bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Sexual dimorphism in epicuticular compounds despite similar sexual selection in sex role‐reversed seed beetles
Authors: Booksmythe I. , Rundle H. D. , Arnqvist G. 
Published: August 2017

AbstractSexual selection imposed by mating preferences is often implicated in the evolution of both sexual dimorphism and divergence between species in signalling traits. Epicuticular compounds (ECs) are important signalling traits in insects and show extensive variability among and within taxa. Here, we investigate whether variation in the multivariate EC profiles of two sex role‐reversed beetle species, Megabruchidius dorsalis and Megabruchidius tonkineus, predicts mate attractiveness and mating success in males and females. The two species had highly distinct EC profiles and both showed significant sexual dimorphism in ECs. Age and mating status in both species were also distinguishable by EC profile. Males and females of both species showed significant association between their EC profile and attractiveness, measured both as latency to mating and as success in mate‐choice trials. Remarkably, the major multivariate vector describing attractiveness was correlated in both species, both sexes, and in both choice and no‐choice experiments such that increased attractiveness was in all cases associated with a similar multivariate modification of EC composition. Furthermore, in both sexes this vector of attractiveness was associated with more male‐like EC profiles, as well as those characterizing younger and nonvirgin individuals, which might reflect a general preference for individuals of high condition in both sexes. Despite significant sexual selection on EC composition, however, we found no support for the proposition that sexual selection is responsible for divergence in ECs between these species.
Processing of raw coconut milk for its value addition using spray and freeze drying techniques
Authors: Zafisah N. S. , Yusof Y. A. , Ali M. A. , Roslan N. S. , Tahir A. , Aziz M. G. , Chin N. L. 
Published: August 2017

AbstractIn this study, a comparison among spray‐dried powder at optimized conditions was done, freeze‐dried powder produced in the laboratory using same concentration of MD and commercial one was finally made. Multilevel factorial design was used to generate experiments for spray drying using inlet temperatures (180–200 °C) and feed rate (0.7–0.9 L/hr) as factors. Powder moisture, drying ratio, productivity, drying rate, and product recovery yield were used as responses for optimizing spray drying. The optimum conditions for spray drying of coconut milk with respect to the responses studied were 180 °C for inlet temperature and 0.9 L/hr for feed rate. A comparison was made in terms of physical, chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties. Freeze dried powder exhibits more stable form of powder in handling and storage due to its low moisture content (1.19%) and high glass transition temperature (22.94 ± 0.2 °C). The porous structure and large particle size of freeze dried powder make it free flowing as compared to spray dried powder.Practical applicationsGood quality coconut milk can provide with all the benefits of raw virgin coconut oil but it is difficult to store due to less shelf life. By converting coconut milk into powder, its shelf life can be increased without using preservatives. Coconut milk powder can be used as natural source of dietary supplement as it has many proven health benefits including prevent anemia, regulates heart functioning, increases body fitness, anti‐bacterial, and anti‐viral. It is difficult to convert raw coconut milk into powder form due to its creamy and sticky structure. In this research work, raw coconut milk was dried with two different drying methods to produce good quality coconut milk powder in terms of flowability. The findings of this research work provide basic fundamentals for food industry to produce better quality coconut milk powder which is easy to handle, store and further use in combination with different dishes.
Hydration kinetics of cereal and pulses: New data and hypothesis evaluation
Authors: Miano Alberto Claudio , Sabadoti Viviane Deroldo , Pereira Jéssica da Costa , Augusto Pedro Esteves Duarte 
Published: August 2017

AbstractThis work described the hydration kinetics of several grains from the legumes and cereal families, which many of them were studied for the first time. In addition, some comparisons among the different hydration kinetics were performed to corroborate some hypothesis about this process. By comparing the hydration kinetics of the studied grains and fitting their data to suitable equations, the idea that this process is very complex was reinforced. It is difficult to say how intrinsic properties of the grains (color, size, specie, family, structure or composition) affect the hydration process. Some reported hypothesis about the hydration process were argued. For instance, it was demonstrated that some hypotheses about the grains hydration are not completely true: the grains with darker color seed coat do not always hydrate slower than the lighter color ones; the grains with sigmoidal behavior can hydrate faster than the grains with downward concave shape behavior; the bigger size grains sometimes hydrate slower than the smaller ones. It was concluded that the hydration process behavior and velocity are affected by many intrinsic properties of the grains (composition and structure, in a complex interaction) acting together to give the representative hydration kinetics behavior of each curve.Practical applicationsFrom the academic point of view, the results of this work will help to avoid misunderstandings during the study of the grains hydration process, as many hypotheses were reanalyzed and argued. Furthermore, it provides new data, in special for sigmoidal behavior grains, which is very scarce in the literature. From the industrial point of view, this work provides data about the hydration kinetics of several grains, which is very useful for the process design.
Effectiveness of Corduk (Echinophora tenuifolia subsp. sibthorpiana) on safety and quality of kofte, a Turkish style meatball
Authors: Sengun Ilkin Yucel , Yildiz Turp Gulen , Kilic Gulden , Sucu Cisem 
Published: August 2017

AbstractIn this research, the effect of Echinophora tenuifolia subsp. sibthorpiana (Corduk) on the inactivation of Salmonella Typhimurium in kofte (Turkish style meatball) was evaluated; as well as the quality characteristics of kofte (proximate composition, oxidation level, color parameters, microbiological, and sensory properties), during storage period at 4 °C for 7 days. Using Corduk at concentrations of 0.5, 1, and 1.5% in kofte was reduced the number of Salmonella cells in the range of 0.35–1.0 log cfu/g. The lowest total mesophilic aerobic bacteria count was obtained from kofte containing 1.5% of Corduk, after 7 days of storage. Corduk improved the color properties of kofte; hence, at the end of the storage period, samples containing 1 and 1.5% of Corduk significantly had higher scores than the control samples. The results of this study indicate that using Corduk in kofte could give an opportunity to improve the safety of meat products while improving the sensory characteristics.Practical applicationsThe natural substances from aromatic plants and spices can act as antimicrobial agents while improving quality attributes of the product. Kofte is a Turkish style meatball widely consumed in Turkey. This study was focused on the inclusion of Corduk into kofte formulation to improve the safety and quality of the product. Results indicate that Corduk can be considered as effective natural preservative for meat products without any adverse effect on the sensory quality.
Detection of total viable count in spiced beef using hyperspectral imaging combined with wavelet transform and multiway partial least squares algorithm
Authors: Yang Dong , Lu Anxiang , Ren Dong , Wang Jihua 
Published: August 2017

AbstractThe feasibility of using hyperspectral imaging technology combined with wavelet transform and multiway partial least squares (N‐PLS) algorithm to predict the total viable count (TVC) of spiced beef during storage was investigated. The mean spectral data were extracted from the hyperspectral images and further decomposed in nine levels by daubechies8 (db8) wavelet function to obtain an approximation coefficient (A9) and nine detail coefficients (D1–D9). Selecting wavelet coefficients to compose different three‐dimension matrixes, further integrating N‐PLS algorithm to establish the predictive models for detecting TVC in spiced beef. The experimental results show that the N‐PLS model with D4, D5, D6, D7 coefficient (also named D4,5,6,7‐N‐PLS) exhibit an excellent prediction capability for TVC of spiced beef sample with a higher determination coefficients in prediction (
) of 0.934 and lower root mean squared errors estimated by prediction of 0.755 than other N‐PLS models, raw spectra PLS model, and Unfold‐PLS models. Therefore, the established model using three‐dimension data array and N‐PLS algorithm has great potential in the TVC value detection of spiced beef and other meat productions.Practical applicationsSpiced beef is one of the most popular meat products in China owing to its good taste, low fat, and high protein. Unfortunately, the spiced beef during storage is just a suitable habitat for many pathogens and spoilage microbes to colonize. Thus, it is necessary to monitor the microbiological contamination to guarantee the sanitary quality of meat productions. The total viable count (TVC) of bacteria was considered as a key indicator for the freshness evaluation of meat productions, Traditional techniques for determination of TVC are laborious, time consuming, and unsuitable for modern meat industrial processing and production technologies. Therefore, this study attempted to use hyperspectral imaging technology combined with wavelet transform and multiway partial least squares (N‐PLS) algorithm to predict the TVC of spiced beef during storage. The proposed method is helpful for most consumers to judge easily the freshness state of meat productions and further purchase them.
Neural networks modeling of Aspergillus flavus growth in tomato paste containing microencapsulated olive leaf extract
Authors: Jafari Seid Mahdi , Ghanbari Vahid , Dehnad Danial , Ganje Mohammad 
Published: August 2017

AbstractOur aim was to incorporate olive leaf extract in both microencapsulated (ME) and nonencapsulated (NE) forms into tomato paste to get benefit from antimicrobial properties of the extract. Response variables were diametrical growth of Aspergillus flavus, total soluble solids (TSS), pH, and color indices of inoculated tomato paste. NE was more successful than ME to restrict growth of the fungus at both temperatures of 25 and 30 °C. Although the rate of TSS decreasing over the storage time was higher for ME samples than NE ones, but it remained constant for ME samples at the end of storage; TSS index of ME samples at 25 °C was kept unchanged for four final days of storage. Also, ME olive leaf extract could stabilize pH index equal to 4.75 (at 10th day of storage at 30 °C) for the rest of storage. ME samples enjoyed higher a* values than NE samples during storage at 30 °C. Considering fitting indices, Feed‐Forward‐Back‐Propagation network, Levenberg–Marquardt training algorithm, hyperbolic tangent sigmoid transfer function with 3‐5‐6 and 3‐6‐6 topologies represented the best artificial neural network models to predict both physicochemical and microbial properties of ME and NE samples when inoculated by A. flavus, respectively.Practical applicationsAntimicrobial properties of herbs and spices have been recognized for several years. Natural herbs or spices tend to lose their efficiency and fail to release their beneficial effects evenly over a longtime period. Simultaneously, it has been proved that microencapsulation is able to build a barrier between components of particles and their environment. Thus, it might be applied for olive leaf extract to keep favorable properties of tomato paste. Our aim was to incorporate microencapsulated (ME) olive leaf extract into tomato paste to get benefit from antimicrobial properties of the extract (against Aspergillus flavus) over short and longtime storage. Also, our another objective was to model the physicochemical and fungal changes within tomato paste containing nonencapsulated and ME olive leaf extract for the first time.
Item response theory analysis applied to the Spanish version of the Personal Outcomes Scale
Authors: Guàrdia‐Olmos J. , Carbó‐Carreté M. , Peró‐Cebollero M. , Giné C. 
Published: August 2017

AbstractBackgroundThe study of measurements of quality of life (QoL) is one of the great challenges of modern psychology and psychometric approaches. This issue has greater importance when examining QoL in populations that were historically treated on the basis of their deficiency, and recently, the focus has shifted to what each person values and desires in their life, as in cases of people with intellectual disability (ID). Many studies of QoL scales applied in this area have attempted to improve the validity and reliability of their components by incorporating various sources of information to achieve consistency in the data obtained. The adaptation of the Personal Outcomes Scale (POS) in Spanish has shown excellent psychometric attributes, and its administration has three sources of information: self‐assessment, practitioner and family. The study of possible congruence or incongruence of observed distributions of each item between sources is therefore essential to ensure a correct interpretation of the measure. The aim of this paper was to analyse the observed distribution of items and dimensions from the three Spanish POS information sources cited earlier, using the item response theory.MethodWe studied a sample of 529 people with ID and their respective practitioners and family member, and in each case, we analysed items and factors using Samejima's model of polytomic ordinal scales.ResultsThe results indicated an important number of items with differential effects regarding sources, and in some cases, they indicated significant differences in the distribution of items, factors and sources of information.ConclusionsAs a result of this analysis, we must affirm that the administration of the POS, considering three sources of information, was adequate overall, but a correct interpretation of the results requires that it obtain much more information to consider, as well as some specific items in specific dimensions. The overall ratings, if these comments are considered, could result in bias.
Women's experiences with healthcare professionals after suffering from gender‐based violence: An interview study
Authors: Wallin Lundell Inger , Eulau Louise , Bjarneby Frida , Westerbotn Margareta 
Published: August 2017

Aims and objectivesThis study sought to describe how women in Mexico who have suffered from gender‐based violence experience their encounters with healthcare professionals.BackgroundGender‐based violence is a worldwide problem. Previous studies have described that women feel they are not being cared for appropriately during their encounters with healthcare professionals. This study was conducted in Mexico, which has a high rate of gender inequality.DesignA descriptive, qualitative study was conducted.MethodsFace‐to‐face interviews were conducted with seven women. An inductive content analysis was used to analyse the interviews.ResultsThe analyses resulted in four categories: Feelings of guilt about being abused, Feelings of being unimportant, Feelings of taking time and Feelings of being insecure/secure. The women emphasised the importance of healthcare professionals taking time out of their busy schedules for them. When they treated the women with respect and genuine interest, the women felt secure. When the healthcare professionals did not meet these expectations, feelings of frustration and mistrust were elicited.ConclusionsFeelings of being listened to and safety were considered important aspects in a positive encounter, whereas feeling a lack of time or interest often led to negative experiences such as frustration with and distrust of the healthcare system. These results imply that healthcare professionals may have deficiencies with regard to how these women are treated because these women do not feel that they receive the proper support.Relevance to clinical practiceEducation regarding how to approach women who have suffered from gender‐based violence is essential for healthcare professionals to establish respectful encounters. The findings of this study stress that relatively simple efforts such as listening to these women's stories and providing them with genuine attention might substantially improve care.
Menstruation, objectification and health‐related quality of life: A questionnaire study
Authors: Sveinsdóttir Herdís 
Published: August 2017

Aims and objectivesTo explore young women's health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) and investigate whether menstrual and menarche experiences and objectification predict mental and physical health components of HRQOL.BackgroundMenstruation plays a fundamental role in female biology, in women's relationship to their bodies and consequently in women's health and their HRQOL.DesignCross‐sectional explorative survey design.MethodA questionnaire that included the SF‐36v2, the Self‐objectification Questionnaire (SOQ), the Body Surveillance and Body Shame subscales of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale, the Belief and Attitudes Towards Menstruation Questionnaire (four subscales), and questions on menarche and menstruation was administered at the end of 2013 to 319 Icelandic women who represented the population by age. The SF‐36v2 includes eight dimensions addressing the mental and physical components of HRQOL. Scores are presented as raw data scores and scores based on standardised score of American women and range from 0 to 100 with higher scores indicating better HRQL. A hierarchical multiple linear regression model was employed to calculate significant predictors of mental and physical health components of HRQOL.ResultsMean raw data scores on SF36‐v2 dimensions ranged from 54.7 to 91.5. The participants scored below the standardised, mean norm‐based score for all dimensions. Secrecy of menstruation, experience of body shame and pain during menstruation predicted worse mental HRQOL. To believe in the proscriptive role and the unpleasantness of menstruation, experience of body shame, medication for menstrual pain and not holding a university education predicted worse physical HRQOL. These two models explained 30% and 22% of the variance of the mental and physical components of SF36‐v2, respectively.ConclusionYoung women's mental and physical HRQOL is influenced by the specific context of their lives.Relevance to clinical practiceWomen's health education should take into account the various relationships women may have with their bodies.
The culture contributing to interruptions in the nursing work environment: An ethnography
Authors: Hopkinson Susan G , Wiegand Debra L 
Published: August 2017

Aims and objectivesTo understand the occurrence of interruptions within the culture of the medical nursing unit work environment.BackgroundInterruptions may lead to errors in nursing work. Little is known about how the culture of the nursing work environment contributes to interruptions.DesignA micro‐focused ethnographic study was conducted.MethodData collection involved extensive observation of a nursing unit, 1:1 observations of nurses and follow‐up interviews with the nurses. Data were analysed from unstructured field notes and interview transcripts. The definitions of interruption and culture guided coding, categorising and identification of themes.ResultsA framework was developed that describes the medical nursing unit as a complex culture full of unpredictable, nonlinear changes that affect the entire interconnected system, often in the form of an interruption. The cultural elements contributing to interruptions included (i) the value placed on excellence in patient care and meeting personal needs, (ii) the beliefs that the nurses had to do everything by themselves and that every phone call was important, (iii) the patterns of changing patients, patient transport and coordination of resources and (iv) the normative practices of communicating and adapting.ConclusionsInterruptions are an integral part of the culture of a medical nursing unit. Uniformly decreasing interruptions may disrupt current practices, such as communication to coordinate care, that are central to nursing work. In future research, the nursing work environment must be looked at through the lens of a complex system.Relevance to clinical practiceInterventions to minimise the negative impact of interruptions must take into account the culture of the nursing as a complex adaptive system. Nurses should be educated on their own contribution to interruptions and issues addressed at a system level, rather than isolating the interruption as the central issue.
The quality improvement attitude survey: Development and preliminary psychometric characteristics
Authors: Dunagan Pamela B 
Published: August 2017

Aims and objectivesTo report the development of a tool to measure nurse's attitudes about quality improvement in their practice setting and to examine preliminary psychometric characteristics of the Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale.BackgroundHuman factors such as nursing attitudes of complacency have been identified as root causes of sentinel events. Attitudes of nurses concerning use of Quality and Safety Education for nurse's competencies can be most challenging to teach and to change. No tool has been developed measuring attitudes of nurses concerning their role in quality improvement.DesignA descriptive study design with preliminary psychometric evaluation was used to examine the preliminary psychometric characteristics of the Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale. Registered bedside clinical nurses comprised the sample for the study (n = 57).MethodsQuantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Cronbach's alpha reliability. Total score and individual item statistics were evaluated. Two open‐ended items were used to collect statements about nurses’ feelings regarding their experience in quality improvement efforts.ResultsStrong support for the internal consistency reliability and face validity of the Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale was found. Total scale scores were high indicating nurse participants valued Quality and Safety Education for Nurse competencies in practice. However, item‐level statistics indicated nurses felt powerless when other nurses deviate from care standards. Additionally, the sample indicated they did not consistently report patient safety issues and did not have a feeling of value in efforts to improve care.ConclusionsFindings suggested organisational culture fosters nurses’ reporting safety issues and feeling valued in efforts to improve care. Participants’ narrative comments and item analysis revealed the need to generate new items for the Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale focused on nurses’ perception of their importance in quality and safety and their power to enact principles.Relevance to the practiceThe Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale‐Revised edition was designed to help in understanding nurses’ attitudes and values. It can be used to further explore broad concepts of quality improvement efforts.