Application of infrared reflectance spectroscopy to the analysis of milk and dairy products

A method for the rapid, simultaneous determination of protein, fat, carbohydrate, non-protein nitrogen and total solids in milk and liquid dairy products by infrared reflectance spectroscopy is presented. The method is calibrated against known standards obtained by conventional, time-consuming wet chemical methods but, once calibrated, can be operated routinely by non-skilled personnel. The method is sensitive and accurate down to 0·5% w/v and can be applied to most liquid samples without any need for prior preparation.     

Controlled prospective longitudinal study of women with cancer: II. Psychological outcomes.

The incidence and etiology of major life difficulties for women with survivable cancer were studied. Women with early stage cancer (n?=?65) were assessed after diagnosis but prior to treatment and reassessed at 4, 8, and 12 mo posttreatment. Two matched comparison groups, women diagnosed and treated for benign disease (n?=?22) and healthy women (n?=?60), were also assessed longitudinally. Results for 4 life areas are reported: (a) Emotional response to the life-threatening diagnosis and anticipation of treatment was characterized by depressed, anxious, and confused moods, whereas the response for women with benign disease was anxious only; these responses were transitory. (b) There was no evidence for a higher incidence of relationship dissolution or poorer marital adjustment; however, 30% of the women treated for disease reported that their partners may have had some sexual difficulty. (c) There was no evidence for impaired social adjustment. (d) Women treated for cancer retained their employment; however, their involvement was significantly reduced during recovery. Data suggest "islands" of significant life disruption following cancer, which do not appear to portend global adjustment vulnerability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thematic roles in sentence parsing.

Two eyetracking experiments examined the interaction among syntactic parsing preferences, thematically based comprehension preferences, and plausibility in the early stages of reading a sentence. Results from 64 adults support the pattern of results reported by L. Stowe (1989) when looking at the disambiguating region of a sentence. However, the results for earlier regions suggest that the postverbal noun phrase was initially taken as direct object of an ergative verb even when the subject was inanimate. It appears that the inanimacy of the subject may not have guided the initial syntactic analysis, but rather facilitated the revision of an initial misanalysis. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

No Science without Semantics

Computer science often faces the criticism that it isn't actual science. Doing science means using the scientific method, which includes reporting results so that others can repeat and verify them. The problem with the computer science community is the lack of shared terms with precise semantics. When a researcher reports phenomenal results that can't be replicated, the author might be viewed as a brilliant alchemist, but such works undermine claims of being "science."     

Carbon based electronic materials: applications in electron field emission

The influence of the different types of bonding present in a range of carbon based materials is discussed as a precursor to describing the field emission characteristics of carbon cold cathode materials. Some of the controlling factors which govern electron emission from carbon based cathodes are discussed. It is shown that from disordered carbon films the interplay between the clustered sp² phase and the insulating sp³ matrix is important. The transition from a ‘back contact’ to ‘front surface’ controlled emission mechanism is described in terms of the sp² content and field penetration. A possible reason for high field enhancement factors found in disordered films also is provided. It is further shown that changes to the sp² phase by current stressing can improve the field emission characteristics. Emission from carbon nanotubes is also discussed and the prospects for new types of nanotube – polymer composite based cathodes are also considered.     

Dependence of bilevel mathematical programs on irrelevant constraints

For standard, single-level mathematical programs, any optimal solution remains optimal when an inactive (i.e., irrelevant) constraint is added to the problem, a property termed independence of irrelevant constraints (IIC). In general, bilevel mathematical programs do not possess the IIC property. This paper presents necessary and sufficient conditions for the IIC property to hold for a bilevel program. A straightforward test is described that concludes whether or not a bilevel program is IIC.     

Analysis of a homologous series of non-reducing oligosaccharides from Arnica montana L. Roots

The oligosaccharide component compositions of a series of non-reducing oligosaccharides extracted from the roots of Arnica montana L. has been determined by gel permeation chromatography (g.p.c.). The range of oligosaccharides present was found to extend beyond the octasaccharide previously reported. with 16% to 19% of the oligosaccharides having a degree of polymerisation of between 11 and 19 and almost 3% having a degree of polymerisation greater than 20. The chromatographic behaviour of this series of oligosaccharides is compared with that observed for series of D-gluco-oligosaccharides.     

Cyclic X-Y mechanical tests: A new method to perform in situ reversed-deformation experiments in the high-voltage electron microscope

There has been, in the past, only limited success with in situ cyclic or reversed plastic deformation tests in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). This is probably partly due to problems associated with buckling of the foil when an applied tensile or shear stress is reversed. Mechanical analysis shows that dislocation movement can be reversed by tensile stressing in alternating perpendicular directions (i.e., 90° rotations of a tensile stress); thus buckling of the foil can be avoided. A design for performing such X-Y in situ TEM tests is presented, with observations that demonstrate its feasibility.