Modeling of sodium nitrite and water transport in pork meat

Four models were used to simulate nitrite uptake and water loss during pork meat curing with sodium nitrite: three empirical ones (the Azuara, the Peleg and the Zugarramurdi and Lupin) and one theoretical (the diffusional). By means of the Azuara and the Peleg models, the equilibrium moisture content and the equilibrium nitrite content were properly identified. Zugarramurdi and Lupin's model did not provide information about process parameters. The effective diffusivities of water (Dwe) and nitrite (DNe) were calculated. The activation energy (ENa and Ewa) was evaluated from the parameters of both the Peleg and the diffusional models. The results were similar; the Peleg model having the advantage of simplicity of calculation. The effect of meat anisotropy was confirmed from the diffusional model; the perpendicular transport of nitrite is easier than the parallel. This study highlighted the importance of choosing the most appropriate model depending on the objective to be achieved.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Modeling of sodium nitrite and water transport in pork meat

[EN] Four models were used to simulate nitrite uptake and water loss during pork meat curing with sodium nitrite: three empirical ones (the Azuara, the Peleg and the Zugarramurdi and Lupin) and one theoretical (the diffusional). By means of the Azuara and the Peleg models, the equilibrium moisture content and the equilibrium nitrite content were properly identified. Zugarramurdi and Lupin's model did not provide information about process parameters. The effective diffusivities of water (Dwe) and nitrite (DNe) were calculated. The activation energy (ENa and Ewa) was evaluated from the parameters of both the Peleg and the diffusional models. The results were similar; the Peleg model having the advantage of simplicity of calculation. The effect of meat anisotropy was confirmed from the diffusional model; the perpendicular transport of nitrite is easier than the parallel. This study highlighted the importance of choosing the most appropriate model depending on the objective to be achieved.The authors of this paper acknowledge the financial support from CONSOLIDER INGENIO 2010 (CSD2007-00016), Spain.Gómez, J.; Sanjuán Pellicer, MN.; Arnau, J.; Bon Corbín, J.; Clemente Polo, G. (2019). Modeling of sodium nitrite and water transport in pork meat. Journal of Food Engineering. 249:48-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2019.01.008S485424

Diffusion of nitrate and water in pork meat: Effect of the direction of the meat fiber

[EN] The effect of the direction of the meat fiber on the diffusion of sodium nitrate and water in Semimembranosus pork muscle during curing was studied at different temperatures. Nitrate and water diffusion were modelled based on Fick's second law. The nitrate diffusion coefficients ranged from 0.007·10¿10 to 0.034·10¿10 m2/s (parallel) and 0.89·10¿10 to 1.41·10¿10 m2/s (perpendicular), while for water the values ranged from 9.87·10¿9 to 12.46·10¿9 m2/s (parallel) and 5.22·10¿10 to 9.29·10¿10 m2/s (perpendicular). In every case, these values increased as the temperature rose. The activation energy for water diffusion perpendicular to the meat fiber (31.86 kJ/mol) was greater than when the diffusion was parallel (15.06 kJ/mol). The opposite was observed for nitrate diffusion (96.44 kJ/mol when parallel vs. 24.71 kJ/mol when perpendicular), which implies that nitrate needs more energy for parallel diffusion and, consequently, curing is slower in that direction.The authors of this paper acknowledge the financial support from Spanish Government ("Ministerio de Educacion y Cultura", CONSOLIDER INGENIO 2010, CSD2007-00016) and from the Valencian Government ("Generalitat Valenciana", Valencia, Spain, PROMETEOII/2014/0005).Gómez, J.; Sanjuán Pellicer, MN.; Arnau, J.; Bon Corbín, J.; Clemente Polo, G. (2017). Diffusion of nitrate and water in pork meat: Effect of the direction of the meat fiber. Journal of Food Engineering. 214:69-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2017.06.028S697821

Graphene as Metal-Free Catalyst for Aqueous Phase Reforming of Ethylene Glycol

[EN] Graphene obtained by pyrolysis of alginate shows in the absence of any metal, catalytic activity towards the decomposition of ethylene glycol into hydrogen and carbon dioxide at 250 8C due to the presence of hydrogenating/dehydrogenating sites. This reaction has interest in the context of valorization of waste waters from cellulose depolymerization and it is typically catalyzed by platinum and other transition metals. In this regard, the use of graphene as metal-free catalyst may have a considerable advantage from the point of sustainability of the catalyst. Based on the influence of the presence of acids and bases and the lack of influence of quenchers of reactive oxygen species, it is proposed that the active sites on the graphene could be frustrated acid-base Lewis pairs acting as dehydrogenating centers. Controls with oxalic acid and glyoxal have shown that if ethylene glycol is converted into these a-dicarbonylic compounds, spontaneous decarboxylation would occur totally (oxalic acid) or in some extent (glyoxal. 30%). In the last case, decarboxylation is also assisted by graphene.Financial support by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Severo Ochoa and CTQ2015-69153-CO2-R1) and Generalitat Valenciana (Prometeo 2013-014) is gratefully acknowledged. I. E.-A. thank to Spanish Ministry of Science for PhD scholarships. This research is partly funded by the EU-JSPS joint initiative through the NOVACAM project.Esteve-Adell, I.; Bakker, N.; Primo Arnau, AM.; Hensen, EJM.; García Gómez, H. (2017). Graphene as Metal-Free Catalyst for Aqueous Phase Reforming of Ethylene Glycol. ChemistrySelect. 2(22):6338-6343. https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.201701138S6338634322

Centaurea X sanchisiana nothosp. nov. (Asteraceae), a new hibrid for the iberian flora

Es descriu un nou híbrid del gènere Centaurea L. (Asteraceae) producte de l'encreuament entre C. Aspera L. i C. bofilliana Sennen ex Devesa & E. López, C. x sanchisiana nothosp. nov., a més de dues noves notovarietats, Var. malvarosae i var. pectiniformis. Aquestos híbrids han estat localitzats a Alatoz i Casas de Ves (Albacete, Espanya) i Borriana (Castelló, Espanya) respectivament. A més de les corresponents descripcions i diagnosis, s'hi aporten 4 lamines i una taula amb els principals trets diagnòstics que els diferencien deis parentals i de dos tàxons morfològicament pròxims. Es comparen trets reproductius de la nova notoespecie referits a !'involucre i al pol·len amb els de C. x pouzinii De. Es proposa una nova notosecció Calciseridia R. Roselló et al., nothosect. nov.A new hybrid of the genus Centaurea L. (Asteraceae), coming from the cross between C. aspera L. and C. bofilliana Sennen ex Devesa & E. López, C. x sanchisiana, nothosp. nov., and two new nothovarieties, var. ma/varosae and varo pectiniformis are described. These hybrids were found respectively in Alatoz and Casas de Ves (Albacete, Spain), and Borriana (Castellón, Spain). The plant descriptions and diagnosis, as well as iconography and the table showing the main diagnostic characters to distinguish them from both parentals and two morphologycally similar taxa are provided. New nothospecies's reproductive traits related to the involucre and pollen are compared with those of C. x pouzinii De. A new nothosection Calciseridia R. Roselló et al., nothosect. nov., is proposed

Solving non-uniqueness in agglomerative hierarchical clustering using multidendrograms

In agglomerative hierarchical clustering, pair-group methods suffer from a problem of non-uniqueness when two or more distances between different clusters coincide during the amalgamation process. The traditional approach for solving this drawback has been to take any arbitrary criterion in order to break ties between distances, which results in different hierarchical classifications depending on the criterion followed. In this article we propose a variable-group algorithm that consists in grouping more than two clusters at the same time when ties occur. We give a tree representation for the results of the algorithm, which we call a multidendrogram, as well as a generalization of the Lance and Williams' formula which enables the implementation of the algorithm in a recursive way.Comment: Free Software for Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering using Multidendrograms available at http://deim.urv.cat/~sgomez/multidendrograms.ph

Insights on fungal solid-state fermentation for waste valorization : conidia and chitinase production in different reactor configurations

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICAltres ajuts: Arnau Sala also thanks Universitat Aut'onoma de Barcelona for a predoctoral scholarship.Different reactor configurations are paired with a wide variety of agro-industrial wastes of different biodegradability to produce fungal conidia by solid-state fermentation. This work presents a preliminary comparative study between packed-bed and tray reactor configurations to produce Beauveria bassiana and Trichoderma harzianum conidia using two different substrates in terms of biodegradability: rice husk or beer draff complemented with wood chips. Conidia production, mean temperature and respiration indexes have been analysed in most of the presented reactor configurations. Both strains showed higher conidia production when using beer draff complemented with wood chips as substrate due to the use of a mixture as substrate. When working with beer draff, chitinase analyses obtained similar profiles in both strains but higher overall values using TH. Conidia and chitinase production maximums were not achieved at the same time, having 2-3 days of difference depending on the strain. No significant differences in mean temperature were shown between most of the performed fermentations. As a result of the present work, further scaling of both packed bed and tray configurations using beer draff and wood chips to produce BB or TH conidia would be advisable. More experiments should be performed to optimize both conidia and chitinase productions to enhance the quality of the final product

A new terophytic grassland association (Polycarpo diphylli-Psiluretum incurvi, ass. nova) from Serra d'Espadà and surroundings is proposed (Castelló, Spain)

Es proposa un nou pradell terofític, l'associació Polycarpo diphylli-Psiluretum incurvi R. Roselló, J. R, Vázquez, P. P. Ferrer, E. Laguna, Gómez Nav. & J. B. Peris, pertanyent a l'aliança Brachypodietalia distachyi (classe Tuberarietea guttatae), emplaçat al Parc Natural de la Serra d'Espadà i els seus voltants (Castelló, Espanya).A new terophytic grassland association Polycarpo diphylli-Psiluretum incurvi R. Roselló, J. R. Vázquez, P. P. Ferrer, E. Laguna, Gómez Nav. & J. B. Peris, belonging to the alliance Brachypodietalia distachyi (Tuberarietea guttatae class) is proposed, occurring in the Natural Park Serra d'Espadà and its surroundings (Castellón, Spain)

Efficient and Unbiased Estimation of Population Size

Population sizing from still aerial pictures is of wide applicability in ecological and social sciences. The problem is long standing because current automatic detection and counting algorithms are known to fail in most cases, and exhaustive manual counting is tedious, slow, difficult to verify and unfeasible for large populations. An alternative is to multiply population density with some reference area but, unfortunately, sampling details, handling of edge effects, etc., are seldom described. For the first time we address the problem using principles of geometric sampling. These principles are old and solid, but largely unknown outside the areas of three dimensional microscopy and stereology. Here we adapt them to estimate the size of any population of individuals lying on an essentially planar area, e.g. people, animals, trees on a savanna, etc. The proposed design is unbiased irrespective of population size, pattern, perspective artifacts, etc. The implementation is very simple—it is based on the random superimposition of coarse quadrat grids. Also, an objective error assessment is often lacking. For the latter purpose the quadrat counts are often assumed to be independent. We demonstrate that this approach can perform very poorly, and we propose (and check via Monte Carlo resampling) a new theoretical error prediction formula. As far as efficiency, counting about 50 (100) individuals in 20 quadrats, can yield relative standard errors of about 8% (5%) in typical cases. This fact effectively breaks the barrier hitherto imposed by the current lack of automatic face detection algorithms, because semiautomatic sampling and manual counting becomes an attractive option

LIFE medCLIFFS. Un proyecto europeo para la gestión integral de las especies vegetales invasoras en el litoral del NE de Cataluña (España)

Póster presentado en el VII Conference of the Biodiversity Research Institute: "Urban Biodiversity" el 26/01/202