Learning and retention time effect on memory for sweet taste in children

This study investigated the effect of learning and retention time on memory for fruit pur\ue9e varying in sweetness among 214 children aged 8\u201310 years. During a first session, all children received a snack including a target fruit pur\ue9e. Half children tasted the snack without any mention to memory (incidental group), whereas the other children (intentional group) were explicitly asked to taste and remember it. During a second session, children of each learning group were divided in two groups, which were tested for memory after respectively 1 day and 1 week. Children were confronted with a series of samples consisting of the same target previously tasted and variants of it slightly modified in sweetness. Children performed also a hedonic and a perceptive test. Memory was better under incidental rather than intentional conditions. Recognition was based more on the correct rejection of the distractors rather than on the identification of the target. No clear evidence for a retention time effect on memory was found. The relationship between sweetness perception and memory is discussed

Evolution of physicochemical, morphological and aromatic characteristics of Italian PDO dry-cured hams during processing

The aim of this work was to follow the evolution of physicochemical (dry matter, NaCl concentration, pH, water activity), morphological (image analysis) and aromatic (e-nose) characteristics of the three main Italian PDOs during processing, from slaughtering to end of ripening. Main phenomena distinguishing the PDOs are NaCl concentration increase, which is higher in Toscano than in Parma and San Daniele hams, starting from the salting phase. Water activity values decrease during processing, and the lowest values are detected in Toscano ham. Changes in morphological parameters (area, shape) and in color progressively occur during processing and are more pronounced in Toscano ham. A clear evolution of aroma of the three PDOs has been observed by e-nose, and the complexity of the aromatic profile of the ripened hams is clearly highlighted

Improvement of an emotional lexicon for the evaluation of beers

Emotional response has been the subject of many studies during the last years. Many studies have shown the importance of using consumers to generate emotional lexicons. Chaya et al. (2015) developed a consumer defined (CD) lexicon to assess emotional response elicited by beer products. Shortly after, van Zyl and Meiselman (2015) presented a procedure to ensure that emotional lists were fully composed by emotions. The present research was developed to improve and test the lexicon developed by Chaya et al. (2015) following the approach proposed by van Zyl and Meiselman (2015). The proposed procedure allowed an easy filtering of terms for the study of emotional response. As a consequence, the test was shorter, clearer, and easier to understand and to complete by consumers. The improved emotional lexicon of beer favoured 1) the efficiency of the research in terms of discrimination among samples, 2) the simplicity of use by the consumers

Recurrence of multiple meiotic abnormalities in maize genotypes from the same origin and their influence on productivity.

The frequency of meiotic abnormalities among single-, double- and three-way cross experimental hybrids and their parental inbred lines is studied. Among the sixteen inbred lines examined, fifteen originated from populations developed at the National Center of Research in Maize and Sorghum (CNPMS/Embrapa) and one from a population developed at ESALQ (Faculty of Agriculture Luiz de Queiroz of the University of São Paulo). Previous analyses of homozygous and heterozygous maize genotypes from CNPMS populations demonstrated high meiotic instability. The present investigation aims at analyzing the meiotic behavior of different inbred lines obtained from CNPMS populations by another breeding enterprise to verify the presence of the same abnormalities and determine whether the abnormalities might compromise productivity. Analyses showed the presence of some abnormalities described previously, albeit at a lower frequency. The most common abnormalities in homozygous and heterozygous genotypes from CNPMS populations were related to irregular chromosome segregation and to chromosome stickiness. An inbred line from the ESALQ population showed only abnormalities related to irregular chromosome segregation caused by the presence of univalent chromosomes. The Pearson correlation procedure indicated high negative correlation between meiotic abnormalities and productivity

Heat transfer delay method for the fluid velocity evaluation in a multi-turn pulsating heat pipe

A multi-turn closed loop pulsating heat pipe made of aluminium is tested in vertical bottom heated mode and different condenser temperatures with the aim of providing quantitative information regarding its flow dynamics through a novel post-processing technique on the local wall-to-fluid heat flux, evaluated within the adiabatic section. The studied device is made of an annealed aluminium tube (inner/outer diameter: 3/5 mm), folded in 14 turns and partially filled with methanol (volumetric filling ratio: 50%). The aluminium channels are coated with a high-emissivity opaque paint, thus allowing thermographic measurements on the outer wall by means of a high-resolution medium wave infrared camera. The proposed method, named Heat Transfer Delay Method, is validated by means of a dedicated experimental approach. Then, the acquired time-space temperature maps are used as input data for the inverse heat conduction problem resolution approach to estimate the local convective heat flux locally exchanged at the inner wall-fluid interface. The resulting wall-to-fluid heat fluxes are then post- processed by applying the Heat Transfer Delay Method to the oscillatory and circulatory flow modes. The average fluid velocity is assessed at varying working conditions during the circulatory flow, finding values up to 0.77 m/s and 0.3 m/s for condenser temperature equal to 20 ◦C and 10 ◦ C, respectivel

Determinants of obesity in Italian adults : the role of taste sensitivity, food liking, and food neophobia

Recent evidence has suggested that factors related to sensory perception may explain excess weight. The objective of this study was to consider multiple aspects while investigating the phenomenon of obesity. One goal was to compare taste acuity (taste threshold and density of fungiform papillae) in both normal weight and obese subjects. Thresholds for 4 basic tastes and the fat stimulus were investigated. A second research goal was to study the relationship between food neophobia and food liking according to the body mass index and taste sensitivity. The results showed that obese subjects seem to have higher threshold values and a reduced number of fungiform papillae than do normal weight subjects. Food neophobia did not vary with nutritional status, whereas differences were found for food liking, with obese subjects showing significantly higher liking ratings for high energy dense products compared with normal weight subjects

Meiotic behavior of a nonaploid accession endorses x = 6 for Brachiaria humidicola (Poaceae).

Brachiaria humidicola (Poaceae), originally from Africa, is an economically important pasture plant in tropical South America. An accession of B. humidicola (H038) collected from the wild African savanna (Mbeya, Tanzania) showed irregular microsporogenesis. This meiotic behavior was consistent with an allopolyploid origin. Multivalent chromosome association at diakinesis gave tri- to octavalents, associated with two nucleoli in some cells. Six non-congregated univalents in metaphase I and anaphase I, along with previous lines of evidence for x = 6 in B. humidicola, confirm H038 as a nonaploid accession, 2n = 9x = 54. Asynchrony in the genome during microsporogenesis also corroborated this assumption. Its putative origin could be a cross between two related species with different rhythms in meiosis. The meiotic behavior of this accession reinforces the hypothesis of the existence of a new basic chromosome number (x = 6) for Brachiaria. The use of this accession in the breeding of this important forage grass for the tropics is discussed

Recurrence of multiple meiotic abnormalities in maize genotypes from the same origin and their influence on productivity.

The frequency of meiotic abnormalities among single-, double- and three-way cross experimental hybrids and their parental inbred lines is studied. Among the sixteen inbred lines examined, fifteen originated from populations developed at the National Center of Research in Maize and Sorghum (CNPMS/Embrapa) and one from a population developed at ESALQ (Faculty of Agriculture Luiz de Queiroz of the University of São Paulo). Previous analyses of homozygous and heterozygous maize genotypes from CNPMS populations demonstrated high meiotic instability. The present investigation aims at analyzing the meiotic behavior of different inbred lines obtained from CNPMS populations by another breeding enterprise to verify the presence of the same abnormalities and determine whether the abnormalities might compromise productivity. Analyses showed the presence of some abnormalities described previously, albeit at a lower frequency. The most common abnormalities in homozygous and heterozygous genotypes from CNPMS populations were related to irregular chromosome segregation and to chromosome stickiness. An inbred line from the ESALQ population showed only abnormalities related to irregular chromosome segregation caused by the presence of univalent chromosomes. The Pearson correlation procedure indicated high negative correlation between meiotic abnormalities and productivity