Concern for the quality of life and future importance of the forensic sciences (the living and working environment)

The quality of life concerns the well-being of man and his environment. The disciplines that are an essential part of the professional activities of the forensic scientist ideally suit him to address and to find solutions for the many serious and contradictory problems facing man and his ever more complicated enviornment.     

Oxidative and microbial stability of poultry meatballs added with coriander extracts and packed in cold modified atmosphere

The aim of the study was to determine the effects of adding of coriander extracts to turkey meatballs. Meat samples were stored in modified atmosphere at 4°C ± 1°C for 9 days. The addition of coriander extract at 500 ppm level delayed the process of lipid oxidation for the period of 6 days of storage and growth inhibition of aerobic microorganisms for the period of 9 days of storage. The usage of a dose of 500 ppm as well as a dose of 200 ppm had no significant effect on the sensory features, but had an impact on colour parameters of the meatballs. In the groups with coriander extract, volatile terpenes were identified.     

The Half-Half Plot

The Half-Half (HH) plot is a new graphical method to investigate qualitatively the shape of a regression curve. The empirical HH-plot counts observations in the lower and upper quarter of a strip that moves horizontally over the scatterplot. The plot displays jumps clearly and reveals further features of the regression curve. We prove a functional central limit theorem for the empirical HH-plot, with rate of convergence . In a simulation study, the good performance of the plot is demonstrated. The method is also applied to two case studies. The proofs and one more case study are deferred to a supplement, which is available online.     

Cherry (Prunus cerasus cv Montmorency) extract with standardised antioxidant potential as preservative for refrigerated storage of ground pork

Antioxidants occurring naturally are much sought‐after for their safety of use for human nutrition and strong preservative properties. The study was performed to determine the antioxidant potential of sour cherry extract and its effect (equivalent of 20 mg and 40 mg GAE kg^?1) on the quality of ground pork patties during 8‐day storage. The patties were analysed for antioxidant capacity, oxidation, profile of fatty acids, flavour, colour, sensory properties and aerobic bacteria count. Patties with addition of cherry extract (40 mg GAE kg^?1) showed higher antioxidant capacity of 844 ± 149 μmol TE L^‐1 on the last day of the storage than the control group where the result was 480 ± 81 μmol TE L^‐1. The addition of extract caused lower overall increase in lipid oxidation and prevented loss of redness even on the last day of the storage. Flavour changes resulted from oxidation and decrease in the amount of desirable volatile compounds in storage. The application of the extract from Prunus cerasus combined with vacuum packaging inhibited both oxidation and quality deterioration of pork patties in cold storage.     

Explaining the user experience of recommender systems

Research on recommender systems typically focuses on the accuracy of prediction algorithms. Because accuracy only partially constitutes the user experience of a recommender system, this paper proposes a framework that takes a user-centric approach to recommender system evaluation. The framework links objective system aspects to objective user behavior through a series of perceptual and evaluative constructs (called subjective system aspects and experience, respectively). Furthermore, it incorporates the influence of personal and situational characteristics on the user experience. This paper reviews how current literature maps to the framework and identifies several gaps in existing work. Consequently, the framework is validated with four field trials and two controlled experiments and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The results of these studies show that subjective system aspects and experience variables are invaluable in explaining why and how the user experience of recommender systems comes about. In all studies we observe that perceptions of recommendation quality and/or variety are important mediators in predicting the effects of objective system aspects on the three components of user experience: process (e.g. perceived effort, difficulty), system (e.g. perceived system effectiveness) and outcome (e.g. choice satisfaction). Furthermore, we find that these subjective aspects have strong and sometimes interesting behavioral correlates (e.g. reduced browsing indicates higher system effectiveness). They also show several tradeoffs between system aspects and personal and situational characteristics (e.g. the amount of preference feedback users provide is a tradeoff between perceived system usefulness and privacy concerns). These results, as well as the validated framework itself, provide a platform for future research on the user-centric evaluation of recommender systems.     

Zur Technologie des P?kelns in der Fleischindustrie

Zusammenfassung Es wurden die beim Fleischpökeln zustandekommenden Diffusionswechsel-wirkungen auf Grund der von dem ersten und zweiten Fickschen Gesetz abgeleiteten Zusammenhänge untersucht.Die bestimmten Diffusionszahlwerte haben sich von der Dicke der zylinderförmigen Fleischstücke und - innerhalb gewisser Grenzen — auch von der Pökeldauer als annähernd unabhängig erwiesen, jedoch werden sie durch die Änderung des Pökellake-Fleisch-Verhältnisses wesentlich beeinflußt. Der Einfluß der Temperatur und des Bewegens der Pökellake auf die Geschwindigkeit des Diffusionsvorganges wurde einer besonderen Untersuchung unterworfen.Wir danken den Kollegen M.Tegze und K.Vukov, wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter des Forschungsinstitutes für Zuckerindustrie (Budapest), für die Überlassungen ihrer wertvollen Erfahrungen, die sie bei den Untersuchungen der Diffusionsverhältnisse in der Zuckerindustrie erworben haben.Forschungsinstitut für Konserven-, Fleisch- und Kälteindustrie, Budapest (Ungarn).     

Transaminasen des Fleisches

Zusammenfassung Es wurde ein Verfahren ausgearbeitet, das es gestattet; Glutamat-Oxalacetat-Transaminase (GOT) und Glutamat-Pyruvat-Transaminase (GPT) fast vollständig aus Skeletmuskulatur zu extrahieren. Die Aktivität dieser Enzyme wurde durch enzymatische Analyse bestimmt. Die GOT-Aktivität im Psoasmuskel des Schweins (post rigor) ist etwa zehnmal so groß wie die GPT-Aktivität. Die Hälfte bis zu zwei Dritteln der Gesamtaktivität beider Transaminasen scheinen an die Sarkosomen des Muskels bzw. an deren Bruchstücke gebunden zu sein. Das Temperaturoptimum sowohl von GOT als auch von GPT liegt bei 50° C. Bei Erhitzen des Muskelgewebes werden beide Transaminasen erst durch Temperaturen > 70° C rasch geschädigt. GOT ist etwas hitzeresistenter als GPT. Aus gefrorenem und aufgetautem Gewebe lassen sich GOT und GPT - offenbar infolge Schädigung der Sarkosomen - rascher im Potter-Elvehjem-Homogenisator extrahieren als aus nicht gefrorenem Gewebe.Herrn Professor Dr. Dr.Willibald Diemair aus Anlaß seines 65. Geburtstages gewidmet.Abkürzungen: GOT: Glutamat-Oxalacetat-Transaminase; GPT: Glutamat-Pyruvat-Transaminase; NAD⁺: Nicotinamid-Adenindinucleotid (= DPN⁺); NADH: reduziertes NAD (= DPNH).