Effect of Traditional Cooking and Sous Vide Heat Treatment,Cold Storage Time and Muscle on Physicochemical and Sensory Properties of Beef Meat

Consumers are avoiding the consumption of highly processed foods, aware of the negative effects of the additives or high temperatures used on the biological value of the food. This causes an interest in ways of minimal processing or low-temperature cooking procedures. However, to achieve the desired organoleptic quality, it is necessary to know the relationship between the parameters of the treatments and the type of raw material. The purpose of this study was to investigate the complex effects of traditional cooking and sous vide heat treatment, cold storage time and muscle on the physicochemical and sensory properties of beef. The study material consisted of samples of musculus longissimus thoracis and musculus semitendinosus obtained from beef half-carcasses. The muscles were subjected to traditional cooking in water at 95 °C until the temperature inside the piece reached 65 °C and sous vide treatment at 65 °C for 2 h. The study was performed after 2 and 21 days of cold storage. Instrumental evaluation of texture parameters, color and sensory evaluation of meat was carried out. Meat stored for 21 days was characterized by more favorable TPA test (Texture Profile Analysis) results compared to meat evaluated 48 h post mortem. The study also showed positive effects of sous vide heat treatment on texture parameters and sensory properties (especially on tenderness and palatability), as well as differences in the formation of quality traits between muscles. Given the trends associated with energy-saving technologies, it is desirable to seek the optimal combination of temperature and time of fixation treatments at an acceptable level of quality. The use of low-temperature cooking for as little as 2 h, yields positive results in sensory evaluation of juiciness, tenderness, or palatability.     

Synthesis,Crystal Structures,and Spectroscopic Properties of Novel Gadolinium and Erbium Triphenylsiloxide Coordination Entities

In alkali metal and lanthanide coordination chemistry, triphenylsiloxides seem to be unduly underappreciated ligands. This is as surprising as that such substituents play a crucial role, among others, in stabilizing rare oxidation states of lanthanide ions, taking a part of intramolecular and molecular interactions stabilizing metal-oxygen cores and many others. This paper reports the synthesis and characterization of new lithium [Li₄(OSiPh₃)₄(THF)₂] (1), and sodium [Na₄(OSiPh₃)₄] (2) species, which were later used in obtaining novel gadolinium [Gd(OSiPh₃)₃(THF)₃]·THF (3), and erbium [Er(OSiPh₃)₃(THF)₃]·THF (4) configuration, it can result in res were determined for all 1–4 compounds, and in addition, IR, Raman, absorption spectroscopy studies were conducted for 3 and 4 lanthanide compounds. Furthermore, direct current (dc) variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements on polycrystalline samples of 3 and 4 were carried out in the temperature range 1.8–300 K. The 3 shows behavior characteristics for the paramagnetism of the Gd³⁺ ion. In contrast, the magnetic properties of 4 are dominated by the crystal field effect on the Er³⁺ ion, masking the magnetic interaction between magnetic centers of neighboring molecules.     

Geometry and ergodic theory of non-recurrent elliptic functions

We explore the class of elliptic functions whose critical points all contained in the Julia set are non-recurrent and whose ω-limit sets form compact subsets of the complex plane. In particular, this class comprises hyperbolic, subhyperbolic and parabolic elliptic maps. Leth be the Hausdorff dimension of the Julia set of such an elliptic functionf. We construct an atomlessh-conformal measurem and show that theh-dimensional Hausdorff measure of the Julia set off vanishes unless the Julia set is equal to the entire complex plane ℂ. Theh-dimensional packing measure is positive and is finite if and only if there are no rationally indifferent periodic points. Furthermore, we prove the existence of a (unique up to a multiplicative constant) σ-finitef-invariant measure μ equivalent tom. The measure μ is shown to be ergodic and conservative, and we identify the set of points whose open neighborhoods all have infinite measure μ. In particular, we show that ∞ is not among them. The research of the first author was supported in part by the Foundation for Polish Science, the Polish KBN Grant No 2 PO3A 034 25 and TUW Grant no 503G 112000442200. She also wishes to thank the University of North Texas where this research was conducted. The research of the second author was supported in part by the NSF Grant DMS 0100078. Both authors were supported in part by the NSF/PAN grant INT-0306004.     

Microwave-assisted synthesis of spherical monodispersed magnesium fluoride

Spherical monodispersed magnesium fluoride has been obtained using the microwave-assisted precipitation technique from magnesium nitrate and ammonium fluoride solutions. Studies aimed at optimizing synthesis conditions from the point of view of preparing spherical MgF₂ particles of possibly high monodispersity were performed. Spherical MgF₂ particles of 0.25-0.36 μm in diameter have been obtained with relative standard deviation from the average value ranging from 7 to 15%. It has been established that a certain optimal range of Mg(NO₃)₂ and NH₄F concentrations exists that enables a highly monodispersed MgF₂ to be prepared. The range is narrow (0.01-0.03 mol dm⁻³) for both precursors. Spherical MgF₂ particles have been characterized by SEM, XRD, DTG/DTA and FTIR techniques.     

Photochemical reduction of transition metal substituted heteropoly anions in nonpolar solutions

Photochromism of [SiW11O39Ni(X)]6- as a tetraheptylammonium salt in various solvents under broadband UV light is observed in the presence of alcohols. The reaction proceeds faster with benzyl alcohol than with ethanol. Benzaldehyde is identified as the oxidized product of benzyl alcohol. Photochemistry is a reliable means to produce stable reduced transition metal substituted heteropoly tungstates in nonpolar media, where they hold promise as multielectron reduction catalysts. Preliminary reactivity toward CO2 reduction is demonstrated.     

How Points Escape to Infinity Under Exponential Maps

We investigate the finer fractal structure of the set of pointsescaping to infinity under iteration of an arbitrary exponentialmap. Providing exact formulas, we show how sensitively the Hausdorffdimension depends on the rate of growth of canonical Devaney–Krychcodes.     

Ergodic Theory of Parabolic Horseshoes

In this paper we develop the ergodic theory for a horseshoe map f which is uniformly hyperbolic, except at one parabolic fixed point ω and possibly also on W ^s (ω). We call f a parabolic horseshoe map. In order to analyze dynamical and geometric properties of such horseshoes, by making use of induced maps, we establish, in the context of σ-finite measures, an appropriate version of the variational principle for continuous potentials with mild distortion defined on subshifts of finite type. Staying in this setting, we propose a concept of σ-finite equilibrium states (each classical probability equilibrium state is a σ-finite equilibrium state). We then study the unstable pressure function , the corresponding finite and σ-finite equilibrium states and their associated conditional measures. The main idea is to relate the pressure function to the pressure of an embedded parabolic iterated function system and to apply the developed theory of the symbolic σ-finite thermodynamic formalism. We prove, in particular, an appropriate form of the Bowen-Ruelle-Manning-McCluskey formula, the existence of exactly two σ-finite ergodic conservative equilibrium states for the potential –t ^u log |Df|E ^u | (where t ^u denotes the unstable dimension), one of which is the Dirac δ-measure supported at the parabolic fixed point and the other being non-atomic. We also show that the conditional measures of this non-atomic equilibrium state on unstable manifolds, are equivalent to (finite and positive) packing measures, whereas the Hausdorff measures vanish. As an application of our results we obtain a classification for the existence of a generalized physical measure, as well as a criteria implying the non-existence of an ergodic measure of maximal dimension. The research of the first author was supported in part by the NSF Grant DMS 0400481. The research of the second author was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. EPS-0236913 and matching support from the State of Kansas through Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation.     

The structure of 11,12-bis[spiro(cyclopropyl)]-1,4,4a,5,8,8a,9a,10a-octahydro-1,4∶5,8-dimethano-9,10-anthraquinone

In the solid state the 21 Diels-Alder adduct between spiro[4.2]hepta-1,3-diene and p-benzoquinone has a planar cyclohexadione ring with a center of symmetry. Both planar and boat conformations have been observed in similar systems, and the relative stability of the two conformers is of interest. The adduct in the gas phase should contain a mirror plane perpendicular to the cyclohexadione ring; however, a data set collected on a crystal in a capillary resulted in a structure where some bond lengths related by this mirror plane differed by more than 4 in the solid state. Molecular mechanics, MOPAC, and the Cambridge Structural Data Base were used to investigate the factors influencing the conformation of the cyclohexadione ring and the asymmetry across the noncrystallographic mirror plane. The energy differences between the planar and nonplanar ring system is small, and the conformation is determined by crystal packing. No reason for the bond length asymmetry could be found, and a recollection of data on a crystal exposed to the environment led to a structure with statistically equivalent bond lengths.     

Nepetanudone, a dimer of the α-pyrone 5,9-dehydronepetalactone

The title compound C₂₀H₂₄O₄ crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group P2₁2₁2, with a = 10.245(3), b = 17.103(3), c = 9.879(3) Å, D _c = 1.260 g cm ^–3, and Z = 4. Nepetanudone is postulated to be formed by a [4+4] cycloaddition of two 5,9-dehydronepetalactone moieties to give an asymmetric dimer in which each pair of atoms is magnetically nonequivalent. The compound was recovered from extracts of Nepeta nuda ssp. albiflora.     

Relativistic model core potential study of the Au+ Xe system

A computational study of the Au(+)Xe ionic system has been performed using newly developed coupled-cluster methods and relativistic model core potentials, with extra basis functions optimized to afford superior polarizabilities. Potential energy curves for the dissociation of Au(+)Xe were studied at different levels of theory, and molecular properties (bond length and harmonic vibrational frequency) were calculated. Wave functions were analyzed using the natural bond orbital method. The nature of bonding in this system is discussed.