Serial position effects in the identification of letters, digits, and symbols.

In 6 experiments, the authors investigated the form of serial position functions for identification of letters, digits, and symbols presented in strings. The results replicated findings obtained with the target search paradigm, showing an interaction between the effects of serial position and type of stimulus, with symbols generating a distinct serial position function compared with letters and digits. When the task was 2-alternative forced choice, this interaction was driven almost exclusively by performance at the first position in the string, with letters and digits showing much higher levels of accuracy than symbols at this position. A final-position advantage was reinstated in Experiment 6 by placing the two alternative responses below the target string. The end-position (first and last positions) advantage for letters and digits compared with symbol stimuli was further confirmed with the bar-probe technique (postcued partial report) in Experiments 5 and 6. Overall, the results further support the existence of a specialized mechanism designed to optimize processing of strings of letters and digits by modifying the size and shape of retinotopic character detectors' receptive fields. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the PID tracking control of robot manipulators

We consider the problem of PID tracking control of robotics manipulators. Our objective is to prove that under classical PID control, semiglobal stability can be assured with arbitrary small output tracking error. This means that, for any given set of initial conditions W_x, there exist PID control gains such that all trajectories starting in W_x converge to a residual set of arbitrary size. A novel PID control configuration is developed in terms of a parameter that is directly related with the size of the region of attraction and the size of the residual set. Tuning guidelines are extracted from the stability analysis.     

Influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on rheology of pectin–calcium gels

Pectin was selectively demethoxylated by use of NaOH or pectinmethylesterase from plant or fungal origin in order to produce a library of pectins with varying degree and pattern of methoxylation. In addition, pectin was chemically depolymerised by a heat treatment. The resulting pectin products were characterised by studying the degree and pattern of methoxylation and the extent of depolymerisation. The pattern of methoxylation was estimated quantitatively by determining the “degree of blockiness” (DB and DB_abs). Pectin–calcium gels were prepared at varying concentrations of both components. Rheological properties of these gels were studied by performing small deformation oscillatory tests. Gel strengths were better explained by the pattern of methoxylation than by the degree of methoxylation. The relation between rheological properties and calcium or pectin concentration depended on the pattern of methoxylation. Depolymerisation had a detrimental effect on gel strength, especially at low calcium concentration.     

Effects of dietary olive and linseed oil on lipid composition, meat quality, sensory characteristics and muscle structure in pigs

The aim of this study was to alter the fatty acid composition of porcine tissue by accumulating essential fatty acids without adversely affecting carcass composition, muscle structure or meat eating quality. A total of 13 female and 12 castrated Pietrain×German Landrace pigs were fed a basal concentrate diet supplemented with 5% olive oil or 5% linseed oil during the growing-finishing period. Carcass composition and meat quality were not affected by the diet. Feeding linseed oil to pigs significantly increased the relative content of linolenic acid and long chain n-3 fatty acids in lipids of muscle, backfat and heart at the expense of arachidonic acid. Oleic acid was accumulated in muscle, backfat and heart lipids by feeding olive oil. The overall flavour of combined meat/backfat samples from castrates was negatively influenced by linseed oil supplementation compared to supplementation with olive oil. The oxidative stability of muscle lipids was lower in linseed oil-fed pigs compared to olive oil fed pigs. The greater cross section areas of the longissimus muscle of females were caused by an increased diameter of red, intermediate and white fibres.     

Das Makrozoobenthos als Indikatorgruppe zur Bewertung großer Flüsse unter Einbeziehung auenökologischer Aspekte

With the guideline 2000/60/EG, which called for the creation of a framework on water policy, the environmental policy of the European Community took on a new dimension. The goal of the guideline is (among others) the creation of a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater in order to avoid their deterioration; and to protect and improve the status of aquatic ecosystems, their associated land ecosystems directly dependent on them, and wetlands in terms of their water budget. Thanks to various forms of use, e.g. hydropower production, flood protection and ship traffic, especially major European rivers like the Danube, Rhine and Elbe have changed massively from their original typological characteristics. Reference conditions are hardly anywhere to be found, many native species are now extinct, and river biotopes are often dominated by invasive species. The size and depth of these rivers also pose challenges in terms of taking samples, and it has also become apparent that all methods currently used to assess rivers’ ecological status focus solely on the main channels; the various habitats to be found in large rivers’ riparian systems aren’t taken into account. However, there is international consensus that these systems are key elements in rivers’ processes and biodiversity, and as such are significant for the continuing functionality of major rivers. In the context of an Austrian Ministry of Life-funded research project, the Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management’s Working Group on Benthic Ecology and Ecological Status Assessment, together with the University of Vienna and the Environment Agency Austria, is currently working to develop a practice-oriented riparian zone index based on macrozoobenthos as an indicator of quality. To date, Europe has no Water Framework Directive-compliant assessment systems for riparian zones. Given the fact that established methods are limited to river’s main channels, precluding a holistic view of and approach to river ecosystems, this project represents a pioneering work in the field of European water resource management.     

MPLS Recovery Mechanisms for IP-over-WDM Networks

Due to the fast increase of Internet traffic and the enormous bandwidth potential of all-optical transport networks based on wavelength division multiplexing, an IP-over-WDM network scenario is likely to be widespread in future communication networks. At the same time, IP networks are becoming more and more mission-critical. Hence, it is of paramount importance for IP-over-WDM networks to be able to recover quickly from frequently occurring network failures. This paper explains how multi-protocol label switching (both electrical and optical) recovery mechanisms can be important to reach that goal. Moreover, a novel MPLS recovery mechanism called fast topology-driven constrained-based rerouting is presented. Different MPLS recovery mechanisms are compared to each other. Special attention hereby goes to the additional capacity that is required to recover from frequently occurring failures.     

Performance Evaluation of Multi-Layer Traffic Engineering Enabled IP-over-ION Networks

Recently, network operators started implementing traffic engineering (TE) techniques in their network. These TE techniques typically involve a single layer (for example, the IP/multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) layer). Although single-layer TE (STE) can improve the network performance (e.g., throughput, quality of service (QoS)), this improvement is bounded by the available capacity in that network layer. The evolution towards intelligent optical networks (IONs) allows further increasing the improvements achievable by the TE techniques, by involving more than one layer in the TE actions. Multi-layer TE (MTE) occupies network resources in a smart way and optimizes the QoS since it dynamically reconfigures the logical topology in the upper layer by properly updating the optical connections in the underlying optical layer. However, the performance of the network is impacted by the configuration scheme adopted by MTE. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on analyzing the influence of the MTE configuration scheme on the MTE behavior, and evaluate the network performance by studying simulation results obtained from a realistic IP-over-ION network.     

Guidebooks to psychological literature.

Calls attention to bibliographical problems of psychology and the value of certain reference books in the solution of them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modellversuche zum Verhalten der schwefligen S?ure bei oxydativen Prozessen

Zusammenfassung Mit einer neuen polarographischen Methodik wurden bisher in der Literatur mitgeteilte Ergebnisse sowie widersprüchliche Befunde über das Verhalten von Ascorbinsäure und schwefliger Säure bei der gemeinsamen Autoxydation überprüft.Von den verschiedenartigen und teilweise gegensätzlichen Vorstellungen über den Ablauf der Autoxydation konnte diejenigevon Kielhöfer u. Mitarb. bestätigt werden.Die Frage der Schutzwirkung von schwefliger Säure auf Ascorbinsäure wurde unter Berücksichtigung verschiedener Aspekte sowohl in ihrem Reaktionsablauf als auch nach der quantitativen Seite hin geklärt.Eine Schutzwirkung der schwefligen Säure auf dieAutoxydation der Ascorbinsäure wurde unter den beschriebenen Versuchsbedingungennicht festgestellt.

---

About the reaction of sulfurous acid during oxidationI. Combined oxidation of ascorbic acid and sulfurous acid

Summary The controversial results on the behaviour of ascorbic and sulfurous acid during their mutual autoxidation so far known from the literature were examined, by means of new polarographic methods, whereby the conceptions of KIELHÖFER et al. could be proved.With regard to the reaction's different aspects, the question of the protective effect of sulfurous acid on ascorbic acid was cleared up. Any protective effect of sulfurous acid on the autoxidation of ascorbic acid was not found under the described experimental conditions.

     

Enzyme infusion prior to thermal/high pressure processing of strawberries: Mechanistic insight into firmness evolution

Strawberries were infused with fungal pectinmethylesterase (PME) and calcium chloride, followed by a thermal (70 °C–0.1 MPa), a high pressure (25 °C–550 MPa) or a combined thermal-high pressure (70 °C–550 MPa) process. Macroscopic (firmness) and microscopic characteristics were assessed to evaluate the texture of the fruits. In order to interpret the texture changes, the chemical structure of pectin was investigated. Processing of strawberries caused a decrease in firmness, which was limited by infusion of PME and calcium chloride, although the extent of beneficial effects depended on the type of processing. PME was able to decrease the degree of methoxylation of pectin, which was accompanied by an increased crosslinking of the chains. During high pressure or combined thermal-high pressure processing, the degree of methoxylation of pectin in infused strawberries was even further decreased, probably due to a higher activity of the fungal PME under high pressure. In case of the high pressure process, this was reflected in a very firm texture. However, the combined thermal-high pressure process caused more severe tissue damage, in spite of the advantageous pectin properties.Industrial relevanceDuring high pressure processing of strawberries many nutritional and sensorial characteristics are quite well preserved. Unfortunately, texture of strawberries deteriorates during such processes. This paper provides mechanistic insight into how infusion of fungal pectinmethylesterase and calcium ions in strawberries can preserve the firmness of these fruits during high pressure processing.