Physicochemical Properties of Banana Flour as Influenced by Variety and Stage of Ripeness： Multivariate Statistical Analysis

Physicochemical properties of banana flour （BF） were studied in two varieties （Cavendish and Dream） and two stages of ripeness （green and ripe）. BF＇s were analyzed for pH, total soluble solids （TSS）, water holding capacity （WHC） and oil holding capacity （OHC） at 40℃, 60 ℃ and 80 ℃, color values L＊, a＊ and b＊, back extrusion force and viscosity. Physicochemical data were analyzed by Multivariate Analysis of Variance, discriminant analysis and cluster analysis. All statistical analyses showed that physicochemical properties of BF prepared from different variety and stage of ripeness were different from each other. Viscosity, WHC40, WHC60 and TSS were recommended methods for discrimination between banana flour prepared from the two varieties, whilst viscosity, WHC60 and WHC80 were suggested for differentiation of banana flour prepared using green and ripe banana.

The Effects of Water Recycling on Flotation at a North American Concentrator—Part 1

Water chemistry and its impact on mineral processing operations are not well understood and often not adequately monitored. CanmetMINING, as part of its water management research program, has been involved in a project initiated to identify opportunities for improving water recovery, water treatment, and recycling in the mining and mineral processing operations. One of the main objectives of this work is to evaluate and assess water chemistry and identify factors that impact mineral recovery, concentrate grade, and metal extraction efficiencies in order to understand and mitigate negative impacts of water recycling and improve process efficiency. In collaboration with a North American concentrator, CanmetMINING has been involved in assessing the water chemistry in the mill and evaluating water recycling options for select process streams to reduce fresh water intake and maximize recycling. The overall goal of the project is to investigate options for water recycling (increase the thickener overflow recirculation from thickener overflow tank) without affecting nickel and copper metallurgy. The results of the sampling campaigns showed that the water chemistry of the streams was fairly consistent throughout the year with no significant seasonal variations. The laboratory tests illustrated that when higher quantities of thickener overflow from thickener overflow were used, the nickel + copper grade versus nickel recovery curves shifted towards lower values. These observations were observed for the plant water samples obtained in April, June and August 2019.

A review of 20 years of naive tests of significance for high-dimensional mean vectors and covariance matrices

We introduce the so-called naive tests and give a brief review of the new developments. Naive testing methods are easy to understand and perform robustly, especially when the dimension is large. We focus mainly on reviewing some naive testing methods for the mean vectors and covariance matrices of high-dimensional populations, and we believe that this naive testing approach can be used widely in many other testing problems.