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The maturation of wheat flour is a transformative process that elevates its processing and culinary attributes to their peak performance levels. Despite extensive research on starch and gluten protein modifications, the impact of lipid changes has been largely unexplored. This study addresses this gap by examining the maturation of freshly milled wheat flour at 15 °C, 25 °C, and 40 °C over 60 days, focusing on enzymatic activities—lipase, lipoxidase, and catalase—and lipid metabolites, including free fatty acids, conjugated trienes, p-anisidine value, and total oxidation value. The results of this study showed that free fatty acids continued to increase at all temperatures, with the most significant increase of 50% at 15 °C. The p-anisidine value followed a pattern of initial increase followed by a decline, while conjugated trienes were markedly higher at 40 °C, suggesting temperature's significant influence on lipid peroxidation. Notably, total oxidation values became erratic post 30 days, indicating a shift in oxidative dynamics. This study underscores the correlation between lipid metabolites and enzymatic activities, revealing the enzymes' pivotal role in lipid oxidation. The interplay of temperature and time offers valuable insights for optimizing wheat flour maturation, ensuring superior quality for various applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lateral erosion is a critical factor that influences the formation and amplification of debris flows. However, our understanding of the bank retreat process in debris flow channels is limited, which limits the evaluation of debris flow magnitudes and the prediction of their activity trends. Herein, we conduct physical experiments to investigate bank retreat mechanisms using five types of bank soil and multiple debris flow surges. The bank retreat process is categorized into two stages: toe cutting and bank collapse. Toe cutting is mainly caused by hydraulic erosion, bank collapse includes gravity erosion in the form of toppling failure. Notably, the bank retreat process exhibits a significant negative feedback loop. Bank erosion widens the channel bed, subsequently decreasing the flow depth. In turn, this reduction in flow depth mitigates bank erosion. Moreover, we discover a concise pattern in the complex coupling of hydraulic erosion and toppling failure: erosion efficiency is linearly and negatively correlated with the bed widening width. We develop a new parameterized model for describing the bank retreat process and provided empirical values for the model parameters. Furthermore, we observe that the initial erosion efficiency first increases and then decreases with an increase in the fine particle content of the bank soil. Additionally, we report a negative correlation between the maximum bed widening width and the fine particle content in the bank soil that follows a power function relationship. Key Points: We revealed the feedback mechanism between bank retreat and debris flow erosion efficiencyWe established a parameterized model describing the bank retreat processWe discussed the relationships between the model parameters and the particle size distribution of the bank soil [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of adding sourdough with lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum M616) on dough quality and the sensory scores, specific volume, crumb firmness, and spread ratio of resultant Chinese steamed bread were studied. The moisture content of crumb and texture characteristics of the Chinese steamed bread with sourdough during storage were analyzed. In this study, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% of sourdough addition was investigated. The sourdough starter resulted in significant decrease in the water absorption, development time, stability, and farinograph quality number of the dough. The addition of sourdough improved the quality of Chinese steamed bread such as improving the sensory scores and specific volume, decreasing the crumb firmness, and a lower spread ratio was observed with an increase in the sourdough concentration up to 30%. Sourdough addition delayed a fast decrease in the moisture content of the Chinese steamed bread crumb during storage. The texture profile analysis of the bread crumb indicated that the addition of sourdough improved the quality and delayed the staling speed of Chinese steamed bread during storage. Moreover, inclusion of 30% sourdough produced the best protective effect on product staling.Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31571780), Key Research Project in Higher Education of Henan (18A550002), Zhengzhou Science and Technology Innovation Team Program (121PCXTD518), School Funds of Henan University of Technology (2017QNJH11), and High-level Talent Foundation of Henan University of Technology (2017BS005) Keywords:: Sourdough, Chinese steamed bread, Dough quality, Shelf life, Texture profile analysis

The g-C3N4/CF composite carrier was prepared by ultrasound-assisted maceration and high-temperature calcination. The enzyme immobilization using the g-C3N4/CF as the novel carrier to immobilize lactase and glucose isomerase was enhanced for lactulose production. The carbon fiber (CF) was mixed with melamine powder in the mass ratio of 1:8. The g-C3N4/CF composite carrier was obtained by calcination at 550 °C for 3 h. After the analysis of characteristics, the g-C3N4/CF was successfully composited with the carbon nitride and CF, displaying the improvement of co-immobilization efficiency with the positive effects on the stability of the enzyme. The immobilization efficiency of the co-immobilized enzyme was 37% by the novel carrier of g-C3N4/CF, with the enzyme activity of 13.89 U g−1 at 60 °C. The relative activities of co-immobilized enzymes maintained much more steadily at the wider pH and higher temperature than those of the free dual enzymes, respectively. In the multi-batches of lactulose production, the relative conversion rates in enzymes co-immobilized by the composite carrier were higher than that of the free enzymes during the first four batches, as well as maintaining about a 90% relative conversation rate after the sixth batch. This study provides a novel method for the application of g-C3N4/CF in the field of immobilizing enzymes for the production of lactulose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]