Reformulation Strategy Research Articles

Evaluation of nutritional, technological, oxidative, and sensory properties of low-sodium and phosphate-free mortadellas produced with bamboo fiber, pea protein, and mushroom powder

This study examined the effects of replacing alkaline phosphate (AP) with bamboo fiber (BF), isolated pea protein (PP), and mushroom powder (MP) on the nutritional, technological, oxidative, and sensory characteristics of low-sodium mortadellas. Results indicated that this reformulation maintained the nutritional quality of the products. Natural substitutes were more effective than AP in reducing water and fat exudation. This led to decreased texture profile analysis (TPA) values such as hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, and chewiness. The reformulation reduced the L* values and increased the b* values, leading to color modifications rated from noticeable to appreciable according to the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) index. Despite minor changes in oxidative stability indicated by increased values in TBARS (from 0.19 to 0.33 mg MDA/kg), carbonyls (from 2.1 to 4.4 nmol carbonyl/mg protein), and the volatile compound profile, the sensory profile revealed a beneficial increase in salty taste, especially due to the inclusion of MP, which was enhanced by the synergy with BF and PP. In summary, the results confirmed the potential of natural alternatives to replace chemical additives in meat products. Incorporating natural antioxidants into future formulations could address the minor oxidation issues observed and enhance the applicability of this reformulation strategy.

INTEGRAL TRANSFORM SOLUTION OF HEAT CONDUCTION IN ANISOTROPIC HETEROGENEOUS MEDIA

The generalized integral transform technique (GITT) is advanced to deal with conduction heat transfer in anisotropic heterogeneous media. A formal solution for exact integral transformation of conduction in anisotropic media is extended to account for heterogeneities expressed as space variable equation coefficients and source terms. The proposed eigenfunction expansion is based on biorthogonal eigenvalue problems, which results in an exact integral transformation for a class of linear problems and in a coupled transformed ordinary differential system for nonlinear situations. An algorithm is proposed for the associated eigenvalue problems, also handled through the GITT, by considering simpler biorthogonal eigenvalue problems of known analytical solution, leading to transformed algebraic eigenvalue problems. A single domain reformulation strategy is adopted to merge the information from multiple regions and materials, either isotropic or anisotropic, into one single diffusion equation. A two-dimensional transient test case is considered that presents an abrupt transition between isotropic and anisotropic materials yielding a marked change in thermal behavior in a defined region of interest formed by the anisotropic inclusion. Convergence behavior of the integral transform solution is illustrated, and the fully converged results are employed as a benchmark to inspect the accuracy of a commercial finite element code for automatically defined mesh refinement levels.

A Unified Framework for Contextual and Factoid Question Generation

Question generation (QG) aims to automatically generate fluent and relevant questions, where the two most mainstream directions are generating questions from unstructured contextual texts (CQG), such as news articles, and generating questions from structured factoid texts (FQG), such as knowledge graphs or tables. Existing methods for these two tasks mainly face challenges of limited internal structural information as well as scarce background information, while these two tasks can benefit each other for alleviating these issues. For example, when meeting the entity mention “United Kingdom” in CQG, it can be inferred that it is a country in European continent based on the structural knowledge “(Europe, countries_within, United Kingdom)” in FQG. And when meeting the entity “Houston Rockets” in FQG, more background information, such as “an American professional basketball team based in Houston since 1971”, can be found in the related passages of CQG. To this end, we propose a unified framework for the tasks of CQG and FQG, where: (i) two types of task-sharing modules are developed to learn shared contextual and structural knowledge, where the task format is unified with a pseudo passage reformulation strategy; (ii) for the CQG task, a task-specific knowledge module with a knowledge selection and aggregation mechanism is introduced, so as to incorporate more factoid knowledge from external knowledge graphs and alleviate the word ambiguity problem; and (iii) for the FQG task, a task-specific passage module with a multi-level passage fusion mechanism is designed to extract fine-grained word-level knowledge. Experimental results in both automatic and human evaluation show the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Distribution system identification using FISTA algorithm

The network parameters of the distribution system play a very important role for the network operator in performing a timely and satisfactory operation. Therefore, they require to be updated on a time-to-time basis otherwise it may lead to non-optimal operation of the distribution system. To deal with this issue, the reformulation strategy and the fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding approach (FISTA) algorithm are designed herein to accomplish the network identification objectives using distribution phasor measurement units (D-PMUs) measurements. The presented algorithm has capabilities to determine the manifold tasks such as the identification of structure of the distribution system, variation in network configuration, branch parameters (e.g., conductance and susceptance), and changes in branch parameters. Simulation is performed with the help of the synchronized dataset to validate the efficacy of the presented algorithm on the manifold benchmarked testbeds such as IEEE 34-bus and IEEE 13-bus systems. Additionally, the FISTA algorithm demonstrates excellent performance even with the presence of a certain level of Gaussian noise in the D-PMU measurements. To illustrate the efficacy of the presented work over the state-of-art methods, the comparative analysis is carried out on the benchmarked test cases.

Jabuticaba peel extract and nisin: A promising combination for reducing sodium nitrite in Bologna-type sausages

This study investigated the effect of a 50% reduction in sodium nitrite and the addition of nisin (200 mg/kg) and different concentrations (0, 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1%) of jabuticaba peel extract (JPE) on the main attributes affected by this chemical additive in Bologna-type sausages. The modified treatments showed approximately 50% lower residual nitrite than the control throughout the storage (60 days at 4 °C). The proposed reformulation did not affect the color (L*, a*, and b*), and the ΔE values (< 2) demonstrated high color stability during storage. Physicochemical (TBARS and volatile compounds) and sensory analyses performed to evaluate oxidative stability indicated that JPE exhibited antioxidant activity comparable to sodium nitrite. The microbiological quality of the reformulated products was similar to the control, but further studies should be conducted to assess the effect of this reformulation strategy on the growth of pathogenic microorganisms impacted by nitrite.

Estimating Canadian sodium intakes and the health impact of meeting national and WHO recommended sodium intake levels: A macrosimulation modelling study.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the second leading cause of total deaths in Canada. High blood pressure is the main metabolic risk factor for developing CVDs. It has been well established that excess consumption of sodium adversely affects blood pressure. Canadians' mean sodium intakes are well above recommended levels. Reducing dietary sodium intake through food reformulation has been identified as a cost-effective intervention, however, dietary sodium intake and the potential health impact of meeting recommended sodium intake levels due to food reformulation have not been determined in Canada. This study aimed to 1) obtain robust estimates of Canadians' usual sodium intakes, 2) model sodium intakes had foods been reformulated to align with Health Canada's sodium reduction targets, and 3) estimate the number of CVD deaths that could be averted or delayed if Canadian adults were to reduce their mean sodium intake to recommended levels under three scenarios: A) 2,300 mg/d-driven by a reduction of sodium levels in packaged foods to meet Health Canada targets (reformulation); B) 2,000 mg/d to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation; and C) 1,500 mg/d to meet the Adequate Intake recommendation. Foods in the University of Toronto's Food Label Information Program 2017, a Canadian branded food composition database, were linked to nationally representative food intake data from the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey-Nutrition to estimate sodium intakes (and intakes had Health Canada's reformulation strategy been fully implemented). The Preventable Risk Integrated ModEl (PRIME) was used to estimate potential health impact. Overall, mean sodium intake was 2758 mg/day, varying by age and sex group. Based on 'reformulation' scenario A, mean sodium intakes were reduced by 459 mg/day, to 2299 mg/day. Reducing Canadians' sodium intake to recommended levels under scenarios A, B and C could have averted or delayed 2,176 (95% UI 869-3,687), 3,252 (95% UI 1,380-5,321), and 5,296 (95% UI 2,190-8,311) deaths due to CVDs, respectively, mainly from ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and hypertensive disease. This represents 3.7%, 5.6%, and 9.1%, respectively, of the total number of CVDs deaths observed in Canada in 2019. Results suggest that reducing sodium intake to recommended levels could prevent or postpone a substantial number of CVD deaths in Canada. Reduced sodium intakes could be achieved through reformulation of the Canadian food supply. However, it will require higher compliance from the food industry to achieve Health Canada's voluntary benchmark sodium reduction targets.

Application of decomposition techniques in a wildfire suppression optimization model

Resource assignment and scheduling models provides an automatic and fast decision support system for wildfire suppression logistics. However, this process generates challenging optimization problems in many real-world cases, and the computational time becomes a critical issue, especially in realistic-size instances. Thus, to overcome that limitation, this work studies and applies a set of decomposition techniques such as augmented Lagrangian, branch and price, and Benders decomposition’s to a wildfire suppression model. Moreover, a reformulation strategy, inspired by Benders’ decomposition, is also introduced and demonstrated. Finally, a numerical study comparing the behavior of the proposals using different problem sizes is conducted.

Resistant Protein: Forms and Functions.

Several global health risks are related to our dietary lifestyle. As a consequence of the overconsumption of ultra-processed and highly digestible protein (150–200% of the recommended value), excess dietary proteins reach the colon, are hydrolysed to peptides and amino acids by bacterial proteases and fermented to various potentially toxic end products. A diet reformulation strategy with reduced protein content in food products appears to be the most effective approach. A potential approach to this challenge is to reduce food digestibility by introducing resistant protein into the diet that could positively influence human health and gut microbiome functionality. Resistant protein is a dietary constituent not hydrolysed by digestive enzymes or absorbed in the human small intestine. The chemical conformation and the amino acid composition strictly influence its structural stability and resistance to in vivo proteolysis and denaturation. Responding to the important gap in our knowledge regarding the digestibility performance of alternative proteins, we hypothesise that resistant proteins can beneficially alter food functionality via their role in improving metabolic properties and health benefits in human nutrition, similar to fibres and resistant starches. A multidisciplinary investigation of resistant protein will generate tremendous scientific impact for other interlinked societal, economic, technological and health and wellbeing aspects of human life.

Contribution of reformulation, product renewal, and changes in consumer behavior to the reduction of salt intakes in the UK population between 2008/2009 and 2016/2017

ABSTRACTBackgroundThe UK salt reduction program started in 2003, consisting of education campaigns to raise awareness about the risks associated with a high-salt diet and of a reformulation strategy for food manufacturers. This program is often cited as an example of a successful public health program.ObjectivesThis study aimed to assess: 1) the impacts of changes in food composition and changes in consumer behavior on sodium intakes; and 2) whether changes were similar across socioeconomic groups.MethodsFood intakes for the UK population were derived from food diaries in the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey for 2008/09 (year 1; n = 1334) and 2016/17 (year 9; n = 995). Year-specific sodium densities of foods were used to calculate the average sodium density of all food and beverage consumed. Changes in sodium density between the 2 years were explained by changes in food composition (change in sodium density of products) and/or changes in behavior (type and quantity of food consumed) using a decomposition approach.ResultsThe program was linked to a 16% (95% CI: −21% to −12%) decrease in sodium intake between years 1 and 9, while the sodium density of foods consumed decreased by 17% (95% CI: −21% to −12%). This decrease was largely driven by reformulation (−12.0 mg/100 g). Changes in food choices reinforced the effects of the program, but had a smaller impact (−1.6 mg/100 g). These effects were similar across socioeconomic groups, whether stratified by education or income, with a consistent effect of reformulation across groups and no differences between groups in behavioral responses to the program.ConclusionsA multi-component sodium reduction strategy deployed in the United Kingdom starting in 2003 corresponded to an important reduction in sodium intakes for the population. This reduction was mostly driven by changes in the food environment (reformulated food products to reduce the sodium density of foods) and, to a smaller extent, by changes in food choices. Impacts were consistent across socioeconomic groups.

Strawberry ripple sauce: A semi-solid fibre syrup to reduce sugar content

A consumer-recognized fibre syrup was used as bulking agent in a sugar reduction reformulation strategy of a strawberry ripple sauce, in order to satisfy the consumer needs of healthier and clean label products. Three sugar reduced recipes of ripple sauces (by 30 %, 50 % and 70 %) were developed and characterized together with a full sugar counterpart. The technological functionality of the fibre syrup was tested analysing the ripple sauces during 60 days of storage at two temperatures (5 °C and 25 °C) considering their physicochemical, stability, rheological and sensorial features. The use of the fibre syrup increased the water activity and the moisture content of the reformulated ripples; however, no water syneresis occurred during storage in these samples. The consumer acceptability of ripples in which sugar was reduced by 30 % furthermore confirm the possibility to use the fibre syrup as sugar substitute in high sugar products. The industrial scalability was confirmed for the ripple sauce in which sugar was reduced by 30 % as it resulted similar at rheological and sensory level to the full sugar counterpart also during storage.

A reformulation strategy for mixed-integer linear bi-level programming problems

Bi-level programming has been used widely to model interactions between hierarchical decision-making problems, and their solution is challenging, especially when the lower-level problem contains discrete decisions. The solution of such mixed-integer linear bi-level problems typically need decomposition, approximation or heuristic-based strategies which either require high computational effort or cannot guarantee a global optimal solution. To overcome these issues, this paper proposes a two-step reformulation strategy in which the first part consists of reformulating the inner mixed-integer problem into a nonlinear one, while in the second step the well-known Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions for the nonlinear problem are formulated. This results in a mixed-integer nonlinear problem that can be solved with a global optimiser. The computational and numerical benefits of the proposed reformulation strategy are demonstrated by solving five examples from the literature.

The Gift of Data: Industry-Led Food Reformulation and the Obesity Crisis in Europe

Ultraprocessed-food manufacturers have proposed product reformulation as a key strategy to tackle obesity. In determining the impact of reformulation on population dietary behaviors, policy makers often depend on data provided by these manufacturers. Where such data are “gifted” to regulators, there may be an implicit expectation of reciprocity that adversely influences nutrition policies. The authors aimed to assess Europe’s industry-led reformulation strategy in five countries deploying critical policy studies as an approach. They found that interim results on industry-led food reformulation did not meet the countries’ targets. Information asymmetries exist between food industry and policy makers: the latter are not privy to marketing intelligence and must instead rely on data that are voluntarily donated by food industry actors, which represent a distorted snippet of the marketing intelligence system from whence they came. Because these data indeed bear all the hallmarks of a gift, regulatory and public health authorities operate within a gift economy. The implications of this “data-gift economy” are strategic delay and the need to set goals when the field is not visible. Ultimately, this could diminish the implementation of public health nutrition policies that run counter to the commercial interests of ultraprocessed-food producers.

Reformulating Bilevel Problems by SQP Embedding

AbstractDue to their inherently complex structure, bilevel optimization problems are often transformed into single‐level problems in order to make them numerically solvable. In this work, we present a novel reformulation strategy, in which we introduce sets of variables and constraints that represent the process of numerically solving the lower‐level problem based on a full step exact Hessian sequential quadratic programming method. The reformulated problem approximates a solution to the original one in the following sense: For a suitable number of imitated lower‐level iteration steps, the lower‐level problem is approximately solved in case a feasible point is found. The approach is illustrated by an example.

Experimental analysis of higher alcohol–based ternary biodiesel blends in CI engine parameters through multivariate and desirability approaches

The present work has enabled to aspire the enhancement of palm biodiesel viability for compression ignition (CI) engine applications using reformulation strategy by the addition of higher alcohols. In this work, 20% and 30% of 1-decanol and n-hexanol were used for ternary blend preparation along with palm biodiesel concentration as 20–30% and 50% diesel fuels for combustion, emission, and performance behaviour investigation in CI engine. Furthermore, the experimental results were also compared with 100% palm biodiesel (P100) and pure diesel (D100) and a binary blend of D50B50 fuels. The experimental study has revealed that the presence of higher alcohols in the ternary blends has improved the cylinder pressure and heat release rate whereas the same trend was not evident in binary biodiesel blend. All the ternary blends of higher alcohols-biodiesel and diesels have shown higher brake thermal efficiency and reduction in brake-specific fuel consumption. At the same time, decanol and hexanol addition in the palm biodiesel-diesel blends has favoured in all exhaust emission reductions with slight exemption in NOx emission. The experimental results are optimized through multivariate and desirability analyses for identifying the effective composition of blend. Multivariate analysis has revealed that the higher alcohol proposition in the ternary blend was more influential than the type of higher alcohol. Furthermore, the desirability study has also validated the prescribed proportion with the maximum error of 6.17% for D50P22DC28 and 4.84% for D50P26HE24. Finally, the research concludes that decanol would be the preferable choice for ternary blend preparation than hexanol due to its overall better performance.

Interplay of non-convex quadratically constrained problems with adjustable robust optimization

In this paper we explore convex reformulation strategies for non-convex quadratically constrained optimization problems (QCQPs). First we investigate such reformulations using Pataki’s rank theorem iteratively. We show that the result can be used in conjunction with conic optimization duality in order to obtain a geometric condition for the S-procedure to be exact. Based upon known results on the S-procedure, this approach allows for some insight into the geometry of the joint numerical range of the quadratic forms. Then we investigate a reformulation strategy introduced in recent literature for bilinear optimization problems which is based on adjustable robust optimization theory. We show that, via a similar strategy, one can leverage exact reformulation results of QCQPs in order to derive lower bounds for more complicated quadratic optimization problems. Finally, we investigate the use of reformulation strategies in order to derive characterizations of set-copositive matrix cones. Empirical evidence based upon first numerical experiments shows encouraging results.

Success of reformulation and health education in reducing sodium intakes across socioeconomic groups

Abstract Background The UK salt reduction programme started in 2005, consisting of education campaigns and a reformulation strategy. This programme is often cited as an example of a successful public health programme, and used as a model for other programmes. This study aims at assessing how the programme succeeded in reducing sodium intakes, and whether success was even across socioeconomic (SES) groups. Methods Food intakes for the UK adult population were derived from food diaries in the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey for 2008/09 (Y1) and 2016/17 (Y9). Year-specific sodium densities of foods were used to calculate the quantity-weighted average sodium density of all food and beverage consumed by the population. Using a decomposition approach (Griffith et al., Economica, 2017), changes in sodium density were attributed to either changes in food composition (change in sodium density), or changes in behaviour (type and quantity of food products consumed), stratifying by SES. Results The programme was linked to a 16% decrease in sodium intakes between Y1 and Y9, while sodium density decreased by 15%. This decrease was largely driven by reformulation (-12mg/100g), while changes in food choices had a smaller impact (-2mg/100g). This finding was consistent across SES groups, whether stratified by education or income, with no significant differences between SES groups in behavioural responses to the programme (changes in food choices). Conclusions Changing people's food environment, through reformulation to reduce the sodium density of foods, had a larger impact on sodium intakes in the UK population than efforts to change food choices, and produced consistent impacts across SES groups. Key messages Reformulation led to a consistent reduction of the sodium density of food consumed across SES. There was no evidence of adverse equity impact from changes in behaviour.

Transient three-dimensional heat conduction in heterogeneous media: Integral transforms and single domain formulation

A hybrid numerical-analytical methodology based on integral transforms is employed for solving transient three-dimensional heat conduction problems in heterogeneous media comprising arbitrarily space variable thermophysical properties, including configurations with multiple subdomains of different materials and geometries. The Generalized Integral Transform Technique (GITT) is used to solve for both the temperature distribution and the corresponding eigenvalue problem accounting for the spatially variable coefficients. A previously introduced single domain reformulation strategy is adopted when multiple subdomains are involved, so as to rewrite the heat conduction equation in terms of coefficients with abrupt variations in the spatial coordinates. The hybrid numerical-analytical approach is demonstrated for three classes of problems in which the thermophysical properties undergo significant variations throughout the domain, such as: (i) FGMs (Functionally Graded Materials) with three-dimensional space variable thermophysical properties; (ii) composite medium with inclusions of different geometries and thermophysical properties; (iii) a multi-scale/multi-material heat conduction problem in a IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) module. In each considered application, both the temperature eigenfunction expansions and the associated eigenvalue problem solutions are critically analyzed in terms of convergence rates and co-verified with purely numerical solutions.

Microbial composition of sweetness-enhanced yoghurt during fermentation and storage

The reformulation of dairy products to contain less added sugar can contribute to reducing sugar consumption, thereby reducing the risk of non-communicable diseases. The objective of this study was to investigate the microbial ecology of reformulated yoghurt, which was produced using bi-enzymatic modification of lactose to increase its sweetness by a factor of 2–3. Ultimately, this reformulation strategy could reduce the amount of added sugar needed for equal sweetness of the end product. The bi-enzymatic modification relied on utilisation of a β-galactosidase enzyme to convert the milk sugar lactose to galactose and glucose, followed by the enzymatic conversion of the glucose moiety to fructose using a glucose isomerase. The microbial ecology of reformulated yoghurt produced with two mixed starter culture preparations containing either Streptococcus (S.) thermophilus and Lactobacillus (Lb.) delbrueckii or S. thermophilus, Lb. acidophilus and Bifidobacterium sp. strains, was analysed during fermentation and cool storage using 16S rRNA based metagenomics. None of the yoghurt samples showed a significant difference in microbial composition between sweetness-enhanced and regular milk at all sampling time points during manufacture and storage of yoghurt. However, a significant difference between the microbiota of inoculated milk before and after fermentation was observed. In both types of yoghurt, the starter culture genera dominated the microbial ecology at the end of fermentation as expected, reducing the possibility of growth of potentially pathogenic or spoilage bacteria possibly resulting from a changed carbohydrate spectrum.

Integral transforms for flow and transport in discrete and continuum models of fractured heterogeneous porous media

The Generalized Integral Transform Technique (GITT) is employed in combination with a single domain reformulation strategy and a coupled eigenvalue problem expansion base to construct analytical or hybrid numerical-analytical solutions for flow and transport in fractured porous media. The problem formulation and provided formal solutions encompass both continuum (multi-porosity/multi-permeability) and discrete (fracture-matrix interaction) models for heterogeneous porous media. The single domain representation is written with the aid of space variable coefficients, that account for the abrupt physical properties and source terms transitions across the different subregions. The aim is to provide an unified formalism that includes a wide class of problems in fluid flow, heat and mass transfer in heterogeneous media, with the integral transformation process for the potentials (pressure, velocities, temperature, or concentrations) being applied over the whole physical domain at once, thus markedly reducing the mathematical manipulations. The space variable coefficients are then carried on to the eigenvalue problem formulation which provides the base for the eigenfunction expansion. In addition, a coupled eigenvalue problem alternative is proposed, which is particularly useful in dealing with multi-porosity/multi-permeability flow and transport models, collapsing the multiple coupled potentials equations into one single integral transformation process. Two representative applications are briefly considered, one dealing with contaminant transport with discrete fracture-matrix interaction in layered porous media and the other related to dual porosity/dual permeability model of flow in unsaturated soils.

Estimation of slip flow parameters in microscale conjugated heat transfer problems

In this work, it is proposed the direct and inverse analyses of the forced convection of an incompressible gas flow within rectangular channels in the range of the slip flow regime by taking into account the wall conjugation and the axial conduction effects. The Generalized Integral Transform Technique (GITT) combined with the single-domain reformulation strategy is employed in the direct problem solution of the three-dimensional steady forced convection formulation. A non-classical eigenvalue problem that automatically accounts for the longitudinal diffusion operator is here proposed. The Bayesian framework implemented with the maximum a posteriori objective function is used in the formulation of the inverse problem, whose main objective is to estimate the temperature jump coefficient, the velocity slip coefficient, and the Biot number, using only external temperature measurements, as obtained, for instance, with an infrared measurement system. A comprehensive numerical investigation of possible experimental setups is performed in order to verify the influence of the Biot number, wall thickness, and Knudsen number on the precision of the unknown parameters estimation.