Power Ultrasound-Assisted Impregnation of Apple Cubes with Vitamin B12

This work explores the use of ultrasound (US) as a means of intensifying the impregnation of apple cubes with vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin). The effect of different US power densities (90 and 200 WL−1) and treatment times (5, 10, and 15 min) was evaluated, on vitamin load, vitamin stability, and physicochemical and microstructural properties of the fruit matrix. The US enhanced the impregnation producing high cyanocobalamin content products (0.12–0.19 mg vitamin/g db.). Vitamin losses in the sonication medium due to US application were not significant. Impregnated samples exhibited higher moisture and lower soluble solids with respect to the untreated fruit. Changes in chromatic coordinates were well correlated to vitamin uptake. Only at the highest treatment intensities (200 WL−1, 10, and 15 min) was a marked softening observed, which agreed with the microstructural changes observed in fruit tissues. Results permit US-assisted impregnation to be considered a promising technology in the preparation of vitamin B12 fortified apple cubes.

Consistent Pitch Height Forms: A commentary on Daniel Muzzulini's contribution Isaac Newton's Microtonal Approach to Just Intonation

This text revisits selected aspects of Muzzulini's article and reformulates them on the basis of a three-dimensional interval space E and its dual E*. The pitch height of just intonation is conceived as an element h of the dual space. From octave-fifth-third coordinates it becomes transformed into chromatic coordinates. The dual chromatic basis is spanned by the duals a* of a minor second a and the duals b* and c* of two kinds of augmented primes b and c. Then for every natural number n a modified pitch height form hn is derived from h by augmenting its coordinates with the factor n, followed by rounding to nearest integers. Of particular interest are the octave-consitent forms hn mapping the octave to the value n. The three forms hn for n = 612, 118, 53 (yielding smallest deviations from the respective values of n h) form the Muzzulini basis of E*. The respective transformation matrix T* between the coordinate representations of linear forms in the Muzzulini basis and the dual chromatic basis is unimodular and a Pisot matrix with the dominant eigen-co-vector very close to h. Certain selections of the linear forms hn are displayed in Muzzuli coordinates as ball-like point clouds within a suitable cuboid containing the origin. As an open problem remains the estimation of the musical relevance of Newton's chromatic mode, and chromatic modes in general. As a possible direction of further investigation it is proposed to study the exo-mode of Newton's chromatic mode

Combined Effect of Cultivar and Peel Chromaticity on Figs’ Primary and Secondary Metabolites: Preliminary Study Using Biochemical and FTIR Fingerprinting Coupled to Chemometrics

Figs are a traditional pantry staple for healthy eating in Middle Eastern and North African countries as fig trees grow abundantly in such hot and dry climates. Despite the importance of this species, chemotypic diversity has gone unheeded and therefore its valorization pathways remain poorly documented. For this reason, high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) alongside vibrational spectroscopy were used to investigate the changes of antiradical potency and primary and secondary metabolites in fresh figs with regard to the combined effect of the cultivar factor and the fruit peel chromatic coordinates. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) fingerprinting displayed six major peaks assigned to functional groups of the investigated samples with significant differences in their vibration intensities. Biochemical screening revealed highly significant variability (p < 0.05) among the investigated cultivars. Antioxidant activity was found to be higher in free radical scavenging using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) compared to ferric reducing ability (FRAP). Chemometric investigations of both biochemical and FTIR fingerprinting showed satisfactory resolutions, and the total phenol contents and chromatic coordinates had the highest scores in the dataset. However, the cultivars’ geographical origin seemed not to have a clear impact on the clustering results. The aforementioned analytical procedures were found to be equally important and can be jointly used for high-resolution screening and discrimination of fig trees.

Translucence Study through New Experimental Hybrid Composites

Translucence parameters for 3 series of experimental hybrid composites were investigated using three-chromatic coordinates such as L* a* b* CHROMA technique using a type C illuminant geometry with the scope of 8o. The materials of each series contain in the same ratio different copolymers and a filler mixture (simple and mixed hydroxyapatite-ZrO2 or SiO2 powders and glass powders with barium oxide, respective strontium oxide, or quartz powder). The purpose was to determine the effect of filler composition of composites on translucence. The analysis shows that these materials have more or less translucence. CHROMA determinations indicate that for the composite that has as filler quartz microparticles anh hydroxyapatite nanoparticles, the translucence registered is higher. Results leading to the idea that chemical composition and the size of inorganic phase are important to obtain translucent composite materials that have very natural in appearance. Keywords: translucence, hybrid composites, CHROMA method.

Research on the Effects of the Basic Properties of Offset Paper and Art Paper on Printing Dot Reproduction

The properties of offset paper and art paper including smoothness, gloss and absorbability, dot percentage and the tri-stimulus values of every dot areas and solid areas of the printed paper samples were measured. Dot gain curve and chromatic diagram were drawn after dot gain values and chromatic coordinates (x, y) were calculated. The results showed that smaller dot gain value and greater color gamut occur on the art paper due to its higher smoothness, gloss and lower absorbability when the printing conditions were the same, so the printing dot reproduction quality on the surface of art paper is better. However because offset paper has lower smoothness and gloss, higher absorbability compared with art paper, therefore the dot reproduction quality on offset paper is not as good as art paper.

The White Cement Behaviour with Different Materials Addition Submitted to UltraViolet Light Exposure

The building materials used as a coating on the walls are exposed at different conditions of the weather for long periods of time, reason why is very important to determine the effects of sunlight, heat, humidity and other effects of climate change in the colour and the properties of these materials. In this work was carried out a study on the behaviour of colour and gloss of white cement with some different industrial waste additions submitted to ultra-violet light exposure. The addition of the different materials employed in this work does not modify lightness or chromatic coordinates after the exposure at ultraviolet light, however reduces significantly the gloss of the samples, including white Portland cement.

Graphite Dispersion. I. Spectrocolorimetric Characterization

The aim of the present study is to characterize from the spectrocolorimetric point of view the graphite films dispersed in epoxy, chloral-rubber, polyurethane and acrylic resins. By using a HunterLab system the remission spectrum in the visible light spectrum (400 � 700 nm) of the resulted films was measured. With special programs, from the spectrum were calculated the color parameters L*, a*, b*, C*, h*, the total color differences in three chromatic color units DE*, DEcmc, the three chromatic coordinates X, Y, Z, the chromaticity coordinate y, black index (without coloured undertone) of the films My and black shade index (contribution of the coloured undertone), dM.