Egg white foam : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Food Technology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

Egg white is extensively utilized as a functional food material in food processing due to the multiple functional roles of egg white proteins such as foaming, gelling and emulsifying properties. The foaming property of egg white has been widely studied using different methods. In this research, two different foaming methods were used to prepare egg white foams by a whipping method using a standard mix beater and a sparging method using a whipped cream dispenser (pressurized dispenser). Egg white is also commercially available in several different physical forms, such as fresh egg white liquid, frozen fresh egg white liquid (EWL) and spray dried egg white powder (EWP). In this study, EWL and EWP solutions were used to compare their foaming ability and foam stability. Various factors affecting on the formation and stability of egg white foam were investigated to understand their impact on the functional properties of egg white as foaming agents under specific conditions, including whipping time and speed, shaking time, temperature, pH, type and ionic strength of salts, thermal treatment and addition of some ingredients (e.g. sugar and hydrocolloids). All foams produced were analysed on the basis of two different parameters of foam properties, such as foamability after preparation and foam stability with time after foam preparation. Foam stability was also analysed by two different aspects, foam volume stability against foam collapse and foam liquid stability against liquid drainage. Another objective of this study was to investigate the application of cooking egg white foam in a microwave oven after the foam preparation with an aim of developing a prototype of value added new products derived from egg white foam. The microbiological stability of egg white was also measured to determine the shelf stability of non-pasteurised and pasteurised egg white solutions with and without added ingredients against microbial growth. Overall the results obtained in this study provide significant insights into the impact of various factors affecting the formation and stability of egg white foam and the potential application of microwave cooking of egg white foam for applications in various food industries. Keywords: Egg white foam, foamability, foam stability, whipped cream dispenser, microwave oven, microbial stabilit

Interactive Password Schemes

Only the abstract is available for this technical report.Usual password schemes suffer from the flaw that they are easy to steal. An attacker who has correctly observed a login session (by peeping, wiretapping and/or by launching a "man-in-the-middle" attack, etc.) can easily impersonate the corresponding user. Available protection techniques require computations on hundreds digit integers that are so complex that they require special software and/or hardware. This project tries to combine the simplicity of the conventional password schemes with a protection technique that results in a different password being typed each session, but only requires simple computation performed in the user's head

Control of human papillomavirus gene expression by alternative splicing

Human papillomaviruses possess circular double stranded DNA genomes of around 8 kb in size from which multiple mRNAs are synthesized during an infectious life cycle. Although at least three viral promoters are used to initiate transcription, viral mRNAs are largely the product of processing of pre-mRNAs by alternative splicing and polyadenylation. The HPV life cycle and viral gene expression are tightly linked to differentiation of the epithelium the virus infects: there is an orchestrated production of viral mRNAs and proteins. In this review we describe viral mRNA expression and the roles of the SR and hnRNP proteins that respectively positively and negatively regulate splicing. We discuss HPV regulation of splicing factors and detail the evidence that the papillomavirus E2 protein has splicing-related activities. We highlight the possibility that HPV-mediated control of splicing in differentiating epithelial cells may be necessary to accomplish the viral replication cycle

Wideband Super-resolution Imaging in Radio Interferometry via Low Rankness and Joint Average Sparsity Models (HyperSARA)

We propose a new approach within the versatile framework of convex optimization to solve the radio-interferometric wideband imaging problem. Our approach, dubbed HyperSARA, solves a sequence of weighted nuclear norm and l21 minimization problems promoting low rankness and joint average sparsity of the wideband model cube. On the one hand, enforcing low rankness enhances the overall resolution of the reconstructed model cube by exploiting the correlation between the different channels. On the other hand, promoting joint average sparsity improves the overall sensitivity by rejecting artefacts present on the different channels. An adaptive Preconditioned Primal-Dual algorithm is adopted to solve the minimization problem. The algorithmic structure is highly scalable to large data sets and allows for imaging in the presence of unknown noise levels and calibration errors. We showcase the superior performance of the proposed approach, reflected in high-resolution images on simulations and real VLA observations with respect to single channel imaging and the CLEAN-based wideband imaging algorithm in the WSCLEAN software. Our MATLAB code is available online on GITHUB

The Dignity of the Dead: The Case of Ancient Urkesh and Modern Tell Mozan

The site of Tell Mozan lies tucked in the northeast corner of modern day Syria, located between the Tigris and the Euphrates River, an area known as Mesopotamia. Evidence recovered inside the royal palace identified the site as the ancient city of Urkesh, an important urban centre of the ethnic group known as the Hurrians. This paper focuses on the graves of the Middle Bronze Age showing signs of bone manipulation likely linked to ritual gestures (respect for the ancestor, kispum, etc.). Our analysis, based on the taphonomy of burials, shows that re-opening of some burials occurred, which is not fully in accordance with Middle Bronze Age texts discovered in Mesopotamia

The impact of nutrition and feeding time on the regulation of gene expression in the central circadian clock of Drsosophila Melanogaster

The circadian clock plays an essential role in most organisms by allowing their adaptation to the daily environmental changes mainly light/dark cycles and also temperature. Circadian rhythms persist in constant conditions indicating an auto regulatory molecular circadian clock. Here, we investigated the possibility that the circadian clock of Drosophila can also be entrained by scheduled feeding. Cycles of 12 hours feeding and 12 hours starvation could entrain the molecular circadian oscillation in key pacemaker neurons of Drosophila. Clock proteins CLOCK (CLK) and PERIOD (PER) showed a 24 hour oscillation in the small and large ventral lateral neurons after entrainment by scheduled feeding of a balanced diet, carbohydrate-only diet, as well as protein only diet. Lipid diet did not prove its effectiveness in the clock\u27s entrainment. The neuropeptide Pigment Dispersing Factor (PDF) plays an important role in entrainment of the circadian clock by light-dark cycles, but it appears to be not essential for entrainment of the circadian clock in response to cyclic feeding. Scheduled feeding resulted in 24 hour oscillations of CLK and PER in small and large ventral lateral neurons of pigment dispersing factor mutant flies (pdf01). Time of feeding appears to be a strong entrainment cue for the circadian clock as it affected the phase of amplitude of molecular oscillations even in light dark cycles. These results establish an entrainment of the Drosophila circadian clock by scheduled feeding, indicating a regulation of the circadian oscillator by metabolism in Drosophila

Oil vs democracy: Oil rent, social groups, and democratization in Middle East monarchies

Considerable research in political science has been done concerning democracy and the effects of oil rent. Prevailing literature suggests that dependence on oil and rentier behavior by states can heighten the dependence of social groups on the state through political and economic effects. Yet in the case of Kuwait, we find that oil rent has helped build human capital, institutional capacity, and autonomy for social groups. This autonomy allows social groups to better bargain with the state and advance democratization. This will be contrasted to the case of Morocco, where social groups remain dependent on the state despite cycles of liberalization and influence over state policy. This study will reveal that oil rent can have positive effects on the agency of certain social groups in Kuwait

Leadership Style and Employee Turnover A Mythical Relationship or Reality?

Abstract Employee turnover is one of the most challenging dilemmas organizations have to deal with. A considerable amount of research indicates that turnover is mainly a result of a negative relationship between the leaders and managers in the workplace and their followers. However, seemingly conflicting studies seem to show that employees leave bosses they consider to be good at nearly the same rate as bosses they consider to be bad. If the relationship between the leadership and followers is not the sole factor in an employee’s decision to quit working, what other factors could be the main causes for employee’s turnover? And to what extent does the style of leadership of the manager contribute to overcoming these factors? The answers to these questions are of particular importance to those concerned with the American economy, as it is quite costly to replace an employee on a regular basis. The purpose of this study is to explore the possibilities and methods of retaining great employees without undue sacrifices on the part of managers, leaders, and employees, while at the same time allowing an organization as a whole to develop and progress. On a path towards finding a sustainable relationship between leadership style and employee turnover, the common causes of employee turnover have to be identified first. Then, we will identify a clearer understanding of what leadership means, in addition to identifying main roles and tasks to be investigated. The same approach was used towards identifying what followership means, in addition to identifying its main roles and tasks. It was concluded that styles of leadership and followership have a direct impact on employee turnover or retention. However, the impact of leadership style is more prominent and has a greater effect then previously assumed. That is because leader is authorized to have the power to change what needs to be changes, unlike followers that are limited with their power and authority. To build an organization that develops individuals that are loyal to the shared vision without granting too many sacrifices from either the leaders or employees is a difficult task that requires us to extend our attention to the importance of followership as much as we pay attention to leadership. Furthermore, leaders should view their roles as duties rather than privileges. Leaders should be inclusive and understanding of all of their employee\u27s needs to get motivated. Employees are unique individuals and should not be approached and dealt with in the same copy and paste method. Among other factors such as psychology and work styles, it is also important to consider the religious and spiritual needs as well as the cultural variations of employees. This research helps in shedding some light on the importance of valuing leadership as much as followership. It is also a reminder of the huge responsibility leaders have towards reducing employee turnover, including leaders that are perceived as good leaders. That is because the effect of leadership style on employee turnover is not limited to bad leadership; rather, it includes good leadership with blind spots when self-evaluating their leadership style. However, one essential limitation is the absence of voices of leaders and followers. To further improve this study, interviewing some leaders and some followers get more detailed information about leadership-followership dynamics hoping to reduce employee turnover as possible. Keywords: LMX theory. Employee Turnover, Leadership, Followershi