Producing fish sauce from Caspian kilka

Fish sauce is a fermented product which is used in south Asian countries. In the present study, Caspian Kilka was used to produce the sauce, using either cooked or raw fish subjected to four different treatments: 1) traditional method, where fish and salt were used; 2) an enzymatic method, where fish, salt and proteolytic enzymes, including Protamex and Flavourzyme (Novo Nordisc Co., Bagsvaerd, Denmark), were used; 3) a microbial method, where fish, salt, and Bacillus and Pediococcus species were used; and 4) a combination of the enzyme and microbial methods. Fermentation of the ingredients was carried out in 400cc bottles for a period of 6 months with microbiological and chemical tests at intervals of one week and then one month. The results of molds, yeast, and aflatoxin detection tests were negative. The total bacterial count ranged between log 2.1 and 6.18. Chemical tests included TVN and pH. pH of the final products ranged from 6.5 to 7.0. The speed of fermentation as determined by examining the bottles every two or three days was as follows: Traditional< Microbial<Enzymatic = Enzymatic+Microbial Method. However different treatments could be used to speed up the fermentation, but the traditional method is considered to be better as the quality is concerned

Hand and face segmentation using motion and colour cues in digital image sequences

© 2001 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.In this paper, we present a hand and face segmentation algorithm using motion and color cues. The algorithm is proposed for the content based representation of sign language image sequences, where the hands and face constitute a video object. Our hand and face segmentation algorithm consists of three stages, namely color segmentation, temporal segmentation, and video object plane generation. In color segmentation, we model the skin color as a normal distribution and classify each pixel as skin or non-skin based on its Mahalanobis distance. The aim of temporal segmentation is to localize moving objects in image sequences. A statistical variance test is employed to detect object motion between two consecutive images. Finally, the results from color and temporal segmentation are analyzed to yield a change detection mask. The performance of the algorithm is illustrated by simulation carried out on the silent test sequence.Nariman Habili ; Cheng-Chew Lim ; Alireza Moin

Segmentation of the face and hands in sign language video sequences using color and motion cues

Copyright © 2004 IEEEWe present a hand and face segmentation methodology using color and motion cues for the content-based representation of sign language video sequences. The methodology consists of three stages: skin-color segmentation; change detection; face and hand segmentation mask generation. In skin-color segmentation, a universal color-model is derived and image pixels are classified as skin or nonskin based on their Mahalanobis distance. We derive a segmentation threshold for the classifier. The aim of change detection is to localize moving objects in a video sequences. The change detection technique is based on the F test and block-based motion estimation. Finally, the results from skin-color segmentation and change detection are analyzed to segment the face and hands. The performance of the algorithm is illustrated by simulations carried out on standard test sequences.Nariman Habili, Cheng Chew Lim, and Alireza Moin

The canning of small cultured shrimp (Penaeus indicus) in oil, tomato sauce and brine

Canning of non-exportable small cultured shrimp (Penaeus indices) in oil, tomato sauce and brine was investigated in Hormozgan province. Our results indicated that the best method of canning of this shrimp was to precook it at 100'c for 2 minutes in 8% salt water which Contained 0.1% citric acid, then autoclaving the can for 12 minutes at 121°C. Results of an organoleptic evaluation showed that the shrimp packed in oil, tomato sauce and brine ranked by the taste panel as the first, second and third respectively. The changes in chemical composition, total bacteria count and Clostridium botulinum for the three samples of canned shrimp were also investigated. These changes were 18.90-22.59% for protein, 2.28-3.01% for fat, 70.7046.51% for moisture, 1.45-2.53% for ash, 19.64-29.35 mg/100g for TVN, 6.28i-7.03 for pH and zero for peroxide. The results for Clostridium botulinum and total count of bacteria for all samples of canned shrimp in three dilutions (0.1, 0.01 and 0.001) were negative with statistically significant results (P<0.05)

Widespread occurrence of Tomato ring spot virus in deciduous fruit trees in Iran

Despite a long tradition of fruit-tree growing in all provinces of Iran, information on tree viruses in this country is scant. In the present study, presence of Tomato ring spot virus (ToRSV) was surveyed in various woody plants in this country by mechanical inoculation to herbaceous hosts, ELISA using a commercial antiserum, and PCR with specific primers. ToRSV was identified in the following plant-symptom combinations: Walnut with mottling, deformation, necrosis, and yellowing of main veins from Tehran Province; plum with yellowing of main veins, peach with yellowing of major veins and marginal necrosis, and hazelnut with interveinal chlorosis and marginal necrosis from Ardabil Province; apple with yellowing of main veins, mosaic and necrotic lesions, quince with large necrotic spots, and almond with leaf deformation and rosetting from Khorasan Province; and raspberry with marginal necrosis of leaf and necrotic lesions from Mazandaran Province. Mechanical inoculation from walnut, plum, peach, hazelnut, apple, quince, almond, and raspberry to Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun resulted in systemic infection. The virus isolates induced local lesions, leaf deformation, and necrosis in N. rustica, chlorotic local lesions on Chenopodium quinoa, and large local lesions on Gomphrena globosa. All samples were ELISA positive. PCR with specific primers resulted in the amplification of the expected fragment (490 bp). This study shows extensive occurrence of ToRSV in Iran.Keywords: Tomato ringspot virus, fruit tree viruses, Ira

Correlation between the concentration of air pollutants (CO, SO2 and NO2) and pulmonary function

زمینه و هدف: آلاینده های استنشاقی نقش مهمی در بیماری های ریوی دارند. این مطالعه با هدف بررسی سطح آلاینده های استنشاقی دی اکسید نیتروژن، دی اکسید گوگرد، منواکسید کربن در اراک (شهر صنعتی و آلوده) و خمین (غیر صنعتی و غیر آلوده) و تعیین چگونگی اثر آن بر عملکرد ریه در مقطع زمان اسپیرومتری انجام شد. روش بررسی: دو شهر اراک و خمین به ترتیب به ده و پنج منطقه تقسیم و آلاینده های استنشاقی دی اکسید نیتروژن، دی اکسید گوگرد و منواکسید کربن اندازه گیری شدند. همزمان به طور تصادفی در فصول مختلف سال 522 نفر از بالغ غیر سیگاری خمین و 547 نفر از اراک انتخاب و از آنان اسپیرومتری به عمل آمد و از شاخص کیفیت هوا (PSI=Poliution standard index) برای ارزیـــابی کیفیت هوا استفاده شد. میـانگین غلظت آلاینده ها و شاخص پراکندگی ظرفیت های ریوی با آزمون های آماری آنالیز رگرسیون مورد تجزیه و تحلیل قرار گرفتند. یافته ها: میانگینPSI اراک 54/14±83/101 و خمین 58/18±17/89 بود (05/0>P). حداکثر جریان بازدمی (PEF) و ظرفیت حیاتی فعال (FVC) در اراک به طور معنی داری کمتر از خمین بود (05/0

An investigation on relationship of chemical indices of kilka (Clupeonella engrauliformis) with weight loss during cold storage at -18C

We studied the relationship between physical and chemical properties of frozen kilka with weight loss for packed and unpacked products during storage at amal 8 ' C. Statistical analysis of the results including variance, Duncan test and ANOVA showed relationships existed between changes in Total Volatile Nitrogen (TVN), Peroxide Value (PV), pH, moisture, organoleptic properties of frozen packed and unpacked kilka with product weight losses during cold storage at -18°C. The statistical treatment of the results showed that weight losses for packed samples in comparison to unpacked one at the level of P<0.0I was significant. The weight losses, changes of TVN, PV, pH and moisture losses for unpacked samples were 1.5, 1.35, and 4.5, 132 and 1.32 times more in comparison to the packed one, respectively. Also, the statistical analysis of the results showed a correlation between weight losses in unpacked samples of frozen kilka and the measured factors. The results of chemical and physical properties measured for packed samples of frozen kilka during cold storage and their statistical analysis showed a significant correlation P<0.01 between weight losses and the changes in TVN from 7 to 28mg/100gr, PV from 2.28 to 6.01meq/kg, pH from 6.08 to 6.37 and 1.72% loss in the moisture of the samples. According to these results and the organoleptic tests, the shelf life for packed and unpacked frozen kilka in cold storage at 48°C, is recommended 60 and 30 days, respectively

Determination of nutrient values of the bivalve Anodonta cygnea in Selkeh area of the Anzali Lagoon during autumn and spring

Anzali Lagoon is one of the most important aquatic ecosystems of Iran which was registered as a Ramsar Convention site in 1999. This valuable ecosystem is located in the south west shores of the Caspian Sea, in Guilan Province. We randomly collected 30 and 20 samples of the bivalve Anodonta cygnea in autumn 2004 and spring 2005 respectively. The Selkeh area was chosen for the sampling because of its availability during autumn. The area receives water from the southern part of the lagoon basin. Nutrient content of the soft tissue of the bivalve was measured. Live sampled bivalves were transferred to laboratory and their length, width, height; total body weight and wet weight of the internal soft part were measured. Moisture, ash, protein, T.V.N, lipid and amino acid contents in soft tissue were also determined. Moisture content in spring and autumn samples were 84.84% and 83.6%, respectively. Ash content in autumn samples was higher than spring samples, being 4% and 2.32%, respectively. Assessment showed protein content in the autumn samples to be 12% while in spring samples this was 10.5%. T.V.N content in autumn and spring samples were 0.031 and 0.003% respectively. Measurements showed that autumn bivalves had 4% lipid content whereas this value in spring samples was 3%. We found Sixtheen amino acids, including seven essential ones in the samples

Production of fish sauce from Caspian Sea kilka, with use of traditional, microbial, and enzymatic methods

Fish sauce is a popular fermented product used in south Asian countries which is made from different species of small fishes. In this research it was attempted to produce fish sauce from kilka fishes of the Caspian Sea. The kilka sauce was made from three different preparations of kilka, such as whole kilka, cooked whole kilka and dressed kilka. Each of these preparations was fermented in four different ways, such as traditional, enzymatic, microbial and mixture of enzyme and microorganisms. The results of this study showed that times of fermentation for traditional, enzymatic, microbial and mixture of enzyme and microbe method were 6, 1,3 and 1 months, respectively. The least and the most rate of fermentation were recognized for dressed kilka and cooked whole kilka, respectively. Microbial, biochemical and organoleptic properties of kilka fish sauce were investigated. The total bacterial count was 2.1 to 6.15 log cfu/ml, total volatile nitrogen (TVN) in samples was 250 mg/100g and protein content of kilka sauce was between 10-13 percent. The score of the taste panel for flavour, odour and colour was between 3 to 5, which means this product can be acceptable to the consumer