Effect of storage on the biochemical and processing quality of Adzuki Bean (Vigna angularis)

Storage of adzuki beans and other pulse grains causes biochemical and physical changes that affect the hydration properties of the beans. This affects the quality of products made from the beans such as the Japanese bean paste “ann.” Storage, particularly under unfavourable conditions, leads to the “hard shell” phenomenon, where beans fail to imbibe water when soaked and remain hard, and the “hard-to-cook” phenomenon where the seeds hydrate normally, but the cotyledon fails to hydrate and soften during cooking. The hard shell phenomenon is attributable to impermeability of the seed coat to water, which is due to biochemical changes in the seed coat, such as the formation of protein-tannin complexes, and biophysical changes such as reduction in size or closure of the straphiole aperture in the hilum area—the main area for water entry into the adzuki bean. The hard-to-cook phenomenon is due to changes in the cotyledon tissue, which include formation of insoluble pectinates, lignification of the cell wall and middle lamella, interaction of condensed tannins with proteins and starch, and changes to the structure and functionality of the cellular proteins and starch.

A new roadmap to life: media, culture, and modernity in the United Arab Emirates

Critical to the vision of a new United Arab Emirates is an educated, skilled workforce that fuels the intelligent growth needed in a knowledge-based economy. As the country begins developing its version of that economy, the mediated, transparent environment fundamental to this process will carry with it new visions of (and possibilities for) living life. If peaceful change is to be achieved, a transitional generation faces the conundrum of adapting the best that modernity can offer while retaining the best of tradition. As have others, this study suggests two things: that (1) media literacy, growing in part from education, is correlated with urbanization and a changing infrastructure, and that (2) media in all its forms is inseparable from the outcome of this drive to modernization.

Applying SPSE model to the comprehension of text organization by EFL learners

In order to test the effect of discourse organization on reading comprehension, two expository texts having an SPSE (situation- problem solution-evaluation) pattern were adminestered to a group of 30 undergraduate EFL students from Shahid Chamran University of Ahwaz who had been screened from among 100 students. These students had scored 60 and over from a language proficiency test having 75 items. The results of the study confirmed that the subjects had relatively more difficulty in recalling the evaluation and the solution sections, and in particular the details of 'solution', than other sections of the expository texts. It is concluded that in addition to language proficiency, other factors such as voice and cognition which contribute to the organization of text and hence to the comprehensibility of it are essential.

Empirical investigation of multi-tier ensembles for the detection of cardiac autonomic neuropathy using subsets of the Ewing Features

This article is devoted to an empirical investigation of per- formance of several new large multi-tier ensembles for the detection of cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) in diabetes patients using subsets of the Ewing features. We used new data collected by the diabetes screening research initiative (DiScRi) project, which is more than ten times larger than the data set originally used by Ewing in the investigation of CAN. The results show that new multi-tier ensembles achieved better performance compared with the outcomes published in the literature previously. The best accuracy 97.74% of the detection of CAN has been achieved by the novel multi-tier combination of AdaBoost and Bagging, where AdaBoost is used at the top tier and Bagging is used at the middle tier, for the set consisting of the following four Ewing features: the deep breathing heart rate change, the Valsalva manoeuvre heart rate change, the hand grip blood pressure change and the lying to standing blood pressure change.

Effect of sorghum flour addition on resistant starch content, phenolic profile and antioxidant capacity of durum wheat pasta

Foods containing elevated levels of health functional components such as resistant starch and polyphenolic antioxidants may have beneficial effects on human health. Pasta incorporating either red sorghum flour (RSF) or white sorghum flour (WSF) each at 20%, 30% and 40% substitution of durum wheat semolina (DWS) was prepared and compared to pasta made from 100% DWS (control) for content of starch fractions, phenolic profile and antioxidant capacity, before and after cooking. Total, digestible and resistant starch contents were determined by the AOAC method; individual phenolic acids and anthocyanins by reverse phase-HPLC analysis; total phenolic content by the Folin–Ciocalteu method and antioxidant capacity by the ABTS assay. The addition of both RSF and WSF increased the resistant starch content, bound phenolic acids, total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity at all incorporation levels compared to the control pasta; while free phenolic acids and anthocyanins were higher in the RSF-containing pasta only. Cooking did not change the resistant starch content of any of the pasta formulations. Cooking did however decrease the free phenolic acids, anthocyanins, total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity and increased the bound phenolic acids of the sorghum-containing pastas. The study suggests that these sorghum flours may be very useful for the preparation of pasta with increased levels of resistant starch and polyphenolic antioxidants.

Investigating factors influencing the adoption of AIS: Libyan accountants’ perspective

A conceptual model of the adoption of the accounting information systems (AIS) by accountants in developing countries, using Libya as a case study, was developed. The model comprises technological, environmental and individual factors that have been found to have significant influences on the accountants’ behavioural intentions towards the adoption of the AIS.

Effect of sorghum flour addition on in vitro starch digestibility, cooking quality and consumer acceptability of durum wheat pasta

Whole grain sorghum is a valuable source of resistant starch and polyphenolic antioxidants and its addition into staple food like pasta may reduce the starch digestibility. However, incorporating nondurum wheat materials into pasta provides a challenge in terms of maintaining cooking quality and consumer acceptability. Pasta was prepared from 100% durum wheat semolina (DWS) as control or by replacing DWS with either wholegrain red sorghum flour (RSF) or white sorghum flour (WSF) each at 20%, 30%, and 40% incorporation levels, following a laboratory-scale procedure. Pasta samples were evaluated for proximate composition, in vitro starch digestibility, cooking quality, and consumer acceptability. The addition of both RSF and WSF lowered the extent of in vitro starch digestion at all substitution levels compared to the control pasta. The rapidly digestible starch was lowered in all the sorghum-containing pastas compared to the control pasta. Neither RSF or WSF addition affected the pasta quality attributes (water absorption, swelling index, dry matter, adhesiveness, cohesiveness, and springiness), except color and hardness which were negatively affected. Consumer sensory results indicated that pasta samples containing 20% and 30% RSF or WSF had acceptable palatability based on meeting one or both of the preset acceptability criteria. It is concluded that the addition of wholegrain sorghum flour to pasta at 30% incorporation level is possible to reduce starch digestibility, while maintaining adequate cooking quality and consumer acceptability.

Acute effect of sorghum flour-containing pasta on plasma total polyphenols, antioxidant capacity and oxidative stress markers in healthy subjects: a randomised controlled trial

SUMMARY
Background & aims
It has been previously reported that pasta containing wholegrain sorghum flour exhibits high content of polyphenols and antioxidant capacity and hence might enhance antioxidant status and reduce markers of oxidative stress in vivo; however no clinical studies have yet been reported. Therefore, the present study assessed the effect of pasta containing red or white wholegrain sorghum flour on plasma total polyphenols, antioxidant capacity and oxidative stress markers in humans. The study was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN: 12612000324819).

Methods
In a randomised crossover design, healthy subjects (n = 20) consumed three test meals of control pasta (CP), 30% red sorghum pasta (RSP) or 30% white sorghum pasta (WSP), 1–2 wk apart. The test meals were consumed as breakfast after an overnight fast. Blood samples were obtained at fasting and 2 h after consumption and analysed for total polyphenols, antioxidant capacity, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, protein carbonyl and 8-isoprostanes.

Results
Compared to baseline, the 2 h post-prandial levels following the RSP meal of plasma polyphenols, antioxidant capacity and SOD activity were significantly (P < 0.001) higher while the protein carbonyl level was significantly lower (P = 0.035). Furthermore, net changes in polyphenols, antioxidant capacity and SOD activity were significantly (P < 0.001) higher while protein carbonyl were significantly (P = 0.035) lower following consumption of the RSP meal than the CP meal.

Conclusion
The results demonstrated that pasta containing red wholegrain sorghum flour enhanced antioxidant status and diminished marker of oxidative stress in healthy subjects.

Evidential in Persian editorials

Based on the analysis of 267 tokens derived from editorial columns primarily drawn from two Persian newspapers, following on earlier studies by Chafe, Jahani, Lazard, Dahl, Adel, and Dafouze, and inspired by a series of Hyland’s studies on metadiscourse signals, this study has aimed at investigating evidential markers in these columns. In order to come to grips with the types of evidentials, first, we classify them into two major types – inferential and reportative; the reportative evidentials are further classified into four types. The reportative classification is based, in the first place, on whether the source of information comes from an individual or from a government body, hence institutional. The further classifications are based on their identifiability/specificity. Results show that inferential evidentials comprise about 15% of all the tokens. Among the four reportative types, those whose source is individual and identified/specified and those that are institutional and unidentified/unspecified, coded as TYPE 1 and TYPE 4, respectively, have the highest frequency. The results overall show that Persian editorials in these two papers feature a high frequency of attribution of information to identified sources when the source is individual (TYPE 1), but to unidentified sources when the source is institutional (TYPE 4). The results also support other authors (e.g. Lazard) who claim that the imperfective (progressive) aspect marker mi-, which is frequent in Persian, is a marker worthy of consideration in evidentiality.

A tale of 2 diplomats: China’s soft power conundrum

In the past couple of weeks, two foreign ministers have captured the Chinese public imagination. In a widely circulated video clip on the popular Chinese social media WeChat, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, Adel Al-Jubeir, is shown rebuking a Western journalist’s question about the “inherent” connection between the Islamic State (ISIS) and Islam. Another story involves Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s response to a Canadian journalist’s questions about China’s human rights. Both foreign ministers faced tricky questions from Western media (though in Wang Yi’s case, the questions were actually directed at his Canadian counterpart, Stéphane Dion), but that’s probably where their similarities end. The focus of Chinese social media is on the stark contrast between the two foreign ministers’ handling of their respective situations.