Kiwifruit waste valorisation through innovative snack development

Currently, in the case of kiwifruits, those fruit with a weight lower than 65 g are considered waste. The production of dried snacks with high nutritional functionality could be a valid alternative to use the kiwifruit waste, with positive economic impact on the entire production chain. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of pulsed electric field – PEF (200 V cm-1) and/or osmotic dehydration – OD (trehalose at 40%) pre-drying treatments on drying kinetics at 50, 60, and 70°C, and on colour and nutritional properties (vitamin C and antioxidant compounds) of ‘Jintao’ (yellow-fleshed) kiwifruit snacks. At every temperature, the PEF treated snacks showed the highest drying rate. Moreover, PEF treatment appeared to be a valid innovative alternative for the production of fruit snacks with high nutritional quality. A better retention of vitamin C and antioxidant compounds was obtained in dried yellow kiwifruit subjected to PEF treatment

The Size of the Narrow-Line Emitting Region in the Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 5548 from Emission-Line Variability

The narrow [O III] 4959, 5007 emission-line fluxes in the spectrum of the well-studied Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 are shown to vary with time. From this we show that the narrow line-emitting region has a radius of only 1-3 pc and is denser (n ~ 10^5 cm^{-3}) than previously supposed. The [O III] line width is consistent with virial motions at this radius given previous determinations of the black hole mass.Since the [O III] emission-line flux is usually assumed to be constant and is therefore used to calibrate spectroscopic monitoring data, the variability has ramifications for the long-term secular variations of continuum and emission-line fluxes, though it has no effect on shorter-term reverberation studies. We present corrected optical continuum and broad Hbeta emission-line light curves for the period 1988 to 2008.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in Ap

The Impact of Plasma Activated Water Treatment on the Phenolic Profile, Vitamins Content, Antioxidant and Enzymatic Activities of Rocket-Salad Leaves

Plasma activated water (PAW) recently received much attention as an alternative food preservation method. However, its effects on food quality are still scarce. This study evaluates the effect of PAW processing time on bioactive compounds of rocket-salad leaves including: 18 phenolic compounds, vitamin C, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, and nicotinamide. Moreover, the impact of PAW on both antioxidant (DPPH) and peroxidase (POD) activities was also investigated. This was performed using HPLC-DAD, HPLC-MS/MS, and spectrophotometric analysis. All treatments induced non-significant increases in total phenolic contents. However, depending on processing time, significant increases or decreases of individual phenolic compounds were observed. PAW-10 and -20 increased the ascorbic acid content to 382.76 and 363.14 mg/100 g, respectively, compared to control (337.73 mg/100 g). Riboflavin and nicotinic acid contents were increased significantly in PAW-20 (0.53 and 1.26 mg/100), compared to control (0.32 and 0.61 mg/100 g, respectively). However, nicotinamide showed non-significant increase in all treatments. Antioxidant activity improved significantly only in PAW-20, while peroxidase activity was reduced up to 36% in the longest treatment. In conclusion, PAW treatment could be an effective technique for rocket decontamination since it positively influenced the quality of rocket, improving the retention of polyphenols and vitamins

Effect of pulsed electric field pre-treatment on microstructure and internal transport throughout osmotic treatment of organic kiwifruit.

Plant cellular structure could be considered a complex organized system where flows are carried out by different solutes or solvents transports systems. Passive transports, which is based on the free energy gradients, involve symplastic, apoplastic and aquaporins transmembrane transports. During osmotic dehydration (OD) treatment the semipermeable membranes such as plasma membrane and tonoplast, are forced to separate, due to the water losses from the vacuoles, starting the process known as plasmolysis, characterized by the loss of the turgor pressure. In the last years, OD has been extensively studied for the partial dehydration of fruits and vegetables in order to obtain semi-moist products; however, it presents some limitations such as the low dehydration rate and the high solute content in the final product. Therefore, the use of pre-treatment such as Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) has been reported to facilitate water removal and to improve the quality of the dried or osmo-dried products. PEF is a non-thermal technology which involves the application of short and repeated voltage pulses to a biological tissue placed between two electrodes; it induces changes and reorganization in the electric conformation of the cell membrane, modifying the normal fluxes during drying process when it is used as a pre-treatment. In present work PEF has been applied as a pre-treatment prior OD of organic kiwifruits (Actinidia deliciosa cv Hayward) in order to evaluate its effect on the internal structure and internal water transport. PEF pre-treatments were performed using the following parameters: E= 100, 250 and 400 V/cm, 60 near-rectangular shape pulses, pulse width of 100 ± 2 μs and a repetition time of 10.0 ± 0.1 ms. The OD was carried out by immersing the samples in 61.5% sucrose solution at 25 °C for different time period (0-120 min). The samples were analyzed in terms of microstructure by Cryo-SEM microscopy and internal water transport by Time Domain Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (TD-NMR). The results showed that the application of a PEF pre-treatment before the OD produces a process of plasmolysis proportional to the electric field strength applied. It is because the PEF removes the mobile charges of the medium, such as electrolytes, organic acids, amino acids; Ca+2 is the major culprit of the plasmolysis because it fixes some of the junctions of the microtubules between the cell wall and the membrane. In addition, the process of plasmolysis induced by the electric field changes the behavior of kiwifruit tissue during the OD process. In a standard OD without any pretratment, the main transport is the symplastic, whereas if previously treated with PEF, the apoplastic transport is as important as the symplastic, considerably increasing the rate of dehydration. Acknowledgements: Financial support for this project is provided by funding bodies within the FP7 ERA-Net CORE Organic Plus, and with cofounds from the European Commission (No 618107)

Education for innovation and entrepreneurship in the food system: the Erasmus+ BoostEdu approach and results

Innovation and entrepreneurship are key factors to provide added value for food systems. Based on the findings of the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership BoostEdu, the objective of this paper is to provide answers to three knowledge gaps: 1) identify the needs for innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) in the food sector; 2) understand the best way to organize learning; 3) provide flexibility in turbulent times. BoostEdu aimed to provide a platform for continuing education within I&E for food professionals and was carried out through co-creation workshops and the development of an e-learning course. The results of the project in particular during the Covid-19 pandemics, highlighted the need for flexible access to modules that are complementary to other sources and based on a mix of theoretical concepts and practical experiences. The main lessons learned concern the need of co-creation and co-learning processes to identify suitable practices for the use of innovative digital technologies

Characterization of proton irradiated 3D-DDTC pixel sensor prototypes fabricated at FBK

In this paper we discuss results relevant to 3D Double-Side Double Type Column (3D-DDTC) pixel sensors fabricated at FBK (Trento, Italy) and oriented to the ATLAS upgrade. Some assemblies of these sensors featuring different columnar electrode configurations (2, 3, or 4 columns per pixel) and coupled to the ATLAS FEI3 read-out chip were irradiated up to large proton fluences and tested in laboratory with radioactive sources. In spite of the non optimized columnar electrode overlap, sensors exhibit reasonably good charge collection properties up to an irradiation fluence of 2 x 10**15 neq/cm2, while requiring bias voltages in the order of 100 V. Sensor operation is further investigated by means of TCAD simulations which can effectively explain the basic mechanisms responsible for charge loss after irradiation.Comment: Preprint submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods A, 11 pages, 13 fig

LETM1 couples mitochondrial DNA metabolism and nutrient preference

The diverse clinical phenotypes of Wolf\u2013Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS) are the result of haploinsufficiency of several genes, one of which, LETM1, encodes a protein of the mitochondrial inner membrane of uncertain function. Here, we show that LETM1 is associated with mitochondrial ribosomes, is required for mitochondrial DNA distribution and expression, and regulates the activity of an ancillary metabolic enzyme, pyruvate dehydrogenase. LETM1 deficiency in WHS alters mitochondrial morphology and DNA organization, as does substituting ketone bodies for glucose in control cells. While this change in nutrient availability leads to the death of fibroblasts with normal amounts of LETM1, WHS-derived fibroblasts survive on ketone bodies, which can be attributed to their reduced dependence on glucose oxidation. Thus, remodeling of mitochondrial nucleoprotein complexes results from the inability of mitochondria to use specific substrates for energy production and is indicative of mitochondrial dysfunction. However, the dysfunction could be mitigated by a modified diet\u2014for WHS, one high in lipids and low in carbohydrates

Three-dimensional numerical model of heat losses from district heating network pre-insulated pipes buried in the ground

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the challenges in modelling the energy losses of heating networks and to analyse the factors that influence them. The verification of the simulation was conducted on a test stand in-situ and based on the measurements of the testing station, a database for the final version of the numerical model was developed and a series of simulations were performed. Examples of the calculated results are shown in the graphs. The paper presents an innovative method of identify the energy losses of underground heating network pipelines and quantify the temperature distribution around them, in transient working conditions. The presented method makes use of numerical models and measured data of actual objects.The dimensions of the pipelines used were 6m wide, 8m high and 1m in depth, while they were simulated under conditions of zero heat flow in the ground, in the perpendicular to the sides direction of the calculated area and considering the effects of ground's thermal conductivity. The mesh was developed using advanced functions, which resulted its high quality with the average orthogonal quality of 0.99 (close to 1.00) and Skewness of 0.05 (between 0.00 and 0.25). To achieve better accuracy of the simulation model, the initial conditions were determined based on the numerical results of a three-dimensional analysis of heat losses, in steady state conditions in a single moment. The validation process confirmed the high quality of the model, as the differences between the ground temperatures were approximately 0.1°C

Using seabird and whale distribution models to estimate spatial consumption of krill to inform fishery management

Ecosystem dynamics at the northwest Antarctic Peninsula are driven by interactions between physical and biological processes. For example, baleen whale populations are recovering from commercial harvesting against the backdrop of rapid climate change, including reduced sea ice extent and changing ecosystem composition. Concurrently, the commercial harvesting of Antarctic krill is increasing, with the potential to increase the likelihood for competition with and between krill predators and the fishery. However, understanding the ecology, abundance, and spatial distribution of krill predators is often limited, outdated, or at spatial scales that do not match those desired for effective fisheries management. We update current knowledge of predator dependence on krill by integrating telemetry-based data, at-sea observational surveys, estimates of predator abundance, and physiological data to estimate the spatial distribution of krill consumption during the austral summer by three species of Pygoscelis penguin, 11 species of flying seabirds, one species of pinniped, and two species of baleen whale. Our models show that the majority of important areas for krill predator foraging are close to penguin breeding colonies in nearshore areas where humpback whales also regularly feed, and along the shelf-break, though we caution that not all known krill predators are included in these analyses. We show that krill consumption is highly variable across the region, and often concentrated at fine spatial scales, emphasizing the need for the management of the local krill fishery at relevant temporal and spatial scales. We also note that krill consumption by recovering populations of krill predators provides further evidence in support of the krill surplus hypothesis, and highlight that despite less than comprehensive data, cetaceans are likely to consume a significant proportion of the krill consumed by natural predators but are not currently considered directly in the management of the krill fishery. If management of the krill fishery is to be precautionary and operate in a way that minimizes the risks to krill predator populations, it will be necessary in future analyses, to include up-to-date and precise abundance and consumption estimates for pack-ice seals, finfish, squid, and other baleen whale species not currently considered