21436 research outputs found
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Physicochemical, Sensorial and Calcium Bioavailability of Jelly Prepared Using Fish Gelatin in Combination with Furcellaran and Calcium L-Threonate
No full textConfectionery products, specifically jelly and gummy, require optimized structural, thermal, and nutritional properties for functionality and consumer acceptance. This study investigated the impact of furcellaran (FUR) and calcium L-threonate (Ca) on the physicochemical and the sensory properties of fish gelatin-based jelly (JFG). Furcellaran modestly enhanced gel strength and hardness, while its combination with calcium L-threonate produced synergistic improvements, with JFG-FUR-Ca achieving the highest gel strength (947.63 g) and hardness (78.14 N). Microstructural and intermolecular force analyses indicated that Ca2+ bridging between gelatin and furcellaran promoted ionic and hydrogen bonding, forming a dense and thermostable network. The combined incorporation of furcellaran and calcium L-threonate enhanced the rheological properties while preserving low syneresis. Sensory evaluation revealed minor reductions; however, overall acceptability was higher than 7. Calcium bioavailability after digestion through the gastrointestinal tract model remained high (70–80%), confirming effective calcium fortification. The synergistic incorporation of furcellaran and calcium L-threonate effectively improved the structural integrity, thermal stability, and calcium bioavailability of fish gelatin-based jelly, while maintaining acceptable sensory qualities, highlighting its potential as a functional calcium-fortified confectionery product.fals
Emulsifying properties of hemp and whey protein complexes achieved by microparticulation
No full textHemp is a sustainable source of protein. However, the utilisation of commercial hemp protein (HP) is limited due to its poor functionality. This study provided a microparticulation method to produce hybrid microparticles by complexing HP and whey protein isolate (WPI), and investigated their emulsifying potential. The emulsions, composed of 10 % oil and 0.25–1.8 % protein (non-microparticulated or microparticulated HP/WPI), were produced and the impact of microparticulation on the emulsifying ability of HP/WPI was explored using static light scattering, CLSM, TEM and SDS electrophoresis analysis. The results showed that non-microparticulated HP/WPI stabilised emulsions exhibited preferential whey protein adsorption at the oil-water interface, leading to sufficient protein coverage at most protein concentrations (0.25–1.8 %) with relatively small droplet size (∼0.5 μm) and minimal flocculation. In contrast, in the 'emulsifier-poor' regime (0.25–1 %), microparticulated HP/WPI stabilised emulsions displayed larger droplet size with clear signs of bridging flocculation. However, when the protein concentration was sufficient (≥1.5 % protein), it reached a similar droplet size as that of non-microparticulated HP/WPI emulsion with minimal flocculation. Microparticulation increased HP loading at the interface, while emulsions stabilised by non-microparticulated HP/WPI showed less HP adsorption. Transmission electron microscopy further confirmed the microparticle coverage. Moreover, the heat stability of microparticulated HP/WPI stabilised emulsions increased, compared with non-microparticulated HP/WPI. These findings highlight the potential of microparticulated HP/WPI systems in the application of emulsification and enhance HP applications in the food industry.fals
The Digital Currency Revolution: A Survey of Its Evolution, Current Practices, and Implications
No full textAs an emerging research field, digital currency studies have expanded rapidly over the past two decades, yet literature remains fragmented across currency types, theoretical foundations, and isolated research themes. This study systematically maps the research through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 187 articles published in the Web of Science database between 2006 and 2025. Utilizing VOSviewer software, the analysis identifies three thematic clusters that reflect the evolving revolution of digital currency research: overall evolution of digital currency, private sector digital currencies and central bank digital currencies. Our review of the literature suggests that while private sector digital currencies lead early innovation, their long-term viability is undermined by regulatory ambiguity and inherent limitations. Conversely, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are emerging as a predominant trend in the digital currency ecosystem, offering broader applications and the capacity to redefine monetary systems. By synthesizing mainstream arguments, this review identifies avenues for future research and offers important policy implications.fals
Circularity in Agri-Food Value Chains in Developing Countries: A Case in Indonesia
No full textThe adoption of circular economy approaches in agri-food value chains in developing countries remains underexplored, particularly in contexts dominated by smallholder farmers. This paper aims to analyze existing circular practices and identify key barriers to circular transformation in developing country agri-food value chains, with a specific focus on Indonesia. Using a qualitative research design, the study draws on semi-structured interviews, with different value chain players, to empirically examine circularity within the cashew value chain in Indonesia. The findings reveal that while a range of circular practices are undertaken by individual actors across the value chain, these activities remain largely fragmented and weakly coordinated. Key barriers to further circular transformation include limited awareness, economic imperatives, constrained access to appropriate technologies, and insufficient institutional support. Notably, access to finance was not perceived as a major constraint. This study contributes to the literature by providing a multi-actor, value chain perspective on circularity in smallholder-based agri-food systems in developing countries. It offers novel empirical evidence that existing informal circular practices play an important role and should be preserved as value chains modernize. The findings further highlight the importance of stronger vertical and horizontal coordination to scale and integrate circular activities and support a more holistic sustainable transition.fals
Georeferencing complex relative locality descriptions with large language models
No full textGeoreferencing text documents has typically relied on either gazetteer-based methods to assign geographic coordinates to place names or on language modelling approaches that associate textual terms with geographic locations. However, many location descriptions specify positions relatively with spatial relationships, making geocoding based solely on place names or geo-indicative words inaccurate. This issue frequently arises in biological specimen collection records, where locations are often described through narratives rather than coordinates if they pre-date GPS. Accurate georeferencing is vital for biodiversity studies, yet the process remains labour-intensive, leading to a demand for automated georeferencing solutions. This paper explores the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) to georeference complex locality descriptions automatically, focusing on the biodiversity collections domain. We first identified effective prompting patterns, then fine-tuned an LLM using Quantized Low-Rank Adaptation (QLoRA) on biodiversity datasets from multiple regions and languages. Our approach outperforms existing baselines with an average, across datasets, of 65% of records within a 10 km radius, for a fixed amount of training data. The best results (New York state) were 85% within 10 km and 67% within 1 km. The selected LLM performs well for lengthy, complex descriptions, highlighting its potential for georeferencing intricate locality descriptions.fals
Subclinical mastitis in New Zealand grazing dairy ewes 1: Prevalence and risk factors
No full textOur objectives were to describe subclinical mastitis and identify its risk factors among grazing dairy ewes in New Zealand. Gland-level milk samples were collected from ∼15 randomly selected ewes on each of 20 dairy sheep farms at early, mid, and late lactation in a repeated cross-sectional study. California Mastitis Tests (CMT; measured on a scale of 0, trace, 1, 2, or 3) and aerobic bacterial culture were performed at the gland level, and SCC at the ewe level using composite milk samples. Subclinical mastitis was defined at the ewe level as having 1 or 2 bacteriologically positive glands and SCC >500 × 103 cells/mL or a CMT score ≥1 (or both). Milk samples were collected from 893 ewes, and complete subclinical mastitis data were available for 856 ewes. Median (range) SCC was 128,000 (2,000–34,953,000) cells/mL. A CMT score ≥1 in one or both glands was found in 21.2% of ewes. Bacteria were isolated from 5.5% of glands, with the most common species being non-aureus staphylococci (4.0% of glands) and Staphylococcus aureus (0.6% of glands). The prevalence of subclinical mastitis was 6.4% (95% CI = 4.6%–8.7%) and was not strongly clustered within farms (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.04). Ewes with moderate or severe teat end hyperkeratosis had 6.4 times higher odds of subclinical mastitis than ewes with no or mild hyperkeratosis, and ewes with asymmetric udders had 2.3 times higher odds. The odds declined across the 3 visits. The prevalence was low compared with studies of more intensively farmed ewes in the northern hemisphere, but the bacterial causes were consistent. Subclinical mastitis management should be focused at the ewe level before the farm level, given the weak clustering within farms. When addressing or preventing a subclinical mastitis challenge, producers should consider teat end hyperkeratosis and udder asymmetry as simple visual screening tools but not rely on them alone to identify ewes at risk of subclinical mastitis. We present new information for New Zealand grazing dairy ewes, examine udder asymmetry as a diagnostic tool for subclinical mastitis, and show that, although prevalence was lower in New Zealand, the dominant pathogens are consistent, supporting the broader relevance of these findings to international mastitis control, albeit with adaptations for pasture-based systems.fals
Distinguishing plant and milk proteins and their interactions in hybrid cheese using confocal Raman microscopy with machine learning
No full textThe increasing demand for plant-based alternatives to milk protein has led to the development of hybrid processed cheese analogues (HPCAs) combining plant proteins and casein. However, their complex microstructure and molecular interactions remain poorly understood. This study integrated confocal Raman spectroscopy with advanced machine learning for high-resolution spatial mapping and molecular characterization of HPCAs containing mung bean protein isolate (MPI) or hemp protein isolate (HPI) with casein. This integration helped distinguish between protein sources and elucidate structural changes. The addition of casein changed the HPI structure, promoting structural disorder, disulfide bond rearrangement, and a sharp decrease in the tyrosine doublet ratio from 4.5 in HPI100 to 1.2 in HPI50. Conversely, casein interaction with MPI led to microstructural segregation and changes of β-sheet content (from 53 % in MPI100 to 20 % in MPI30). This integrated method represents a powerful tool for analysing protein structure and interactions in complex food systems.fals
Reciprocal association between theory of mind and reading comprehension of narrative (but not expository) text in middle childhood: A latent change score approach
No full textAbstract
This study presents a longitudinal evidence of co-occurring developmental changes in theory of mind (ToM) and reading comprehension in a group of 159 children (ages 8–10; M = 9.96, SD = 0.93; 92 girls). We tracked participants over one year using identical measures of ToM, narrative reading comprehension (NRC), and expository reading comprehension (ERC) at two time points. Applying a Latent Change Score (LCS) model, we found that individual differences in ToM and NRC not only influenced each other's growth over time but were also significantly correlated at both initial measurement and in their change scores. However, only initial ToM was associated with gains in ERC during the one-year interval, but not vice versa. These findings suggest a reciprocal causal relationship between socio-cognitive and academic development and highlight the importance of integrating both domains in educational interventions.
Educational relevance statement
Our findings demonstrate that Theory of Mind (ToM) and narrative reading comprehension (NRC) are reciprocally related over time, suggesting that strengthening one domain can accelerate growth in the other. Importantly, children with stronger initial abilities in either ToM or NRC experienced greater gains in the other domain, indicating the risk or widening achievement gaps without early support. Moreover, ToM predicted later gains in expository reading comprehension (ERC), underscoring its role in supporting comprehension of increasingly complex academic texts. These results suggest that integrating ToM and reading comprehension training within educational practice can enhance cognitive and academic development in tandem. Such integration may be particularly impactful for students at risk of early learning difficulties, offering a promising direction for targeted, developmentally informed interventions.
Preregistration: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/69Q5R
Data: https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/zfzd852xpg/1fals
Context matters: How congruency of digital immersive environment and meal context affect consumer evaluations of plant-based products at two different levels of liking
No full textContext can impact liking and emotional response, meaning traditional consumer testing methods lacking contextual cues may fail to reflect real-life assessments. As research on consumer acceptance of plant-based meat alternatives becomes increasingly popular, it is essential not to overlook the influence of context on acceptance.
Using a within-subject design with 109 consumers, this study aimed to investigate whether affective response (liking and emotional response) to one liked and one disliked plant-based meatball alternative differed between i) a central location test (CLT) and two digitally recreated environments: one congruent (a home), one incongruent (classical music concert), and ii) products tasted alone and combined with tomato sauce.
For both products adding sauce significantly increased liking (overall, appearance, flavour, and texture) (p < 0.001) and ratings for several positive emotions (p < 0.05). Notably, for the less-liked product, sauce addition had more impact on expected liking (t = 6.28, p < 0.001), appearance (t = 5.61, p < 0.001) and flavour (t = 2.28, p = 0.023) liking compared to the more-liked product. Comparing environments, only the disliked product had higher ratings for expected, appearance, and texture liking in the home compared to the concert and CLT (all p < 0.05). Regardless of the product, ratings for several positive emotions were higher (p < 0.05) in the congruent home than in the other environments. These results emphasise the need for product evaluations in contexts with greater ecological validity and indicate heightened sensitivity of a disliked meat alternative to contextual influences.fals