Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Trends in Food Processing

ABSTRACT In this work some of the newest trends in food processing are reviewed. This revision intends to provide an updated overview (including works published until February 2001) on the newest food processes, including food manufacturing, preservation, and control. Modern processes for food and food ingredients manufacturing based on membrane technology, supercritical fluid technology, and some applications of biotechnology are presented, mainly applied to obtain functional foods, “all-natural” enriched foods, probiotics and prebiotics. Also included is a critical assessment concerning non-thermal preservation techniques used for food preservation, such as high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric fields, ultrasound, pulsed light, hurdle systems, etc. Finally, a group of new analytical techniques (i.e., molecular techniques such as Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), food image analysis, and biosensors) and their use for food and process control is reviewed.
Advanced generator ground fault protections

Ground faults in generator stator and field/rotor circuits are serious events that can lead to damage, costly repair, extended outage and loss of revenue. This paper explores advances in field/rotor circuit ground fault and stator ground fault protection. These advanced protection strategies employ AC injection and other tactics to provide benefits in security, sensitivity and speed.
Environmental stress and flowering time: The photoperiodic connection.

Plants maximize their chances to survive adversities by reprogramming their development according to environmental conditions. Adaptive variations in the timing to flowering reflect the need for plants to set seeds under the most favorable conditions. A complex network of genetic pathways allows plants to detect and integrate external (e.g., photoperiod and temperature) and/or internal (e.g., age) information to initiate the floral transition. Furthermore different types of environmental stresses play an important role in the floral transition. The emerging picture is that stress conditions often affect flowering through modulation of the photoperiodic pathway. In this review we will discuss different modes of cross talk between stress signaling and photoperiodic flowering, highlighting the central role of the florigen genes in this process.
Robust 3D vision for robots using dynamic programming

In this paper a new stereo vision method is presented that combines the use of a lightness-invariant pixel dissimilarity measure within a dynamic programming depth estimation framework. This method uses concepts such as the proper projection of the HSL colorspace for lightness tolerance, as well as the Gestalt-based adaptive support weight aggregation and a dynamic programming optimization scheme. The robust behavior of this method is suitable for the working environments of outdoor robots, where non ideal lighting conditions often occur. Such problematic conditions heavily affect the efficiency of robot vision algorithms in exploration, military and security applications. The proposed algorithm is presented and applied to standard image sets.
Incredible Years® Parent, Teachers and Children's Series: Transportability to Portugal of Early Intervention Programs for Preventing Conduct Problems and Promoting Social and Emotional Competence

Disruptive behavior disorders in children are on the increase. However, there is evidence that the younger a child is at the time of intervention, the more positive the behavioral effects on his/her adjustment at home and at school. Parental education might be an effective way of addressing early problems. The Incredible Years (IY) programs were designed to prevent and treat behavior problems when they first appear (in infancy-toddlerhood through middle childhood) and to intervene in multiple areas through par- ent, teacher, and child training. This paper summarizes the literature demonstrating the impact of the IY par- ent, teacher and child intervention programs, and describes in more detail the work done in Portugal so far to disseminate IY programs with fidelity, with particular emphasis on the IY Basic Preschool Parenting and
Space-time adaptive reduced-rank multistage receiver for asynchronous CDMA

We develop an adaptive near-far resistant self-synchronizing receiver for asynchronous CDMA systems with a J-element antenna array. The primary requirement is knowledge of the desired user's signature sequence. Also, a low-complexity version of the proposed receiver is developed that utilizes the concept of the reduced-rank multistage Wiener filter (MWF) introduced by J.S. Goldstein et al. (see IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, vol.44, p.2943-59, 1998). This technique obviates the necessity of either a covariance matrix inversion or an eigen-decomposition. Moreover, this multistage scheme achieves a rapid adaptive convergence under limited observation-data support. These features contribute significantly to the reduction of the computational cost and the amount of sample support.
Benidipine Reduces Myocardial Infarct Size Involving Reduction of Hydroxyl Radicals and Production of Protein Kinase C-Dependent Nitric Oxide in Rabbits

Japanese white rabbits underwent 30 minutes of ischemia and 48 hours of reperfusion. Benidipine (3 or 10 μg/kg, i.v.) was administered 10 minutes before ischemia with and without pretreatment with L-NAME (10 mg/kg, i.v., a NOS inhibitor), chelerythrine (5 mg/kg, i.v., a PKC blocker) or 5-HD (5 mg/kg, i.v. a mitochondrial KATP channel blocker), genistein (5 mg/kg, i.v. a protein tyrosin kinase blocker). SNAP (2.5 mg/kg/min × 70 minutes, i.v., an NO donor) was also administered 10 minutes before ischemia. Benidipine significantly reduced the infarct size in a dose-dependent manner (3 μg/kg: 29.0 ± 2.7%, n = 8, 10 μg/kg: 23.0 ± 2.4%, n = 10) compared with the control (41.6 ± 3.3%, n = 10). This effect was completely blocked by L-NAME (39.9 ± 3.6%, n = 8) and chelerythrine (35.5 ± 2.4%, n = 8) but not by 5-HD (23.0 ± 2.4%, n = 10) or genistein (24.6 ± 3.1%, n = 10). SNAP also reduced the infarct size (24.6 ± 3.1%, n = 8). Benidipine significantly increased the expression of eNOS mRNA at 30 minutes after reperfusion and significantly increased the expression of eNOS protein at 3 hours after reperfusion in the ischemic area of the left ventricle. Benidipine and SNAP significantly decreased myocardial interstitial 2,5-DHBA levels, an indicator of hydroxyl radicals, during ischemia and reperfusion. Benidipine increased myocardial interstitial NOx levels, which effect was blocked by chelerythrine, during 0 to 30 minutes and 150 to 180 minutes after reperfusion. Benidipine reduces the infarct size through PKC-dependent production of nitric oxide and decreasing hydroxyl radicals but not through involving protein tyrosine kinase or mitochondrial KATP channels in rabbits.
Human fibrinogen: anticipating a 3‐dimensional structure

The principal component of blood dole ie a protein meshwork called fibrin. The precursor protein, fibrinogen, occurs in a soluble form in the blood plasma where it is activated by thrombin when and if the need arises. More than a century after first being purified, fibrinogen has yet to have its detailed 3‐dunensional structure revealed. The situ‐ation is changing rapidly, however, and crystal‐ lographic studies in progress in several laboratories on a variety of fragments and complexes may soon reveal not only its structure but also the subtleties of how this large glycoprotein is transformed into a fibrin clot. —Doolittle, R. F. , Everse, S. J., Spraggon, G. Human fibrinogen: anticipating a 3‐dimensional structure. FASEB J. 10, 1464‐1470 (1996)
Measuring Behavioral Health Outcomes: A Practical Guide

1. Why Get Quantitative Outcome Information on Clients? 2. Targeting Behaviors to Measure and Change. 3. Defining and Measuring Target Behaviors. 4. Using Checklists and Rating Scales. 5. Arranging the Data in Graphs. 6. Engaging the Child and Family in Collecting and Using Clinical Data. 7. Interpreting Data. 8. Troubleshooting the Problems. 9. Case Illustrations. References. Appendix: General Forms. ABC Recording Forms. Frequency Recording Forms. Duration Recording. Interval/Momentary Time Sampling Recording. Checklists. Rating Scales/Quality Recording. Cue-Effectiveness Recording. Miscellaneous Other Forms. Index.
Feature selection for myoelectric pattern recognition using two channel surface electromyography signals

Pattern recognition scheme is used for discriminating various classes of hand motion with feature extracted from the surface electromyography signals. However, while using a relatively large feature set for classification process, the computational complexity increases tremendously. To overcome this, the paper implements feature selection technique using wrapper evaluation and four different search methods without significantly affecting the classification accuracy. The performance of the features is tested on surface electromyography data collected from seven subjects, with eight classes of movements. Practical results indicate that using feature selection methods can achieve the same accuracy with lesser number of features.
Effects of the bacteriophage T4 dda protein on DNA synthesis catalyzed by purified T4 replication proteins.

The T4 bacteriophage dda protein is a DNA-dependent ATPase and DNA helicase that is the product of an apparently nonessential T4 gene. We have examined its effects on in vitro DNA synthesis catalyzed by a purified, multienzyme T4 DNA replication system. When DNA synthesis is catalyzed by the T4 DNA polymerase on a single-stranded DNA template, the addition of the dda protein is without effect whether or not other replication proteins are present. In contrast, on a double-stranded DNA template, where a mixture of the DNA polymerase, its accessory proteins, and the gene 32 protein is required, the dda protein greatly stimulates DNA synthesis. The dda protein exerts this effect by speeding up the rate of replication fork movement; in this respect, it acts identically with the other DNA helicase in the T4 replication system, the T4 gene 41 protein. However, whereas a 41 protein molecule remains bound to the same replication fork for a prolonged period, the dda protein seems to be continually dissociating from the replication fork and rebinding to it as the fork moves. Some gene 32 protein is required to observe DNA synthesis on a double-stranded DNA template, even in the presence of the dda protein. However, there is a direct competition between this helix-destabilizing protein and the dda protein for binding to single-stranded DNA, causing the rate of replication fork movement to decrease at a high ratio of gene 32 protein to dda protein. As shown elsewhere, the dda protein becomes absolutely required for in vitro DNA synthesis when E. coli RNA polymerase molecules are bound to the DNA template, because these molecules otherwise stop fork movement (Bedinger, P., Hochstrasser, M., Jongeneel, C.V., and Alberts, B. M. (1983) Cell 34, 115-123).
Developing common metrics of mechanical exposures across aetiological studies of low back pain in working populations for use in meta-analysis

Objectives: One of the challenges of conducting meta-analyses on the relationship between workplace mechanical exposures and low back pain is that mechanical exposures are reported in a wide variety of ways. We aimed to develop common metrics to apply in the translation of literature-based workplace mechanical exposures for use in meta-analyses, and to test the metrics’ measurement properties. Methods: We developed a set of 7-point scales to capture the intensity of important aspects of mechanical exposures that may be related to the development of low back pain in workers. The scales represented three dimensions of mechanical exposures at work: (1) trunk posture, (2) weight lifted or force exerted and (3) spinal loading, and estimated both peak and cumulative loads. Measurement properties of the scales were tested through a survey of experts in biomechanics and ergonomics who were asked to rate literature-based workplace exposure definitions using the scales and provide estimates of their confidence in their ratings. Results: For each dimension the ratings for peak loads tended to be higher than the cumulative load ratings. The inter-rater reliability for the scales ranged from 0.3 to 0.5; we would need to average the ratings of at least four expert raters to have an acceptable level of reliability (>0.7). Inter-expert reliability was positively related to the experts’ level of confidence in their ratings. In most cases the ranking of intensity ratings from the experts matched the ranking of exposure intensity from the original articles. Conclusions: This study provides insight into estimating the intensity of literature-based mechanical exposure metrics using a common set of scales which can be applied across epidemiologic studies. These metrics may be useful to quantify the relationship between workplace mechanical exposure and low back pain in a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Correlation of shift work and waist circumference, body mass index, chronotype and depressive symptoms.

OBJECTIVE Correlate shift work with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, chronotype and depressive symptoms. SUBJECTS AND METHODS This study comprising 14 shift workers and 13 day workers. Subjects were workers from the health area aged 25 to 60 years. Minor psychiatric disorders were accessed by Self Report Questionnaire (SRQ-20) and depressive symptoms by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Chronotype was accessed using Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). Anthropometric measures were taken. RESULTS Shift workers presented higher BMI (P = 0.03) and waist circumference (P = 0.004) than day workers. Years on shift work were significantly correlated to waist circumference (r = 0.43; P = 0.03) and age (r = 0.47; P = 0.02). Shift work was not correlated with depressive symptoms and chronotype. CONCLUSION These results may suggest a role played by shift work on the development and/or the early clinic manifestations of metabolic disturbances, becoming a risk factor to metabolic syndrome.
Quantitative measurements of cerebral blood flow in patients with unilateral carotid artery occlusion: A PET and MR study

Although it has been demonstrated that quantitative measures of cerebral blood flow (CBF) can be obtained with the singular value decomposition (SVD) algorithm, the extent to which quantitative CBF measurements can be utilized under pathophysiological conditions has not been systematically studied. A total of five healthy volunteers and five patients with unilateral carotid artery occlusion were studied. Only magnetic resonance (MR) images were acquired for the volunteer group while both MR and positron emission tomography (PET) images were acquired for the patient group. Assessments of CBF from normal volunteers compared favorably with values reported in the literature. However, while a linear relationship was observed for each patient when MR measured CBF was compared to that obtained from PET, this linear relationship diminished when all patients were analyzed as a group (r = 0.41). A correction factor (CF) was proposed that was equal to the ratio of the area of the venous output function (VOF) in each patient to the mean VOF obtained from the volunteer group. After globally scaling the CBF of each patient based on the experimentally derived CF, a substantial improvement was observed (a slope of 1.02 and r = 0.8 for the linear regression line) in the relationship between MR estimated CBF and those obtained from PET. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2001;14:659–667. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Wideband Symmetrical Cross-Shaped Probe Dual-Beam Microstrip Patch Antenna

A cross-shaped probe feeding technique is proposed to feed a wideband microstrip patch antenna to achieve two symmetrical beams by locating the feed at the center of the patch. This antenna produces two symmetrical beams off the broadside by exciting a higher-order TM02 mode. Two symmetrical beams are attained due to the symmetrical structure of the proposed antenna. Experimentally, the antenna operating frequency ranges from 5.10 to 5.82 GHz with VSWR less than 2, which exhibits a wide impedance bandwidth of 13.2%. The two beams are directed at 30.5° and - 30.5° with 8.78 and 8.87 dBi, respectively at 5.5 GHz. Finally, effects of the permittivity of the substrate on the direction of the two beams are studied.
Modeling of energy amplification recorded within Greater Los Angeles using irregular structure

We have investigated energy amplification observed within Greater Los Angeles basin by analyzing regional waveforms recorded from several Nevada Test Site (NTS) nuclear explosions. Although the stations are located nearly at the same azimuth (distances ranging from 350 to 400 km), the seismograms recorded in Compton (the central part of the basin), Long Beach (the southern edge of the basin), and downtown Los Angeles are remarkably different, even for a common explosion. Following the onset of Lg waves, the Long Beach sites have recorded surface waves for more than 100 sec. From one explosion, the sites within downtown Los Angeles have recorded seismograms with strong 3-sec surface waves. These waves are not observed on the seismograms recorded in the neighboring hard-rock site California Institute of Technology (CIT) station. Thus, they must have been generated by local wave guides. Numerically, we modeled these 3-sec waves by convolving the CIT seismogram with the response of a sedimentary strata dipping gently (about 6°) from CIT toward downtown. We also examined the irregular basin effect by analyzing the variation of cumulative temporal energy across the basin relative to the energy recorded at CIT from the same explosion. Variation up to a factor of 30 was observed. To model the energy variation that is caused by extended surface waves in the Long Beach area, we used numerically simulated site transfer functions (STF) from a NNE-SSW oriented two-dimensional basin structure extending from Montebello to Palos Verdes that included low-velocity sedimentary material in the uppermost layers. These STFs were convolved with the CIT seismogram recorded from the MAST explosion. To simulate elongated duration of surface waves, we introduced in the upper sedimentary structure some discontinuous microbasin structures of varying size, each microbasin delaying the seismic waves propagating through them. Consequently, the surface-reflected phases through these structures are delayed and reflected into the upper medium by the underlying interfaces. This mechanism helps delayed energy to appear at a later time and result in a longer time duration at sites located at southern edge of the basin.
Vascular tissue construction on poly(ε‐caprolactone) scaffolds by dynamic endothelial cell seeding: effect of pore size

In vitro tissue engineering for fabrication of small diameter vascular grafts probably undergoes a sequence of events similar to the in vivo angiogenesis process. In both cases endothelial cells (ECs) play the crucial role in generating a non‐thrombogenic vessel lumen and stabilization of ECs in the lumen of new vessels requires the deposition of collagen IV and elastin. Shear stress is an important in vivo signal for inducing synthesis of extracellular matrix (ECM) components, collagen IV and elastin, which form the basement membrane in the case of new blood vessels. Stimulation of ECs may therefore produce collagen and elastin in the lumen of a polymeric scaffold during the vascular tissue‐engineering process if appropriate biochemical and mechanical signals are presented. However, the morphology and physicochemical characteristics of polymer scaffolds may also be crucial for EC monolayer formation and ECM deposition. In this study, tubular scaffolds made of biodegradable poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) with biomimetic fibrin‐based coating were evaluated to compare the effects of pore sizes on surface coverage of ECs and synthesis of ECM under dynamic culture conditions. Actin was stained for identification of cells, while specific antibodies were used for locating collagen IV and elastin deposition on the scaffolds. It was found that dynamic seeding of ECs in the lumen stabilized the cells and aligned them along the direction of flow, with better deposition of insoluble elastin and collagen IV when ∼75% of pores were < 24 µm in diameter. In addition, monolayer on the ε‐PCL scaffolds with lower pore sizes was found to produce nitric oxide (NO), indicating a non‐thrombogenic EC layer in the lumen. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic Assessment of Tolerance to Central Nervous System Effects of a 3 mg Sustained Release Tablet of Rilmenidine in Hypertensive Patients

Previous single-dose studies have shown clear blood pressure-lowering effects of a potential sustained release (SR) profile of rilmenidine, with concentration-dependent effects on the central nervous system. The aim of this study was to evaluate potential changes in concentration-effect-relationships for these central nervous system effects during a 4-week treatment period with an experimental SR formulation of rilmenidine 3 mg once daily in 15 mild-to-moderate hypertensive patients. The central nervous system effects of the treatment were evaluated using saccadic eye movements for sedative effects and visual analogue scales for subjective effects on alertness, mood and calmness. Measurements for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic evaluations were performed on the first day of the treatment period and repeated after 1 week and 4 weeks of treatment. Drug concentrations increased during the study, whereas treatment related reductions in saccadic peak velocity (SPV) remained similar on all three study days. The slopes of the concentration-effect-curves for SPV remained unchanged throughout the study, while the intercepts tended to increase as a result of increased pre-dose values. Similar effects were observed for visual analogue scales for alertness: pre-dose values increased significantly during the study, while the size of the treatment responses (slopes) remained unaltered. The reasons for these adaptations cannot be determined but may include drug tolerance and habituations to study procedures. Blood pressure control remained stable and adequate throughout the study.
Probing the Universe with Weak Lensing

▪ Abstract Gravitational lenses can provide crucial information on the geometry of the Universe, on the cosmological scenario of formation of its structures as well as on the history of its components with look-back time. In this review, I focus on the most recent results obtained during the last five years from the analysis of the weak lensing regime. The potential of weak lensing as a probe of dark matter and the study of the coupling between light and mass on scales of clusters of galaxies, large-scale structures and galaxies is discussed first. Then I present the impact of weak lensing for the study of distant galaxies and of the population of lensed sources as a function of redshift. Finally, I discuss the potential of weak lensing to constrain the cosmological parameters, either from pure geometrical effects observed in peculiar lenses, or from the coupling of weak lensing with the CMB.