Some simple methods of home processing and their implication with weaning foods

One of the most practical solutions to combat protein energy malnutrition (PEM) in low income groups is the intelligent mixing of cereals and legumes to make available low cost weaning foods of high nutritional quality. One of the main obstacles to increase energy and nutrient density of weaning foods of cereals and legumes is the bulk factor. In this study some simple methods of home processing to improve the nutritional quality of the home prepared weaning foods were tested and the processed weaning foods were chemically and biologically evaluated. Biochemical evaluation revealed that the germination of wheat raised its protein and fat and reduced carbohydrate, while there was almost no change on lentils. Comparing germination with a special “chapati” process, protein and fat content were higher in the formula processed by the former method, while minerals were higher in the same formula but processed by the latter method. Biological evaluation of the formula processed by the two different methods showed that germination got the highest PER and NPU compared with chapati process figures were (2.02 and 81.0) and (1.70 and 40.0) respectively. Although further research is needed, germination of ingredients of weaning foods of vegetable origin seems to be a good option of the simple home processing technique.     

Analysis of multiple-choice items

This paper deals with scoring and analysis of multiple-choice exam questions. Data may be read by an optical mark reader scanner or from a file created by a system editor and stored in a format convenient to be analysed by a specially designed program 'MCQ'. In addition the data file created can be linked with the package SPSSx for pertinent statistical methods or SPSS Graphics for illustration of score and item distributions. The MCQ program comprises: (1) scoring; (2) item analysis: difficulty and discrimination indices; (3) testing the goodness of alternatives attached to each question. The method is applicable to multiple-choice questions with 4.5 greater than 5; true/false and combined exam questions. The method should prove useful for instructors to build up a balanced discriminant questions bank.     

Model-based evaluation of nitrogen removal in a tannery wastewater treatment plant.

Computer modelling has been used in the last 15 years as a powerful tool for understanding the behaviour of activated sludge wastewater treatment systems. However, computer models are mainly applied for domestic wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Application of these types of models to industrial wastewater treatment plants requires a different model structure and an accurate estimation of the kinetics and stoichiometry of the model parameters, which may be different from the ones used for domestic wastewater. Most of these parameters are strongly dependent on the wastewater composition. In this study a modified version of the activated sludge model No. 1 (ASM 1) was used to describe a tannery WWTP. Several biological tests and complementary physical-chemical analyses were performed to characterise the wastewater and sludge composition in the context of activated sludge modelling. The proposed model was calibrated under steady-state conditions and validated under dynamic flow conditions. The model was successfully used to obtain insight into the existing plant performance, possible extension and options for process optimisation. The model illustrated the potential capacity of the plant to achieve full denitrification and to handle a higher hydraulic load. Moreover, the use of a mathematical model as an effective tool in decision making was demonstrated.     

Emission spectrographic technique for the quantitative determination of trace elements in granitic rocks

An emission spectrographic technique was developed to estimate 16 trace elements in some samples of Egyptian granite. The detection limits were: 0·1 ppm for Pb, Ba, Mo, Cu, Cr, Yb and Ni, 0·3 ppm for Sn, Ga and Be, 1 ppm for Co, Sc and V, 3 ppm for Bi and Y and 10 ppm for La. The relative deviation of the two-thirds limits ranges between ± 1·5 and ±24·7.     

Experimental study of back‐scattering spectrum of textile structures

The back‐scattered light by textile surfaces mainly depends on their surface state, which is often periodic and directional. The analysis of the reflectance spectra in back‐scattering conditions of two types of structures (yarn, plain and twill weaves) shows the influence of the orientation of these surfaces as well as the back‐scattered angle. In fact, the declination of the yarn orientation in relation to the incidence plane involves an increase of the reflectance factor to reach a maximum value when the yarns are perpendicular to this plane. For woven fabrics, the back‐scattering of surface according to a given orientation primarily depends on its geometrical characteristic in this direction and consequently the used yarn densities. The computation of the ratio of mean quadratic surface roughness h to correlation length l for various used orientations shows the close link between this parameter and the evolution of back‐scattering. The effect of the variation of back‐scattered angle on the back‐scattered light varies with the value of h/l . The comparison between these experimental results and a theoretical study based on Gaussian and isotropic surfaces shows a satisfactory correlation between these two elements with the presence of some cases of discrepancy due to the different natures of the two types of surfaces. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 31, 122–132, 2006     

Value of increased MRI signal intensity in cervical arthrosis in myelopathies

The case of 52 patients with cervical myelopathy were reviewed to determine whether a high signal intensity lesion present on T2 weighted spin echo imaging appears to be an important indicator for predicting prognosis. Preoperatively, there were areas of increased signal intensity in 23 patients. The lesion was clearly demonstrated on T1 weighted images in only one case. Postoperatively, MRI was performed in 9 cases, one showed decreased signal intensity compared to the preoperative levels, and 8 had no change. The pre and postoperative clinical conditions of the patients whose preoperative MR images showed areas of increase signal intensity were not worse than those patients who did not have these areas of increased signal intensity. The postoperative recovery of the eight patients who exhibited no change of the signal intensity was very satisfactory. The pathophysiology of such an abnormality is presumed to be related to edema, myelomalacia or gliosis. However, the presence of these areas of high signal intensity does not appear to be an indicator of a bad clinical prognosis.     

An experimental approach to robotic grasping using a connectionistarchitecture and generic grasping functions

An experimental approach to robotic grasping is presented. This approach is based on developing a generic representation of grasping rules, which allows learning them from experiments between the object and the robot. A modular connectionist design arranged in subsumption layers is used to provide a mapping between sensory inputs and robot actions. Reinforcement feedback is used to select between different grasping rules and to reduce the number of failed experiments. This is particularly critical for applications in the personal service robot environment. Simulated experiments on a 15-object database show that the system is capable of learning grasping rules for each object in a finite number of experiments as well as generalizing from experiments on one object to grasping from another     

Planning a cohort or case-control study with allowance for cost and test power

This paper deals with balanced and unbalanced allocation designs in cohort and case-control studies. It focuses on: (a) determination of the equal sample size design given the relative risk, R, of disease, the incidence of disease among the nonexposed group or the prevalence of exposure to risk factor, P₁, type I and II errors , β; (b) estimation of the unequal allocation designs that either maximize the test power subject to fixed total cost or minimize the total study expenditure subject to prespecified power using the simplex procedure for function minimization; (c) assessing the efficiency of different allocation designs by computing the power of the exact conditional (Fisher-Irwin) test for comparing two proportions.     

Electrochemical properties of the MmNi3.55Mn0.4Al0.3Co0.4Fe0.35 compound

In this paper, the electrochemical properties of the MmNi_3.55Mn_0.4Al_0.3Co_0.4Fe_0.35 alloy used as a negative electrode in Ni–MH accumulators, have been investigated by different electrochemical methods such as cyclic voltammetry, chronopotentiometry, chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The experimental results indicate that the discharge capacity reaches a maximum value of 260 mAh g⁻¹ after 12 cycles and then decreases to about 200 mAh g⁻¹ after 70 cycles. The value of the mean diffusion coefficient D_H, determined by cyclic voltammetry, is about 3.44 × 10⁻⁹ cm² s⁻¹, whereas the charge transfer coefficient , determined by the same method, is about 0.5 which allows us to conclude that the electrochemical reaction is reversible. The hydrogen diffusion coefficients in this compound, corresponding to 10 and 100% of the charge state, determined by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, are, respectively, equal to 4.15 × 10⁻⁹ cm² s⁻¹ ( phase) and 2.15 × 10⁻⁹ cm² s⁻¹ (β phase). These values are higher, for the phase and less, for the β phase, than the mean value determined by cyclic voltammetry. We assume that this is related to the number of interstitial sites susceptible to accept the hydrogen atom, which are more numerous in the phase than in the β phase. The chronoamperometry shows that the average size of the particles involved in the electrochemical reaction is about 12 μm.