Content of carbohydrates and trace elements in a group of non-alcoholic drinks

BACKGROUND: In order to elaborate recommendations for the dietetic care of diabetic patients and other clinical disorders we have measured the concentration of carbohydrates and trace elements in a group of non alcoholic refreshments of current use in Spain. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty refreshments were classified into 10 groups. Glucose and phosphate were measured by hexokinase and reduction of phospho-molybdate methods respectively in an autoanalyzer Dax-72. Glucose and fructose were analyzed by cellulose thin-layer chromatography; glucose, fructose and sucrose by gas chromatographys. Sodium and potassium by emission spectrophotometry and calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. RESULTS: Light refreshments and soft drinks have no carbohydrates. Isotonic beverages, fruit juices, cool tea and non alcoholic beers had less than 10 g/dl. Tonic waters, Fanta, different coles, non alcoholic bitter and others had more than 10 g/dl. Sodium levels between 15-20 mEq/l were found in the isotonic beverages and 7-Up and levels of 7 mEq/l in the others. Potassium values between 15-40 mEq/l were found in the fruit juices, 3-4 mEq/l in Gatorade and less than 1 mEq/l in the others. CONCLUSIONS: Light refreshments and soft drinks contain low concentrations of carbohydrates and sodium. Fruit juices have high potassium concentration. Such information can be especially useful for dietetic care of diabetic patients.     

Fluctuation conductivity in Li-doped YBa2Cu3O7−x

The paraconductivity of Li-doped YBa₂Cu₃O_7?x was measured. We have found that the character of the fluctuation changes as lithium content increases: instead of a crossover from 2D to 3D behavior (D is the dimensionality), as we have observed for a low doping level, a double crossover to the 2D percolative and 3D percolative regimes becomes manifest by increasing the lithium content.     

Experimental Study of Alumina Particle Removal From a Plane surface

Micron and submicron alumina particles are often used for the mechanical polishing of the GaAs wafers processed in the microelectronic industry. A better understanding of the adhesion mechanisms is the key factor for the particle removal and for the optimisation of the industrial chemical cleaning. However, the nature and the strength of the complex interactions occurring between asymmetrical alumina particles and the surface remain unclear. Thus, an experimental study of the detachment of asymmetrical alumina particles in adhesive contact with a glass plate was done using a specially designed shear stress flow chamber. A series of experiments was performed to measure the shear stress necessary to remove individual alumina particles (of 3 and 0.3 µm nominal size) under various chemical solutions (diluted ammonia, surfactant and glycerol). Then the effects of the particle size, the resting time, the pH and the nature of the chemical solutions used for the removal of the alumina particles was characterised in terms of percentage of alumina particles detached. Results have shown that the longer the resting time, the more adherent the particles are. Moreover, it was found that the ammonia solution gives the best particle removal rate (80%) because of the strong repulsive electrostatic interactions between the alumina particles and the glass surface, both being charged negatively in a basic solution.     

Behavioral effects of centrally administered arginine vasopressin in the rat fetus.

Arginine–8 vasopressin (AVP) was administered to rat fetuses on Embryonic Day 20 via intracisternal (IC), intrahemispheric (IH), or intrathecal (IT) injection. The IC administration of AVP promoted a 4-fold increase in motor activity, including the uncommon patterns of mouthing, licking, and facial wiping. The IH injection of AVP had little effect on fetal behavior, but IT injection resulted in pronounced increases in fetal activity, including mouthing, licking, and wiping. The IT administration of a V? antagonist blocked AVP effects, whereas IH injection potentiated AVP-induced changes in fetal behavior. The IC blockade of V? receptors suppressed facial wiping to a chemosensory fluid (lemon) and reduced oral grasping of an artificial nipple, whereas IH injection of the V? antagonist promoted facial wiping responses and increased grasping of the nipple. These data suggest that AVP may play a role in the development of responsiveness to stimuli encountered in the context of suckling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental Investigation of the Recovery of Soaked Paper Using Evaporative Freeze Drying

The aim of this article is to develop an experiment and a procedure to investigate the restoration of water-damaged paper and archival materials using freeze drying in order to allow a reproducible test and comparison of the influence of different operating conditions on drying time and restored paper quality. Firstly, a reproducible method for the preparation of soaked samples simulating water-damaged paper has been developed. Then, the samples have been freeze-dried in a laboratory-scale apparatus that allowed monitoring the temperature as well as the weight of the samples. The technique of evaporative freezing, which reduces the drying time required, has been used in this case. An innovative procedure for the visualization of the progress of the drying process has been validated, thus allowing the validation of a simple phenomenological model of the time evolution of the ice core volume; in addition, data on the residual moisture of the dried paper sheets in different zones have been given. Finally, optimization of this particular drying process by using simple or more sophisticated approaches has been discussed.     

Introducing fuzziness in object models and database interfaces through aspects

Imperfection in information can be considered a crosscutting concern that manifests itself in diverse kinds of imprecision, uncertainty, or inconsistency in the data models of a software system. The extension of existing programming and querying interfaces for the different aspects of information imperfection requires a proper modularization of the different concerns of numerical imprecision handling, so that the extensions do not interfere with existing programming practices and do not obscure the original design. Aspect‐oriented design (AOD) enables such a form of nonintrusive extensions to be added to existing software libraries, clearly separating fuzziness or other imperfections in data as a differentiated concern that can be considered from the early phases of development. In this article, a general framework for aspect‐based extension of data models and fuzzy databases is described, and some design and implementation issues of such AOD‐based extensions on OJB database libraries are described as a case study. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 21: 1199–1216, 2006.     

Designing Templates for Mining Association Rules

Current approaches to data mining usually address specific userrequests, while no general design criteria for the extraction of associationrules are available for the end-user. In this paper, we propose aclassification of association rule types, which provides a general frameworkfor the design of association rule mining applications. Based on theidentified association rule types, we introduce predefined templates as ameans to capture the user specification of mining applications. Furthermore,we propose a general language to design templates for the extraction ofarbitrary association rule types.     

Large scale space diversity in a widely spaced network of meteorscatter communication systems and its application to mobilecommunications

A model is developed for predicting the inherent spatial multiplexing or diversity in a widely dispersed network of meteor scatter receivers. The primary measure, network diversity, is defined as the ratio of the arrival rate of useful trails observed by the entire network to the arrival rate at an average node and is less than the number of receivers in the network. Network diversity is calculated from the ground illumination footprint of individual meteor trails and weighted by the spatial arrival pattern of trails. Predictions using the model are compared to an experiment conducted in the western US. Ramifications on the design of meteor scatter communication systems for very large network applications such as automatic vehicle location and tracking are discussed