Impact of sodium chloride on wheat doughs

The impact of salt (sodium chloride) on the wheat dough was studied, with a particular focus on the state and distribution of water and sodium in the dough system. In this study, dough samples were prepared using the same processing techniques as in commercial bakery (i.e. Chorleywood Bread Process) and were investigated simultaneously using molecular spectroscopy 1[subscript]H and 23[subscript]Na NMR), deformation stress measurement (Kieffer test, Texture Profile Analysis and Chen-Hoseney test) and calorimetry (DSC). A progressive study of experimentation was carried out in which dough samples between zero and 5% added salt (on flour base) to exaggerate the effects of salt. Furthermore, test baking was also used to study the mechinability of doughs. All of the techniques studied enabled the construction of a complete picture of the sequential events occurring when salt is reduced. Test baking confirmed that machine moulding of bread dough became more difficult at lower salt contents. This was more apparent when dough temperature was elevated, or when the delay time between mixing and moulding was increased. Laboratory measurements were not able to distinguish the increase of stickiness occurring in the low salt (1.4%) doughs and modifying the method also failed to establish variations in stickiness, although changes in the hardness of the dough at the different salt levels were detectable. Measurements of the dough fluid phases were compared using three techniques: isolation of aqueous phase through ultracentrifugation, freezable water as measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and proton mobility using low field nuclear magnetic resonance (1[subscript]H NMR). Salt increased the amount of dough liquor expressed on ultracentrifugation, however, the amount of freezable water and the molecular mobility of water (T2) did not show significant changes. The findings suggest that the gluten-starch matrix is sensitive to salt in way that it affects the "drainage" properties and the capillarity of the dough matrix, but not the intrinsic levels of fluid in the dough. The distribution of salt on the dough was also investigated using 23[subscript]NaNMR. A large proportion of the salt added was not detectable with this technique and could be thought of as immobile. Increasing the concentration of sodium in the dough gave the same proportion of "bound" sodium. It would seem to be the starch component in the flour that dominated the sodium binding in the dough samples. Salt may exert its effects through polymer-polymer interactions rather than polymer–water interactions and its exact influence on cereal products performance still needs to be established before the reduction of salt is a viable option for commercial bakers

Impact of sodium chloride on wheat doughs

The impact of salt (sodium chloride) on the wheat dough was studied, with a particular focus on the state and distribution of water and sodium in the dough system. In this study, dough samples were prepared using the same processing techniques as in commercial bakery (i.e. Chorleywood Bread Process) and were investigated simultaneously using molecular spectroscopy 1[subscript]H and 23[subscript]Na NMR), deformation stress measurement (Kieffer test, Texture Profile Analysis and Chen-Hoseney test) and calorimetry (DSC). A progressive study of experimentation was carried out in which dough samples between zero and 5% added salt (on flour base) to exaggerate the effects of salt. Furthermore, test baking was also used to study the mechinability of doughs. All of the techniques studied enabled the construction of a complete picture of the sequential events occurring when salt is reduced. Test baking confirmed that machine moulding of bread dough became more difficult at lower salt contents. This was more apparent when dough temperature was elevated, or when the delay time between mixing and moulding was increased. Laboratory measurements were not able to distinguish the increase of stickiness occurring in the low salt (1.4%) doughs and modifying the method also failed to establish variations in stickiness, although changes in the hardness of the dough at the different salt levels were detectable. Measurements of the dough fluid phases were compared using three techniques: isolation of aqueous phase through ultracentrifugation, freezable water as measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and proton mobility using low field nuclear magnetic resonance (1[subscript]H NMR). Salt increased the amount of dough liquor expressed on ultracentrifugation, however, the amount of freezable water and the molecular mobility of water (T2) did not show significant changes. The findings suggest that the gluten-starch matrix is sensitive to salt in way that it affects the "drainage" properties and the capillarity of the dough matrix, but not the intrinsic levels of fluid in the dough. The distribution of salt on the dough was also investigated using 23[subscript]NaNMR. A large proportion of the salt added was not detectable with this technique and could be thought of as immobile. Increasing the concentration of sodium in the dough gave the same proportion of "bound" sodium. It would seem to be the starch component in the flour that dominated the sodium binding in the dough samples. Salt may exert its effects through polymer-polymer interactions rather than polymer–water interactions and its exact influence on cereal products performance still needs to be established before the reduction of salt is a viable option for commercial bakers

Mentoring in palliative medicine in the time of covid-19: a systematic scoping review : Mentoring programs during COVID-19.

IntroductionThe redeployment of mentors and restrictions on in-person face-to-face mentoring meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic has compromised mentoring efforts in Palliative Medicine (PM). Seeking to address these gaps, we evaluate the notion of a combined novice, peer-, near-peer and e-mentoring (CNEP) and interprofessional team-based mentoring (IPT) program.MethodsA Systematic Evidence Based Approach (SEBA) guided systematic scoping review was carried out to study accounts of CNEP and IPT from articles published between 1st January 2000 and 28th February 2021. To enhance trustworthiness, concurrent thematic and content analysis of articles identified from structured database search using terms relating to interprofessional, virtual and peer or near-peer mentoring in medical education were employed to bring together the key elements within included articles.ResultsFifteen thousand one hundred twenty one abstracts were reviewed, 557 full text articles were evaluated, and 92 articles were included. Four themes and categories were identified and combined using the SEBA's Jigsaw and Funnelling Process to reveal 4 domains - characteristics, mentoring stages, assessment methods, and host organizations. These domains suggest that CNEP's structured virtual and near-peer mentoring process complement IPT's accessible and non-hierarchical approach under the oversight of the host organizations to create a robust mentoring program.ConclusionThis systematic scoping review forwards an evidence-based framework to guide a CNEP-IPT program. At the same time, more research into the training and assessment methods of mentors, near peers and mentees, the dynamics of mentoring interactions and the longitudinal support of the mentoring relationships and programs should be carried out

Impact of sodium chloride on wheat doughs

The impact of salt (sodium chloride) on the wheat dough was studied, with a particular focus on the state and distribution of water and sodium in the dough system. In this study, dough samples were prepared using the same processing techniques as in commercial bakery (i.e. Chorleywood Bread Process) and were investigated simultaneously using molecular spectroscopy 1[subscript]H and 23[subscript]Na NMR), deformation stress measurement (Kieffer test, Texture Profile Analysis and Chen-Hoseney test) and calorimetry (DSC). A progressive study of experimentation was carried out in which dough samples between zero and 5% added salt (on flour base) to exaggerate the effects of salt. Furthermore, test baking was also used to study the mechinability of doughs. All of the techniques studied enabled the construction of a complete picture of the sequential events occurring when salt is reduced. Test baking confirmed that machine moulding of bread dough became more difficult at lower salt contents. This was more apparent when dough temperature was elevated, or when the delay time between mixing and moulding was increased. Laboratory measurements were not able to distinguish the increase of stickiness occurring in the low salt (1.4%) doughs and modifying the method also failed to establish variations in stickiness, although changes in the hardness of the dough at the different salt levels were detectable. Measurements of the dough fluid phases were compared using three techniques: isolation of aqueous phase through ultracentrifugation, freezable water as measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and proton mobility using low field nuclear magnetic resonance (1[subscript]H NMR). Salt increased the amount of dough liquor expressed on ultracentrifugation, however, the amount of freezable water and the molecular mobility of water (T2) did not show significant changes. The findings suggest that the gluten-starch matrix is sensitive to salt in way that it affects the "drainage" properties and the capillarity of the dough matrix, but not the intrinsic levels of fluid in the dough. The distribution of salt on the dough was also investigated using 23[subscript]NaNMR. A large proportion of the salt added was not detectable with this technique and could be thought of as immobile. Increasing the concentration of sodium in the dough gave the same proportion of "bound" sodium. It would seem to be the starch component in the flour that dominated the sodium binding in the dough samples. Salt may exert its effects through polymer-polymer interactions rather than polymer–water interactions and its exact influence on cereal products performance still needs to be established before the reduction of salt is a viable option for commercial bakers.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Modeling and analysis of departure management systems in air traffic management

This paper discusses the problem of runway congestion in air traffic management, particularly the aircraft takeoff problem. The aircraft takeoff problem aims to optimize the use of runways by rearranging the sequence of takeoffs. Due to the size of different aircrafts, the minimum separation distance between consecutive takeoffs is different. Hence, rearranging the sequence of takeoffs could reduce the separation distance between planes and allow more planes to take off in the same amount of time. The paper first summarizes the various types of mathematical models and solutions that have been previously used to model the aircraft sequencing problem. One of the approaches was then selected and modified to model the aircraft takeoff problem. The details of the model and solution would be explained in the paper. The results of using the suggested approach were then compared to the current approach used, which in this case is firstcome-first serve. The results reflected that the suggested approach provided a better solution than the current approach. There was also an attempt to improve the approach by reducing the number of feasible solutions explored before attaining the optimal solution. Further details on improvement and feasibility were suggested at the end of this paper.Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace Engineering

Cognitive dynamic airspace management

This thesis focuses on optimisation methods in airspace management. A given airspace is typically divided into sectors where a pair of air traffic controllers are assigned to ensure safety in each sector. The controllers’ workload can be generally divided into interactions with (a) pilots in the given sector and (b) other controllers when the aircraft exits their sector and enters into another sector. These interactions are referred to the monitoring and coordination workloads respectively. This research work specifically studies the optimisation methods applied to the optimal design of sector shapes in four aspects. • Static state: The formulation of finding sector shapes have been mostly proposed in a single objective optimisation framework. However, given the conflicting nature of the considerations, the problem should be formulated as a multi-objective problem incorporating the preferences of the user. • Dynamic state: Re-sectorization strategies for reconfiguration or change in sector shapes have been suggested to handle the changing air traffic flow. However, the dynamic airspace sectorization problem (DAS) has not been explored as a system that has varying traffic flows over time. • Weather: Weather plays a significant role in the availability of airspace. However, most work that addresses changing weather conditions focuses on the re-routing of affected airways, which could, in turn, cause an imbalance of controllers workload. The combination of re-routing and resectorization should be considered simultaneously under the effect of limited available airspace. • Multi-objective solver: Most multi-objective solvers stem from evolutionary algorithms (EAs) due to its population-based nature. Multi-objective EAs are fundamentally stochastic in nature, hence solutions are likely to be irreproducible. For reproducible and reliable solutions, deterministic algorithms are preferable. In this thesis, a preference-based bi-objective optimisation model that optimises sector shapes for a given set of traffic flows and airspace is first presented. The two objectives are i) minimizing the standard deviation of the monitoring workload (within the sector) among pairs of controllers and ii) minimizing the total coordination workload between sectors. The proposed model aims to obtain traffic flow conforming sectors while equally distributing the monitoring workload among controllers as much as possible. Furthermore, preference-based methods were used to help the solver focus on the particular region of interest on the approximate Pareto front. The proposed preference-based strategy was found to obtain a wider range of feasible solutions when compared to a constraint-based strategy. Given dynamically changing traffic flows, a single set of sector shapes could not remain optimal over time. Hence, the airspace management problem should be deemed as a system over time, re-sectorizing sectors when needed. The cognitive decision making architecture for dynamic airspace sectorization (CDAS) is first proposed to answer the questions on when-to-do and how-to-do a resectorization. With a multi-objective framework, CDAS provides the decision maker with the predicted performance objectives (based on flight plans) of available optimal sector shapes (for selection) for the next time period. This could allow the decision maker to avoid a need for resectorization in the next time period. However, there are still some uncertainties present in the feasibility of the sector shapes in future time intervals. Focusing on the benefits of planning, the airspace management problem is fitted into a rolling horizon optimisation framework with a single objective optimisation model. This approach optimizes the sector shapes with the consideration of traffic flows in the next few time intervals. In comparison with the single time interval optimisation, the proposed method is able to provide better feasible solutions over a time horizon. On top of varying traffic flows, dynamic weather conditions can affect the availability of airspace. The Simultaneous Optimisation of the AirWay and AirSpace (SAWAS) is proposed to address this changing availability of airspace. The model seeks to balance the ATC monitoring workload, minimize the total coordination workload and maximize the similarity of sector shapes with the initial sectorization. An experimental study was performed to compare this methodology with a sequential design approach. It was found that the concurrent consideration of sector re-design and flow re-routing on the design objectives yields better and more optimal solutions. The reproducibility and reliability of solutions in real-world problems are not guaranteed with stochastic solvers. Therefore, a deterministic indicator-based multi-objective Multi-scale Search Optimisation (MSO) algorithm, Pareto-Aware Dividing Rectangles (PA-DIRECT) is proposed to tackle this issue. PA-DIRECT is benchmarked against non-dominance-based multi-objective MSO algorithm, MO-DIRECT and popular evolutionary algorithms on a bi-objective test set on the Comparing Continuous Optimisers (COCO) platform. The study results affirm the performance of PA-DIRECT in providing a high-quality approximate set, particularly for multi-modal problems. Further, PA-DIRECT is used to solve the aforementioned preference-based bi-objective optimisation model with general constraint handling techniques. In summary, the thesis first introduces a preference-based approach for the designing of optimal sector shapes. Next, two different frameworks that consider future traffic flows are proposed for DAS. Following that, the changing availability of airspace is tackled by the simultaneous optimisation of re-routing and resectorization. Last but not least, a deterministic multi-objective solver is developed to find optimal airspace sector shapes. Future works include: i). a reference-point-based MSO algorithm for optimizing sector shapes; ii). interactive multi-objective optimisation approaches for optimizing sector shapes; iii). extending the rolling horizon optimisation framework with a multi-objective optimisation model; iv). solving the rolling horizon optimisation framework with a reinforcement learning approach; v). implementing SAWAS as a module in the CDAS framework; and vi). simulations for a better measurement of controllers’ workload.Doctor of Philosoph

A study on the transferability of computational models of building electricity load patterns across climatic zones

Significant reduction in energy demand from non-domestic buildings is required if greenhouse emission reduction targets are to be met worldwide. Increasing monitoring of electricity consumption generates a real opportunity for gaining an in-depth understanding of the nature of occupant-related internal loads and the connection between activity and demand. The stochastic nature of the demand is well-known but as yet there is no accepted methodology for generating stochastic loads for building energy simulation. This paper presents evidence that it is feasible to generate stochastic models of activity-related electricity demand based on monitored data. Two machine learning approaches are used to develop stochastic models of plug loads; an autoencoder (AE) and a functional data analysis (FDA) model. Using data from two office buildings located in different countries, the transferability of models is explored by training the models on data from one building and using the trained models to predict demand for the other building. The results show that both models predict plug loads satisfactorily, with a good agreement with the mean demand and quantification of the uncertainty

Strangers of the night : a public awareness and informational campaign to champion the appreciation of night shift workers in Singapore

Strangers of the Night is a public awareness and informational campaign promoting the appreciation of night shift workers who help sustain Singapore’s social infrastructure. Developed and carried out by four final-year students at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, the campaign seeks to champion the appreciation of night shift workers. Targeted at youths aged 18-25, the campaign employed tactics that are relevant to youths such as education via social media platforms and initiatives based on ‘supper-hop’, a popular tertiary event. The campaign aimed to inspire behavioural change among these youths, to be more grateful towards those who sustain Singapore at night, and to explore gratitude as a lifestyle choice. Through literature reviews and formative research, this report discusses the lack of current efforts in recognition and appreciation of night shift workers in Singapore. It also evaluates the effectiveness of campaign strategies and tactics in creating positive behavioural change among youths via post-campaign survey. Finally, limitations and challenges of the campaign were also discussed to provide useful learning insights for future campaigns that share a similar nature. Over the course of the campaign, close to 1250 youths joined our Facebook Community Group and heard the stories of night shift workers through the Share Your Story series. In addition, 30 youths delivered care kits to 300 night shift workers across Singapore. The report also includes an appendix that displays all survey data results and collateral materials used during the campaign.Bachelor of Communication Studie

Global re-wiring of p53 transcription regulation by the hepatitis B virus X protein

10.1016/j.molonc.2016.05.006MOLECULAR ONCOLOGY1081183-119