This research investigated the use of mushrooms in beef-based products as a means to reduce overall sodium and fat for food service applications. Initial product development used physical characterization analysis (color, moisture, texture, yield, fat, and sodium) to determine initial threshold of mushroom inclusion with minimal differences against an all-meat control. Additional physical analysis then investigated a variety of other factors (mushroom type, blanching, mushroom particle size, salt level, and meat/fat blend) to determine if there were other attributing ingredient characteristics that would yield statistical similarity to the all-meat control. Taco filling formulations with optimized ingredients were then fielded in a hedonic sensory study to untrained consumers to evaluate attributes product (overall liking, aroma, color, flavor, juiciness, saltiness, and texture). Samples with liking scores that closely matched the control where then fielded in paired preference tests to determine acceptance using patrons from the UMass Dining Commons. Based on physical property assessments, an optimized taco filling formulation containing up to 45% un-blanched, white button mushrooms finely chopped (1 to 5 mm) maximized mushroom usage while minimizing differences from the all-meat control. Furthermore, consumers preferred a reduced sodium taco filling containing 45% mushroom over a full sodium taco filling also containing 45% mushroom in a food service fielded paired preference sensory test. The second part of this research investigated the use of mushrooms in burger patties in direct comparison to textured soy protein, which is a well established and used meat extender in the industry, specifically in reduced sodium applications. Again, initial product development used physical characterization analysis to determine initial thresholds of meat extender inclusion with minimal differences against an all-meat control. Optimized patty formulations were then fielded in two hedonic sensory studies to identify favorable meat extenders and concentrations of supplementation in full and reduced sodium patties. Results from the hedonic study showed that reduced sodium meat products extended with mushroom can be equally liked to all-meat full sodium counterparts. The findings from this research showed how mushroom has the potential to be successfully incorporated into meat products to lower sodium and fat without compromising consumer expectation and altering acceptance.

No description available.

Vietnam has about 2,000 trade villages locating mainly in the north. Duong Lieu village in Hoai Duc, Hanoi, is one of the key areas of agricultural production and food processing. However, this area is affected by serious environmental pollution, particularly caused by solid waste and wastewater. Solid wastes of the starch production process from arrowroot are disposed in large amounts and represent the main reason for environmental pollution in Duong Lieu village. These wastes are present anywhere in this village, for example on the main road, in gardens, event fill in ponds and ditches. The components of the dried arrowroot waste are mainly carbon-rich substances such as starch (5%), cellulose (90%) and N, P, K (0.5%; 0.11%; 0.16%, respectively). The fresh arrowroot waste has humidity of up to 80%. This substrate is suitable for culture of straw mushroom and oyster mushroom. The mushrooms use cellulose as carbon source for their growth. Therefore, waste from arrowroot that can be recycled efficiently by the biological method for culturing mushrooms. This treatment method is suitable to the conditions of Vietnam because it does not only reduce waste residues but also is environmentally friendly. / Việt nam có khoảng 2000 làng nghề và tập trung chủ yếu ở miền Bắc. Dương Liễu là một trong những vùng trọng điểm chế biến nông sản thực phẩm. Song hiện tại khu vực này đang bị ô nhiễm môi trường nghiêm trọng,đặc biệt ô nhiễm rác thải và nước thải. Chất thải rắn của quá trình chế biến tinh bột từ củ dong là rất lớn. Nó có mặt khắp nơi từ trong nhà ra ngoài ngõ thậm chí lấp đầy cống rãnh, ao hồ. Đây chính là nguyên nhân gây nên ô nhiễm môi trường vùng làng nghề. Thành phần của bã dong rất giàu cellulose (90%), tinh bột (5%) và có cả nitơ, photpho, kali tương với 0,5%, 0,11% và 0,16%; độ ẩm của bã dong tươi lên tới 80%. Cơ chất này thích hợp để trồng nấm rơm và nấm sò. Bởi các loại nấm này sử dụng cellulose là nguồn cung cấp cacbon chính để sinh trưởng. Do vậy, bã thải từ củ dong có thể được tái sử dụng hiệu quả bằng phương pháp sinh học như là dùng trồng nấm. Đây là một sự lựa chọn phù hợp với điều kiện Việt Nam, vừa giảm thiểu chất thải dư thừa vừa thân thiện với môi trường.

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No description available.

This thesis explores French philosopher Jacques Derrida’s ’hauntology’ through the lens of digital monsters and feminist theory. Hauntology – a pun on ‘ontology’ and ‘haunting’ – offers an ethics based on responsibility towards that which cannot be said to fully exist, yet has an effect on our everyday lives nonetheless. Like the figure of the ghost, such undecidable existences are neither absent nor present, here nor gone, of the past or the future. In other words: they haunt. By engaging with hauntology through contemporary stories of digital monsters – such as The Curious Case of Smile.jpg, Welcome to Night Vale and Mushroom Land TV - the thesis discusses how such troubling hauntings might be imagined, and what it means to think an ethics based on responsibility towards the undecidable. In this way, the thesis brings together hauntology and digital media, arguing that thinking with and through the figure of the ghost as well as the digital monster may lead to different and critical ways of imagining both the world and ethics. In short, drawing upon feminist theory and creative writing, the thesis maps out a relational ethics of hauntings and internet story-telling. / Denna avhandling utforskar den franske filosofen Jacques Derridas ’hauntologi’ genom digitala monster och feministisk teori. Hauntologi - en ordlek på ontology och haunting - erbjuder en etik som bygger på ansvar gentemot det som inte kan sägas helt existera, men ändå har en effekt på vårt dagliga liv. Liksom figuren ’spöket’ är sådana obestämbara existenser varken frånvarande eller närvarande, här eller borta, i det förflutna eller framtiden. Med andra ord: de hemsöker. Genom analyser av samtida berättelser om digitala monster - som The Curious Case of Smile.jpg, Welcome to Night Vale och Mushroom Land TV - diskuterar avhandlingen hur sådan oroande hemsökelser kan bli föreställda, och vad det innebär att tänka en etik baserad på ansvar gentemot det obestämbara. På detta sätt sammanför avhandlingen hauntologi och digitala medier ihop för att argumentera att akten att tänka med och genom spöket som figur och det digitala monstret kan leda till annorlunda och kritiska sätt att föreställa sig både världen och etik på. Avhandlingen bygger på feministisk teori och kreativt skrivande för att utforska en relationell etik baserad på hemsökelser och internet-berättelser.

The aim of this project is to investigate a cultural history of mushroom collecting in Sweden from the 19th century to the present with a focus on connections between aesthetics and the environment.  Collecting is defined broadly as gathering, storing, and accumulating.  This definition encompasses mycologists, mushroom enthusiasts, botanists, and natural historians documenting and preserving as many species as possible.  But it also includes collecting in the sense of leisurely mushroom collectors taking a part of the environment home with them to eat, store, or learn from. A history of mushroom collecting in Sweden is framed that does not only focus on edible mushrooms or scientific value, but emphasizes their linkages to place, memory, conservation, sociality, and embodied knowledge. Mushroom aesthetics are a starting point for exploring wider human connections to the environment and human perceptions of nature.   Collecting is presented as a process which is argued to be a means for constant dialogue with the environment. The cyclical collecting process is broken into stages that are discussed in designated chapters: Hunting, Identification and Assessment, and Storage and Sharing. Aesthetic aspects of mushroom collecting in Sweden are examined within these stages applying visual and discourse analyses to archival images, questionnaires, historic cookbook recipes, and mushroom identification books. Importance is also assigned to fully immersed aesthetic experiences and specific sensory stimuli that facilitate interconnection with non-human actors. Immersed aesthetic experiences are argued to be significant in their ability to democratize aesthetic appreciation of nature, in contrast to historical associations of aesthetics with taste and high culture. Fluctuating historical judgments are mapped about mushrooms, highlighting the framing of nature as a productive asset. Mushroom exhibitions are shown to be a point of collective meaning making, where aspects of natural time according to mushrooms challenge anthropocentric notions of temporality. This thesis through its focus on aesthetics in mushroom collecting reveals spaces of uncertainty and dynamic fluctuation in human-nature relationships, as well as a sense of value for being physically present and part of environments.

Tradicionalmente, o cultivo do cogumelo comestível Pleurotus sajor-caju ou "hiratake" é realizado em diferentes resíduos agrícolas, precedido pelos processos de compostagem e pasteurização. Apresenta uma delicada consistência sendo comercializado preferencialmente "in natura", com tempo de vida útil de 3 a 7 dias, dependendo das condições de armazenamento. Os objetivos do presente trabalho foram: eliminar a fase de pasteurização do substrato através da lavagem do bagaço da cana-de-açúcar, com posterior suplementação visando um aumento na produtividade e prolongar o tempo de comercialização do cogumelo fresco através da sua imersão em diferentes soluções. Na primeira parte do trabalho, os colmos da cana-de-açúcar passaram por moenda para a extração do caldo, sendo em seguida desfibrados. Um lote foi pasteurizado em água a 80°C durante 2 horas; outro lote foi lavado em água corrente à temperatura ambiente em um aparelho adaptado, durante uma hora. Foram drenados e acondicionados em sacos de polietileno com a "semente-inóculo" (5% sobre a matéria úmida). A lavagem simples no aparelho foi utilizada para o experimento com suplementação; um lote recebeu suplementação com quirera de milho (suplementação orgânica); outro foi suplementado com solução nutritiva (suplementação mineral) e o controle não foi suplementado; em ambos os experimentos foram avaliadas a eficiência biológica e a contaminação do substrato. Na segunda parte do trabalho, os cogumelos colhidos foram imersos em diferentes soluções (ácido cítrico, peróxido de hidrogênio e água destilada) durante 2 minutos, foram drenados, acondicionados em bandejas de poliestireno e mantidos sob refrigeração (4ºC) durante 10 dias; foram avaliadas a coloração, textura, aparência e o peso. A lavagem simples do bagaço de cana-de-açúcar mostrou-se eficiente no controle dos microrganismos competidores durante as fases de colonização do substrato e produção dos cogumelos. A suplementação mineral do bagaço lavado com solução nutritiva resultou em eficiência biológica média (EBM) de 30,03%, sendo superior ao controle, com EBM de 26,62%; o menor desempenho foi obtido com a utilização da suplementação orgânica no bagaço lavado, apresentando EBM de 15,66%. Em relação à conservação do cogumelo fresco, ocorreram perdas de textura e peso, bem como o amarelecimento dos cogumelos em todos os tratamentos, não apresentando diferença entre as soluções citadas e o controle no final do período de avaliação. Portanto, os processos de imersão nas soluções de ácido cítrico, peróxido de hidrogênio e água destilada não apresentaram resultados satisfatórios para a conservação dos cogumelos frescos. / Traditionally, the cultivation of edible mushroom Pleurotus sajor-caju or "hiratake" has been carried out on different composted and pasteurized agricultural residues. They are usually sold in natura and according to the storage conditions the mushrooms’shelf life varies from 3 to 7 days. The objectives of this study were to investigate the traditional processes of compostage and pasteurization in substitution by washed and supplemented (mineral or organic) sugar cane bagasse and evaluate the increase of fresh mushrooms’shelf life by immersion into different solutions. In the first experiment, the fresh sugar cane bagasse was washed in fresh water and packed in ethylene bag added with the spawn; the suplementation of washed sugar cane bagasse was mineral (with the nutritive solution) or organic (with the corn gritz). The biological efficiency and the contamination of the substrate were analysed. After harvest, the mushrooms were immersed into different solutions for 2 minutes, dryed, packed in trays and kept under refrigeration (4ºC) for 10 days. Coloration, texture, weight and global aspect of the mushrooms were evaluated in this period of storage. The washed bagasse was efficient to inhibit the growth of competitive microorganisms during the spawning and production of the mushrooms. The supplementation with nutritive solution presented the best biological efficiency media (BEM), 30,03% while with the control was 26,62%. The corn gritz presented the worst performance, with a BEM of 15,66%. The yellowish of mushrooms occurred and their texture and weight decreased. The global aspect of the immersed mushrooms had no difference compared to the control not immersed. This process of immersion into different solutions did not extend the shelf life of fresh mushrooms.

La mouche Drosophila melanogaster est un modèle de choix dans l’étude des grandes fonctions neurophysiologiques notamment en raison de la disponibilité d’une importante variété d’outils disponibles (approches génétiques, pharmacologiques et comportementales). Le cerveau de la mouche, malgré sa simplicité apparente, est capable de traiter des fonctions complexes d’intégration des différents paramètres environnementaux nécessaires à sa survie. Dans le cerveau drosophile, les corps pédonculés (CP) sont des structures impliquées dans de nombreuses fonctions neurophysiologiques de premier plan telles que l'apprentissage et la mémoire olfactive, la régulation de l’activité locomotrice, l'orientation spatiale, la régulation du sommeil ou encore la prise de décision. Il a été montré par des approches associant essentiellement observations comportementales et outils génétiques que la voie de signalisation de l'AMPc joue un rôle crucial dans la réalisation des fonctions diverses des CP. Les cellules de Kenyon (CK) qui sont les cellules intrinsèques des CP, reçoivent principalement des afférences du système olfactif par l’intermédiaire des neurones de projections (PN) en provenance des lobes antennaires et des afférences neuromodulatrices (dopaminergiques et octopaminergiques). Les synapses entres PN et CK se font sur un mode cholinergique grâce à des récepteurs canaux à l’acétylcholine de type nicotinique (nAchR). Nous avons utilisé une technique récente d’imagerie calcique par bioluminescence utilisant une protéine recombinante, la GFP-Aequorine. Cette technique nous a permis de suivre l’activité cellulaire calcique consécutive à l’application de nicotine, un agoniste des nAchR. Grâce à l’observation de ces réponses suite à une combinaison d’approches génétiques corroborée par des approches pharmacologiques, nous avons pu mettre en évidence une modulation complexe et régionalisée de la réponse calcique dans les CP par l’AMPc et d’autres différents partenaires tels que des canaux K+ et Ca2+. Dans un premier temps, nous avons démonté l’existence d’une modulation directe de l’intensité de la réponse par l’AMPc. Nous avons également montré, pour la première fois, que des réponses Ca2+ « spontanées » peuvent être directement inductibles par augmentation de l’AMPc. Nous avons mis en évidence l’existence d’un nouveau partenaire de la modulation de la réponse des CP indépendant de la PKA : les CNG (Cyclic Nucleotides Gated Channels) dont le rôle n’avait jusqu’ici jamais été démontré dans les corps pédonculés. Enfin nous avons pu observer une régionalisation de la régulation de l’activité Ca2+ des CP par l’AMPc. Dans un deuxième temps nous nous somme intéressé aux principales conductances calciques et potassiques. Nous avons mis en évidence que différents canaux calciques voltages dépendants (VGCC) sont impliqués de façon régionalisée et séquentielle dans la formation de la réponse calcique. Il a pu également être démontré que le signal est modulé de façon différentielle dans les calices et les lobes par l’AMPc à travers différents canaux potassiques. Enfin des protocoles originaux ont été développés, tels que la micro application de drogue ou l’électrostimulation permettant d’étudier la neuromodulation dans les CP, à réutiliser pour des travaux ultérieurs du laboratoire. Ce travail est une première étape dans la compréhension des voies de signalisations et des mécanismes intracellulaires impliqués dans l’apprentissage et la mémoire olfactive. / In Drosophila, the Mushroom-Bodies (MBs) are implicated in multiple functions, as olfactory learning and memory, locomotor activity, spatial orientation, sleep, decision making, and up to now but indirectly, in various addiction. Notably, the MBs, which express the nAchR, receive their main inputs from the cholinergic olfactory pathways, through the Projections Neurons (PNs). In this thesis we characterized, at the cellular and molecular levels, the nicotine effect on the Kenyon cells (KCs: the intrinsic neurons) of the Mushroom-Bodies. We used the in-Vivo brain imaging approach, based on the Ca2+-Sensitive bioluminescent probe (GFP-Aequorin), to characterize the nicotinic induced Ca2+-Response on the KCs of the MBs. More specifically we searched the role of different partners involved in the cAMP pathway, in order to understand their roles in the different components of the response and in its modulation. First using both genetics and pharmacological approaches to interfere with different components of the cAMP signaling pathway, we first show that the Ca2+-Response is proportional to the levels of cAMP. Second, we reveal that an acute change in cAMP levels is sufficient to trigger a Ca2+-Response. Third, genetic manipulation of protein kinase A (PKA), a direct effector of cAMP, suggests that cAMP also has a PKA-Independent effect through the cyclic nucleotide-Gated Ca2+-Channel (CNG). Finally, the disruption of calmodulin, one of the main regulators of the rutabaga adenylate cyclase (AC), yields different effects between the calyx/cell-Bodies and the lobes, suggesting a differential and regionalized regulation of ACSecond we exploited both genetic approaches to interfere with different types of Ca2+- and K+-Channels, first we show that the disruption of the VGCC, as cacophony, Dmcα1d and Dmcα1g lead to a striking decrease of the Ca2+-Response both in the CCB and the lobes. Moreover, for two of them, cacophony and Dmcα1d, the duration of the response is importantly increased. Second, the disruption of the fast inactivating K+-Currents, as shaker (sh), shaker-Like (shal) and slowpoke (slo) reveal that the knocked-Down of shal and slo lead to a striking decrease of the Ca2+-Response, while the knocked-Down of sh has only a mild effect. Interestingly, the stimulation of the adenylate cyclase (AC) by the forskolin with the various K+-Channels disruption show an antagonist effect of the cAMP in the CCB between sh (inhibitory) and slow (excitatory) while AC simulation mediate excitatory effects in the ML though both shal and sh. Finally, the knock-Down of the two slow inactivating K+-Currents as shaker w (shaw) and shaker b (shab) also yields to a strong decrease of the Ca2+-Response In conclusion, our results provide new insights into the complexity of the Ca2+-Response in the MBs and are a first step toward deciphering the roles of the VGCC and K+-Channels in the multiples roles of the MBs. Finaly we developed several original protocols to explore the role of the neuromodulation on the KC.This work constitutes an important step toward a better understanding of the pathway required in learning and memory.

Organics recycling is increasing in New England as multiple states have enacted laws to divert organic materials, including food scraps and food processing residuals, away from landfills. Anaerobic digesters on dairy farms represent an attractive approach to food waste recycling because existing infrastructure is in place and co-digestion of dairy manure with food waste can increase renewable biogas production. In addition, anaerobic digestion results in effluents that can be separated into solid and liquid residual materials, or 'digestates'. Screw-press separated solids consist of lignocellulosic biomass resistant to microbial degradation during anaerobic digestion. These separated solids are typically recycled on farms as animal bedding before returning to the digester, whereas remaining liquid digestates are typically spread as fertilizer for nearby feed crops or pasture fields. Within this model, anaerobic digestion is not a nutrient management solution and repeated land application of digestate nutrients can create eutrophication risk over time. Alternative models are needed where digestate materials are converted into valuable products to be sold off-farm, enabling the removal of nutrients to help meet nutrient management goals. In this thesis, I address two research questions related to the pursuit of such alternative models. First, how do physicochemical characteristics of digestate materials vary across full-scale systems in the region, including systems with and without food waste as a substantial proportion of feedstock, and how do these variations affect the potential for conversion of digestates into valuable products (e.g., soil amendments)? Second, can separated digestate solids be used for commercial cultivation of gourmet oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) to produce food for human consumption, providing synchronous nutrient recovery and food production? Results from my first research chapter indicate that increasing food waste inputs (and thus diversification of feedstock recipes) will likely increase the variability of some solid and liquid digestate characteristics and can result in greater contamination with synthetic particles, with implications for nutrient recovery efforts and associated products. My second research chapter shows that screw-press separated digestate solids can offset non-local substrate ingredients to a degree while achieving oyster mushroom yields comparable to commercial recipes. Furthermore, this strategy could divert nutrients away from land adjacent to digesters and directly into safe, nutritious, protein-rich food for humans, while also producing a useful spent mushroom substrate product.