Reduction of oil uptake in deep fat fried chicken nuggets using edible coatings based on cassava starch and methylcellulose

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of edible coatings based on methylcellulose (MC) and cassava starch (CS) to reduce oil uptake and improve water retention of chicken nuggets during deep fat frying. Edible coatings were prepared with I g of MC/100 g solution and 4 g of CS/100 g solution, with 25 or 55 g glycerol/100 g biopolymer. These solutions were applied to nugget samples before battering. Pre-fried and fried nuggets were analyzed to determine lipid and water contents. Color and texture were also measured in the fried nuggets. In general, there was no effect of the two concentrations of plasticizer of either of the biopolymers on the water retention of whole nuggets. But, higher oil uptake reduction, and consequently, lower lipid content was observed on nuggets coated with CS and 25% plasticizer. The coated samples were darker and had a brighter yellow color when compared with the control. There was also a significant decrease in the shearing force of the fried coated samples, indicating reduced hardness of these samples.

The search for primordial quark nuggets among near Earth asteroids

Primordial Quark Nuggets, remnants of the quark-hadron phase transition, may be hiding most of the baryon number in superdense chunks have been discussed for years always from the theoretical point of view. While they seemed originally fragile at intermediate cosmological temperatures, it became increasingly clear that they may survive due to a variety of effects affecting their evaporation (surface and volume) rates. A search of these objects have never been attempted to elucidate their existence. We discuss in this note how to search directly for cosmological fossil nuggets among the small asteroids approaching Earth. `Asteroids` with a high visible-to-infrared flux ratio, constant lightcurves and devoid of spectral features are signals of an actual possible nugget nature. A viable search of very definite primordial quark nugget features can be conducted as a spinoff of the ongoing/forthcoming NEAs observation programmes.

Rankamaite from the Urubu pegmatite, Itinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil: Crystal chemistry and Rietveld refinement

A new occurrence of rankamaite is here described at the Urubu pegmatite, Itinga municipality, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The mineral forms cream-white botryoidal aggregates of acicular to fibrous crystals, intimately associated with simpsonite, thoreaulite, cassiterite, quartz, elbaite, albite, and muscovite. The average of six chemical analyses obtained by electron microprobe is (range in parentheses, wt%): Na(2)O 2.08 (1.95-2.13), K(2)O 2.61 (2.52-2.74), Al(2)O(3) 1.96 (1.89-2.00), Fe(2)O(3) 0.01 (0.00-0.03), TiO(2) 0.02 (0.00-0.06), Ta(2)O(5) 81.04 (79.12-85.18), Nb(2)O(5) 9.49 (8.58-9.86), total 97.21 (95.95-101.50). The chemical formula derived from this analysis is (Na(1.55)K(1.28))(Sigma 2.83)(Ta(8.45)Nb(1.64)Al(0.89)Fe(0.01)(3+)Ti(0.01))(Sigma 11.00)[O(25.02)(OH)(5.98)](Sigma 31.00). Rankamaite is an orthorhombic ""tungsten bronze"" (OTB), crystallizing in the space group Cmmm. Its unit-cell parameters refined from X-ray diffraction powder data are: a = 17.224(3), b = 17.687(3), c = 3.9361(7) angstrom, V = 1199.1(3) angstrom(3), Z = 2. Rietveld refinement of the powder data was undertaken using the structure of LaTa(5)O(14) as a starting model for the rankamaite structure. The structural formula obtained with the Rietveld analyses is: (Na(2.21)K(1.26))Sigma(3.37)(Ta(9.12)NB(1.30) Al(0.59))(Sigma 11.00)[O(26.29)(OH)(4.71)](Sigma 31.00). The tantalum atoms are coordinated by six and seven oxygen atoms in the form of distorted TaO(6) octahedra and TaO(2) pentagonal bipyramids, respectively. Every pentagonal bipyramid shares edges with four octahedra, thus forming Ta(5)O(14) units. The potassium atom is in an 11-fold coordination, whereas one sodium atom is in a 10-fold and the other is in a 12-fold coordination. Raman and infrared spectroscopy were used to investigate the room-temperature spectra of rankamaite.