Near-optimal replacement policies for shared caches in multicore processors

The Journal of Supercomputing - An optimal replacement policy that minimizes the miss rate in a private cache was proposed several decades ago. It requires knowing the future access sequence the...     

Strategies to improve the nutritional value of meat products: incorporation of bioactive compounds,reduction or elimination of harmful components and alternative technologies

Meat is an excellent source of protein with a good balance of amino acids. It is also rich in several minerals, vitamins and bioactive compounds, which play important roles in metabolism and are easily assimilated from meat compared with other foods. The nutritional value of meat is one of the factors that influence consumer acceptance. However, it can be significantly reduced during processing. Moreover, some operations, such as curing, smoking or fermentation, used for processing can lead to the formation of harmful components in meat, and hence, nutritionists associate high consumption of processed meat with an increased risk of several diseases such as cardiovascular disorders and cancers. This review deals with the distinctive aspects of the technological strategies that can be used to improve the nutritional value of meat products, including the incorporation of bioactive components, reduction or elimination of harmful components (e.g. nitrite/nitrate, fat) and alternative technologies (ultrasound).     

Partial replacement of fat and salt in liver pâté by addition of Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus ostreatus flour

The effect of incorporation of 7.5% (hydrated 50/50 w/w) and 10% (hydrated 70/30 w/w) of Agaricus bisporus (Ab) and Pleurotus ostreatus (Po) flours as partial replacers of fat and salts (sodium chloride and phosphates) on physicochemical properties, microbiological and sensory properties of pâté was studied during cold storage. Mushroom flours increased moisture, dietary fibre and protein contents improving the nutritional value of pâtés. Mushroom flour influenced the colour parameters, especially Ab, and gave harder pâtés in 10% mushroom flour addition. Sensorially, the odour and taste of 7.5% of mushroom flour were considered acceptable, and its addition hydrated in a ratio 50/50 w/w should be the most suitable to improve the nutritional value of this product without significantly affecting the sensory properties. The addition of Ab and Po flours was a feasible strategy to replace fat and salts in pâté.     

Analysis of Damage on the Streptococcus mutans Immersed in Ozonated Water: Preliminary Study for Application as Mouth Rinse

Ozonated water has been demonstrated to induce significant results in terms of the elimination of microorganisms. The present study assessed the damage to Streptococcus mutans after exposure to ozonated water; the ozone generator was adjusted to provide an outlet concentration of 60 mg/L, the samples were submitted to different ozonation times 1, 2, 4, 6, and 10 mi. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force images were obtained to identify damage to the bacteria, followed by reactive oxygen species (ROS) evaluation and microbial viability. The results showed a significant reduction in viability and the images evidenced the generation of gaps on the microbial wall and surface layer alterations. Ozone can induce significant damage to S. mutans, thus suggesting that the use of ozonated water to prevent carious lesion formation is extremely promising.     

Frequency domain analysis of the mirror-modified filtered-x least mean squares algorithm with low ambient noise

The mirror-modified filtered-x least mean squares (MMFxLMS ) algorithm is a variation of the FxLMS algorithm with online secondary path modeling that cannot diverge due to secondary path modeling errors. However, problems may occur when the ambient noise is not limited due to insufficient modeling power. This work shows that under a frequency domain analysis without ambient noise, the MMFxLMS algorithm is always stable, and expressions for the maximum residual noise level at any given time are obtained. It is also shown that, under the same context, convergence to the minimum residual noise is guaranteed. Still, convergence can be much slower for high secondary path modeling errors than that of the LMS or MFxLMS algorithms. Simulations confirm these results.     

A dimensional reduction approach to modulate the core ruminal microbiome associated with methane emissions via selective breeding

The rumen is a complex microbial system of substantial importance in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and feed efficiency. This study proposes combining metagenomic and host genomic data for selective breeding of the cow hologenome toward reduced methane emissions. We analyzed nanopore long reads from the rumen metagenome of 437 Holstein cows from 14 commercial herds in 4 northern regions in Spain. After filtering, data were treated as compositional. The large complexity of the rumen microbiota was aggregated, through principal component analysis (PCA), into few principal components (PC) that were used as proxies of the core metagenome. The PCA allowed us to condense the huge and fuzzy taxonomical and functional information from the metagenome into a few PC. Bivariate animal models were applied using these PC and methane production as phenotypes. The variability condensed in these PC is controlled by the cow genome, with heritability estimates for the first PC of ~0.30 at all taxonomic levels, with a large probability (>83%) of the posterior distribution being >0.20 and with the 95% highest posterior density interval (95%HPD) not containing zero. Most genetic correlation estimates between PC1 and methane were large (≥0.70), with most of the posterior distribution (>82%) being >0.50 and with its 95%HPD not containing zero. Enteric methane production was positively associated with relative abundance of eukaryotes (protozoa and fungi) through the first component of the PCA at phylum, class, order, family, and genus. Nanopore long reads allowed the characterization of the core rumen metagenome using whole-metagenome sequencing, and the purposed aggregated variables could be used in animal breeding programs to reduce methane emissions in future generations.     

Time-temperature behavior of carbon/epoxy laminates under creep loading

Mechanics of Time-Dependent Materials - The time-temperature creep behavior of advanced composite laminates is herein determined through a comprehensive set of experiments and analytical modeling....     

A data mining approach to classify serum creatinine values in patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis

Wireless Networks - Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) is a treatment used by patients in the end-stage of chronic kidney diseases. Those patients need to be monitored using blood...