Evaluation of Color and Pigment Changes in Tomato after 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) Treatment.

The Polar Qualification System (PQS) was applied on hue spectra fingerprinting to describe color changes in tomato during storage. The cultivar 'Pitenza' was harvested at six different maturity stages, and half of the samples were subjected to gaseous 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment. Reference color parameters were recorded with a vision system colorimeter instrument, and the fruit pigment concentration was assessed with the DA-index®. Additionally, acoustic firmness (Stiffness) was measured. All acquired reference parameters were used to grade fruit in the supply chain. The applied 1-MCP treatments were used to control the ripening of climacteric horticultural produce. Both the DA-index® and stiffness values, presented as chlorophyll concentration and acoustic firmness, showed significant differences among maturity stages and treated and control samples and in their kinetics during storage. The machine vision parameter PQS-X was significantly affected by 1-MCP treatment (F = 10.18, p < 0.01), while PQS-Y was primarily affected by storage time (F = 18.18, p < 0.01) and maturity stage (F = 11.15, p < 0.01). A significant correlation was achieved for acoustic firmness with normalized color (r > 0.78) and PQS-Y (r > 0.80), as well as for the DA-index® (r > 0.9). The observed color changes agreed with the reference measurements. The significant statistical effect on the PQS coordinates suggests that hue spectra fingerprinting with this data compression technique is suitable for quality assessment based on color.

Combined Effect of Ultrasound and Low-Heat Treatments on E. coli in Liquid Egg Products and Analysis of the Inducted Structural Alterations by NIR Spectroscopy.

In this study, sonication with mild heat treatment was used to reduce the E. coli count in inoculated liquid whole egg, egg yolk and albumen. Ultrasonic equipment (20/40 kHz, 180/300 W) has been used for 30/60 min with a 55 °C water bath. The combination of sonication and low-heat treatment was able to reduce the concentration of E. coli from 5-log CFU × mL-1 below 10 CFU × mL-1 at 300 W, 40 kHz and 60 min of sonication in liquid egg products. The 60 min treatment was able to reduce the E. coli concentration below 10 CFU × mL-1 in the case of egg yolk regardless of the applied frequency, absorbed power or applied energy dose. The 30 min treatment of sonication and heating was able to reduce significantly the number of E. coli in the egg products, as well. Our results showed that sonication with mild heat treatment can be a useful technique to decrease the number of microorganisms in liquid egg products to a very low level. Near-infrared spectroscopy was used to investigate structural changes in the samples, induced by the combined treatment. Principal component analysis showed that this method can alter the C-H, C-N, -OH and -NH bonds in these egg products.

Development of a Novel Ultrasonic Spectroscopy Method for Estimation of Viscosity Change during Milk Clotting.

Ultrasonic testing is an emerging non-destructive testing technology with high repeatability and precision. Milk is a very complex liquid and the change of its viscosity is a highly relevant property throughout conversion into other dairy products. In the following paper, we propose a novel method for the monitoring of viscosity during enzymatic milk clotting by ultrasonic spectroscopy. An ultrasonic transducer-receiver couple with a 250 kHz nominal frequency was submerged in the samples and an enveloped sweep ("chirp") signal was applied in a through-transmission mode. Simultaneously, the change in viscosity was measured with a rotational viscometer at a constant shearing speed. The data were analyzed with an algorithm developed by the authors for spectral ultrasonic testing. Estimations yielded a high adjusted R2 (0.963-0.998) and low cross-validated estimation error (RPD: 4.38-14.22), suggesting that the method is suitable for industrial use given the right instrumentation.

Influence of Baking Temperature and Formulation on Physical, Sensorial, and Morphological Properties of Pogácsa Cake: An Image Analysis Study.

Pogácsa is a high-demand bakery product with a unique texture, where crumb structure is a determining factor for its textural quality and consumer acceptability. At present, there is no non-destructive in-line inspection method for textural quality assessment of pogácsa. Therefore, this study was aimed to evaluate the texture of pogácsa using the image processing technique, which was prepared using different cheeses with varying moisture contents (MC) and was baked at 200 and 215 °C. Samples were assessed for textural, visual, physical, and sensorial properties. The findings indicated that the highest porosity (72.75%) was found for the sample baked at 215 °C with low-moisture cheese (58%), while the lowest porosity (32.66%) was observed for cheese-free sample baked at 200 °C. Pore volumetric ratio and MC showed strong correlations (p < 0.01) with hardness (-0.90 and -0.89), resilience (0.87 and 0.83), cohesiveness (0.84 and 0.82), springiness (0.87 and 0.90), gumminess (-0.92 and -0.92), and chewiness (-0.92 and -0.92), respectively. The pore volumetric ratio showed a strong correlation (p < 0.01) with reference porosity (0.71). Overall, the current study indicated that adding cheese with varying MC and baking temperature could affect the texture of pogácsa cake, which could be detected by image analysis.

[Multiple hepatic abscesses due to actinomycosis: difficulties of diagnosis]. / Multiplex májtályog képében jelentkezo actinomycosis esete: a kórismézés nehézségei.

Authors present the case of a 65 year-old man without any remarkable previous illness, hospitalized because of having prolonged fever caused probably by an infection due to a tick bite. Tularaemia and bartonellosis based on serological results as well as neoplasm of the sigma with multiple metastases to the liver raised by ultrasonography and abdominal CT could be excluded with detailed investigations. Multiple abscesses of the liver were diagnosed, followed by a percutaneuos ultrasonography directed aspiration of one of the abscesses which resulted in 150 ml buffy pus. Microbiological examination evaluated the presence of Actinomyces meyeri. Instead of neoplasm, diverticulosis and diverticulitis of the sigma could be clarified with perforation of one of the diverticuli causing peridiverticulitis, retroperitoneal abscess and probably abscesses in the liver by haematogenous dissemination. Surgical intervention, resection of the liver and the sigma resulted in recovery of the patient. Difficulties of diagnosis are discussed in the article pointing out the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, involving also infectologist. Diverticulosis of the sigma as presumably origin of hepatic actinomycosis is a literary curiosity. This was the cause of the case presentation.

Nondestructive evaluation of baking parameters on pogácsa texture.

This study aimed to investigate the potential application of image texture processing method on visible crumb structure of salty cake pogácsa, which was prepared with different baking times (5 and 7 min) and temperatures (200, 215, and 230°C). For this purpose, changes in gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) features including energy, contrast, correlation, homogeneity, and entropy were monitored and their relationship with the instrumental texture parameters (hardness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness, springiness, gumminess, and chewiness) were assessed. The pore ratios were also extracted and visualized using image processing technique. Texture profile parameters indicated strong correlation (p < .01) with the image pattern parameters in different pogácsa groups. Gumminess showed strong correlation with contrast (0.503), correlation (-0.498), and homogeneity (0.401). Hardness also exhibited correlation with contrast (0.517), entropy (0.341), and correlation (-0.476). The pore ratio showed marked variation in crumb structure when different times and temperatures were used. Baking at 230°C for 7 min maximized the pore ratio (0.56). Penalty analysis revealed that oiliness, pore structure, and color of products were linked with baking time and temperature. Overall, the results suggested that the GLCM-based technique had the potential to be used as a nondestructive method for rapid quality assessment of pogácsa.

Color analysis of horticultural produces using hue spectra fingerprinting.

Color has great importance in agriculture due to its relationship with plant pigments and therefore, plant development and biochemical changes. Due to the trichromatic vision, instruments equipped with CCD or CMOS sensor represent color with the mixture of red, green and blue signals. These values are often transformed into HSL (hue, saturation, luminance) color space. Beyond average color of the visible surface area, histograms can represent color distribution. Interpretation of distribution can be challenging due to the information shared among histograms. Hue spectra fingerprinting offers color information suitable for analysis with common chemometric methods and easy to understand. Algorithm is presented with GNU Octave code.•Hue spectra is a histogram of hue angle over the captured scene but summarizes saturation instead of number of pixels. There are peaks of important colors, while others of low saturation disappear. Neutral backgrounds such as white, black or gray, are removed without the need of segmentation.•Color changes of fruits and vegetables are represented by displacement of color peaks. Since saturation is usually changing during ripening, storage and shelf life, peaks also change their shape by means of peak value and width.

Laser induced diffuse reflectance imaging - Monte Carlo simulation of backscattering measured on the surface.

The Monte Carlo simulation algorithm of photon trajectory computation is implemented in object oriented R code. Diffuse reflectance, also called backscattering, is modeled in semi-infinite homogeneous media. Spatial photon flux leaving the surface of the media is collected. The profile of intensity along radii relative to the incident point is used to simulate measurement of computer vision systems. Four optical parameters of the media are used: absorption coefficient, scattering coefficient, anisotropy factor and refractive index. Five parameters are used to describe configuration of the vision system: number of photons, radius of circular light beam, limiting energy level of photons, radius of observed area, spatial resolution of the vision system.•The incident angle of the light beam is included in the photon launch procedure. Initial direction is typically assumed to be normal with x,y,z coordinates of 0,0,1. In the proposed modification, initial move vector is calculated based on the incident angle and refractive index of the media. Additionally, elliptic distortion of the circular light beam on the surface is calculated based on the incident angle.•Photon flux leaving media through the surface is corrected with Lambertian method to measure intensity captured by an imaging device in normal position.•The software implementing the method is written in R language, the R code is available as standard package.

Attenuated total reflection fourier transform infrared spectroscopy based methods for identification of chromatography media formulations used in downstream processes.

Chromatographic media play a crucial role in the downstream processing of biotechnology products. The physical and chemical properties of these processing aids are mostly monitored by expensive and time-consuming preparative tests, but spectroscopic techniques may also be used to measure chromatographic media samples. In this study, chromatographic media formulations used in downstream processes were investigated using attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectroscopy. Samples were measured both in original suspension form and after drying to examine the possibilities of a potential spectroscopic method without sample preparation. Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to identify the spectral differences among the formulations with distinct support matrices and functional groups and soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) was performed to creating classification models for identification of chromatography media. To increase the number of samples in the SIMCA, simulated spectra were generated based on the experimental spectra. PCA models indicated that spectra of samples in original suspension form and after drying contained similar information about the chemical properties of chromatographic media samples. Moreover, during the classification of spectra based on SIMCA, both measurement techniques gave high sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) results. These results show that ATR FT-IR could be applied as a simple alternative method for monitoring the chromatography media samples. This technique is also feasible without sample preparation. Thereby the multi-hours drying steps may be omitted, the measurements can be performed in a few minutes, and the potential effects of sample preparations can be eliminated.