Predicting beef tenderness using color and multispectral image texture features

The objective of this study was to investigate the usefulness of raw meat surface characteristics (texture) in predicting cooked beef tenderness. Color and multispectral texture features, including 4 different wavelengths and 217 image texture features, were extracted from 2 laboratory-based multispectral camera imaging systems. Steaks were segregated into tough and tender classification groups based on Warner-Bratzler shear force. The texture features were submitted to STEPWISE multiple regression and support vector machine (SVM) analyses to establish prediction models for beef tenderness. A subsample (80%) of tender or tough classified steaks were used to train models which were then validated on the remaining (20%) test steaks. For color images, the SVM model correctly identified tender steaks with 100% accurately while the STEPWISE equation identified 94.9% of the tender steaks correctly. For multispectral images, the SVM model predicted 91% and STEPWISE predicted 87% average accuracy of beef tender.     

Holistic process planning chain for robot machining

Today, machining of large, integral constructed structural parts requires expensive machining centers. In contrast, modern industrial robots are suitable for a wide field of applications and are characterized large working spaces and low capital investment. Therefore, they provide high economical potential for machining applications in aerospace industry, especially for the machining of near to shape pre-products like extruded profiles. However, their constructive characteristics like low stiffness and high sensitivity to vibrations lead to disadvantages compared with conventional machining centers and have to be considered during process planning. Therefore, several methods for offline and online optimization of robot machining processes were developed and integrated in a new process chain for manufacturing of structural fuselage parts. Thereby, the conventional CAD–CAM process planning chain was extended with simulation based analysis and optimization methods and a load-depending trajectory planning. These methods for offline process optimization within this novel process chain are presented in this paper.     

Statistical description of the uniaxial creep behavior of polypropylene foam

The basis of a statistical method for the analysis of creep data is described. The method consists of response surface fitting to a Taylor series expansion of a function about a point. The method is capable of treating multiaxial stress data and includes other variables, such as temperature, without undue mathematical complications. In addition, the statistical approach can account for such things as experimental error and sample variation. The uniaxial compressive creep-recovery behavior of a newly developed polypropylene foam was measured under loads of 140–705 g./cm.² and temperatures of 23–74°C. The foam has a nominal density of 0.07 g./cc. and a mean molecular weight between crosslinks of 10,000. The creep behavior is described by a Taylor series expansion through the second order of a function of applied load, test temperature, foam density, and log time.     

Pediatricians' knowledge and attitudes concerning diagnosis and treatment of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders. A national survey approach

OBJECTIVE: To examine pediatricians' knowledge and attitudes concerning the diagnosis and treatment of attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD). DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: United States. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred eighty pediatricians comprising respondents from a random sample of 1000 members of the American Academy of Pediatrics. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS/MAIN RESULTS: Pediatricians' perceptions of diagnostic modalities, child and family communication concerning ADD and ADHD diagnosis and treatment, and a variety of treatment issues were assessed in this study. Findings indicate that methylphenidate (Ritalin) hydrochloride is the most prescribed medication for treatment of ADD and ADHD. Pediatricians reported common parent and child misperceptions about ADD and ADHD treatment. Results suggest a wide range of reported physician behavior with respect to the diagnosis and treatment of ADD and ADHD. CONCLUSION: Greater attention could be paid to providing accurate information in medical and educator training with respect to the cause, diagnosis, and treatment of ADD and ADHD.     

Typicality effects in attitudes toward social policies: A concept-mapping approach.

Social typicality effects occur when people apply their attitudes more consistently toward typical than toward atypical category members presumably because attitudes are directed toward the prototypic category member. Four studies tested whether individuals also apply social policy attitudes more consistently toward typical than toward atypical persons affected by the policy. Study 1 used attitude concept maps to assess how extensively individuals spontaneously reference the typical person affected by a social policy. Death penalty proponents did so more than did opponents; welfare proponents and opponents did so equally. In 3 other studies, death penalty proponents displayed greater typicality effects in sentencing "convicted murderers" than did opponents, welfare proponents and opponents displayed equal typicality effects in evaluating cases of suspected welfare fraud, and individuals whose attitude concept maps about welfare referred more to persons displayed greater typicality effects than did individuals whose maps referred more to principles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing?

Current psychological theory and research affirm the positive affective and motivational consequences of having personal choice. These findings have led to the popular notion that the more choice, the better—that the human ability to manage, and the human desire for, choice is unlimited. Findings from 3 experimental studies starkly challenge this implicit assumption that having more choices is necessarily more intrinsically motivating than having fewer. These experiments, which were conducted in both field and laboratory settings, show that people are more likely to purchase gourmet jams or chocolates or to undertake optional class essay assignments when offered a limited array of 6 choices rather than a more extensive array of 24 or 30 choices. Moreover, participants actually reported greater subsequent satisfaction with their selections and wrote better essays when their original set of options had been limited. Implications for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thermal quenching of thermoluminescence in natural quartz

The thermal quenching properties of the thermoluminescence (TL) from several natural quartz specimens were examined, at two different wavelengths, using the heating rate dependence of the TL signal. As the heating rate varies the TL peaks shift to different temperatures and become affected by thermal quenching to different extents. In this work the heating rate was varied over several orders of magnitude and, through deconvolution of the TL glow curve the behaviour of the main TL peaks was followed as a function of the temperature at which the peak appeared in the glow curve. Through an analysis of the glow peak areas as a function of glow peak temperature the decrease in the efficiency of TL production with increasing temperature could be monitored, at the different emission wavelengths. The analysis supports the contention that the quenching phenomenon is a result of a Mott-Seitz mechanism.