Tactile identification of embossed lines and square areas in diverse dot heights by blind individuals

Universal Access in the Information Society - Most of the braille embossers incorporate a mode for the creation of braille embossed graphics (BEG). Some of them can produce dots in different...     

A novel tool for the prediction of transmembrane protein topology based on a statistical analysis of the SwissProt database: the OrienTM algorithm

OrienTM is a computer software that utilizes an initial definitionof transmembrane segments to predict the topology of transmembraneproteins from their sequence. It uses position-specific statisticalinformation for amino acid residues which belong to putativenon-transmembrane segments derived from statistical analysisof non-transmembrane regions of membrane proteins stored inthe SwissProt database. Its accuracy compares well with thatof other popular existing methods. A web-based version of OrienTMis publicly available at the address http://biophysics.biol.uoa.gr/OrienTM.     

The use of sedimentation field-flow fractionation in the size characterization of bovine milk fat globules as affected by heat treatment

Size distribution of fat globules affects the appearance, taste and stability of milk and milk-based products. Full-fat, semi-fat and chocolate bovine milk were subjected to heat treatment within a temperature range of 50–125 °C for 1 h. Sedimentation field-flow fractionation was employed to determine the changes in mean particle diameter of milk fat globules as affected by heat treatment. The mean particle diameter of fat droplets increased with increasing heating temperature for most samples. The particle size of fat globules increased on average 40 nm (4.65%) for full-fat and 72 nm (8.52%) for semi-fat milk following the heat treatment (50–125 °C). Chocolate milk exhibited considerable increase in particle size (104 nm, 12.53%) within a certain temperature range (50–110 °C), followed by a decrease in particle size when heated at 125 °C for 1 h. Heat-induced flocculation due to attractive interactions between hydrophobic sites on denatured protein molecules on different droplets was assumed to be mainly responsible for the increases in particle size observed in this study. Extensive heat-induced denaturation of milk proteins was also indicated by Native PAGE. Sedimentation field-flow fractionation proved to be a useful technique for adequately monitoring heat-induced changes in particle size distributions in milk.     

Energy flow and greenhouse gas emissions in organic and conventional sweet cherry orchards located in or close to Natura 2000 sites

An energy analysis in orchards is useful to deciding best management strategies. The objective of this study was to evaluate, by selecting organic and conventional sweet cherry orchards located in/or close to Natura 2000 sites (a) the energy flow between the two farming systems and (b) the effect of farming system to gas emissions (CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O). Twenty farms [(2-conventional and 2-organic) × 5-locations] were selected during 2003-2004. Means averaged over all locations for insecticides and fungicides application, fuel, insecticides, fungicides, non-renewable energy inputs, energy shoot outputs, energy fruit outputs, energy shoot + fruit outputs, fruit production, shoot efficiency, fruit efficiency, shoot + fruit efficiency, non-renewable energy efficiency, gas emissions were higher in conventional than in organic orchards, while fertilizer application, harvesting, fertilizers, labor, total energy inputs, renewable energy inputs, intensity and non-renewable energy consumption were higher in organic orchards. Means averaged over two farming systems for fertilizer, insecticide and fungicide application were higher in GRL2 and GRL5. The means averaged over two systems for transportation had the highest value in GRL4 and the lowest in GRL5. Finally, means averaged over two farming systems for labor had the highest value in GRL2. Non-renewable energy inputs as percent of total inputs were 82.63 and 52.42% in conventional and organic sweet cherry orchards respectively. The results show that organic farming systems could reduce non-renewable energy inputs and gas emissions in an efficient way in areas related to Natura 2000 sites.     

A lattice-based neuro-computing methodology for real-time human action recognition

This work describes a computational approach for a typical machine-vision application, that of human action recognition from video streams. We present a method that has the following advantages: (a) no human intervention in pre-processing stages, (b) a reduced feature set, (c) modularity of the recognition system and (d) control of the model’s complexity in acceptable for real-time operation levels. Representation of each video frame and feature extraction procedure are formulated in the lattice theory context. The recognition system consists of two components: an ensemble of neural network predictors which correspond to the training video sequences and one classifier, based on the PREMONN approach, capable of deciding at each time instant which known video source has potentially generated a new sequence of frames. Extensive experimental study on three well known benchmarks validates the flexibility and robustness of the proposed approach.     

Effect of wall roughness on shear viscosity and diffusion in nanochannels

The effect of wall roughness on liquid argon shear viscosity and diffusion coefficient in nanochannels is studied by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics. Diffusion coefficient results are presented in terms of average values for the whole channel, as well as profiles of local values calculated in layers along the channel. It turns out that the local diffusion coefficient decreases significantly in fluid layers adjacent to the rough wall due to the trapping of fluid atoms inside the rough wall cavities. The degree of anisotropy in the x-, y- and z-components of the diffusion coefficient close to the rough wall increases relative to the anisotropy observed close to the smooth wall. Stress tensor components as well as local strain rates are evaluated in order to extract the coefficient of shear viscosity, η_s, which presents significant variations near the rough wall. These results should be taken into consideration when it comes to the design of nanofluidic devices.     

A taxonomy of privacy-preserving record linkage techniques

The process of identifying which records in two or more databases correspond to the same entity is an important aspect of data quality activities such as data pre-processing and data integration. Known as record linkage, data matching or entity resolution, this process has attracted interest from researchers in fields such as databases and data warehousing, data mining, information systems, and machine learning. Record linkage has various challenges, including scalability to large databases, accurate matching and classification, and privacy and confidentiality. The latter challenge arises because commonly personal identifying data, such as names, addresses and dates of birth of individuals, are used in the linkage process. When databases are linked across organizations, the issue of how to protect the privacy and confidentiality of such sensitive information is crucial to successful application of record linkage.     

Smoking of Fish and Seafood: History,Methods and Effects on Physical,Nutritional and Microbiological Properties

Smoking technology is increasingly used nowadays to impart particular organoleptic characteristics to fishes and as a means of maintaining and extending the shelf-life of these perishable products. The antimicrobial and antioxidant effects of smoking have been recently studied in depth, and various methods of smoking are applied worldwide, focusing mainly on species groups such as salmon and other salted fish and seafood. Despite the obvious advantages of the process, there are also a number of hazards related to the consumption of smoked products. One of the most representative examples is the outbreak of various cancers common in countries such as Nigeria and Baltic countries due to the high content of foods in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons produced as a by-product of the process. Furthermore, many studies have demonstrated that smoking with pyrolytic flue gases causes environmental pollution. These facts can have a significant impact on the acceptance of these products by consumers. In this review article, the objective is to describe synoptically the general methods of fish smoking, to report both advantages and disadvantages resulting from these methods, to present safety aspects of smoking both with regard to microbiological and chemical issues and to provide some representative examples of smoked fish applications both in tabular and figural form.