APPLICATION OF A COMMERCIAL ENZYME PREPARATION IN THE BARLEY MALTING PROCESS

This paper presents data on barley micromalting with addition of the CELLUCLAST enzyme complex. This is a commercial, multicarbohydrase with distinct β-glucanase and proteinase activities. The enzyme was added to steeping and germination phases, in different quantities (0.05%; 0.75% and 0.1% of initial barley). The enzyme was added to different malting phases: to the 2nd and 3rd steep water, at the beginning of germination on the 1st day by spraying, on the 2nd day of germination and in combination of addition to 3rd steeping water and in germination start (50% of total quantity of each). CELLUCLAST enzyme had a significant effect on reduction of wort viscosity, extract difference, wort filterability and protein breakdown, depending on the quantity of added enzyme and the malting phase to which it was added. There was no negative effect on other malt quality parameters. The best values of cytolytic breakdown parameters (viscosity, extract difference, filtration rate) were obtained with addition of 0.075% of CELLUCLAST, on the first day of germination.     

Robust Kalman filtering for nonlinear multivariable stochastic systems in the presence of non‐Gaussian noise

The presence of outliers can considerably degrade the performance of linear recursive algorithms based on the assumptions that measurements have a Gaussian distribution. Namely, in measurements there are rare, inconsistent observations with the largest part of population of observations (outliers). Therefore, synthesis of robust algorithms is of primary interest. The Masreliez–Martin filter is used as a natural frame for realization of the state estimation algorithm of linear systems. Improvement of performances and practical values of the Masreliez‐Martin filter as well as the tendency to expand its application to nonlinear systems represent motives to design the modified extended Masreliez–Martin filter. The behaviour of the new approach to nonlinear filtering, in the case when measurements have non‐Gaussian distributions, is illustrated by intensive simulations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distributed Subgradient Methods for Multi-Agent Optimization

We study a distributed computation model for optimizing a sum of convex objective functions corresponding to multiple agents. For solving this (not necessarily smooth) optimization problem, we consider a subgradient method that is distributed among the agents. The method involves every agent minimizing his/her own objective function while exchanging information locally with other agents in the network over a time-varying topology. We provide convergence results and convergence rate estimates for the subgradient method. Our convergence rate results explicitly characterize the tradeoff between a desired accuracy of the generated approximate optimal solutions and the number of iterations needed to achieve the accuracy.     

Luminescence properties of oxide films formed by anodization of aluminum in 12-tungstophosphoric acid

In this paper, we have investigated luminescence properties of oxide films formed by anodization of aluminum in 12-tungstophosphoric acid. For the first time we have measured weak luminescence during anodization of aluminum in this electrolyte (so-called galvanoluminescence GL) and showed that there are wide GL bands in the visible region of the spectrum and observed two dominant spectral peaks. The first one is at about 425 nm, and the second one shifts with anodization voltage. As the anodization voltage approaches the breakdown voltage, a large number of sparks appear superimposed on the anodic GL. Several intensive band peaks were observed under breakdown caused by electron transitions in W, P, Al, O, H atoms. Furthermore, photoluminescence (PL) of anodic oxide films and anodic-spark formed oxide coatings were performed. In both cases wide PL bands in the range from 320 nm to 600 nm were observed.     

Value of security: modeling time-dependent phenomena and weather conditions

Deterministic security criteria provide a degree of security that may be insufficient under some operating conditions and excessive for others. To determine an appropriate level of security, one should perform a probabilistic cost/benefit analysis that balances the cost of the security margin against its benefits, i.e., the expected societal cost of the avoided outages. This paper shows how a previously published method based on Monte Carlo simulation can be enhanced to take into account time-dependent phenomena (TDP) such as cascade tripping of elements due to overloads, malfunction of the protection system, and potential power system instabilities. In addition, the importance of using failure rates that reflect the weather conditions is discussed. Studies based on the South-Western part of the transmission network of England and Wales demonstrate the validity of the models that have been developed.     

Application of Unconventional Raw Materials and Procedures in Wort Production*

This paper deals with investigations of wort production by the application of unmalted raw material — native barley as a partial substitute for malt in grist. This adjunct was differently treated: (1) thermal decomposition, (2) enzymic decomposition by the addition of commercial enzyme “Termamyl”, and (3) hydrothermic decomposition i.e. extruding. Native barley prepared by these methods was added in proportions up to 70% of the grist, without the addition of exogenous enzymes. Experiments were carried out on a laboratory scale by using an infusion mashing procedure for wort production. The results obtained indicated that the application of native barley as the adjunct, gelatinised by heat treatment gave good results up to 10% as malt substitute. Larger amounts of barley gelatinised by heat treatment decreased extract yields. Malt substitution with pretreatment of barley with enzyme did not produce satisfactory results. Worts had reduced levels of extract and soluble nitrogen, which were insufficient for the production of high quality beer. Application of barley flakes in quantities up to 50% produced wort which had good analytical quality parameters.     

Correlations between submission and acceptance of papers in peer review journals

Scientometrics - This paper provides a comparative study about seasonal influence on editorial decisions for papers submitted to two peer review journals. We distinguish a specialized one, the...     

Application of the optimal power flow model in power systemeducation

Application of the optimal power flow based software package to aid instruction in the classroom is given in this paper. The package is used in the courses Computer Methods in Power Engineering, and Planning, Operation and Control of Power Systems. The essential idea is to utilize all calculation modules from the previously developed optimal power flow model. The software is applied in four projects, that is, constrained optimization, transmission expansion planning, active and reactive dispatching for operations planning, and corrective rescheduling within real time control     

Distributed and Recursive Parameter Estimation in Parametrized Linear State-Space Models

We consider a network of sensors deployed to sense a spatio-temporal field and infer parameters of interest about the field. We are interested in the case where each sensor's observation sequence is modeled as a state-space process that is perturbed by random noise, and the models across sensors are parametrized by the same parameter vector. The sensors collaborate to estimate this parameter from their measurements, and to this end we propose a distributed and recursive estimation algorithm, which we refer to as the incremental recursive prediction error algorithm. This algorithm has the distributed property of incremental gradient algorithms and the on-line property of recursive prediction error algorithms.