Humidification of chilled fruit and vegetables on retail display using an ultrasonic fogging system with water/air ozonation

The effects of an ultrasonic humidification system were assessed during retail display of unwrapped chilled fruit and vegetable produce. Produce and equipment factors were compared during two consecutive 7-day trials, one with fogging (termed ‘wet’) and one without (termed ‘dry’).

No appreciable differences in mean product temperatures were found (4.6 °C for wet, 4.3 °C for dry), but there were slight differences in cabinet performance in terms of air temperatures and refrigeration effect. Despite a considerable increase in drainage water from the cabinet (53 l per day for wet, 30 for dry), no change to the cabinet's defrost schedule was required.

Humidification reduced weight loss with all products. After 7 days of display the highest reduction, almost 50%, was achieved with mushrooms. Humidification also reduced the rate of deterioration in the appearance of the produce on display.

No adverse effects on the microbial quality of samples of produce were found. Slightly higher numbers of airborne microbes were sampled from the air circulating in the cabinet during the wet trial, but there was no significant increase in numbers of microbes landing on settle plates on the display shelves. Numbers of bacteria in the water sterilisation system were low and no Legionella species were isolated from either the wet or the dry trial water samples.     

Simulation of throughput from remote batch entry terminals

Operation of the remote batch terminals connected to an IBM 370/158 computer system at a large mid-western firm is simulated using GPSS language. The performance of the computer system was simulated to determine the impact of changes to be imposed on the system. The model parameters of remote printer speed and core storage capacity were altered during the course of the simulation. These variables were selected for their flexibility in relationship to the total network and the relative ease of implementing such changes. It is found that implementing higher speed printers and increased computer core storage capacity can decrease printer and core storage utilizations and the average service rate drastically.     

Depth of processing and interference effects in the learning and remembering of sentences.

In 2 experiments with a total of 140 undergraduates, Ss who completed the last words of sentences they read learned more than Ss who simply read whole sentences. This facilitation was observed even with sentences that were almost always completed with the wrong words. However, proactive interference attributable to acquisition errors appeared on recall and recognition tests administered after a 1-wk interval. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reports for 1982 of the Regional Associations.

Reports for 1982 are listed for the following regional association meetings: Sixty-Second Annual Meeting of the Western Psychological Association; Fifty-Second Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association; Fifty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association; Twenty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association; Twenty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association; Twenty-Second Annual Meeting of the New England Psychological Association; Fifty-Third Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association; and Seventy-Fourth Annual Meeting of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Defective bone remodelling in osteoprotegerin-deficient mice

Previous studies have reported enhanced osteoclastogenesis, increased bone resorption and osteoporosis in osteoprotegerin (OPG)-deficient mice. In the present study, we show that the tibial epiphyses contain abundant, thin trabeculae lined with numerous osteoclasts and cuboidal osteoblasts. The increase in osteoblasts and osteoclasts was associated with a dramatic increase in calcein labelling of the mineralization fronts and replacement of much of the intertrabecular marrow with numerous alkaline phosphatase-positive preosteoblasts. Furthermore, the discrete, linear cement lines seen in wild-type mice were replaced by a randomly oriented meshwork of cement lines that were stained intensely for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase and osteopontin in the OPG-/- mice. These indices of accelerated bone remodelling in mutant bone were associated with irregular trabecular surfaces, a disorganized collagen matrix interspersed with amorphous ground substance and numerous fissures between old and new bone. In total, these observations indicate that enhanced osteoclastic activity in OPG-/- epiphyses led to a coupled increase in osteoblast differentiation and activity and an increase in bone remodelling. The high bone turnover, disorganized matrix and impaired attachment of new to old bone in the cement lines in OPG-/- mice appear to cause bone fragility.     

Gallium arsenide deep-level optical emitter for fibre optics

Fibre-optic components fabricated on the same substrate as integrated circuits are important for future high-speed communications. One industry response has been the costly push to develop indium phosphide (InP) electronics. However, for fabrication simplicity, reliability and cost, gallium arsenide (GaAs) remains the established technology for integrated optoelectronics. Unfortunately, the GaAs bandgap wavelength (0.85 microm) is far too short for fibre optics at 1.3-1.5 microm. This has led to work on materials that have a large lattice mismatch on GaAs. Here we demonstrate the first light-emitting diode (LED) that emits at 1.5 microm fibre-optic wavelengths in GaAs using optical transitions from arsenic antisite (As(Ga)) deep levels. This is an enabling technology for fibre-optic components that are lattice-matched to GaAs integrated circuits. We present experimental results showing significant internal optical power (24 mW) and speed (in terahertz) from GaAs optical emitters using deep-level transitions. Finally, we present theory showing the ultimate limit to the efficiency-bandwidth product of semiconductor deep-level optical emitters.     

Suggestions for content selection and presentation in high school computer textbooks

Based on the findings from reviewing 32 textbooks in the past four years for Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, we have identified common problems in the reviewed textbooks and analyzed their inadequacies. Typical problems include the Wintel bias, too much coverage of software application tools and too little of computer science concepts, too many technical terms, meaningless analogies and examples, lack of supplementary materials, and inadequate treatment of programming-related content. The discussion about each problem is substantiated with examples, and suggestions are made on possible improvement. This analysis should help textbook writers avoid undesirable elements in their books and help high school computer teachers select higher quality books for their students.