Effects of gluten and transglutaminase on microstructure, sensory characteristics and instrumental texture of oat bread

Selostus: Taikinaan lisättyjen gluteenin ja transglutaminaasin vaikutus kauraleivän rakenteeseen

"Bullets, bread & bandaids" : Yhdysvaltain V armeijakunnan täydennystoiminta operaatio Iraqi freedomin hyökkäysvaiheessa 2003

Yhdysvaltain maavoimien ja samalla huollon doktriinia kehitettiin 1990-luvulla vastaamaan kylmän sodan päättymisen jälkeisiä uhkakuvia. Uutta doktriinia kehitettäessä pyrittiin huo-mioimaan operaatio Desert Stormin (1991) kokemukset. Doktriiniin otettiin runsaasti vai-kutteita siviiliyritysten logistiikasta kustannustehokkuuden ja ajankäytön parantamiseksi. Uusi doktriini oli käytössä vuonna 2003 operaatio Iraqi Freedomissa. Tämän tutkielman tarkoitus on selvittää V Armeijakunnan huollon ja täydennystoimialan näkökulmasta, miten uudistettu huollon doktriini toimi operaatiossa, mitkä olivat sen vahvuudet ja heikkoudet sekä mitä vaikutuksia huollon toiminnalla ja taistelutoiminnalla oli toisiinsa. Lähdeaineisto on enimmäkseen kirjallisuutta, pääosin operaatioon osallistuneiden sotilaiden kirjoittamia teoksia. Lisäksi on käytetty sotilasammatillisissa lehdissä julkaistuja artikkelei-ta, asevoimien ohjesääntöjä ja Yhdysvaltain Puolustusministeriön teettämiä raportteja. Opinnäytteiden osuus on vähäinen. Haastatteluja ei ole käytetty. Tutkimusmenetelmä on aineistoanalyysiin perustuva kirjallisuustutkimus. Työssä korostuu lähdekritiikki ja lähtei-den vertailu, koska ajoittain niissä esitetyt tiedot ovat ristiriitaisia. Monet vastoinkäymiset vaikuttivat operaation huoltoon. Sotanäyttämöllä oli hyökkäyksen alkaessa vain puolet sinne alun perin suunnitellusta henkilöstöstä ja kalustosta. Tämä johtui Puolustusministeriön päätöksestä vähentää koko operaatioon käytettäviä resursseja. Henki-löstö- ja kalustopuutteet aiheuttivat muun muassa viivytyksiä kuljetuksiin ja huoltojoukko-jen ylirasittumista. Pääosa huollon henkilöstöstä oli reserviläisiä, jotka olivat tottuneet toi-mimaan vanhan huoltojärjestelmän parissa. Puutteellinen koulutus esimerkiksi uusimman teknologian käytössä aiheutti materiaalikeskuksissa virheitä ja laiminlyöntejä kirjanpidossa. Myös olosuhteet Irakissa olivat ajoittain vaikeat: esimerkiksi ilmasto ja huono tiestö hidas-tivat huollon toimintaa. Haasteista huolimatta liittouman ja V Armeijakunnan huoltojärjes-telmä kykeni kriittisimmiltä osin täyttämään tuettaviensa tarpeet. Tärkeimpänä havaintona operaatiosta voidaan pitää, että huollon doktriiniin tehdyt muutok-set olivat oikeansuuntaisia, mutta ne olivat liian radikaaleja valmistautumisaikaan nähden. Uudistetun doktriinin toimintaperiaate oli alun perin tarkoitettu siviiliyritysten logistiikkaan rauhanomaisissa olosuhteissa, mutta sotatoimialueen epävakautta ne eivät kestäneet. Poliit-tisista päätöksistä johtuen resurssit olivat muutoinkin liian vähäiset doktriinin perusajatuk-sen toteuttamiseen puhtaasti. Sitä vastoin huoltojoukkojen motivaatio sekä mukautumis- ja improvisointikyky olivat tärkeässä roolissa operaation huollon onnistumisen suhteen. Mikä-li käytössä olisi ollut täydet voimavarat, toiminta olisi kokonaisuutena luultavasti ollut huomattavasti lähempänä doktriinin perusajatusta.

Characterizing Propionibacterium freudenreichii ssp. shermanii JS and Lactobacillus rhamnosus LC705 as a new probiotic combination: basic properties of JS and pilot in vivo assessment of the combination

Characterizing Propionibacterium freudenreichii ssp. shermanii JS and Lactobacillus rhamnosus LC705 as a new probiotic combination: basic properties of JS and pilot in vivo assessment of the combination Each candidate probiotic strain has to have the documentation for the proper identification with current molecular tools, for the biological properties, for the safety aspects and for the health benefits in human trials if the intention is to apply the strain as health promoting culture in the commercial applications. No generalization based on species properties of an existing probiotic are valid for any novel strain, as strain specific differences appear e.g. in the resistance to GI tract conditions and in health promoting benefits (Madsen, 2006). The strain evaluation based on individual strain specific probiotic characteristics is therefore the first key action for the selection of the new probiotic candidate. The ultimate goal in the selection of the probiotic strain is to provide adequate amounts of active, living cells for the application and to guarantee that the cells are physiologically strong enough to survive and be biologically active in the adverse environmental conditions in the product and in GI tract of the host. The in vivo intervention studies are expensive and time consuming; therefore it is not rational to test all the possible candidates in vivo. Thus, the proper in vitro studies are helping to eliminate strains which are unlikely to perform well in vivo. The aims of this study were to characterize the strains of Propionibacterium freudenreichii ssp. shermanii JS and Lactobacillus rhamnosus LC705, both used for decades as cheese starter cultures, for their technological and possible probiotic functionality applied in a combined culture. The in vitro studies of Propionibacterium freudenreichii ssp. shermanii JS focused on the monitoring of the viability rates during the acid and bile treatments and on the safety aspects such as antibiotic susceptibility and adhesion. The studies with the combination of the strains JS and LC705 administered in fruit juices monitored the survival of the strains JS and LC705 during the GI transit and their effect on gut wellbeing properties measured as relief of constipation. In addition, safety parameters such as side effects and some peripheral immune parameters were assessed. Separately, the combination of P. freudenreichii ssp. shermanii JS and Lactobacillus rhamnosus LC705 was evaluated from the technological point of view as a bioprotective culture in fermented foods and wheat bread applications. In this study, the role ofP. freudenreichii ssp. shermanii JS as a candidate probiotic culture alone and in a combination with L. rhamnosus LC705 was demonstrated. Both strains were transiently recovered in high numbers in fecal samples of healthy adults during the consumption period. The good survival through the GI transit was proven for both strains with a recovery rate from 70 to 80% for the JS strain and from 40 to 60% for the LC705 strain from the daily dose of 10 log10 CFU. The good survival was shown from the consumption of fruit juices which do not provide similar matrix protection for the cells as milk based products. The strain JS did not pose

Sensory and Non-sensory Factors Behind the Liking and Choice of Healthy Food Products

A healthy and balanced diet can reduce health problems, such as overweight and metabolic syndrome. In general, people have a considerably good knowledge of what constitutes a healthy diet and how they could achieve it with their food choices. Besides, people argue that health is among their top five food choice motives. Nevertheless, the prevalence of overweight is increasing and other food choice motives, such as taste, seem to conflict with the health. Liking for food does not necessarily determine acceptance alone, thus several non-sensory factors, such as brand, country of origin and nutrition claim, can also influence. Moreover, consumers are individuals in how they prioritize sensory and nonsensory factors of foods, but e.g. increasing age, female gender and health concern have been connected to a more health-oriented dietary behaviour. To sum up, identifying different factors that can increase the liking and consumption of healthy food is essential in order to develop more attractive healthful food products. Adding vitamins, minerals, fibre or other ingredients to a food product can be used to enrich the nutritional quality of the products. However, this may be difficult in practice as regards the sensory quality and pleasantness of the foods. Generally, consumers are not willing to compromise on taste in food. On the other hand, consumers are very heterogeneous in their likings, and their personal values and attitudes may interact with preferences for specific sensory characteristics. The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of intrinsic product characteristics on sensory properties and hedonic responses; to determine the impact of few non-sensory factors; and to examine the interaction between sensory and non-sensory factors with consumers’ demographics, values and attitudes in liking of healthy model foods. The results showed that product composition influenced sensory quality and had an effect on hedonic responses. Adding flaxseed to bakery products showed a significant improvement in the nutritional quality without negative effects on sensory properties. On the other hand, the fortification of wellness beverages with vitamins and minerals may impart off-flavours. In general, sweetness of yoghurts, freshness of wellness beverages and low intensity of rye bread flavour appealed to consumers. Information about the domestic origin of yoghurts and claiming a specific function for wellness beverages enhanced liking. However, consumers who were more concerned about their health and considered natural content as an important food choice motive, rated sourer and less sweet yoghurts and wellness beverages as more pleasant. In addition, interest in health increased the consumption of rye breads and other whole grain breads among adolescents. The results showed that the optimal product quality in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic factors differs between individual consumers, and personal values and food choice motives can be connected to preferences for specific sensory characteristics of foods. This indicates that each food product needs to be considered in relation to its specific market niche, and to which segment of consumer will respond most positively to its characteristics.

Images of imagination : an aesthetic approach to education

Visual art practice has generally been described as a lonely affair, thinking about what an artist has experienced in the outside world. This study is an inquiry into a visual art practice of another kind: the relational one. The research purpose is twofold. The first purpose is to shed light on a visual artist’s conceptions of art, education and scholarship. The second purpose is to by reasoning on imagination and a rhizomatic formation interpret the relations created between art, multimodality and literacy learning as an aesthetic approach to education. By inquiry into a specific collaborated long-term art practice, the study conveys how the meaning making elements of an arts based learning practice gradually transform an artist’s and a teacher’s concepts of art education to an aesthetic approach to education. In the art practice examined the typical Finnish rye bread and a poem have represented a cultural theme that has been elaborated through art conventions. The poem and the rye bread have in the art practice been articulated as cultural representations of as well as symbolic projections on the Swedishspeaking minority culture in Finland. The study connects art informed inquiry to a hermeneutic research rationale where the research reasoning is generated through a rhizomatic alliance between empiric data and theories. The reasoning is constructed as an interpretation pattern that expands throughout the study. The study arguments that the rhizome as an aesthetic formation can be appropriate to refer to when articulating arts based meaning making and when creating arts based educational strategies, dialogues, aesthetic learning and multimodal literacy in education. The study investigates an aesthetic approach to research in education, which means that the art practice surveyed is interpreted through articulation appropriate to poetic aspects of art, education and research.

Importance of considering food waste in the development of sustainable food packaging systems

Meeting the needs of both present and future generations forms the foundation of sustainable development. Concern about food demand is increasing alongside the continuously growing population. In the pursuit of food security preventing food waste is one solution avoiding the negative environmental impacts that result from producing food unnecessarily. Packages offer one answer to preventing food waste, as they 1) preserve and protect food, 2) introduce the user to the correct way to handle and use the food and package and 3) allow the user to consume the food in its entirety. This thesis aims to enhance the sustainability of food packages by giving special emphasis to preventing food waste. The focus of this thesis is to assist the packaging designer in being able to take into account the requirements for the sustainability of food packages and to be able to integrate these requirements into the product development process. In addition, life cycle methods that can be used as a tool in the packaging design process or in assessing the sustainability of finished food-packaging combinations are evaluated. The methods of life cycle costing (LCC) and life cycle working environment (LCWE) are briefly discussed. The method of life cycle assessment (LCA) is examined more thoroughly through the lens of the literature review of food-package LCA case studies published in the 21st century in three relevant journals. Based on this review and on experiences learned from conducting LCAs, recommendations are given as to how the LCA practitioner should conduct a food packaging study to make most of the results. Two case studies are presented in this thesis. The first case study relates the results of a life cycle assessment conducted for three food items (cold cut (ham), sliced dark bread (rye) and Soygurt drink) and the alternative packaging options of each. Results of this study show that the packaging constitutes only 1–12 % of the total environmental impacts of the food-packaging combination. The greatest effect is derived from the food itself and the wasted food. Even just a small percentage of wasted food causes more environmental impacts than does the packaging. The second case study presents the results of LCC and LCWE analysis done for fruit and vegetable transport packages. In this thesis, the specific results of the study itself are not the focus, but rather the study methods and scope are analysed based on how these complement the sustainability assessment of food packages. This thesis presents reasons why prevention of food waste should be more thoroughly taken into account in food packaging design. In addition, the task of the packaging designer is facilitated by the requirements of sustainable food packaging, by the methods and step-by-step guidance on how to integrate sustainability issues into the design process, and by the recommendations on how to assess the sustainability of food packages. The intention of this thesis is to express the issues that are important in the field of the food packaging industry. Having recognised and implemented these issues, businesses can better manage the risks that could follow from neglecting these sustainability aspects.