Physical and chemical characteristics of doneky meat from Martina Franca breed

The rheological and chemical characteristics of meat obtained from 12 Martina Franca donkey males, slaughtered at 14 months of age and a mean final body weight of 169 kg were determined. Meat samples were taken four days post mortem from muscles Longissimus thoracis et lumborum and Biceps femoris, colorimetric parameters were measured to determine L* (lightness), a* redness), b* (yellowness) and chroma. The Longissimus was significantly lighter (P < 0.05) compared to the Biceps femoris, with L* indexes of 35.86 and 31.34, respectively. Fatty acid composition of the intramuscular fat showed a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in both muscles, respectively 25.16 g/100 g total fatty acids in the Longissimus and 24.97 g/100 g total fatty acids in the Biceps femoris; oleic acid and palmitic acid were the two most abundant fatty acids in both muscles. The percentages of essential amino acids were higher in both muscles compared with the total amino acid content, respectively 52.88% in the Longissimus, and 51.26% in the Biceps femoris. The high level of unsaturation of the intramuscular fat resulted in a high ratio of unsaturated to saturated fat, and the total amount of essential amino acids, exceeding 50% of the total amino acids showed that donkey meat from a health point of view is a good alternative to traditional red meats

llama meat nutritional properties

The aim of this study was to determine the chemical composition of the muscle Longissimus thoracis taken from 20 llama males, reared in the Andean region, slaughtered at an age of 25 months and at a mean final body weight of 74kg. Llama meat showed a low fat (3.51%) and cholesterol content (58.16mg/100g), a good protein content (22.42%) and an ash content of 3.06%. The Warner-Bratzler shear force values determined in llama meat was 6.56 kg/cm2. This study confirmed that llama meat is healthy and nutritious, and represents a good source of proteins for Andean population

A probabilistic treatment of uncertainty in nonlinear dynamical systems

In this work, computationally efficient approximate methods are developed for analyzing uncertain dynamical systems. Uncertainties in both the excitation and the modeling are considered and examples are presented illustrating the accuracy of the proposed approximations. For nonlinear systems under uncertain excitation, methods are developed to approximate the stationary probability density function and statistical quantities of interest. The methods are based on approximating solutions to the Fokker-Planck equation for the system and differ from traditional methods in which approximate solutions to stochastic differential equations are found. The new methods require little computational effort and examples are presented for which the accuracy of the proposed approximations compare favorably to results obtained by existing methods. The most significant improvements are made in approximating quantities related to the extreme values of the response, such as expected outcrossing rates, which are crucial for evaluating the reliability of the system. Laplace's method of asymptotic approximation is applied to approximate the probability integrals which arise when analyzing systems with modeling uncertainty. The asymptotic approximation reduces the problem of evaluating a multidimensional integral to solving a minimization problem and the results become asymptotically exact as the uncertainty in the modeling goes to zero. The method is found to provide good approximations for the moments and outcrossing rates for systems with uncertain parameters under stochastic excitation, even when there is a large amount of uncertainty in the parameters. The method is also applied to classical reliability integrals, providing approximations in both the transformed (independently, normally distributed) variables and the original variables. In the transformed variables, the asymptotic approximation yields a very simple formula for approximating the value of SORM integrals. In many cases, it may be computationally expensive to transform the variables, and an approximation is also developed in the original variables. Examples are presented illustrating the accuracy of the approximations and results are compared with existing approximations

Cold asphalt contaning 100% reclamed asphalt. A sustainable technology for cycle paths and maintenance intervations

Both the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Next Generation EU Program) and the development strategies for Smart Cities focus on cycle and pedestrian paths. Their pavements must be safe, durable and sustainable and considering the need to preserve the resources that Planet Earth offers to humans, it is essential to opt for innovative construction technologies that allow recycling methods without necessarily involving the addition of first-use materials. In the field of road infrastructure, the recovery of material deriving from the demolition of old pavements (RA - Reclaimed Asphalt) is only possible thanks to the use of specific products. A state-of-the-art rejuvenator is currently being used for the construction of cycling paths with 100% cold-mixed RA. This product is currently being studied for the INFRAROB project: “Maintaining integrity, performance and safety of the road infrastructure through autonomous robotized solutions and modularization” (Horizon 2020) with particular reference to “potholes patching” materials. Some technical data of the experiences developed to date are shown below

A numerical study of the natural convection flow in an asymmetrically heated vertical channel : effect of heat source position

This paper deals with a numerical study of the natural convection flow in an asymmetrically heated vertical plane channel at Ra*=4.5.106. The objective of this study is then to highlight the influence of the heat source position at the heated wall on the behavior of both the return flow and the surface heat transfer. In order to neglect radiation, only the convective aspects related to natural convection are studied by carrying out simulations in water. Numerical simulations were performed for two-dimensional, laminar and unsteady flow using the finite volume approach. Based on the study of several heating distributions at wall, the influence of the incident thermal source location and of the dissipated power on the downward return flow is highlighted and on the heat transfer at wall as well.Papers presented to the 12th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Costa de Sol, Spain on 11-13 July 2016

Redox activity and chemical speciation of size fractioned PM in the communities of the Los Angeles ? Long Beach Harbor

International audienceIn this study, two different types of assays were used to quantitatively measure the redox activity of PM and to examine its intrinsic toxicity: 1) in vitro exposure to rat alveolar macrophage (AM) cells using dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA) as the fluorescent probe (macrophage ROS assay), and: 2) consumption of dithiothreitol (DTT) in a cell-free system (DTT assay). Coarse (PM10?2.5), accumulation (PM2.5?0.25), and quasi-ultrafine (quasi-UF, PM0.25) mode particles were collected weekly at five sampling sites in the Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor and at one site near the University of Southern California campus (urban site). All PM samples were analyzed for organic (total and water-soluble) and elemental carbon, organic species, inorganic ions, and total and water-soluble elements. Quasi-UF mode particles showed the highest redox activity at all Long Beach sites (on both a per-mass and per-air volume basis). A significant association (R2=0.61) was observed between the two assays, indicating that macrophage ROS and DTT levels are affected at least partially by similar PM species. Relatively small variation was observed for the DTT measurements across all size fractions and sites, whereas macrophage ROS levels showed more significant ranges across the three different particle size modes and throughout the sites (coefficients of variation, or CVs, were 0.35, 0.24 and 0.53 for quasi-UF, accumulation, and coarse mode particles, respectively). Association between the PM constituents and the redox activity was further investigated using multiple linear regression models. The results showed that OC was the most important component influencing the DTT activity of PM samples. The variability of macrophage ROS was explained by changes in OC concentrations and water-soluble vanadium (probably originating from ship emissions ? bunker oil combustion). The multiple regression models were used to predict the average diurnal macrophage ROS and DTT levels as a function of the OC concentration at one of the sampling sites

Raja asterias population assessment in FAO GFCM GSA17 area

Population structure and distribution of the starry ray, Raja asterias, were described based on data collected during yearly rapido trawl surveys (SoleMon), between 2005 and 2014 in the Northern and Central Adriatic Sea. A total of 306 individuals were caught, sex ratio was 1.04:1 in favor of males and length-weight relationships were obtained for the whole sample. Following the MEDITS scale, maturity was estimated, observing a higher number of immature individuals. Relative abundance significantly increased during the recent period with the highest values recorded at 5-30 m depths. Such increase could be related to the response of R. asterias to climatic change or to the decrease  in fishing pressure in the area. Clear spatial segregation of individuals depending on their life stage was observed, with immature individuals inhabiting the coastal areas and adults more abundant at depths greater than 40 m. The comparison of the result of the present study with MEDITS survey outcomes in terms of  distribution patterns, persistence areas of adults and juveniles and abundances indices, evidences that SoleMon survey seems to be more suitable in defining such features of the stock, likely due to the greater catchability of the rapido trawl in respect to the MEDITS trawl net. However, further investigations are needed to identify factors affecting the increasing abundance of this species, and develop an action plan for spatial management of fishing activities