On modified incomplete cholesky factorization methods for the solution of problems with mixed boundary conditions and problems with discontinuous material conefficients

In Reference 1 a class of first-order factorization methods for the solution of large, sparse systems of equations, of which the coefficient matrix is a symmetric M-matrix, was introduced. Asymptotic results for the computational complexity was proved in the case of systems arising from finite difference approximation of second-order self-adjoint elliptic partial differential equation problems in two dimensions with Dirichlet boundary conditions. In this paper the result is extended to cover even mixed boundary conditions and problems with discontinuous material coefficients. Results from numerical experiments with various finite difference and finite element approximations are presented and comparisons with direct and other interative methods are made.     

Classification of different bovine muscles according to sensory characteristics and Warner Bratzler shear force

The aim was to examine how well different beef muscles from Norwegian Red bulls respond to the consumer needs. Ten carcasses were slaughtered at a commercial abbatoir, chilled at 4 °C for 48 h, and 10 muscles excised. After ageing for 9 days at 4 °C, the muscles were subjected to sensory and chemical analyses and classified according to these analyses in 4 quality groups. The results regarding the comparative quality of the muscles were similar to results from other studies on predominantly steers. M. infraspinatus showed superior tenderness, juiciness and colour properties and was the only muscle to be consistent in tenderness with 80% of the samples in the highest sensory quality class. Also M. triceps brachii and M. semimembranosus adductor were reasonably tender and consistent in tenderness. As compared with the studies on steers, the M. biceps femoris and M. vastus lateralis seemed to be less tender in bulls. Results regarding sensory colour intensity, juiciness and taste showed similar findings. The pattern of association between the muscles in this study was highly irregular as the relative muscle quality varied widely, which means that using M. longissimus dorsi as a quality indicator of all muscles in the carcass is questionable.     

Future threats to agricultural food production posed by environmental degradation,climate change,and animal and plant diseases – a risk analysis in three economic and climate settings

Global food security is one of the most pressing issues for humanity, and agricultural production is critical for achieving this. The existing analyses of specific threats to agricultural food production seldom bring out the contrasts associated with different levels of economic development and different climatic zones. We therefore investigated the same biophysical threats in three modelled types of countries with different economic and climatic conditions. The threats analysed were environmental degradation, climate change and diseases and pests of animals and plants. These threats were analysed with a methodology enabling the associated risks to be compared. The timeframe was 2012–2050 and the analysis was based on three underlying assumptions for 2050: the world population will have increased to 9 billion people, there will be a larger middle class in the world and climate change will be causing more extreme weather events, higher temperatures and altered precipitation. It is suggested that the risks, presented by the biophysical threats analysed, differ among the three modelled types of countries and that climate zone, public stewardship and economic strength are major determinants of these differences. These determinants are far from evenly spread among the world’s major food producers, which implies that diversification of risk monitoring and international assessment of agricultural production is critical for assuring global food security in 2050.     

Influence of human gastric juice on oxidation of marine lipids – in vitro study

This study evaluates whether marine lipids can oxidise in acidic stomach environment and whether authentic gastric juice has the potential to act as a pro- or anti-oxidative medium. Oxidation of herring lipids in emulsions and liposomes was followed in in vitro digestion models containing authentic human gastric juice, and compared to models containing hydrochloric acid solution. Peroxide value, concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and oxygen uptake rate increased in all the models during 2.5 h incubation at pH 4 and 37 °C in darkness. The markers showed no difference between oxidation in gastric juice and hydrochloric acid solution. Gastric juice reduced the prooxidant activity of iron ions measured as oxygen uptake rate, but did not reduce the activity of methemoglobin. Berry juice, green tea, red wine, and caffeic acid reduced oxygen uptake in the acidic environments while coffee, ascorbic acid and orange juice increased oxidation. Beverages accompanying foods containing marine lipids will therefore affect the course of post-prandial lipid oxidation.     

The cognitive and linguistic foundations of early reading development: A Norwegian latent variable longitudinal study.

The authors present the results of a 2-year longitudinal study of 228 Norwegian children beginning some 12 months before formal reading instruction began. The relationships between a range of cognitive and linguistic skills (letter knowledge, phoneme manipulation, visual–verbal paired-associate learning, rapid automatized naming (RAN), short-term memory, and verbal and nonverbal ability) were investigated and related to later measures of word recognition in reading. Letter knowledge, phoneme manipulation, and RAN were independent longitudinal predictors of early reading (word recognition) skills in the regular Norwegian orthography. Early reading skills initially appeared well described as a unitary construct that then showed rapid differentiation into correlated subskills (word decoding, orthographic choice, text reading, and nonword reading) that showed very high levels of longitudinal stability. The results are related to current ideas about the cognitive foundations of early reading skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)