particles in diluted suspensions. Turbidity measurements showed that, for a given particle concentration, the haze of a diluted suspension reached a maximum when the diameter of the ULP was decreased to 0.2-0.3 μm. A comparison of typical citrus oil in water beverage emulsions with diluted ULP suspensions showed that, when size of suspended oil globules was varied, a similar optimum particle size was found.     

Reverse Monte Carlo reconstruction algorithm for discrete electron tomography based on HAADF‐STEM atom counting

In this paper, we propose an algorithm to obtain a three‐dimensional reconstruction of a single nanoparticle based on the method of atom counting. The location of atoms in three dimensions has been successfully performed using simulations of high‐angle‐annular‐dark‐field images from only three zone‐axis projections, [110], [310] and [211], for a face‐centred cubic particle. These three orientations are typically accessible by low‐tilt holders often used in high‐performance scanning transmission electron microscopes.     

PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CASHEW APPLE (ANACARDIUM OCCIDENTALE L.) AND GUAVA (PSIDIUM GUAJAVA L.) FRUIT POWDERS

Cashew apple and guava residues from fruit juice processing industry were prepared as dehydrated fruit powders. Differences in compositional and physicochemical characteristics between both fruit powders were significant at the 5% probability level, with exception to ash content. It is important to point out that despite the dehydration process, both samples can still be considered good sources of vitamin C. In addition, the results show that the guava and cashew apple powders may be useful in the food industry as high dietary "fiber ingredients." Higher lipid (14.05%) content was observed in guava powder. The guava powder could be an alternative source of lipid. The data also indicated that these materials are good sources of ash. The results suggest further utilization of these residues as valuable food ingredients or as a resource for nutraceuticals.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Large quantity of agro-industrial residues formed by fruit juice extraction represents a major disposal problem. An alternative to recycling the fruit-industrial residue is to submit it to drying processes and transform into value-added products as dehydrated fruit powder. In this way, this process contributes to diminish the problem and to recover valuable biomass and nutrients. The purpose of this study was to develop a technology to obtain guava and cashew apple powders with the objective of finding alternatives to the exploitation of these residues as valuable sources of vitamin C, as ashes and lipid that should also be regarded as potential nutraceutical resources in future or functional ingredients.     

SEPARATION OF AIRBORNE DUST IN ELECTROSTATICALLY ENHANCED FIBROUS FILTERS

The removal of small charged dust particles from a gas stream using an external electric field is common in many industrial applications. In the present paper, the feasibility of using electrostatically enhanced fibrous filters (EEFFs) to separate high concentration dusts from a contaminated gas stream is studied and models to predict both the pressure drop through the filter and the collection efficiency in the dust laden filter are proposed and these models are confirmed by experiments.     

微铣刀刀刃轨迹预测模型及影响因素分析

微铣削是一种柔性很强的微加工方法,可对多种材料进行微器件的加工.但由于微铣刀具有独特的几何特征,微铣削时的刀刃轨迹与传统意义上的铣削刀刃轨迹有明显区别.针对2刃微铣刀,开发了一个考虑刀具回转误差和转子振动效应的刀刃轨迹预测模型,并分析了其对加工过程的影响.同时提出了一种基于刀柄测量结果,计算刀尖回转误差和刀具装夹不平衡量的方法.将这两个结果输入刀刃轨迹模型后,可以准确地预测刀尖中心和两个刀刃的轨迹,并以此来计算即时切屑厚度、切削力、铣槽宽度(加工误差)和表面质量.实验结果很好地验证了模型的预测.分析结果表明,在微铣削过程中,单刃切削经常发生;刀刃角和进给角这两个模型参数对加工误差和刀具磨损非常重要,刀刃角的最优值为±90°,进给角可根据加工要求进行选择.