Does modifying the thick texture and creamy flavour of a drink change portion size selection and intake?

Previous research indicates that a drink's sensory characteristics can influence appetite regulation. Enhancing the thick and creamy sensory characteristics of a drink generated expectations of satiety and improved its actual satiating effects. Expectations about food also play an important role in decisions about intake, in which case enhancing the thick and creamy characteristics of a drink might also result in smaller portion size selection. In the current study forty-eight participants (24 female) completed four test days where they came into the laboratory for a fixed-portion breakfast, returning two hours later for a mid-morning drink, which they could serve themselves and consume as much as they liked. Over the test days, participants consumed an iso-energetic drink in four sensory contexts: thin and low-creamy; thin and high-creamy; thick and low-creamy; thick and high-creamy. Results indicated that participants consumed less of the thick drinks, but that this was only true of the female participants; male participants consumed the same amount of the four drinks regardless of sensory context. The addition of creamy flavour did not affect intake but the thicker drinks were associated with an increase in perceived creaminess. Despite differences in intake, hunger and fullness ratings did not differ across male and female participants and were not affected by the drinks sensory characteristics. The vast majority of participants consumed all of the drink they served themselves indicating that differences in intake reflected portion size decisions. These findings suggest women will select smaller portions of a drink when its sensory characteristics indicate that it will be satiating

Subtle changes in the flavour and texture of a drink enhance expectations of satiety

Background: The consumption of liquid calories has been implicated in the development of obesity and weight gain. Energy-containing drinks are often reported to have a weak satiety value: one explanation for this is that because of their fluid texture they are not expected to have much nutritional value. It is important to consider what features of these drinks can be manipulated to enhance their expected satiety value. Two studies investigated the perception of subtle changes in a drink’s viscosity, and the extent to which thick texture and creamy flavour contribute to the generation of satiety expectations. Participants in the first study rated the sensory characteristics of 16 fruit yogurt drinks of increasing viscosity. In study two, a new set of participants evaluated eight versions of the fruit yogurt drink, which varied in thick texture, creamy flavour and energy content, for sensory and hedonic characteristics and satiety expectations. Results: In study one, participants were able to perceive small changes in drink viscosity that were strongly related to the actual viscosity of the drinks. In study two, the thick versions of the drink were expected to be more filling and have a greater expected satiety value, independent of the drink’s actual energy content. A creamy flavour enhanced the extent to which the drink was expected to be filling, but did not affect its expected satiety. Conclusions: These results indicate that subtle manipulations of texture and creamy flavour can increase expectations that a fruit yogurt drink will be filling and suppress hunger, irrespective of the drink’s energy content. A thicker texture enhanced expectations of satiety to a greater extent than a creamier flavour, and may be one way to improve the anticipated satiating value of energy-containing beverages

Microstructure and mechanical properties of HSLA-100 steel

Light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy were employed to examine the microstructural basis for the mechanical properties of as-quenched and tempered HSLA-100 steel. Examination of the alloy revealed granular bainite with martensite and retained austenite in the as-quenched state which upon aging at temperatures below the lower transformation temperature, 677 C, formed tempered bainite with precipitates of copper and carbides. These results indicate the strength and toughness of HSLA- 100 steel aged below 677 C is based primarily on the fine prior austenite grain size and classic copper precipitation behavior but also on the bainite dislocation substructure and carbides. After tempering at 677 C, HSLA-100 steel has a dual-phase microstructure consisting of bainitic ferrite laths, fine ferrite grain clusters and martensite with precipitates of carbides and overaged copper. The results indicate the yield strength of the overaged alloy is based on the fine ferrite grain and bainite lath sizes, the fine carbide distribution and elastic moduli strengthening while the toughness is the result of the high- angle ferrite grain boundaries, the fine intralath carbides and the ductile overaged copper precipitates.http://archive.org/details/microstructurend1094527632Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Structural phase transitions in the Ag2Nb4O11 – Na2Nb4O11 solid solution

The phase transitions between various structural modifications of the natrotantite-structured system xAg2Nb4O11 – (1-x)Na2Nb4O11 have been investigated and a phase diagram constructed as a function of temperature and composition. This shows three separate phase transition types: (1) paraelectric – ferroelectric, (2) rhombohedral – monoclinic and (3) a phase transition within the ferroelectric rhombohedral zone between space groups R3c and R3. The parent structure for the entire series has space group R-3c. Compositions with x > 0.75 are rhombohedral at all temperatures whereas compositions with x < 0.75 are all monoclinic at room temperature and below. At x = 0.75, rhombohedral and monoclinic phases coexist with the phase boundary below room temperature being virtually temperature-independent. The ferroelectric phase boundary extends into the monoclinic phase field. No evidence was found for the R3–R3c phase boundary extending into the monoclinic phase field and it is concluded that a triple point is formed

Extracellular matrix-modulated expression of human cell surface glycoproteins A42 and J143. Intrinsic and extrinsic signals determine antigenic phenotype.

Extracellular matrix (ECM)' plays an important regulatory role in cellular growth, migration, and differentiation (1-4). Pathologic processes such as tumor cell invasion and metastasis are also determined by cellular interactions with ECM (5, 6). Biochemical studies have identified collagens, fibronectin, laminin, proteoglycans, and several other proteins as major ECM components (1-3), and have shown that ECM composition varies between different normal and tumor tissues. The complexity and heterogeneity of ECM composition have hampered the molecular analysis of ECM-cell interactions . However, a range of phenotypic changes has been described for cultured cells after transfer from plastic surfaces to substrates coated with native ECM (7, 8) or with purified ECM components; ECM-induced phenotypic changes include enhanced substrate adhesiveness, cell spreading and migration, changes in cell morphology and proliferative activity, and expression of differentiated cellular functions (I-4). Some of these effects, e.g., increased substrate adhesion, may result directly from the binding of specialized cell surface structures to ECM molecules. Others are likely mediated by an active cellular response triggered by the interaction of ECM with cell surface receptors. Thus, ECM-derived signals (9) may activate a cascade of molecular changes within the cell and on the cell surface that account for the pleiotropic effects observed with ECM

Ferroelectricity in the xAg2Nb4O11–(1−x)Na2Nb4O11 solid solution

Compositions in the (AgxNa1-x)2Nb4O11 solid solution have been prepared by a conventional solid state method. Composites containing Ag2Nb4O11 have been shown to be ferroelectric and the Curie temperature shown to decrease from 149 °C at x = 1 to 62 °C at x = 0.7. Roomtemperature compositions with x ≤ 0.7 are monoclinic, while those with x ≥ 0.8 are rhombohedral with structures consistent with the relevant end-members. At x = 0.75, the structure was mainly rhombohedral but with coexistence of the monoclinic structure, indicating the proximity of a phase boundary

Algorithm to calculate a large number of roots of the cross-product of Bessel functions

This paper describes an algorithm to calculate a large number of roots of the cross-product of Bessel functions and of their first derivatives. The algorithm initially finds the roots of the zeroth order using an auxiliary function that exhibits the same roots as the original cross-products but with better behavior for numerical root search with the Newton-Raphson algorithm. In order to find the roots for higher orders, the algorithm follows a pyramidal scheme using the interlacing property of the cross-product of Bessel functions. The algorithm shows globally convergent behavior for a large range of values of the argument and of the order of the Bessel functions. The roots can be computed to any precision, limited only by the computer implementation, and the convergence is attained in six iterations per root in average, showing a much better performance than previous works for the calculation of these roots