Okara, a soymilk industry by-product, as a non-meat protein source in reduced fat beef burgers

Okara is a by-product generated during the manufacture of soymilk and tofu. Wet okara was added to beef burgers at 0%, 20%, and 25%. The effects of okara on certain physicochemical, textural, and sensory properties of reduced fat beef burgers were investigated. The beef burgers formulated with okara (104.0-106.0 kcal/100 g) had 60% less calories than commercial beef burgers (268.8 kcal/100 g). The texture profile analysis showed that the addition of wet okara led to a significant increase in hardness (p < 0.05) and a concomitant reduction in the values of chewiness, springiness, and cohesiveness. Lower sensory scores (p < 0.05) of flavour were observed in the beef burgers containing 25% wet okara. However, the sensory evaluation results showed that juiciness, appearance, tenderness, and overall acceptability of beef burgers formulated with okara did not differ statistically from that of the control (0% okara). Wet okara (20%) can be used as a non-meat protein source in the production of reduced-fat beef burgers without changing their sensory quality.

Study of the enthalpy-entropy mechanism from water sorption of orange seeds (C. sinensis cv. Brazilian) for the use of agro-industrial residues as a possible source of vegetable oil production

Orange seeds are a promising agroindustry-waste which can be implemented in the extraction and production of vegetable oil. The relationship between moisture content and water activity provides useful information for the processing and storage of this waste item. The aim of this study was to determine the mechanism of water sorption enthalpy-entropy of orange seeds (C. sinensis cv. Brazilians) according to the moisture content. Therefore, desorption isotherms were determined at five different temperature (30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 ºC) under a wide range of moisture content (0.005-0.057 kg kg-1 d.b.) and water activity (0.02-0.756). Theoretical and empirical models were used for modeling the desorption isotherms. An analytical solution of the Clausius-Clapeyron equation was proposed to compute the isosteric heat of sorption, the differential entropy, and Gibbs free energy using the Oswin model when the effect of temperature on the hygroscopic equilibrium was considered.

Whole and crushed nutlets of chia (Salvia hispanica) from Mexico as a source of functional gums

The objective of this study was to characterize the chemical and functional properties of Mexican chia (Salvia hispanica) gums extracted from defatted whole and crushed nutlets using the Soxhlet and SFE-CO2 methods. Chia gums have interesting chemical and functional properties for the food industry. The oil and gum yields were in the range of 1.98-16.42% and 5.81-12.60%, respectively. The defatting procedure did not affect significantly the oil and gum extraction; the nutlet type (whole or crushed) was the only parameter influencing the yield. The proximate composition and the protein and fiber contents of chia gum were evaluated. Low contents of protein and fiber and high NFE levels were found in whole nutlet gums. The functional properties of chia gum extracted from whole and crushed nutlets with the Soxhlet and SFE-COs methods showed the following ranges of water absorption capacity of 62.64 to 143.66 g/g, water adsorption capacity of 0.69 to 1.35 g/g, and water and oil holding capacity of 100 to 149.28 g/g and19.5 to 40.4 g/g, respectively. The rheological behavior exhibited by the gums was pseudoplastic or shear thinning. From a functional perspective, chia gum is an important food component due its emulsifier and stabilizer potentials.

Open source solutions for multiplatform graphics programming

New emerging technologies in the recent decade have brought new options to cross platform computer graphics development. This master thesis took a look for cross platform 3D graphics development possibilities. All platform dependent and non real time solutions were excluded. WebGL and two different OpenGL based solutions were assessed via demo application by using most recent development tools. In the results pros and cons of the each solutions were noted.

The industrial equilibrium exchange rate in Brazil: an estimation

This paper presents a methodology for calculating the industrial equilibrium exchange rate, which is defined as the one enabling exporters of state-of-the-art manufactured goods to be competitive abroad. The first section highlights the causes and problems of overvalued exchange rates, particularly the Dutch disease issue, which is neutralized when the exchange rate strikes the industrial equilibrium level. This level is defined by the ratio between the unit labor cost in the country under consideration and in competing countries. Finally, the evolution of this exchange rate in the Brazilian economy is estimated.

Brazilian, Chinese, and Indian exports: is the regional market really a source of learning?

In some Latin American countries the exporting activity starts at a regional level, with producers only later venturing into more competitive markets. The implicit risk is that a country might never progress from the regional stage to a more global market. This article compares the experiences of Brazil, China and India. It is shown that Brazil relied on the regional market far more intensely than these Asian countries. There were clear gains accruing to China and India for having exploited more sophisticated markets from the very beginning of their export drive.

Overvaluation trend of the Brazilian currency in the 2000s: empirical estimation

The aim of this paper is to discuss the trend of overvaluation of the Brazilian currency in the 2000s, presenting an econometric model to estimate the real exchange rate (RER) and which should be a reference level of the RER to guide long-term economic policy. In the econometric model, we consider long-term structural and short-term components, both of which may be responsible for explaining overvaluation trend of the Brazilian currency. Our econometric exercise confirms that the Brazilian currency had been persistently overvalued throughout almost all of the period under analysis, and we suggest that the long-term reference level of the real exchange rate was reached in 2004. In July 2014, the average nominal exchange rate should have been around 2.90 Brazilian reais per dollar (against an observed nominal rate of 2.22 Brazilian reais per dollar) to achieve the 2004 real reference level (average of the year). That is, according to our estimates, in July 2014 the Brazilian real was overvalued at 30.6 per cent in real terms relative to the reference level. Based on these findings we conclude the paper suggesting a mix of policy instruments that should have been used in order to reverse the overvaluation trend of the Brazilian real exchange rate, including a target for reaching a real exchange rate in the medium and the long-run which would favor resource allocation toward more technological intensive sectors.

Parameter estimation for Chaotic or Stochastic Dynamics

Since its discovery, chaos has been a very interesting and challenging topic of research. Many great minds spent their entire lives trying to give some rules to it. Nowadays, thanks to the research of last century and the advent of computers, it is possible to predict chaotic phenomena of nature for a certain limited amount of time. The aim of this study is to present a recently discovered method for the parameter estimation of the chaotic dynamical system models via the correlation integral likelihood, and give some hints for a more optimized use of it, together with a possible application to the industry. The main part of our study concerned two chaotic attractors whose general behaviour is diff erent, in order to capture eventual di fferences in the results. In the various simulations that we performed, the initial conditions have been changed in a quite exhaustive way. The results obtained show that, under certain conditions, this method works very well in all the case. In particular, it came out that the most important aspect is to be very careful while creating the training set and the empirical likelihood, since a lack of information in this part of the procedure leads to low quality results.

« Inventaire, prisée et estimation des livres trouvés à St-Mandé, appartenant ci-devant à Mr Fouquet... 1665 ».

Original.