Influence of selected process variables on the elimination of cyanide from cassava

The effects of selected methods of size reduction, holding periods and drying on elimination of cyanide from cassava roots of variety MCol 1684 were investigated. Drying at 50°C eliminated approximately 50% of the total cyanide from mechanically prepared chips, and 25% from manually prepared chips. Mechanical chipping and drying at 50°C eliminated 65% of the total cyanide from small chips and 47% from large chips. Mincing of whole roots completely degraded the glucoside, and rasping and mechanical chipping degraded 70–80% and 30% of the initial glucoside respectively. The results indicate that the method of size reduction and particle size control the rate of glucoside degradation, and that the drying rate limits the quantity of glucosidic cyanide eliminated. The results are compared with those of other researchers.     

Evidence for the use of an internal sense of direction in homing.

Path integration, the ability to maintain a representation of location and direction on the basis of internal cues, is thought to be important for navigation and the learning of spatial relationships. Representations of location and direction in the brain, such as head direction cells, grid cells, and place cells in the limbic system, are thought to underlie navigation by path integration. While this idea is generally consistent with lesion studies, the relationship between such neural activity and behavior has not been studied on a task where animals demonstrably use a path integration strategy. Here we report the development of such a task in rats: by slowly rotating rats before their return to a trial-unique home base, we could show subjects relied on internal cues only to navigate. To illustrate how this task can be combined with recording, we show examples of simultaneously recorded head direction cells in which neural activity is closely related to rats’ homing direction. These results support the notion that rats can navigate by path integration, that this ability depends on head direction cells, and suggest a convenient behavioral paradigm for investigating the neural basis of navigation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impairments in the perception of odor-induced tastes and their relationship to impairments in taste perception.

Certain odors have tastelike qualities when sniffed. To the extent that these qualities are akin to real taste experiences, impairment in perception of odor-induced tastes should be accompanied by taste impairment, and vice versa. Twelve patients were selected with possible odor-induced taste impairments or general taste impairments via a screening test, along with a further 6 patients with a probable taste impairment (insular lesion). These 18 patients, along with 19 normal controls, completed a battery of odor, taste, visual control, and neuropsychological tests to assess impairments in odor-induced taste perception and general taste perception. Four patients had an odor-induced taste impairment and were also impaired on taste perception. A further analysis, using regression on the whole sample, indicated that taste impairments were associated with odor-induced taste abnormalities independent of other predictors. This pattern also held for the patient group alone. The insular patients also exhibited both taste and odor-induced taste impairments. This study is the first to demonstrate a relationship between impaired taste perception and the perception of odor-induced tastes and suggests that both may rely on certain common neural substrates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Des conducteurs ioniques pseudo-bidimensionnels: Li8MO6 (M = Zr,Sn), Li7LO6 (L = Nb,Ta) et Li6In2O6

The ionic conductivity of the pseudo-2D oxides Li₈MO₆ (M = Zr, Sn), Li₇LO₆ (L = Nb, Ta) and Li₆In₂O₆ has been measured and related to their structures. The ideal lattice consists of octahedral sheets [(Li₂M)O₆]_n, [(Li□L)O₆]_n or [(In₂□)O₆]_n of CdI₂-type, between which 6 Li⁺ ions are inserted with a tetrahedral environment. As expected from the structures the highest lithium mobility is observed for Li₇LO₆ phases and the smallest one for Li₈MO₆.     

Innovation Compass: A Self–audit Tool for the New Product Development Process

This paper presents a diagnostic tool referred to as the innovation ‘compass’. The innovation compass uses self–audit methodology to identify gaps between current and desired performance of individual organisations. The innovation compass aids organisations in identifying where problems lie within the organisation. This information can then be used in developing an action plan to improve their new product development performance. The compass acts as a support tool to the linear and mechanistic processes of managing new product development, such as the Stage Gate Model. The compass comprises of five core themes; structure, leadership, output, teams and context representing the fundamentals of the innovation process. A combined methodological approach was used, by means of both qualitative and quantitative techniques with organisations. The methodology adopted has allowed for benchmarking of these themes to occur, with additional depth added from the qualitative semi–structured interviews. This paper discusses the rationale for a tool such as the compass.     

US Software Law May Affect UK Companies

Under a recent controversial law approved at the federal level in the USA, some software vendors may have the right to remotely disable software if they believe that the software user is in breach of their licence. It is one of a number of rights included in the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) which critics argue unfairly swings the law in favour of software vendors. If UCITA is ratified by the US States, companies who sell or purchase software under agreements subject to US law may feel its impact in England.     

k-Dimensional hashing scheme for hard disk integrity verification in computer forensics

Verifying the integrity of a hard disk is an important concern in computer forensics,as the law enforcement party needs to confirm that the data inside the hard disk have not been modified during the investigation.A typical approach is to compute a single chained hash value of all sectors in a specific order.However,this technique loses the integrity of all other sectors even if only one of the sectors becomes a bad sector occasionally or is modified intentionally.In this paper we propose a k-dimensional hashing scheme,kD for short,to distribute sectors into a kD space,and to calculate multiple hash values for sectors in k dimensions as integrity evidence.Since the integrity of the sectors can be verified depending on any hash value calculated using the sectors,the probability to verify the integrity of unchanged sectors can be high even with bad/modified sectors in the hard disk.We show how to efficiently implement this kD hashing scheme such that the storage of hash values can be reduced while increasing the chance of an unaffected sector to be verified successfully.Experimental results of a 3D scheme show that both the time for computing the hash values and the storage for the hash values are reasonable.     

Chemistry of archaeological animal fats

Animal fats are preserved at archaeological sites in association with unglazed pottery, human and animal remains, and other deposits or hoards. High-temperature gas chromatography (HT-GC) and combined HT-GC/mass spectrometry (HT-GC/MS) has confirmed the presence of animal fats in lipid extracts of artifacts. Degradation products and pathways have been discerned through the analyses of archaeological finds and the products of laboratory and field-based decay experiments. The origins of preserved fats have been determined through detailed compositional analysis of their component fatty acids by GC, by GC/MS of dimethyl disulfide derivatives of monoenoic components, and by GC-combustion-isotope ratio-MS (GC-C-IRMS), to derive diagenetically robust delta(13)C values. Regiospecific analysis of intact triacylglycerols by high-performance liquid chromatography/MS (HPLC/MS), with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization, provides a further criterion for establishing the origin of fats. Preparative GC has been employed to isolate individual fatty acids from archaeological pottery in sufficient amounts for (14)C dating.