There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

By Pierre Bourdieu (London: Routledge, 2010), xxx + 607 pp. £15.99 paper. A combination of social theory, statistical data, illustrations, and interviews, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judg...

Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste

The State of Food and Agriculture

The UK has passed legislation that introduces the world’s first long-term legally binding framework to tackle the dangers of climate change (The Climate Change Act 20084). The act requires Government to set carbon budgets, which are limits on greenhouse gas emissions in the UK for consecutive five year periods. 
Models analysed in IPCC AR4 have a range of 0-60% for an AMOC decrease over the next 100 years. The RAPID-WATCH 26˚N observations provide the only continuous measurements of the AMOC strength and vertical structure, and are thus a vital monitoring tool for this key climate variable'.
Analysis of the PSMSL data set, reviewed by scientific panels such as the IPCC, inform studies of impacts of climate change on both national and international levels (e.g. UK Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP), UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP), UK Foresight Flood and Coastal Defence Review, Charting Progress and Charting Progress 2, IPCC Working Group II).

Climate change impacts

The development of sustainable renewable polymers from natural resources has increasingly gained attention from scientists, engineers as well as the general public and government agencies. This review covers recent progress in the field of renewable bio-based monomers and polymers from natural resources: terpenes, terpenoids, and rosin, which are a class of hydrocarbon-rich biomass with abundance and low cost, holding much potential for utilization as organic feedstocks for green plastics and composites. This review details polymerization and copolymerization of terpenes such as pinene, limonene, and myrcene and their derivatives, terpenoids including carvone and menthol, and rosin-derived monomers. The future direction on the utilization of these natural resources is discussed.

Progress in Renewable Polymers from Natural Terpenes, Terpenoids, and Rosin

Abstract Physalis (Physalis peruviana L.), also known as cape gooseberry or ground-cherry, plays an important role in nutrition as an excellent base for dietetic products. Highly valued for its unique flavour, texture and colour, recent research has shown that physalis fruit is rich in many beneficial compounds. In this study, the diameter and mass of physalis fruits were measured, which can be used to calculate other biometric characteristics of the fruit, such as: surface area, volume or density. Other physical properties were measured, namely the colour coordinates, by means of a Chroma meter, whilst the textural parameters firmness and elasticity were measured with a texturometer. The following values were calculated for the physalis fruits analysed in the present work: 1.69 cm for average diameter; 8.98 cm2 for surface area, 2.51 cm3 for volume; 2.77 g for mass was, and 1.10 g/cm3 for density. The colour coordinates were 56.72 for lightness, 16.69 for redness, and 58.11 for yellowness. Skin firmness and elasticity were evaluated for texture attributes, and their average values were 2.40 N and 2.94 mm, respectively. The results of this work are in accordance with data reported by other authors in the literature.

Physical properties of Physalis peruviana L.

In this work, fruit-derived products were enriched with a fructooligosaccharide, inulin, obtained from tubers of Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus). The products developed included juices and jams from various fruits and were analyzed in terms of chemical, microbiological, and sensorial properties right after production and again after storage. The comparison of the results before and after storage would allow establishing the conservation ability of the products developed. The results obtained allowed concluding that the products obtained contained a high content of inulin, which is a prebiotic compound with important benefits for gut health.

Development of Fruit Jams and Juices Enriched with Fructooligosaccharides

The agricultural organic farming is different from conventional farming in a way that is aimed at providing a balanced and constructive action in agricultural systems. With the increase in intensive agriculture, undesirable changes were being observed in ecosystems with irreparable damage being caused to the natural equilibrium. This is the reason for the increasing interest in organic farming as an environment friendly agricultural production method. In the present work three red fruits produced in organic farming were analyzed, namely raspberry, gooseberry and blueberry. The samples were harvested in a local farm when at plain maturation. The results obtained allowed to conclude that the blueberry contained higher amounts of phenolic compounds, total tannins and total anthocyanins than raspberry and gooseberry. Furthermore, the HPLC analysis allowed to identify monomeric anthocyanins and phenolic acids in the three fruits studied. Keywords—Blackberry, gooseberry, organic farming, phenolic compounds, raspberry.

Phenolic Compounds in Red Fruits Produced in Organic Farming at Maturation Stage

The present work aimed at studying the influence of temperature (40, 50 and 60 oC) and air velocity (0.7, 0.9 and 1.2 m/s) on drying of quince. From the results obtained it was possible to conclude that the quince drying had a similar kinetic behaviour, regardless of the operating conditions. As to the influence of the drying temperature on the process, it was observed that increasing the drying temperature from 40 oC to 60 oC leads to a diminishing of 30 % in the drying time. On the other hand the increase in air velocity does not have a proportional effect on the reduction of dimensionless moisture, particularly at higher quince moisture contents. The rate of quince drying is characterised by the absence of the constant drying-rate period followed by falling-rate period, regardless of the conditions. The data for the moisture ratio over time was fitted to different empirical models with the best performances coming from the Modified Page, Henderson & Page and Logarithmic models.

Study of drying kinetics of quince

The aim of this work was to develop a new food product from a well-known product made with olive oil—the vinaigrette—which was innovated through texturing. The main goal was to create an original product that will fulfill consumers’ needs and expectations. After preparation of the product, chemical analysis, texture profile analysis, sensory analysis, and market research, it was found that the product was creative and valued. The majority of potential consumers stated that the product characteristics were very appealing and these characteristics were also valued in sensorial terms by the panelists who tasted the product. Therefore, and in view of the preliminary results, this product in its present form could be well accepted by consumers.

Raquel Guiné

Papers

Physical properties of Physalis peruviana L.

Development of Fruit Jams and Juices Enriched with Fructooligosaccharides

Phenolic Compounds in Red Fruits Produced in Organic Farming at Maturation Stage

Study of drying kinetics of quince

Development of a Solid Vinaigrette and Product Testing