Application of infrared reflectance spectroscopy to the analysis of milk and dairy products

A method for the rapid, simultaneous determination of protein, fat, carbohydrate, non-protein nitrogen and total solids in milk and liquid dairy products by infrared reflectance spectroscopy is presented. The method is calibrated against known standards obtained by conventional, time-consuming wet chemical methods but, once calibrated, can be operated routinely by non-skilled personnel. The method is sensitive and accurate down to 0·5% w/v and can be applied to most liquid samples without any need for prior preparation.     

Thematic roles in sentence parsing.

Two eyetracking experiments examined the interaction among syntactic parsing preferences, thematically based comprehension preferences, and plausibility in the early stages of reading a sentence. Results from 64 adults support the pattern of results reported by L. Stowe (1989) when looking at the disambiguating region of a sentence. However, the results for earlier regions suggest that the postverbal noun phrase was initially taken as direct object of an ergative verb even when the subject was inanimate. It appears that the inanimacy of the subject may not have guided the initial syntactic analysis, but rather facilitated the revision of an initial misanalysis. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

No Science without Semantics

Computer science often faces the criticism that it isn't actual science. Doing science means using the scientific method, which includes reporting results so that others can repeat and verify them. The problem with the computer science community is the lack of shared terms with precise semantics. When a researcher reports phenomenal results that can't be replicated, the author might be viewed as a brilliant alchemist, but such works undermine claims of being "science."     

Dependence of bilevel mathematical programs on irrelevant constraints

For standard, single-level mathematical programs, any optimal solution remains optimal when an inactive (i.e., irrelevant) constraint is added to the problem, a property termed independence of irrelevant constraints (IIC). In general, bilevel mathematical programs do not possess the IIC property. This paper presents necessary and sufficient conditions for the IIC property to hold for a bilevel program. A straightforward test is described that concludes whether or not a bilevel program is IIC.     

Analysis of a homologous series of non-reducing oligosaccharides from Arnica montana L. Roots

The oligosaccharide component compositions of a series of non-reducing oligosaccharides extracted from the roots of Arnica montana L. has been determined by gel permeation chromatography (g.p.c.). The range of oligosaccharides present was found to extend beyond the octasaccharide previously reported. with 16% to 19% of the oligosaccharides having a degree of polymerisation of between 11 and 19 and almost 3% having a degree of polymerisation greater than 20. The chromatographic behaviour of this series of oligosaccharides is compared with that observed for series of D-gluco-oligosaccharides.     

Cyclic X-Y mechanical tests: A new method to perform in situ reversed-deformation experiments in the high-voltage electron microscope

There has been, in the past, only limited success with in situ cyclic or reversed plastic deformation tests in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). This is probably partly due to problems associated with buckling of the foil when an applied tensile or shear stress is reversed. Mechanical analysis shows that dislocation movement can be reversed by tensile stressing in alternating perpendicular directions (i.e., 90° rotations of a tensile stress); thus buckling of the foil can be avoided. A design for performing such X-Y in situ TEM tests is presented, with observations that demonstrate its feasibility.     

Computer Simulation of Adaptive Drug Infusion

Clinical drug infusion protocols, such as a single bolus followed by a constant drip, do not establish and maintain therapeutic drug levels in an optimal manner. We have investigated a system in which the patient, drug pump, drug assay, and a pump controller are incorporated into an adaptive configuration. The system, which we have simulated on a computer, uses an adaptive approach in which the pump controller operates with a model of the subject response. The model is fit to the specific subject by a regression analysis of the subject's response, obtained by assay of the subject's blood.     

Action of bleomycin on structural mimics of intermediates in DNA double-strand cleavage

Bleomycin-induced cleavage was examined in several nicked, gapped, or intact duplex DNA substrates, including a structure designed to mimic a proposed singly nicked intermediate in double-strand cleavage. This nicked structure appeared to correctly target the second cleavage event in the complementary strand, resulting in a blunt-ended double-strand break, similar to that induced directly by bleomycin alone in an intact duplex of the same sequence. A one-base-gapped structure was markedly less efficient in correctly targeting bleomycin attack in the complementary strand. The results are consistent with a model of bleomycin-induced double-strand cleavage in which the nick formed by the initial bleomycin attack serves to target secondary attack to a specific position in the complementary strand, resulting in a double-strand break with a defined geometry.     

A STUDY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CATALYTIC POROUS-WALL THREE-PHASE REACTOR

A theoretical investigation of a catalytic porous-wall reactor in which gaseous and liquid reactants approach each other from opposite sides of the catalyst is undertaken. Equations for the annular liquid-channel are coupled with those for the catalytic wall and solved numerically and analytically using a simplified model. For the model reaction under study, the main design and operation parameters which affect reactor performance are the Thiele modulus, Peclet number, width of the liquid channel and the inlet concentration of the reactant in the liquid phase.

The effect of reactor configuration is peculiar to the cylindrical geometry because the thickness and relative location of the catalytic wall as well as the selection of the liquid and gas channels can influence the reactor performance. Thin-walled catalyst tubes have larger effectiveness factors and as the tube radius approaches that of the reactor, conversion in the reactor increases especially when the liquid is saturated with the gaseous reactant. Concentration of the liquid reactant in the feed has a significant effect if the reactant is depleted at some point inside the catalyst wall. Since the reaction zone width can be adjusted by changing the feed composition, this might have important implications with respect to selectivity.