Driver irritation and aggressive behaviour

A sample of 98 drivers responded to a Swedish version of the UK Driving Anger Scale [UK DAS; [Lajunen, T., Parker, D., Stradling, S.G., 1998. Dimensions of driver anger, aggressive and highway code violations and their mediation by safety orientation in UK drivers. Transport. Res. Part F 1, 107–121]. The results indicated that the Swedish version, like the British original, measures three sources of driver irritation: “progress impeded”, “reckless driving”, and “direct hostility”. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the relationships between the three sources of self-reported driver irritation, aggressive actions, speed, sex, age, and annual mileage. The models suggested a positive relationship between the amount of driver irritation and frequency of aggressive actions for all three sources of irritation. Female drivers tended to become more irritated than male drivers, while the male drivers tended to act aggressively more often. Surprisingly, drivers who reported that they enjoy fast speeds did not become more irritated than slower drivers when obstructed. The important conclusions are that experienced irritation often leads to openly aggressively actions, and that expression of aggressive behaviours may be a cause of other drivers’ feeling of irritation.     

Influence of vacuum skin packaging on color stability of beef longissimus lumborum compared with vacuum and high-oxygen modified atmosphere packaging

The objective of this study was to investigate how color stability of beef is affected by vacuum skin packaging (VSP) compared with vacuum packaging (VP) and high-oxygen modified atmosphere packaging (MAP; 80% O(2) and 20% CO(2)). Longissimus lumborum muscles were aged in vacuum for 7days and then cut into 2-cm-thick slices and repacked using VSP, VP and MAP for another 7days. Color stability was measured during the next 5days in air and samples for α-tocopherol and NADH analyses were obtained at the beginning and end of aerobic storage. Color stability, α-tocopherol and NADH of steaks were affected by packaging methods and storage time in air (P<0.05). Higher a* value was obtained in VSP on day 5 compared with VP. Steaks packed in VSP had better color stability than in VP and their color was similar to MAP at the end (day 5) of storage.     

Distance transforms for three-dimensional grids with non-cubic voxels

Distance transforms on the face-centered cubic (fcc) grid and the body-centered cubic (bcc) grid are examined. Since the voxels on the fcc and bcc grids are better approximations of a Euclidean ball than the cube, the distance transforms (DTs) on these grids can be less rotation dependent than those in , which is a desirable feature. Optimal (according to the error function) weights are calculated and integer approximations of these weights are found. Also, the two-dimensional city block distance is generalized to the fcc and bcc grids by considering a unit distance between gridpoints whose corresponding voxels share a face. A method to compute the DTs is presented. The results are evaluated both theoretically and by actually computing some DTs.     

Maternal origin of inv dup(15) chromosomes in infantile autism

Six male patients with infantile autism and an extra inverted duplicated chromosome 15[inv dup(15)] were reported in a previous study. These patients had four copies of the chromosome region 15pter-q13, or an inv dup(15)(pter-->q13; q13-->pter). In this new study, DNA from the families of four of the patients were analysed using Southern based RFLPs and microsatellite polymorphisms from the region. In all four cases the inv dup(15) chromosome was of maternal origin. Furthermore, the data suggests that it originated in the maternal meiotic process rather than in an early mitosis in the developmental process of the embryo. The extra chromosome contained material from both of the maternally derived 15-chromosomes. Based on the molecular data presented here, a model for the origin of chromosome markers of this type is proposed.     

HPLC of triglycerides with gradient elution and mass detection

A gradient elution reversed phase HPLC system with a mass detector was investigated for the separation of triglycerides. A gradient based on a ternary eluent mixture is suggested. The detector was investigated in terms of linearity, reproducibility and relative response. The separation of soybean oil and some other natural triglyceride mixtures is demonstrated.     

Size in the visual processing of faces and words.

Three experiments, with 34 right-handed university students, studied the influence of variations of stimulus size upon recognition of words and faces. Ss viewed a series of 640 slides of words of faces presented in 1 of 5 sizes and responded as to whether or not stimulus had been previously presented. Size played an important role in the recognition of faces but was irrelevant to the recognition of words. Analysis revealed that although irrelevant to recognition, size of words was nevertheless encoded, with some consequences similar to those for recognition of faces. The likelihood of recognition declined linearly with the numbers of words intervening between a word and its recurrence, while the likelihood of recognizing a face declined exponentially in the same circumstances. Results are interpreted in terms of stimulus-specific analyses, and this view is contrasted with other notions of mental representation. Variant measures are appended. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of immobilization on skeletal muscle nicotinic cholinergic receptors in the rat

The effect of 4 weeks of hind limb immobilization on nicotinic acetylcholinergic receptors (nAChRs) in the neuromuscular junction of the soleus (SOL) and tibialis anterior (TIB) muscles was studied in rats. Quantitative measurements of the receptors was performed using [3H]alpha-bungarotoxin ([3H]alpha-BTx) receptor autoradiography. Junctional and extrajunctional nAChRs were significantly increased in the SOL and TIB after 4 weeks immobilization. However, a significant decrease in fiber cross-sectional area was observed only in the SOL muscle. Remobilization for 4 weeks reversed the changes in cholinergic receptors and muscle fibers but not in bone. Our findings suggested that lack of nerve impulses are of importance for the events that take place after immobilization leading to muscle atrophy and osteoporosis.     

Packaging handling evaluation methods in the grocery retail industry

The grocery retail industry, with its large product volumes, low margins and fierce competition, is constantly seeking efficiency improvements in its supply chain. The grocery retail industry uses an immense amount of packaging and is directly affected by packaging logistics activities. There is, therefore, a potential for efficiency improvements in the grocery retail supply chain through the integration and development of new systems of packaging and logistics. Packaging handling is identified as one of the main activities that has a strong impact on the overall logistical cost of a grocery chain. This research article investigates packaging handling evaluation methods and discusses how these are employed to benefit the industry. Case studies, involving six major companies from the Swedish grocery retail industry, have been used to evaluate packaging and logistics activities. This work, together with a literature review, was used to identify the need for evaluative methods and the present availability of such methods. The results indicated a lack of sufficient and usable packaging handling evaluation methods in today's grocery and packaging industry especially from a logistical point of view. The paper also highlights the lack of systematization among the few methods used and discusses how these can be used to build a systematic and multifunctional evaluation model in order to utilize the information from different studies to build a knowledge base for the future. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Struggle for quality in determination of perfluorinated contaminants in environmental and human samples

The first worldwide interlaboratory study on the analyses of 13 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in three environmental and two human samples indicates a varying degree of accuracy in relation to the matrix or analyte determined. The ability of 38 participating laboratories from 13 countries to determine the analytes in the various matrices was evaluated by calculation of z-scores according to the Cofino model. The PFCs which were reported most frequently by the laboratories, and assessed with the most satisfactory agreement, were perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). In general, the level of agreement between the participating laboratories decreased in the following order: PFC standard solution (76% satisfactory z-scores of <[2]1 for PFOS) < human blood (67%) < human plasma (63%) < fish liver extract (55%) < water (31%) < fish tissue (17%). This shows that relative good agreement between laboratories was obtained for the study of standard and human matrices. For the fish extract, most laboratories underestimated the actual PFOS concentration due to matrix effects. The results for the fish tissue and water are also poor, indicating that the extraction and cleanup steps require further improvement. It was concluded that the PFC determinations in various matrices are not yet fully mastered.     

Frequency domain identification of continuous-time output error models, Part II: Non-uniformly sampled data and B-spline output approximation

This paper treats several aspects relevant to the identification of continuous-time output error (OE) models based on non-uniformly sampled output data. The exact method for doing this is well known in the time domain, where the continuous-time system is discretized, simulated and the result is fitted in a mean square sense to measured data. The material presented here is based on a method proposed in a companion paper (Gillberg & Ljung, 2010) which deals with the same topic but for the case of uniformly sampled data. In this text it will be shown how that method suggests that the output should be reconstructed using a B-spline with uniformly distributed knots. This representation can then be used to directly identify the continuous-time system without proceeding via discretization. Only the relative degree of the model is used to choose the order of the spline.