Purification of Whole Brown Flaxseed Meal from Coloring Pigments by Treatment in Hydrogen Peroxide Solutions: Impact on Meal Color

The main objective of the present project was the purification of brown flaxseed meal from coloring pigments in order to improve its potential use as ingredient in food formulations. Thus, this work was aimed to study the bleaching of non-defatted brown flaxseed meal in dilute hydrogen peroxide solutions. Bleaching was evaluated according to the Hunter L, (a), and (b) color scale as function of the hydrogen peroxide concentration (1%, 2%, and 3% v/v), the meal concentration (2.5%, 5%, and 10% w/w), the bleaching time (10, 20, and 30?min), and the pH (3, 7, and 9). Effect of all the independent variables was significant. The L value was the most significantly affected parameter and increased as the concentration of hydrogen peroxide increased, but decreased as the concentration of flaxseed meal increased. The L value was observed to be higher at pH?9 than at pH?3 and 7. The b value, which represents the yellowness, was significantly increased from 18.70?±?0.01 (control sample) to 35.45?±?0.04 after the meal was treated with a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution at pH?9. Total phenolics content significantly decreased when the meal was treated with 3% (v/v) hydrogen peroxide solution. This concentration yielded the higher L color value (highly bleached meal).     

Effects of carob bean gum on performance,nutrient digestibility and Salmonella enterica var. Enteritidis colonisation in chickens

Salmonella is presently one of the microorganisms of higher concern for food safety in poultry products. The present study examined the effect of feeding galactomannans from carob bean gum on nutrient digestibility and performance in chickens, and on the prevalence of Salmonella enterica var. Enteritidis in challenged animals. Four experiments were performed with either broiler or leghorn chickens, challenged with 10⁶ CFU (colony-forming units) of S. Enteritidis at 1 day of life, and feeding carob bean gum at different concentrations (25, 50 or 100 g/kg, depending on the experiment), alone or in combination with β-mannanase, cellulase or α-galactosidase at 8.3 U/g; or feeding D-mannose at 25 g/kg, or depolymerized carob bean gum or guar gum at 100 mg/kg. Trials lasted 3 or 4 weeks. Body weight and feed intake were determined and feed conversion ratio calculated (feed:gain). Faeces were collected during the last week on trial for evaluation of nutrient balance (energy, lipids and protein), using chromium oxide as inert marker. Viscosity of the ileal content was also determined at the end of the second experiment. Salmonella presence in caeca was determined two and 3 weeks after challenge. Performance and nutritive value of diets were impaired in birds fed carob bean gum, with higher effect at higher inclusion rates. D-mannose impaired performance variables only whereas depolymerized gums did not affect bird performance or nutritive value of the diets. Of the enzymes tested, only β-mannanase significantly decreased the viscosity of the intestinal contents of birds fed carob bean gum and partly counteracted the impairment in bird performance and the reduction in the nutritive value of the diets. The number of Salmonella-positive birds varied among experiments and was lower in the third week post-challenge compared to the second week post-challenge. However, the reduction in the number of Salmonella-positive birds was more constant and marked when carob bean gum was present in the diet. The inclusion of carob bean gum in the diet of chickens at the high concentrations used in the present experiment reduced the presence of Salmonella in challenged birds, but it also impaired performance and nutrient digestibility. These impairments were partially counteracted by the addition of β-mannanase to the diet. Carob bean gum might be used to reduce the incidence of Salmonella in chickens, while its negative effects on performance and nutrient digestibility could be counteracted by β-mannanase.     

New possibilistic method for discovering linear local behavior using hyper-Gaussian distributed membership function

This paper presents a method to find a model of a system based on the integration of a set of local models. Mainly, properties are sought for the local models: independence of clusters and interpretability of their validity. This has been achieved through the introduction of a possibilistic clustering for the first property and a pre-fixed shape of the membership functions for the second one. A new cost index for the clustering optimization problem has been defined consisting of two terms: one for global error and another for local errors. By giving higher importance to the local errors term, local models valid regionally can be found. To avoid local optima and numerical issues, the parameters of the models are found using global optimization. This new method has been applied to several data sets, and results show how the desired characteristics can be achieved in the resulting models.     

Biosorption performance,combustion behavior,and leaching characteristics of olive solid waste during the removal of copper and nickel from aqueous solutions

Several researchers have proved that agricultural by-products constitute good adsorbents for removing heavy metals from aqueous solution. However, few investigations have identified efficient strategies for the adsorbent′s regeneration. Hence, a global methodology for the removal of copper and nickel metals from wastewater including metal biosorption, thermal treatment and residual ash landfill is proposed. In order to validate this strategy, olive solid waste (OSW), provided by an olive oil mill from Tunisia, were used to remove copper and nickel on batch experiments. Copper and nickel were adsorbed on a monolayer of OSW surface with maximal adsorption capacity (q _max) of 3.6 and 1.7 mg g^?1, respectively. Contaminated OSW with copper and nickel were combusted at 850 °C in an electrical furnace. About 96 % of each metal was recovered in residual ashes that present a good secondary raw material for copper and nickel production. Low leaching transfers (≤4 %) were observed for copper and nickel from residual ashes leading to the possibility to be landfilled. Therefore, the suggested process can be used as an alternative to the classical technologies for effluent decontamination.     

Symmetrical craniofacial hypertrophy in patients with tertiary hyperparathyroidism and high‐dose cinacalcet exposure

We are reporting on a series of two patients with end‐stage renal disease on hemodialysis, presented for surgical parathyroidectomy secondary refractory hyperparathyroidism. Both patients had failed maximized medical managements, including higher‐than‐usual doses of the calcimimetic cinacalcet (270 and 180 mg/day, respectively). On physical exam, both patients had marked symmetrical craniofacial hypertrophy with coarse distortion of facial features, similar in appearance to past reports of Sagliker syndrome. On X‐ray and computed tomographic exam, they had peculiar areas of bone absorption on the skull, imitating the radiologic appearance of multiple myeloma. Bone biopsy of the maxilla, however, did not show the expected brown tumor, but rather described only fibrosis and reactive bone formations. This phenotype developed while being on cinacalcet, progressed despite escalation of therapy, and improved only after parathyroidectomy. Both patients developed massive “hungry bone syndrome” after parathyroidectomy necessitating prolonged IV calcium infusion. This pattern of severe facial distortion likely represented an adverse consequence of severe tertiary hyperparathyroidism, along with supraphysiologic dose of cinacalcet administration and 25‐hydroxy vitamin D deficiency in sensitive individuals. The genetic base of this observation remained unexplained.     

Numeration and discrete dynamical systems

This survey aims at giving both a dynamical and computer arithmetic-oriented presentation of several classical numeration systems, by focusing on the discrete dynamical systems that underly them: this provides simple algorithmic generation processes, information on the statistics of digits, on the mean behavior, and also on periodic expansions (whose study is motivated, among other things, by finite machine simulations). We consider numeration systems in a broad sense, that is, representation systems of numbers that also include continued fraction expansions. These numeration systems might be positional or not, provide unique expansions or be redundant. Special attention will be payed to β-numeration (one expands a positive real number with respect to the base β > 1), to continued fractions, and to their Lyapounov exponents. In particular, we will compare both representation systems with respect to the number of significant digits required to go from one type of expansion to the other one, through the discussion of extensions of Lochs’ theorem.     

Cytocompatibility of titanium metal injection molding with various anodic oxidation post-treatments

Metal injection molding (MIM) is a near net shape manufacturing method that allows for the production of components of small to moderate size and complex shape. MIM is a cost-effective and flexible manufacturing technique that provides a large innovative potential over existing methods for the industry of implantable devices. Commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti) samples were machined to the same shape as a composite feedstock with titanium and polyoxymethylene, and these metals were injected, debinded and sintered to assess comparative biological properties. Moreover, we treated MIM-Ti parts with BIOCOAT®, BIODIZE® and BIOCER®, three different anodic oxidation techniques that treat titanium using acid, alkaline and anion enriched electrolytes, respectively. Cytocompatibility as well as morphological and chemical features of surfaces was comparatively assessed on each sample, and the results revealed that MIM-Ti compared to CP-Ti demonstrated a specific surface topography with a higher roughness. MIM-Ti and BIOCER® samples significantly enhanced cell proliferation, cell adhesion and cell differentiation compared to CP-Ti. Interestingly, in the anodization post-treatment established in this study, we demonstrated the ability to improve osseointegration through anionic modification treatment. The excellent biological response we observed with MIM parts using the injection molding process represents a promising manufacturing method for the future implantable devices in direct contact with bones.     

Space mapping-focused control techniques for particle dispersions in fluids

We present and investigate techniques for optimizing particle dispersions in all kinds of Reynolds number flows. In particular, we show the range of application, power and efficiency of space mapping approaches that are based on a hierarchy of models ranging from a complex (fine, accurate, costly) to simple (coarse, rough, cheap) model. Space mapping turns out to be a reasonable approximation to optimal control and a competitive alternative to instantaneous control regarding speed and memory demands when dealing with complex, non-stationary problems. Moreover it allows the easy and efficient treatment of stochastic design problems. To control random particle dynamics in a turbulent flow, we suggest a Monte-Carlo aggressive space mapping algorithm which yields very convincing numerical results.