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No description available.

Parenteral nutrition (PN) is a method of feeding those incapable of absorbing nutrients from the gastrointestinal tract. All required nutrients are combined in one "big bag". Consequently, many chemical interactions are possible between components. Ascorbic acid (AA) is ubiquitous to both animal and plant kingdoms. Although its biochemistry is not fully understood, dietary deficiency is detrimental to well being, with the most extreme condition being scurvy. AA is water-soluble and frequent intake is therefore required to maintain nutritional status. AA is possibly the most reactive additive in PN mixtures, readily reacting with dissolved oxygen, initially producing dehydroascorbic acid (OHAA). OHAA retains the biological activity of AA. It was the purpose of this study to further knowledge regarding stability of AA and OHAA in PN mixtures, informing pharmaceutical practice to improve safety and efficacy of PN. A stability-indicating HPLC method was optimised for the study of AA and OHAA in PN mixtures. A study of the kinetics of OHAA degradation was undertaken to provide data that could be used to predict OHAA stability. Results obtained indicated a first order reaction. In direct contrast to AA degradation, trace elements did not catalyse OHAA degradation. A further product of AA degradation is oxalic acid (OA) which is potentially toxic. A HPLC method for the determination of OA in PN mixtures was developed and validated, although minimum quantification limits were relatively high (~10J.Lg/ml).The method was used to assess OA appearance in stored PN mixtures, with results indicating that concentrations remained below 10J.Lg/ml even after 35 days storage. The final aspect of this research was to investigate the most likely components of a PN mixture which may "protect" AA from oxidation. a-tocopherol photo-oxidises and therefore may compete with AA for oxygen. As light catalyses the reaction it is possible oxygen reacts more rapidly with a-tocopherol compared with AA. Results indicated 0.- Tocopherol did not oxidise in preference to AA and therefore offered no "protection". Cysteine is a reducing agent included in some amino acid preparations. The average dissolved oxygen content of standard adult PN mixtures was determined, from which the amount of cysteine required to react with dissolved oxygen was calculated. AA instability in PN mixtures was compared with and without cysteine. Results indicated that adding cysteine to PN mixtures 24 hours before addition of AA, resulted in retention of >95% AA. Results obtained from this study have furthered knowledge of the AA degradation profile, its kinetics and the potential influence of other components in PN mixtures. In particular potential strategies for minimising AA degradation are identified therefore ensuring patients receive quantities approaching those prescribed.

Electrochromic thin films can effectively regulate the visible and infrared light passing through a window, demonstrating great potential to save energy and offer a comfortable indoor environment in buildings. However, long-term durability is a big issue and the physics behind this is far from clear. This dissertation work concerns two important parts of an electrochromic window: the anodic and cathodic layers. In particular, work focusing on the anodic side develop a new Ni oxide based layers and uncover degradation dynamics in Ni oxide thin films; and work focusing on the cathodic side addresses materials rejuvenation with the aim to eliminate degradation. In the first part of this dissertation work, iridium oxide is found to be compatible with acids, bases and Li+-containing electrolytes, and an anodic layer with very superior long-term durability was developed by incorporating of small amount (7.6 at. %) of Ir into Ni oxide. This film demonstrated sustained cycle-dependent growth of charge density and electrochromic modulation even after 10,000 CV cycles. The (111) and (100) crystal facets in Ni oxide are found to possess different abilities to absorb cation and/or anion, which yields different degrees of coloration and this is very significant for the electrochromic properties. The degradation of charge capacity in Ni oxide has an inevitable rapid decay in the first hundreds of cycles, subsequently combined with a more gradual decay, which is independent of applied potential and film composition. The consistent phenomenon can be very well modeled by power-law or stretched exponential decay; however the two models are indistinguishable in the current stage. Interestingly, in both models, the power-law exponent is 0.2 ≤ p ≤ 0.8, with most of the values around 0.5, in line with normal or anomalous diffusion models. The second part of dissertation work deals with cathodic WO3 and TiO2. WO3 suffers from ion trapping induced degradation of charge capacity and optical modulation upon electrochemical cycling. This speculation is strongly supported by direct evidence from Time-of-Flight Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (ToF-ERDA). Most importantly, this ion trapping induced degradation can be eliminated by a galvanostatic de-trapping process. Significant ion-trapping takes place when x exceeds ~0.65 in LixWO3. The trapped ions are stable in the host structure, meaning that the ions cannot de-trap without external stimuli. The similar work done on TiO2 significantly complements and extends the work on the recuperation of WO3; the difference is that the trapped ions in host TiO2 seem to be less stable compared with the trapped ions in WO3.     Overall, this dissertation presents a refined conceptual framework for developing superior electrochromic windows in energy efficient buildings.

O yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) é uma raiz de origem andina, considerada como um alimento funcional por apresentar em sua composição frutoligossacarídeos (FOS) e compostos fenólicos. Os FOS são polímeros de frutose com grau de polimerização de 3-10 e têm sido designados como prebióticos e fibras alimentares por sua não digestibilidade pelas enzimas do trato digestivo humano e por estimulando seletivamente o crescimento e a atividade de bactérias intestinais promotoras de saúde. Além da ação prebiótica, as raízes de yacon são ricas em compostos fenólicos com propriedades antioxidantes, que protegem o corpo humano dos processos oxidativos. Entretanto, a presença desses compostos torna as raízes suscetíveis à reação de escurecimento enzimático causado pela peroxidase e polifenoloxidase. Diante disso, inicialmente, foi estudada a cinética da inativação térmica e parâmetros termodinâmicos durante o branqueamento dessas enzimas e da enzima inulinase no suco de yacon. O suco de yacon, previamente acidificado com 1% de ácido cítrico foi branqueado com diferentes combinações de tempo-temperatura na faixa de 0-10minutos e 80-100 ºC. O comportamento cinético das três enzimas indicou a presença de duas isoenzimas com diferentes estabilidades térmicas, seguindo o modelo bifásico. A análise cinética demonstrou ainda, a alta resistência térmica das enzimas avaliadas, sendo que a inulinase foi a mais resistente ao calor. A análise termodinâmica indicou que a adição do ácido cítrico ao suco de yacon, provavelmente, causou a desnaturação da maior parte das enzimas que posteriormente foram agregadas durante o branqueamento. Posteriormente, o suco de yacon foi microencapsulado por atomização a fim de avaliar o uso da polidextrose como material de parede através da comparação com a goma arábica que é um dos encapsulantes mais utilizados em alimentos. Os efeitos da concentração dos agentes encapsulantes e da temperatura de secagem no teor de compostos fenólicos totais, atividade antioxidante, frutoligossacarídeos, umidade, atividade de água, solubilidade, higroscopicidade, cor e morfologia foram investigados. Os resultados indicaram que a polidextrose apresentou bom desempenho no microencapsulamento de componentes bioativos do suco de yacon, apresentando alta retenção dos compostos fenólicos e da atividade antioxidante. Em todos os tratamentos avaliados teve comportamento muito similar à goma arábica apresentando boas características, tais como baixa umidade, atividade de água e higroscopicidade e elevada solubilidade. Posteriormente, a cinética e termodinâmica de degradação dos compostos fenólicos e a cinética da degradação da diferença total de cor dessas microcápsulas foram avaliadas sob condições de cinética acelerada de armazenamento, com umidade relativa de 75 e 90% e temperaturas de 35 e 45 ºC. As microcápsulas foram atomizadas na temperatura de 140 ºC com goma arábica e polidextrose na proporção de 10% e armazenadas nessas condições por 35 dias. A degradação dos compostos fenólicos e da diferença total de cor das microcápsulas exibiram cinética de primeira ordem. Em relação à degradação dos compostos fenólicos, para todas as condições de umidade e temperatura, as microcápsulas com goma arábica foram mais estáveis do que as encapsuladas com polidextrose, apresentando maiores tempos de meia vida. Entretanto, os valores dos parâmetros termodinâmicos tiveram valores similares, indicando que a degradação dos fenóis ocorreu de forma similar nas microcápsulas independente do material de parede utilizado. As constantes de velocidades da degradação da diferença total de cor das microcápsulas não apresentaram diferença significativa com o aumento da temperatura e/ou da umidade relativa. Paralelamente, foi avaliada a estabilidade do bagaço de yacon desidratado através das isotermas de sorção e análise termodinâmica. O bagaço é o subproduto do processo de extração do suco, tem baixa atividade de água e potencial para uso em formulações alimentícias devido ao teor de FOS que permanece mesmo após a secagem. Os dados de umidade de equilíbrio de bagaço de yacon desidratado em pó foram determinados nas temperaturas de 20, 30, 40 e 50 ºC e o modelo de Halsey ajustou adequadamente os dados de sorção. As isotermas obtidas foram do tipo III, características de produtos contendo açúcares. / Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) is a root of Andean origin, considered to be a functional food as it presents fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and phenolic compounds in its composition. FOS are fructose polymers with a polymerization degree of 3–10 units and have been referred to as prebiotics and dietary fibers because they are not digestible by the enzymes of the human digestive tract and they selectively stimulate the growth and activity of of health promoting bacteria. Other than their prebiotic action, yacon roots are rich on phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties, which protect the human body from oxidative processes. However, the presence of such compounds makes the roots susceptible to enzymatic browning reaction caused by peroxidase and polyphenoloxidase. Thereby, initially, a study was conducted on the kinetics of thermal inactivation and thermodynamic parameters during blanching of these enzymes as well as inulinase enzyme on yacon juice. The yacon juice, previously acidified with 1% citric acid was blanched with different time-temperature combinations in the ranges of 0-10 minutes and 80-100 °C. The kinetic behavior of the three enzymes indicated the presence of two isoenzymes with different thermal stabilities, following the biphasic model. Furthermore, the kinetic analysis showed high thermal resistance for the evaluated enzymes, where in inulinase was the most heat resistant. Thermodynamic analysis indicated that the adding of citric acid to the yacon juice, probably, caused the denaturation of the most of the enzymes that were subsequently aggregated during blanching. Afterwards, yacon juice was microencapsulated by spray drying with the aim of evaluating the use of polydextrose as wall material through in comparison to gum arabic, which is one of the more often used encapsulants in food. The effects of the concentration of the encapsulating agents and drying temperature in the content of total phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, fructooligosaccharides, moisture, water activity, solubility, hygroscopicity, color, and morphology were investigated. The results indicated that polydextrose presented a good performance in the encapsulation of yacon juice, presenting high retention of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity. On all the evaluated treatments, a behavior similar to arabic gum was observed, presenting good characteristics, such as low moisture content, water activity and hygroscopicity and high solubility. Hereafter, the kinetics and thermodynamics of the degradation of phenolic compounds and the kinetics of the degradation of the total color difference of these microcapsules were evaluated under accelerated storage kinetics conditions, with relative humidity of 75 and 90% and temperatures between 35 and 45 °C. The spray drying process was performed under a temperature of 140°C with arabic gum and polydextrose in a 10% concentration and stored under such conditions for 35 days. Degradation of phenolic compounds and total color of microcapsules showed first order kinetics. As of phenolic compound degradation, for all the conditions of relative humidity and temperature the microcapsules with arabic gum were more stable than the ones encapsulated with polydextrose, presenting longer half-lives. Nevertheless, values for the thermodynamic parameters were similar, indicating that the degradation of the phenols occurred in a similar way in the microcapsules, regardless of the wall material used. The kinetic analysis for total color difference of the microcapsules showed that the increase in temperature and/or relative humidity caused no significant difference on the the rate constants. Meantime, the stability of dehydrated yacon bagasse was evaluated by use of sorption isotherms and thermodynamic analysis. The bagasse is a byproduct of the juice extraction process, with low water activity and potential for usage in food formulations due to residual FOS content, even after drying. Equilibrium moisture data for powdered dehydrated yacon bagasse was determined under temperatures of 20, 30, 40, and 50°C and the Halsey model suitably adjusted to the sorption data. The isotherms thus obtained were class III isotherms, typical of sugar rich products.

O yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) é uma raiz de origem andina, considerada como um alimento funcional por apresentar em sua composição frutoligossacarídeos (FOS) e compostos fenólicos. Os FOS são polímeros de frutose com grau de polimerização de 3-10 e têm sido designados como prebióticos e fibras alimentares por sua não digestibilidade pelas enzimas do trato digestivo humano e por estimulando seletivamente o crescimento e a atividade de bactérias intestinais promotoras de saúde. Além da ação prebiótica, as raízes de yacon são ricas em compostos fenólicos com propriedades antioxidantes, que protegem o corpo humano dos processos oxidativos. Entretanto, a presença desses compostos torna as raízes suscetíveis à reação de escurecimento enzimático causado pela peroxidase e polifenoloxidase. Diante disso, inicialmente, foi estudada a cinética da inativação térmica e parâmetros termodinâmicos durante o branqueamento dessas enzimas e da enzima inulinase no suco de yacon. O suco de yacon, previamente acidificado com 1% de ácido cítrico foi branqueado com diferentes combinações de tempo-temperatura na faixa de 0-10minutos e 80-100 ºC. O comportamento cinético das três enzimas indicou a presença de duas isoenzimas com diferentes estabilidades térmicas, seguindo o modelo bifásico. A análise cinética demonstrou ainda, a alta resistência térmica das enzimas avaliadas, sendo que a inulinase foi a mais resistente ao calor. A análise termodinâmica indicou que a adição do ácido cítrico ao suco de yacon, provavelmente, causou a desnaturação da maior parte das enzimas que posteriormente foram agregadas durante o branqueamento. Posteriormente, o suco de yacon foi microencapsulado por atomização a fim de avaliar o uso da polidextrose como material de parede através da comparação com a goma arábica que é um dos encapsulantes mais utilizados em alimentos. Os efeitos da concentração dos agentes encapsulantes e da temperatura de secagem no teor de compostos fenólicos totais, atividade antioxidante, frutoligossacarídeos, umidade, atividade de água, solubilidade, higroscopicidade, cor e morfologia foram investigados. Os resultados indicaram que a polidextrose apresentou bom desempenho no microencapsulamento de componentes bioativos do suco de yacon, apresentando alta retenção dos compostos fenólicos e da atividade antioxidante. Em todos os tratamentos avaliados teve comportamento muito similar à goma arábica apresentando boas características, tais como baixa umidade, atividade de água e higroscopicidade e elevada solubilidade. Posteriormente, a cinética e termodinâmica de degradação dos compostos fenólicos e a cinética da degradação da diferença total de cor dessas microcápsulas foram avaliadas sob condições de cinética acelerada de armazenamento, com umidade relativa de 75 e 90% e temperaturas de 35 e 45 ºC. As microcápsulas foram atomizadas na temperatura de 140 ºC com goma arábica e polidextrose na proporção de 10% e armazenadas nessas condições por 35 dias. A degradação dos compostos fenólicos e da diferença total de cor das microcápsulas exibiram cinética de primeira ordem. Em relação à degradação dos compostos fenólicos, para todas as condições de umidade e temperatura, as microcápsulas com goma arábica foram mais estáveis do que as encapsuladas com polidextrose, apresentando maiores tempos de meia vida. Entretanto, os valores dos parâmetros termodinâmicos tiveram valores similares, indicando que a degradação dos fenóis ocorreu de forma similar nas microcápsulas independente do material de parede utilizado. As constantes de velocidades da degradação da diferença total de cor das microcápsulas não apresentaram diferença significativa com o aumento da temperatura e/ou da umidade relativa. Paralelamente, foi avaliada a estabilidade do bagaço de yacon desidratado através das isotermas de sorção e análise termodinâmica. O bagaço é o subproduto do processo de extração do suco, tem baixa atividade de água e potencial para uso em formulações alimentícias devido ao teor de FOS que permanece mesmo após a secagem. Os dados de umidade de equilíbrio de bagaço de yacon desidratado em pó foram determinados nas temperaturas de 20, 30, 40 e 50 ºC e o modelo de Halsey ajustou adequadamente os dados de sorção. As isotermas obtidas foram do tipo III, características de produtos contendo açúcares. / Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) is a root of Andean origin, considered to be a functional food as it presents fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and phenolic compounds in its composition. FOS are fructose polymers with a polymerization degree of 3–10 units and have been referred to as prebiotics and dietary fibers because they are not digestible by the enzymes of the human digestive tract and they selectively stimulate the growth and activity of of health promoting bacteria. Other than their prebiotic action, yacon roots are rich on phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties, which protect the human body from oxidative processes. However, the presence of such compounds makes the roots susceptible to enzymatic browning reaction caused by peroxidase and polyphenoloxidase. Thereby, initially, a study was conducted on the kinetics of thermal inactivation and thermodynamic parameters during blanching of these enzymes as well as inulinase enzyme on yacon juice. The yacon juice, previously acidified with 1% citric acid was blanched with different time-temperature combinations in the ranges of 0-10 minutes and 80-100 °C. The kinetic behavior of the three enzymes indicated the presence of two isoenzymes with different thermal stabilities, following the biphasic model. Furthermore, the kinetic analysis showed high thermal resistance for the evaluated enzymes, where in inulinase was the most heat resistant. Thermodynamic analysis indicated that the adding of citric acid to the yacon juice, probably, caused the denaturation of the most of the enzymes that were subsequently aggregated during blanching. Afterwards, yacon juice was microencapsulated by spray drying with the aim of evaluating the use of polydextrose as wall material through in comparison to gum arabic, which is one of the more often used encapsulants in food. The effects of the concentration of the encapsulating agents and drying temperature in the content of total phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, fructooligosaccharides, moisture, water activity, solubility, hygroscopicity, color, and morphology were investigated. The results indicated that polydextrose presented a good performance in the encapsulation of yacon juice, presenting high retention of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity. On all the evaluated treatments, a behavior similar to arabic gum was observed, presenting good characteristics, such as low moisture content, water activity and hygroscopicity and high solubility. Hereafter, the kinetics and thermodynamics of the degradation of phenolic compounds and the kinetics of the degradation of the total color difference of these microcapsules were evaluated under accelerated storage kinetics conditions, with relative humidity of 75 and 90% and temperatures between 35 and 45 °C. The spray drying process was performed under a temperature of 140°C with arabic gum and polydextrose in a 10% concentration and stored under such conditions for 35 days. Degradation of phenolic compounds and total color of microcapsules showed first order kinetics. As of phenolic compound degradation, for all the conditions of relative humidity and temperature the microcapsules with arabic gum were more stable than the ones encapsulated with polydextrose, presenting longer half-lives. Nevertheless, values for the thermodynamic parameters were similar, indicating that the degradation of the phenols occurred in a similar way in the microcapsules, regardless of the wall material used. The kinetic analysis for total color difference of the microcapsules showed that the increase in temperature and/or relative humidity caused no significant difference on the the rate constants. Meantime, the stability of dehydrated yacon bagasse was evaluated by use of sorption isotherms and thermodynamic analysis. The bagasse is a byproduct of the juice extraction process, with low water activity and potential for usage in food formulations due to residual FOS content, even after drying. Equilibrium moisture data for powdered dehydrated yacon bagasse was determined under temperatures of 20, 30, 40, and 50°C and the Halsey model suitably adjusted to the sorption data. The isotherms thus obtained were class III isotherms, typical of sugar rich products.

O yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) é uma raiz de origem andina, considerada como um alimento funcional por apresentar em sua composição frutoligossacarídeos (FOS) e compostos fenólicos. Os FOS são polímeros de frutose com grau de polimerização de 3-10 e têm sido designados como prebióticos e fibras alimentares por sua não digestibilidade pelas enzimas do trato digestivo humano e por estimulando seletivamente o crescimento e a atividade de bactérias intestinais promotoras de saúde. Além da ação prebiótica, as raízes de yacon são ricas em compostos fenólicos com propriedades antioxidantes, que protegem o corpo humano dos processos oxidativos. Entretanto, a presença desses compostos torna as raízes suscetíveis à reação de escurecimento enzimático causado pela peroxidase e polifenoloxidase. Diante disso, inicialmente, foi estudada a cinética da inativação térmica e parâmetros termodinâmicos durante o branqueamento dessas enzimas e da enzima inulinase no suco de yacon. O suco de yacon, previamente acidificado com 1% de ácido cítrico foi branqueado com diferentes combinações de tempo-temperatura na faixa de 0-10minutos e 80-100 ºC. O comportamento cinético das três enzimas indicou a presença de duas isoenzimas com diferentes estabilidades térmicas, seguindo o modelo bifásico. A análise cinética demonstrou ainda, a alta resistência térmica das enzimas avaliadas, sendo que a inulinase foi a mais resistente ao calor. A análise termodinâmica indicou que a adição do ácido cítrico ao suco de yacon, provavelmente, causou a desnaturação da maior parte das enzimas que posteriormente foram agregadas durante o branqueamento. Posteriormente, o suco de yacon foi microencapsulado por atomização a fim de avaliar o uso da polidextrose como material de parede através da comparação com a goma arábica que é um dos encapsulantes mais utilizados em alimentos. Os efeitos da concentração dos agentes encapsulantes e da temperatura de secagem no teor de compostos fenólicos totais, atividade antioxidante, frutoligossacarídeos, umidade, atividade de água, solubilidade, higroscopicidade, cor e morfologia foram investigados. Os resultados indicaram que a polidextrose apresentou bom desempenho no microencapsulamento de componentes bioativos do suco de yacon, apresentando alta retenção dos compostos fenólicos e da atividade antioxidante. Em todos os tratamentos avaliados teve comportamento muito similar à goma arábica apresentando boas características, tais como baixa umidade, atividade de água e higroscopicidade e elevada solubilidade. Posteriormente, a cinética e termodinâmica de degradação dos compostos fenólicos e a cinética da degradação da diferença total de cor dessas microcápsulas foram avaliadas sob condições de cinética acelerada de armazenamento, com umidade relativa de 75 e 90% e temperaturas de 35 e 45 ºC. As microcápsulas foram atomizadas na temperatura de 140 ºC com goma arábica e polidextrose na proporção de 10% e armazenadas nessas condições por 35 dias. A degradação dos compostos fenólicos e da diferença total de cor das microcápsulas exibiram cinética de primeira ordem. Em relação à degradação dos compostos fenólicos, para todas as condições de umidade e temperatura, as microcápsulas com goma arábica foram mais estáveis do que as encapsuladas com polidextrose, apresentando maiores tempos de meia vida. Entretanto, os valores dos parâmetros termodinâmicos tiveram valores similares, indicando que a degradação dos fenóis ocorreu de forma similar nas microcápsulas independente do material de parede utilizado. As constantes de velocidades da degradação da diferença total de cor das microcápsulas não apresentaram diferença significativa com o aumento da temperatura e/ou da umidade relativa. Paralelamente, foi avaliada a estabilidade do bagaço de yacon desidratado através das isotermas de sorção e análise termodinâmica. O bagaço é o subproduto do processo de extração do suco, tem baixa atividade de água e potencial para uso em formulações alimentícias devido ao teor de FOS que permanece mesmo após a secagem. Os dados de umidade de equilíbrio de bagaço de yacon desidratado em pó foram determinados nas temperaturas de 20, 30, 40 e 50 ºC e o modelo de Halsey ajustou adequadamente os dados de sorção. As isotermas obtidas foram do tipo III, características de produtos contendo açúcares. / Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) is a root of Andean origin, considered to be a functional food as it presents fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and phenolic compounds in its composition. FOS are fructose polymers with a polymerization degree of 3–10 units and have been referred to as prebiotics and dietary fibers because they are not digestible by the enzymes of the human digestive tract and they selectively stimulate the growth and activity of of health promoting bacteria. Other than their prebiotic action, yacon roots are rich on phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties, which protect the human body from oxidative processes. However, the presence of such compounds makes the roots susceptible to enzymatic browning reaction caused by peroxidase and polyphenoloxidase. Thereby, initially, a study was conducted on the kinetics of thermal inactivation and thermodynamic parameters during blanching of these enzymes as well as inulinase enzyme on yacon juice. The yacon juice, previously acidified with 1% citric acid was blanched with different time-temperature combinations in the ranges of 0-10 minutes and 80-100 °C. The kinetic behavior of the three enzymes indicated the presence of two isoenzymes with different thermal stabilities, following the biphasic model. Furthermore, the kinetic analysis showed high thermal resistance for the evaluated enzymes, where in inulinase was the most heat resistant. Thermodynamic analysis indicated that the adding of citric acid to the yacon juice, probably, caused the denaturation of the most of the enzymes that were subsequently aggregated during blanching. Afterwards, yacon juice was microencapsulated by spray drying with the aim of evaluating the use of polydextrose as wall material through in comparison to gum arabic, which is one of the more often used encapsulants in food. The effects of the concentration of the encapsulating agents and drying temperature in the content of total phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, fructooligosaccharides, moisture, water activity, solubility, hygroscopicity, color, and morphology were investigated. The results indicated that polydextrose presented a good performance in the encapsulation of yacon juice, presenting high retention of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity. On all the evaluated treatments, a behavior similar to arabic gum was observed, presenting good characteristics, such as low moisture content, water activity and hygroscopicity and high solubility. Hereafter, the kinetics and thermodynamics of the degradation of phenolic compounds and the kinetics of the degradation of the total color difference of these microcapsules were evaluated under accelerated storage kinetics conditions, with relative humidity of 75 and 90% and temperatures between 35 and 45 °C. The spray drying process was performed under a temperature of 140°C with arabic gum and polydextrose in a 10% concentration and stored under such conditions for 35 days. Degradation of phenolic compounds and total color of microcapsules showed first order kinetics. As of phenolic compound degradation, for all the conditions of relative humidity and temperature the microcapsules with arabic gum were more stable than the ones encapsulated with polydextrose, presenting longer half-lives. Nevertheless, values for the thermodynamic parameters were similar, indicating that the degradation of the phenols occurred in a similar way in the microcapsules, regardless of the wall material used. The kinetic analysis for total color difference of the microcapsules showed that the increase in temperature and/or relative humidity caused no significant difference on the the rate constants. Meantime, the stability of dehydrated yacon bagasse was evaluated by use of sorption isotherms and thermodynamic analysis. The bagasse is a byproduct of the juice extraction process, with low water activity and potential for usage in food formulations due to residual FOS content, even after drying. Equilibrium moisture data for powdered dehydrated yacon bagasse was determined under temperatures of 20, 30, 40, and 50°C and the Halsey model suitably adjusted to the sorption data. The isotherms thus obtained were class III isotherms, typical of sugar rich products.

Phycocyanin (PC), a pigment-protein conjugate from Arthrospira platensis, is increasingly used in foods as a natural alternative to artificial blue dyes. Although PC has been classified as a color additive exempt from certification by the Food and Drug Administration, its limited stability has hindered its widespread application in food products. The objectives of this study were: a) to evaluate the photophysical properties of PC and their sensitivity to temperature, viscosity, and water activity, b) to monitor PC’s thermal degradation based on changes in the optical properties of its intrinsic fluorophores, namely its chromophores and aromatic amino acids, and c) to extract PC’s thermal degradation kinetics parameters from non-isothermal degradation profiles and validate their predictive ability. PC’s photophysical properties were monitored in solutions with viscosities from 1 to8000 mPa s and water activities, aw, from about 0 to 1. PC’s emission intensity showed high sensitivity to aw above 0.8 and mild sensitivity to the viscosity of its local environment. The effect of temperature on PC’s photophysical properties was tested in aqueous PC solutions (0.5 mM, pH: 6.1) subjected to non-isothermal temperature profiles with target temperatures from 42.5 to 80°C. The stability of PC was monitored in terms of its photophysical properties, i.e., fluorescence emission intensity, energy, and anisotropy (r) of its chromophore at set time intervals. Additionally, the photophysical properties of PC’s aromatic amino acids (AAs) tyrosine and tryptophan (lexc: 280 and 295 nm) were recorded. The thermal degradation kinetics of PC was assumed to follow a Weibullian model, and the temperature dependence of the degradation rate parameter, b(T), a logarithmic exponential model. Changes of PC fluorescence intensity under dynamic conditions were used to extract the degradation kinetics parameters using the endpoints method. Deviations between the estimated and experimental values were less than 10% for all temperature profiles. During thermal treatments, hypsochromic shifts of AAs’ emission spectra (from 340 to 315 nm) and significant increases in fluorescence anisotropy revealed that color losses were not solely associated with an alteration of the chromophore but with conformational changes and possible aggregation of the protein subunits. An increase in viscosity of the surrounding media provided a protected effect on discoloration during heating. Adequate modeling approaches and molecular spectroscopic techniques can help to develop effective strategies to enhance thermal stability, expand its use as a color and functional ingredient and operationalize it as an endogenous sensor of food quality.

Content: The thermal degradation kinetics of hides before and after being tanned with formaldehyde were investigated using thermalgravimetric analysis (TGA) at four different heating rates of 5, 10, 20, 30 K/min. Such model-free methods as Flynn-Wall-Ozawa and Friedman as well as model-fitting method of Criado were employed to determine the thermal degradation active energy and degradation mechanism. Based on the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa and Friedman methods, the average active energy (Ea) of formaldehyde-tanned leather was 223.1 kJ/mol and 230.7 kJ/mol respectively. Results from general master curves showed diffusion processes in the thermal degradation of formaldehyde-tanned leather. Neither the thermal degradation activation energy nor the degradation mechanism is affected by the formaldehyde tanning. Nevertheless, the results by thermalgravimetric analyzer coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (TG-FTIR) indicated difference in the relative amounts of evolved products. According to the 3D-FTIR analysis, the dominant components of evolved gas for both untanned and tanned hides are CO2, CH4, H2O, NH3 along with small amount of HNCO. However, after formaldehyde tanning, both the evolved NH3 by the decomposition of free –NH2 groups and peptide –NH– groups from different amino acids in collagen and CH4 by the cleavage of -CH3 and -CH2- increase. Take-Away: 1. The theraml degradtion mechanism of hides before and after formaldehyde-tanning is eatablished in our paper. 2. The main degradation pathway of hides before and after formaldehyde-tanning is discussed with the help of TG-FTIR analysis.

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