Nugget effect is a common feature of many vein-style gold deposits. This style of mineralization results in complication in many exploitation stages including resource and average grade estimation, representative sample selection, ore characterization as well as processing. Accurate and reliable ore characterization is a vital stage in any mineral processing project. Ore characterization in high Nugget effect gold ores is so complex due to uncertainties associated with representativity of the selected sample. The main challenge is to provide a representative sample for identification of each process mineralogy parameter such as average grade, liberation, grinding size, mineral association, floatability, etc. Here, different protocols are collected and compared to draw a comprehensive picture of the available methods. The results are examined on a high Nugget effect gold ore from Northeast of Iran, Azghad mine. Processing experiments were conducted to develop a process suitable for Azghad gold mine. To investigate the feasibility of pre-concentration, gravity methods using a Nelson separator was applied on the oxide sample as the main gold vein. 43. 3% of total gold was concentrated in the gravity concentrate with only 2% weight recovery, suggesting gravity concentration can be considered as an efficient method in this ore. Gold preg-robbing experiments were performed for Shale sample due to the organic matter, clay minerals and mica. Preg-robbing potential of the shale ore was determined to be 1. 1 ppm. Optimization of operating parameters was performed by central composite design method for the combined oxide and shale samples.

Background: The enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus is considered as one of the most important cause of food poisoning that manifests with gastroenteritis, diarrhea, and vomiting. Its complications usually occur when bacterial virulence genes are produced. The most important virulence factors are cell-associated components, exoenzymes, exotoxins, enterotoxins, and enterotoxin-like toxins.Objectives: The present study aimed to study the presence of S. aureus and its virulence factors in chicken Nuggets in Iran.Materials and Methods: Totally, 420 chicken Nuggets from five brands were collected from Isfahan and Chaharmahal-va-Bakhtiari provinces, Iran. Samples were cultured and the positive results were studied using ELISA and PCR for detection of classical staphylococcal enterotoxins and sea-sej virulence genes, respectively.Results: Results showed that 27 (6.42%) of 420 samples were contaminated with S. aureus with bacteria concentration between 6.1×103 to 8.4×101/mL. Totally, 33.33% of isolates produced SEA, 4.16% SEB, 12.50% SEC, 8.33% SED, 12.50% SEA+SEC, and 12.50% SEA+SED. The most commonly detected genes were sea (25%), sea+seg (8.33%), sec (12.50%), sea+sed (12.50%), and sea+sec+sej (12.50%).Conclusions: S. aureus can easily contaminate the chicken Nugget and this contamination is usually associated with significant presences of virulence genes. Consumption of these Nuggets certainly is associated with gastrointestinal diseases. Therefore, some food safety and quality standards should be applied and performed in most of the Iranian food units to control growth of S. aureus and its virulence factors.

Resistance spot welding is an important manufacturing process in the automotive industry for assembling bodies. The quality and strength of the welds and, by extension, the body is mainly defined by the quality of the weld Nuggets. The most effective parameters in this process are sheet material, geometry of electrodes, electrode force, current intensity, welding time and sheet thickness. The present research examined the effect of process parameters on Nugget formation. A mechanical/ electrical/ thermal coupled model was created in a finite element analysis environment. The effect of welding time and current, electrode force, contact resistivity and sheet thickness was simulated to investigate the effect of these parameters on temperature of the faying surface. The physical properties of the material were defined as nonlinear and temperature dependent. The shape and size of the weld Nuggets were computed and compared with experimental results from published articles. The proposed methodology allows prediction of the quality and shape of the weld Nuggets as process parameters are varied. It can assist in adjusting welding parameters that eliminates the need for costly experimentation. This process can be economically optimized to manufacture quality automotive bodies.

The effect of microbial transglutaminase (MTGase), and sodium cholorid (NaCl) on chemical, and textural quality of chicken Nugget was investigated in current study, using response surface methodology (RSM). The soluble peptide, fat absorption, expressible water and textural properties (breaking force, hardness, chewiness, adhesiveness and springiness) were assessed. Treatments had no significant effects on soluble peptide content, and fat absorption. The results indicated that enzyme and salt both were effective factors on expressible water (P<0.05). Furthermore, increasing in MTGase and salt level had significant linear effect on springiness and deformation (P<0.05). MTGase and time of incubation had synergistic effect on deformation (P<0.05). Under higher activity of MTGase and incubation time, Nugget deformation increased significantly. The higher level of MTGase, salt and incubation time were caused the higher hardness, chewiness and adhesiveness. The optimum condition for this experiment was MTGase activity, NaCl concentration, and incubation time of 1.48%, 0.85% and 25 min, respectively. On the basis of the results, it can be concluded that MTGase can improve chemical and textural quality of low salt chicken Nuggets.

Microwave is one of the fastest and easiest methods of food cooking. However, heating of coated products like fish Nugget by microwave due to transfer of internal water vapor to surface layer causes softening of their crispy crust. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effects of hydrocolloid solutions including Chitosan and Carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) at concentration of 1 and 2% on texture and other quality properties of fish Nugget after microwave cooking. Fish Nuggets were immersed in the hydrocolloid solutions and then were coated with wheat flour and batter, respectively. All samples were fried at 180°C for 3min in sunflower oil. After frying process, the samples were packaged and stored at -20°C and after a week, were reheated in microwave oven at2450MHz/700 W for 2 min. The results showed that coating of fish Nugget with hydrocolloid solutions causes increasing of product yield and adhesion of crust (P<0.05). CMC solution at concentration of 2% had highest effect on reduction of oil uptake and improvement of final texture of fish Nugget. The coating of fish Nugget with hydrocolloid solutions at concentration of 2% had significant effect on increasing of lightness of crust (p<0.05).Sensory evaluation indicated that the coated samples with CMC solution at concentration of 2% had highest overall acceptability.

Background and objective: Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) harbor genes encoding a broad spectrum of virulence factors such as different enterotoxins which enable them to produce a variety of diseases in humans. These bacteria are found extensively in meat and ready to eat (RTE) meat products. The aim of this study was to assess the presence of enterotoxin producing MRSA isolates in chicken Nugget samples in Isfahan. Materials and methods: During May and October 2019 a total of 12 chicken Nuggets from 2 different companies were collected in Isfahan. Samples were prepared and cultured on Baird-Parker agar supplemented with oxacillin and black colonies with halo were selected and identified as MRSA using specific primers for nucA and mecA genes. For typing of MRSA strains, SCCmec typing and prophage typing methods using the separate multiplex-PCR assays were employed. Moreover, the presence of different enterotoxin genes was tested by the separate multiplex-PCR assays. Results: Out of the 12 chicken Nuggets, 5 (42%) samples were contaminated with MRSA isolates and a total of 93 strains were identified using specific primers for nucA and mecA. The results of SCCmec typing showed that 3 different types II, III and V were present among MRSA strains, in which type III was the dominant one. Also, 6 different prophage types and 3 prophage patterns were identified among the strains. Moreover, 13 genes encoding different enterotoxins were also detected in which, sea, sek and seq genes were present among all strains. Conclusion: The results of the present study revealed the high prevalence of enterotoxin producing MRSA strains in chicken Nugget samples indicating the importance of hygiene systems for producing of such RTE products.

One of the most important issues in three sheet resistance spot welding is the insufficient growth of the weld Nugget in the sheet/sheet interface, where it is most needed. This reduces the mechanical properties of the joint and increases the tendency to fail in the interfacial failure mode. In this paper the effect of sheet thickness on the pattern of weld Nugget development during resistance spot welding of three low carbon steel sheets of equal thickness is studied. Results showed that there is a critical sheet thickness at which the fusion zone size at the sheet/sheet interface is nearly equal to its size at the geometrical center of the joint. When sheet thickness is lower than the critical value, an elliptical Nugget is formed in which the weld Nugget growth in the geometrical center of the joint is higher than the sheet/sheet interface. While, increasing the sheet thickness above the critical size causes the formation of a non-elliptical Nugget in which the weld Nugget growth mostly occurs in the sheet/sheet interfaces.

Introduction Consumption of ready-to-eat products especially seafood, has become very popular based on the lifestyle during these years. Battered and breaded products are highly acceptable due to their attractive appearance and unique taste. Shrimp and shrimp products are one of the most popular seafood products in many countries because of their unique flavor, nutritional value and texture. The interactions of proteins with other ingredients can play a critical role in the structure of processed foods. Protein-polysaccharide interactions provide functional properties in foods especially when proteins are the main ingredients, such as processed shrimp products without affecting the original flavor of the food. The use of gelling properties of carbohydrates in the formulation of food products is increasingly growing. The wide variety of hydrocolloids have been examined to modify the mechanical, textural and functional properties of shrimp products. In this regard, application of carrageenan, xanthan, and alginate have been reported to improve the physicochemical and sensory attributes of shrimp products. In the present study, surimi was produced and used in combination with different percentages of carrageenan, alginate and xanthan gums in order to simulate breaded shrimp and produce shrimp Nuggets with a texture similar to battered and breaded shrimp. Materials and Methods In the first step, surimi was prepared from silver carp fillets. In the next step, shrimp Nuggets were produced from obtained surimi in combination with additives (including starch, salt, garlic, and spices) and different percentages (0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2% ) of carrageenan, alginate and xanthan gums. The prepared mixture was kept at 35 °C for 1 hour and then battered and breaded after molding. Physical (expressible water, product yield, and shrinkage), chemical (moisture, fat, and pH), color, texture, and sensory analysis were performed on several samples of shrimp Nuggets (containing different percentages of carrageenan, alginate, and xanthan gums) in comparison with the control sample (battered and breaded shrimp immersed in salt and polyphosphate). Results and Discussion Based on the results, the amount of shrinkage decreased in all samples containing gums in comparison with the control (p < 0.05). Shrimp Nuggets containing xanthan and alginate showed a lower amount of fat in comparison with the control and the samples containing carrageenan (p < 0.05). The highest amount of pH value observed in the control sample, and the sample containing 1.5 and 2 % alginate showed the lowest amounts of pH. The shrimp Nuggets containing 2 % alginate demonstrated the highest amounts of water holding capacity.However, the other samples did not show significant differences with the control (p > 0.05). There were no significant differences between the control and shrimp Nuggets containing gums in terms of product yield (p > 0.05). Shrimp Nuggets containing 2 % xanthan and the control showed the highest and lowest amounts of brightness, respectively. The highest value of adhesion observed in shrimp Nuggets containing 2 % alginate and the control.The lowest amounts of adhesion were observed in shrimp Nuggets containing 2 % xanthan, 0.5 % alginate, 1 and 2 % carrageenan (p < 0.05). Samples containing 1% carrageenan showed the highest scores of the sensory attributes of taste, smell, texture and overall acceptance, as same as the control (p ˃ 0.05). Conclusion Hydrocolloid additions were found to be significantly affecting the quality parameters including fat content, pH value, shrinkage and texture of produced shrimp Nuggets. Therefore, it seems that producing shrimp Nuggets containing 1 % carrageenan showed the nearest physical, chemical, and sensory characteristics to the control (battered and breaded shrimp), and this sample can be used as alternative of battered and breaded shrimp.

Introduction: Over the last few decades, development of the industrial life has remarkably increased the demand for consumption of ready-to-eat foods. Deep fat frying is a fast and conventional method for cooking and due to creating crispy surface, soft internal texture, desired color and taste has popularity among consumers. The main problem related to fried food products is the high oil absorption during deep fat frying that is harmful for human health and has negative effects on shelf life of the product. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of breading particles size as well as the influence of addition of soy protein isolate in breading and batter layers on properties of chicken Nugget. Material and Methods: First, breading was divided to three particle sizes. Sieves with mesh size 40 (0. 42 mm) and 60 (0. 25 mm) were used for separation of small breading. Also, sieves with mesh size of 18 (1 mm) and 20 (0. 84 mm) as well as 10 (2 mm) and 12 (1. 68 mm) were used for preparation of breading with medium and large particle size, respectively. Three percent soy protein isolate was separately added to breading with particle size of small, medium and large and used for production of chicken Nugget. Also, 3% soy protein isolate was added to batter mixture and then Nuggets coated with three different breading particle size without soy protein isolate. Breading pick-up, moisture content, cooking loss, porosity, oil absorption and penetration, color and textural properties of the chicken Nuggets were then evaluated. Results and discussion: Based on the results, the coating of chicken Nuggets with small breading size led to the product with the highest moisture content and lowest porosity, oil uptake, oil penetration and shear force. However, chicken Nuggets coated with small breading size had the highest breading loss. After incorporation of soy protein isolate to breading, the highest hardness and lowest springiness, cohesiveness and gumminess were related to the Nuggets coated with small breading size, however, chewiness was not affected by breading particle size. Breading with small particle size containing soy protein isolate caused the highest L*, a* and b* values in fried chicken Nuggets. Addition of soy protein isolate to breading layer significantly caused a decrease in cooking loss, porosity, oil absorption and penetration (p < 0. 05). These samples had higher moisture content than the control sample. After addition of soy protein isolate to batter layer, color of chicken Nugget did not considerably change (p > 0. 05). The effect of soy protein isolate on textural properties is dependent on breading particles size. Generally, the addition of this compound to batter layer decreased hardness, gumminess and chewiness; however, its effect on springiness and cohesiveness is dependent on breading particle size. The presence of soy protein isolate in batter layer increased moisture content which in turn could diminish porosity, cooking loss, oil absorption, and oil penetration (p < 0. 05). Overall, the comparison between chicken Nugget properties when soy protein isolate was added to breading or batter layer indicated that the presence of the protein in breading layer was more effective in retention of moisture, reducing of cooking loss, porosity, oil absorption and oil penetration. However, these samples had more hardness, gumminess and chewiness compared to those containing soy protein isolate in batter layer. Cohesiveness of chicken Nugget containing soy protein isolate in breading was not significantly different with those produced with the compound in batter layer. The production of chicken Nugget with small breading size containing 3% soy protein isolate in batter layer was proposed for production of products with better nutritional and physicochemical properties.