PANCA: Panel concordance analysis

This paper proposes panel concordance analysis (PANCA) as a tool for panel leaders to identify disconsensus between the panelists on the sensory attributes used. PANCA summarizes the sensory data ([products × panelists × replicates] × attributes) by a low-rank approximation which is penalized for disconsensus (disagreement) between the panelists. When all the panelists agree on the sensory attributes used, the disconsensus penalty will have a negligible effect. However, if the assumption of good consensus is not supported by the data, considerable residual errors will arise. Consequently, PANCA can be used to identify difficult sensory attributes or even poor/deviating panelists which requires further training or could call for an alternative data processing strategy. It is also demonstrated that PANCA can be used to apply a multivariate ANOVA decomposition like in ASCA (ANOVA simultaneous component analysis). Theory and applications are explained by means of a real-life example from industrial sensory practice.     

Pilot Plant Results with Three Different Types of UV Lamps for Advanced Oxidation

Three different types of ultraviolet lamps were tested for the advanced oxidation process application on pre-treated surface water in a pilot plant. The pilot setup consisted of three parallel reactors with either medium pressure, low pressure or dielectric barrier discharge UV lamps. Four model compounds (atrazine, bromacil, ibuprofen and N-nitroso-dimethylamine (NDMA)) and 0, 5 or 10 ppm hydrogen peroxide were dosed. Low pressure lamps were shown to have the lowest energy demand, calculated as electrical energy per order, followed by dielectric barrier discharge lamps and then medium pressure lamps. Medium pressure lamps gave the highest formation of genotoxic activity and nitrite formation, whereas no formation of genotoxic activity was observed for either of the other lamp types.     

On balanced games and games with committee control

Summary A generalization of flow games, namely, flow games with committee control is considered, to obtain a representation of non-negative balanced games. The committee control is modeled with the aid of simple games. Linear production games with committee control are also studied and results on the balancedness of such games are obtained.

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Zusammenfassung Eine Verallgemeinerung von Fluß-spielen, nämlich solchen mit Komitee-Kontrolle, wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit betrachtet, um eine Darstellung nicht-negativer ausgewogener Spiele zu erhalten. Die Komitee-Kontrolle wird mit Hilfe einfacher Spiele modelliert. Ebenso werden lineare Produktionsspiele mit Komitee-Kontrolle untersucht, und Ergebnisse zur Ausgewogenheit solcher Spiele werden hergeleitet.

     

Block copolymers of poly(vinyl ethers) and poly(ethylene glycol) by means of the living cationic polymerization of vinyl ethers

Summary If living poly(vinyl ethers) are terminated with a large excess of methanol, containing aqueous ammonia, well-defined products are obtained. If only a slight excess of methanol is used, aldehydes and coupling products are formed. However, termination with an excess of a hydroxy terminated polymer is cumbersome. According to a given reaction scheme, the termination with methanol in the presence of an anhydrous organic base, should give better results. With two equivalents of triethylamine with respect to the initiator only two equivalents of methanol are needed to give a clean reaction. With this recipe block copolymers of poly(vinyl ether) and poly(ethylene glycol) are prepared.     

Estimating probability of insemination success using milk progesterone measurements

The aim of this study was to quantify the effects of progesterone profile features and other cow-level factors on insemination success to provide a real-time predictor equation of probability of insemination success. Progesterone profiles from 26 dairy herds were analyzed and the effects of profile features (progesterone slope, cycle length, and cycle height) and cow traits (milk yield, parity, insemination during the previous estrus) on likelihood of artificial insemination success were estimated. The equation was fitted on a training data set containing data from 16 herds (6,246 estrous cycles from 3,404 lactations). The equation was tested on a testing data set containing data from 10 herds (8,105 estrous cycles from 3,038 lactations). Predictors were selected to be implemented in the final equation if adding them to a base model correcting for timing of insemination and parity decreased the overall likelihood distance of the model. Selected variables (cycle length, milk yield, cycle height, and insemination during the previous estrus) were used to build the final model using a stepwise approach. Predictors were added 1 by 1 in different order, and the model that had the smallest likelihood distance was selected. The final equation included the variables timing of insemination, parity, milk yield, cycle length, cycle height, and insemination during the previous estrus, respectively. The final model was applied to the testing data set and area under the curve (AUC) was calculated. On the testing data set, the final model had an AUC of 58%. When the farm effect was taken into account, the AUC increased to 63%. This equation can be implemented on farms that monitor progesterone and can support the farmer in deciding when to inseminate a cow. This can be the first step in moving the focus away from the current paradigm associated with poorer estrus detection, where each detected estrus is automatically inseminated, to near perfect estrus detection, where the question is which estrous cycle is worth inseminating?     

Working for the self or working for the group: How self- versus group affirmation affects collective behavior in low-status groups.

Experiencing social identity threat can lead members of stigmatized groups to protect their self-regard by withdrawing from domains that are associated with higher status groups. Four experiments examined how providing identity affirmation in alternative domains affects performance motivation in status-defining domains among stigmatized group members. Two forms of identity affirmation were distinguished: self-affirmation, which enhances personal identity, and group affirmation, which enhances social identity. The results showed that although self- and group affirmation both induce high performance motivation, they do so in different ways. Whereas self-affirmation induces a focus on the personal self, group affirmation induces a focus on the social self (Study 1). Accordingly, group affirmation elicited high performance motivation among highly identified group members (Studies 1 and 2) by inducing challenge (Study 2) and protected interest in group-serving behaviors that improve collective status (Studies 3 and 4). By contrast, low identifiers were challenged and motivated to perform well only after self-affirmation (Studies 1 and 2) and reported an even stronger inclination to work for themselves at the expense of the group when offered group affirmation (Studies 3 and 4). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encephalocytozoon intestinalis-specific monoclonal antibodies for laboratory diagnosis of microsporidiosis

Two monoclonal antibodies which can be used for the unambiguous identification by fluorescence microscopy of Encephalitozoon intestinalis spores in clinical specimens are described. Monoclonal antibody Si91 is specific for the extruded polar filament, and Si13 recognizes the surfaces of E. intestinalis spores. No cross-reaction with spores of Encephalitozoon hellem was observed. Immunogold electron microscopy confirmed the specific reactivities of both antibodies. Combined in an indirect immunofluorescence assay, these antibodies are used to identify spores in feces. Although there was some cross-reaction with fecal bacteria and fungi, the typical morphology of the extruded polar filaments enabled proper identification of the E. intestinalis spores. Parasites could also be demonstrated to be present in urine, nasal swabs, lung brush biopsy specimens, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from a patient with disseminated infection with E. intestinalis. The use of these monoclonal antibodies facilitates the detection and species determination of E. intestinalis in clinical specimens.     

A decomposition of the class of semiconvex games

Summary The paper studies the classSC ^N of cooperative games with player setN which have the semiconvexity property.SC ^N is decomposed into an algebraic sum of convex cones of games for which generating sets are available. The union of these sets thus forms a generating set forSC ^N . Special attention is paid to one of the considered cones, in the decomposition ofSC ^N . In particular, the so called airport savings gamesW _y, ℝ ^N , defined byw _y (S)=Σ _jεS Y _i −max _jεS Y _j for 0 ≠S⋞N, are emphasized. This work is part of the Ph.D. thesis of the first author (Derks 1991).     

Kinetics of absorption of carbon dioxide in aqueous piperazine solutions

In the present work the absorption of carbon dioxide into aqueous piperazine (PZ) solutions has been studied in a stirred cell, at low to moderate temperatures, piperazine concentrations ranging from 0.6 to , and carbon dioxide pressures up to 500 mbar, respectively. The obtained experimental results were interpreted using the DeCoursey equation [DeCoursey, W., 1974. Absorption with chemical reaction: development of a new relation for the Danckwerts model. Chemical Engineering Science 29, 1867-1872] to extract the kinetics of the main reaction, 2PZ+CO₂→PZCOO^-+PZH⁺, which was assumed to be first order in both CO₂ and PZ. The second-order kinetic rate constant was found to be at a temperature of , with an activation temperature of . Also, the absorption rate of CO₂ into partially protonated piperazine solutions was experimentally investigated to identify the kinetics of the reaction . The results were interpreted using the Hogendoorn approach [Hogendoorn, J., Vas Bhat, R., Kuipers, J., Van Swaaij, W., Versteeg, G., 1997. Approximation for the enhancement factor applicable to reversible reactions of finite rate in chemically loaded solutions. Chemical Engineering Science 52, 4547-4559], which uses the explicit DeCoursey equation with an infinite enhancement factor which is corrected for reversibility. Also, this reaction was assumed to be first order in both reactants and the second-order rate constant for this reaction was found to be at 298.15 K.     

The role of emotion in computer-mediated communication: A review

It has been argued that the communication of emotions is more difficult in computer-mediated communication (CMC) than in face-to-face (F2F) communication. The aim of this paper is to review the empirical evidence in order to gain insight in whether emotions are communicated differently in these different modes of communication. We review two types of studies: (1) studies that explicitly examine discrete emotions and emotion expressions, and (2) studies that examine emotions more implicitly, namely as self-disclosure or emotional styles. Our conclusion is that there is no indication that CMC is a less emotional or less personally involving medium than F2F. On the contrary, emotional communication online and offline is surprisingly similar, and if differences are found they show more frequent and explicit emotion communication in CMC than in F2F.