O conhecimento de propriedades termofísicas é importante na modelagem, na otimização e no projeto de equipamentos para processos como a fabricação de massa de pão congelada. Neste trabalho, as propriedades termofísicas condutividade térmica, difusividade térmica e calor específico foram determinadas experimentalmente ao longo do processo de congelamento da massa de pão, pois influenciam diretamente a cinética do processo que, por sua vez, determina a qualidade do pão produzido. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que algumas destas propriedades variaram em função do conteúdo inicial de água e principalmente devido à mudança da temperatura. O valor médio encontrado através da atividade de água das massas (aw = 0,950), para temperatura inicial de congelamento, pode explicar alguns desvios no ajuste dos dados experimentais a modelos disponíveis na literatura baseados na lei de Raoult, que são estritamente relacionados à fração de gelo formada. O uso combinado de goma guar e xantana reduziu a entalpia de fusão ao longo do tempo de armazenamento congelado (87,4 J.g-1 e 81,2 J.g-1 para a formulação sem gomas, não congelada e após 28 dias de armazenamento congelado; 84,4 J.g-1 e 76,9 J.g-1 para a formulação com 0,25% de goma guar e 0,25% de goma xantana na massa não congelada e após 28 dias de armazenamento congelado), indicando uma interação entre as gomas na capacidade de ligar água ao longo do tempo de congelamento. Porém, apesar do tempo de congelamento ter reduzido a entalpia de fusão, o processo de congelamento foi o principal fator na queda da taxa de fermentação e da produção de gás pelas leveduras independentemente do tempo de armazenamento congelado. / The knowledge of thermophysical properties is important to model and optimize equipment design for frozen food processes. In this work, the thermophysical bread dough properties, such as, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and specific heat were experimentally determined during freezing process, due to their influence on the kinetics process, and therefore on bread quality. The results showed that some properties varied according to the initial water content and mainly due to temperature changes. The average value of initial freezing temperature found by water activity (aw = 0.950) explains the deviations between experimental data and available models in the literature based on Raoults law, which is related to the ice mass fraction. The combined use of guar and xanthan gums reduced the fusion enthalpy along frozen storage time (87.4 J.g-1 and 81.2 J.g-1 for formulation without gum, non-frozen and after 28 frozen storage days; 84.4 J.g-1 and 76.9 J.g-1 for formulation with 0.25 % of guar gum and 0.25 % of xanthan gum in non-frozen and after 28 frozen storage days). It indicated the interaction between gums and their ability to hold water along frozen storage. Despite frozen storage reduced the fusion enthalpy, the freezing process itself was the main factor in the decrease in proofing rate and gas production by yeast cells.

Submitted by Sandra Pereira (srpereira@ufrrj.br) on 2017-03-27T13:44:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2010 - ?rica Gaspar da Silva.pdf: 488338 bytes, checksum: 0fb8f4161c16ffb2272dd0dd607a0828 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-27T13:44:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2010 - ?rica Gaspar da Silva.pdf: 488338 bytes, checksum: 0fb8f4161c16ffb2272dd0dd607a0828 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-07-20 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior - CAPES / The maned wolf, Chrysocyon brachyurus, the largest canid of South America, is often characterized as an omnivorous animal because of its diet in the wild, which includes plants and animals. Thus, it is considered a generalist species. Studies about the digestive physiology of this animal are rare, mainly due to the importance of the issue to the support of adequated nutritional manipulation that makes possible the survival of the species. In this sense, the objective of this study is assess the ability of the maned wolf to digest typicals fruits of Cerrado, Solanum lycocarpum (wolf?s fruit) and Annona crassiflora, and characteristics of its diet in the wild as well as examine the digestibility of a mixed diet of rats and quails, representing the animal portion of its diet. The maned wolf has a good ability to digest fruits, reinforcing its characterization as an omnivorous animal, and the fruits are great importance to the processes of nutrition of the species. The study confirmed the enormous importance of wolf?s fruit in the diet of this animal. Besides this, that fruit presented high digestibility by animals tested, and cause of this maned wolf?s fruit is probably very important during the dry period, where the availability of fruits, in general, is lower. The digestibility of dry material of wolf?s fruit is even greater than that of a mixed diet with animal and plant fraction, confirming the importance of that fruit to the nutrition of the maned wolf / O lobo-guar?, Chrysocyon brachyurus, maior can?deo da Am?rica do Sul, ? freq?entemente caracterizado como um animal on?voro devido a sua dieta em vida livre, que inclui itens de origem animal e vegetal, sendo uma esp?cie generalista. Estudos sobre a fisiologia digestiva desse animal s?o raros, principalmente frente ? import?ncia do tema para o suporte do manejo nutricional adequado que viabilize a sobreviv?ncia da esp?cie. Nesse sentido, o objetivo do presente trabalho ? avaliar a capacidade do lobo-guar? de digerir algumas frutas t?picas do Cerrado, como por exemplo, Solanum lycocarpum (?fruta do lobo?) e Annona crassiflora (?Araticum?), que s?o caracter?sticas da sua dieta em vida livre. An?lise da digestibilidade de uma dieta mista com ratos e codornas que representem a por??o animal da sua alimenta??o. O lobo-guar? possui boa capacidade de digerir frutos, refor?ando sua caracteriza??o como um animal on?voro, e esses frutos s?o de grande import?ncia para os processos de nutri??o da esp?cie. O estudo confirmou a relev?ncia da ?fruta do lobo?na dieta dos animais, apresentando elevada digestibilidade por parte dos indiv?duos testados, sendo provavelmente muito importante durante o per?odo de seca, onde a disponibilidade de frutos, de forma geral, ? mais baixa. A digestibilidade da mat?ria seca da ?fruta do lobo? ? ainda maior do que de uma dieta mista com fra??o animal e vegetal, comprovando a import?ncia desse fruto para a nutri??o desses animais.

Clay minerals have historically played a consequential role in human health. While the beginnings were rooted in geophagy, a primitive act of consuming earth, the health-related uses of clay minerals have evolved and diversified over time. As excipients in pharmaceutical formulations, clay minerals can attribute novel properties onto intercalated compounds. Intercalating oxybenzone, a UV filter, within the interlamellar space of montmorillonite is desirable in order to minimize direct contact with skin. Intercalating resveratrol, a compound known for attributing beneficial effects onto human health, may be advantageous since this compound is susceptible to cis-trans isomerisation. The strategy of using alkylammonium–modified clay was undertaken and proved successful for the intercalation of oxybenzone. The field of biopolymer/layered silicate nanocomposites is heavily researched for use in a multitude of applications. Novel montmorillonite nanocomposites were prepared with neutral guar gum and cationic guar gum, using an environmentally friendly process and are fully characterized.

Clay minerals have historically played a consequential role in human health. While the beginnings were rooted in geophagy, a primitive act of consuming earth, the health-related uses of clay minerals have evolved and diversified over time. As excipients in pharmaceutical formulations, clay minerals can attribute novel properties onto intercalated compounds. Intercalating oxybenzone, a UV filter, within the interlamellar space of montmorillonite is desirable in order to minimize direct contact with skin. Intercalating resveratrol, a compound known for attributing beneficial effects onto human health, may be advantageous since this compound is susceptible to cis-trans isomerisation. The strategy of using alkylammonium–modified clay was undertaken and proved successful for the intercalation of oxybenzone. The field of biopolymer/layered silicate nanocomposites is heavily researched for use in a multitude of applications. Novel montmorillonite nanocomposites were prepared with neutral guar gum and cationic guar gum, using an environmentally friendly process and are fully characterized.

Clay minerals have historically played a consequential role in human health. While the beginnings were rooted in geophagy, a primitive act of consuming earth, the health-related uses of clay minerals have evolved and diversified over time. As excipients in pharmaceutical formulations, clay minerals can attribute novel properties onto intercalated compounds. Intercalating oxybenzone, a UV filter, within the interlamellar space of montmorillonite is desirable in order to minimize direct contact with skin. Intercalating resveratrol, a compound known for attributing beneficial effects onto human health, may be advantageous since this compound is susceptible to cis-trans isomerisation. The strategy of using alkylammonium–modified clay was undertaken and proved successful for the intercalation of oxybenzone. The field of biopolymer/layered silicate nanocomposites is heavily researched for use in a multitude of applications. Novel montmorillonite nanocomposites were prepared with neutral guar gum and cationic guar gum, using an environmentally friendly process and are fully characterized.

O conhecimento de propriedades termofísicas é importante na modelagem, na otimização e no projeto de equipamentos para processos como a fabricação de massa de pão congelada. Neste trabalho, as propriedades termofísicas condutividade térmica, difusividade térmica e calor específico foram determinadas experimentalmente ao longo do processo de congelamento da massa de pão, pois influenciam diretamente a cinética do processo que, por sua vez, determina a qualidade do pão produzido. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que algumas destas propriedades variaram em função do conteúdo inicial de água e principalmente devido à mudança da temperatura. O valor médio encontrado através da atividade de água das massas (aw = 0,950), para temperatura inicial de congelamento, pode explicar alguns desvios no ajuste dos dados experimentais a modelos disponíveis na literatura baseados na lei de Raoult, que são estritamente relacionados à fração de gelo formada. O uso combinado de goma guar e xantana reduziu a entalpia de fusão ao longo do tempo de armazenamento congelado (87,4 J.g-1 e 81,2 J.g-1 para a formulação sem gomas, não congelada e após 28 dias de armazenamento congelado; 84,4 J.g-1 e 76,9 J.g-1 para a formulação com 0,25% de goma guar e 0,25% de goma xantana na massa não congelada e após 28 dias de armazenamento congelado), indicando uma interação entre as gomas na capacidade de ligar água ao longo do tempo de congelamento. Porém, apesar do tempo de congelamento ter reduzido a entalpia de fusão, o processo de congelamento foi o principal fator na queda da taxa de fermentação e da produção de gás pelas leveduras independentemente do tempo de armazenamento congelado. / The knowledge of thermophysical properties is important to model and optimize equipment design for frozen food processes. In this work, the thermophysical bread dough properties, such as, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and specific heat were experimentally determined during freezing process, due to their influence on the kinetics process, and therefore on bread quality. The results showed that some properties varied according to the initial water content and mainly due to temperature changes. The average value of initial freezing temperature found by water activity (aw = 0.950) explains the deviations between experimental data and available models in the literature based on Raoults law, which is related to the ice mass fraction. The combined use of guar and xanthan gums reduced the fusion enthalpy along frozen storage time (87.4 J.g-1 and 81.2 J.g-1 for formulation without gum, non-frozen and after 28 frozen storage days; 84.4 J.g-1 and 76.9 J.g-1 for formulation with 0.25 % of guar gum and 0.25 % of xanthan gum in non-frozen and after 28 frozen storage days). It indicated the interaction between gums and their ability to hold water along frozen storage. Despite frozen storage reduced the fusion enthalpy, the freezing process itself was the main factor in the decrease in proofing rate and gas production by yeast cells.

Clay minerals have historically played a consequential role in human health. While the beginnings were rooted in geophagy, a primitive act of consuming earth, the health-related uses of clay minerals have evolved and diversified over time. As excipients in pharmaceutical formulations, clay minerals can attribute novel properties onto intercalated compounds. Intercalating oxybenzone, a UV filter, within the interlamellar space of montmorillonite is desirable in order to minimize direct contact with skin. Intercalating resveratrol, a compound known for attributing beneficial effects onto human health, may be advantageous since this compound is susceptible to cis-trans isomerisation. The strategy of using alkylammonium–modified clay was undertaken and proved successful for the intercalation of oxybenzone. The field of biopolymer/layered silicate nanocomposites is heavily researched for use in a multitude of applications. Novel montmorillonite nanocomposites were prepared with neutral guar gum and cationic guar gum, using an environmentally friendly process and are fully characterized.

In-situ chain extension of polymers used in the formulation of artificial tears and mild gelation are techniques to increase the residence time of eye drops on cornea. In-situ chain extension also helps to control the stability of ophthalmic emulsions both in the bottle and in the tear film. In this work, the interaction of hydrophobically modified guar and tear proteins as a method of polymer chain extension and mild gelation has been evaluated. Guar and its derivatives have been found to be very effective for ophthalmic applications. The ideal guar gelation agent is the one that turns on the gelation upon introduction onto the eye and that gelation chemistry is biocompatible and biodegradable. Controllable gelation is desirable to have relatively low viscosity eye drops for easy application and the drops form weak gels in the eye. One recent strategy to cure dry eye disease is to include emulsions in lubricant eye drops. The idea is to supplement the natural lipid layer on the exterior surface of the tear film. Formulating artificial tear emulsions is relatively complicated and must satisfy conflicting criteria. Emulsion droplets should be stable over the period of their shelf life without creaming or aggregate formation. On the other hand, in the tear film the emulsion droplets must cream fast enough and deposit onto the water/lipid film interface on the exterior surface of the tear film. Thus, the emulsion must be stable but not too stable. Initially, science-based design rules were proposed for the development of future generations of lubricant eye drops. The effect of guar molecular weight and concentration on emulsion stability was evaluated. According to the concentration-molecular weight plot, polymer solutions can be divided into stable and unstable regions. They are defined based on the critical flocculation concentration (CFC) and critical viscosity concentration (C*). Inverted QCM-D has been proposed as a simple and fast method to define the stability of oil in water emulsion systems. This technique is a promising alternative for time consuming conventional creaming experiments. Low molecular weight guar can be optimized to out-perform high molecular weight guars without the complications of formulating eye drops with high molecular weight polymers. Hydroxypropyl guar samples were oxidized and modified with linear alkyl amines to give a series of hydrophobically modified guars (MGuars). Lysozyme and human serum albumin (HSA), natural tear proteins, are able to extend the effective chain length of MGuar through polymer/protein complex formation. Hydrophobic modifications on guar enable efficient interaction with proteins, through their mutual hydrophobic characteristics. The interaction of proteins with various alkyl chain lengths, degrees of substitution and a range of molecular weights were examined. Binding and rheological measurements were employed to evaluate the interactions efficiency. Our results suggest that higher degrees of substitution and longer alkyl chain length give higher viscosity values. Lowering molecular weight allows for higher concentration, while keeping the initial viscosity constant. Higher viscosity was achieved as the chain extension occurred. The influence of hydrophobic modification and molecular weight variation on lubrication behavior of MGuars has also been determined. Hydrophobic modification enhanced the lubrication between hydrophobic surfaces. However, saturation of hydrophobes with protein abolished the lubricity. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

It is currently accepted that the most appropriate diet in the treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus &quoteNIDDM&quote is high in carbohydrates, high in fibre and low in fat. Dietary fibre reduces the rate of carbohydrate absorption, which may have a beneficial effect on insulin action. Furthermore, high fibre diets also increase the amount of carbohydrates which are not absorbed from the small intestine. These malabsorbed carbohydrates are fermented by the bacterial population in the large intestine, producing short chain fatty acids &quoteSCFA&quote, including propionate, which has been shown to alter liver carbohydrate metabolism. This thesis investigated the actions of slowed carbohydrate absorption and carbohydrate malabsorption in streptozotocin-induced &quoteSTZ&quote diabetic rats. High carbohydrate diet supplemented with guar gum, a soluble dietary fibre, fed to STZ diabetic rats improved insulin sensitivity. investigation of the alterations in the stomach and small intestine demonstrated that guar increased the viscosity of the meal in the intestine. The action of increased fermentation, producing more propionate, was investigated by supplementing propionate into the diets of STZ diabetic rats or when perfused into isolated rat livers. No changes in insulin action or liver glucose metabolism were measured. in addition, it was shown that guar gum reduces food intake in STZ diabetic rats. Mild reductions in food intake in STZ diabetic rats were shown to increase insulin action. In summary, STZ diabetic rats fed high carbohydrate, high fibre diets reductions in food consumption and slowed carbohydrate absorption are important factors which may lower blood glucose concentrations and increase insulin action. increased SCFA production is unlikely to contribute significantly to the improvements in insulin action.

This thesis begins with a brief overview of current strategies used in the synthesis of side-chain functionalizad polymers and materials. The discussion then focuses more explicitly on transition metal-based motifs and methodologies that are employed in polymer functionalization and continues with a more detailed overview of this field. The primary hypothesis that is addressed herein is that combining the versatility and strength of metal-ligand interactions with the efficiency and functional group tolerance of ROMP comprises a useful method of generating a variety of functionalized polymers and materials via side-chain metal coordination. Thus, the goal is to test this hypothesis by synthesizing functionalized polymers with a range of useful properties to demonstrate the relevance and importance of this methodology, by employing several different strategies to show the synthetic ease by which the materials can be realized. The strategies and methods discussed in the synthesis of side-chain functionalized polymers are divided into three subgroups: (1) pre-polymerization functionalization, in which all of the modifications take place on the monomer with polymerization as the last step, (2) post-polymerization functionalization, in which the polymer itself is subsequently modified, and (3) combinations of the first two strategies. It is shown that useful functional polymers and materials can be synthesized by any of the above strategies, and representative examples of each are given in both the introduction and in the body of work presented. Modes of functionalization are all based on transition metal coordination, and polymerizations are primarily carried out via ROMP. Metal coordination is shown to be a useful technique for functionalizing polymers, to creating supported emissive complexes, to modulating solution viscosity. Finally, conclusions are drawn regarding the various strategies presented herein, and potential future directions are discussed.