Clustering clinical departments for wards to achieve a prespecified blocking probability

OR Spectrum - When the number of available beds in a hospital is limited, it can be beneficial to cluster several clinical departments such that the probability of not being able to admit a patient...     

The use of sensory evaluation and consumer preference for the selection of sweetpotato cultivars in East Africa

Sweetpotato is an important staple crop in East Africa with great potential for introducing improved cultivars, but little is known about which sensory characteristics are desirable. Over a 2 year period, 600 consumers were interviewed at three locations (urban and rural) in the Lake Zone of Tanzania and their preference of 14 locally available sweetpotato cultivars in cooked form was evaluated. A simple questionnaire based on consumers first‐choice preference was used followed by socio‐economic questions. A trained sensory panel profiled the cooked sweetpotato samples, enabling comparisons with preference, location and season. Cluster analysis based on the sensory attributes was used to classify the cultivars into three groups; one cluster comprised the most preferred cultivars and another contained the least. Some cultivars were consistently preferred over the 2 year period while others were not. The location where the cultivars were grown also influenced preference. Stepwise regression indicated that the most discriminating sensory attributes were starch and stickiness. Target levels based on the mean intensity scores of these attributes are suggested as a means of screening new cultivars. The implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Modifizierung von Polyaramid-Ultrafiltrationsmembranen durch Elektronenbestrahlung

Electron beam irradition of polyaramide ultrafiltration membranes (PA-UF membranes; NADIR® UF-PA-5) led to an increase of retention R from 93% to 98% in the applied dose range between 150 and 200 kGy. Contrary to common findings, no reduction of permeate flux J_PVP was observed. The formation of carboxy groups caused by electron beam irradiation was confirmed by ζ-potential measurements and ATR-FTIR spectroscopic investigations.     

Easing semantically enriched information retrieval—An interactive semi-automatic annotation system for medical documents

Mapping medical concepts from a terminology system to the concepts in the narrative text of a medical document is necessary to provide semantically accurate information for further processing steps. The MetaMap Transfer (MMTx) program is a semantic annotation system that generates a rough mapping of concepts from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus to free medical text, but this mapping still contains erroneous and ambiguous bits of information. Since manually correcting the mapping is an extremely cumbersome and time-consuming task, we have developed the MapFace editor.The editor provides a convenient way of navigating the annotated information gained from the MMTx output, and enables users to correct this information on both a conceptual and a syntactical level, and thus it greatly facilitates the handling of the MMTx program. Additionally, the editor provides enhanced visualization features to support the correct interpretation of medical concepts within the text. We paid special attention to ensure that the MapFace editor is an intuitive and convenient tool to work with. Therefore, we recently conducted a usability study in order to create a well founded background serving as a starting point for further improvement of the editor's usability.     

Nutritive composition of broth from selected bean varieties cooked for various periods

Ten bean varieties with white, yellow, red and black seed coats were subjected to cooking regimes of 60, 90 and 120 min on a hot plate. The cooking broth was analysed for total soluble solids, dry matter, protein, tannin, calcium, magnesium, iron and available L-tyrosine during in-vitro protein digestion. The results indicated that tannin levels were high in cooking broth from bean varieties with red seed coats compared with broth from those with white and yellow seed coats. Digestibility was higher in white and yellow varieties than in red seed coat bean varieties, suggesting that tannins have a negative effect on bean protein digestibility. All parameters evaluated showed a significant increase with cooking time. Iron occurred in trace amounts and its concentration was not affected by cooking time.     

Food patterns during an economic crisis among pregnant women in Purworejo District, Central Java, Indonesia

A cross-sectional study was conducted between 1996 and 1998. Six 24-hour recalls were performed during the second trimester of pregnancy among 450 women in Purworejo District, Central Java, Indonesia. The objectives of the study were to assess the food intake and food pattern among pregnant women before and during the economic crisis. Before the crisis, rich women had the highest intakes of animal foods, fats and oils, and sugar. Food intake among the urban poor and the rural landless poor subgroups was influenced by the emerging economic crisis. Although the price of rice increased, the intake of rice also increased among all subgroups. Rural poor women with access to rice fields increased their intake of rice and decreased their intake of nonrice staple foods (p < .05). There were significant decreases in the consumption of chicken by rich women and rural poor women with access to rice fields (p < .05). Rice was a strongly inferior good and remained an important supplier of energy, protein, and carbohydrate. Nuts and pulses were important suppliers of calcium and iron, and vegetables were an important supplier of vitamin A. Rich women increased their intake of nuts and pulses, vegetables, fats and oils, and sugar when their intake of rice increased (p < .05). The food patterns were based on rice, nuts and pulses, and vegetables, i.e., plant food. All but the rich women decreased their intake of nutritious foods such as meat, chicken, and fruits. The intake of nuts and pulses and of vegetables increased, whereas the intake of cooking oil and sugar remained constant.