Cooking rice in excess water reduces both arsenic and enriched vitamins in the cooked grain

This paper reports the effects of rinsing rice and cooking it in variable amounts of water on total arsenic, inorganic arsenic, iron, cadmium, manganese, folate, thiamin and niacin in the cooked grain. We prepared multiple rice varietals both rinsed and unrinsed and with varying amounts of cooking water. Rinsing rice before cooking has a minimal effect on the arsenic (As) content of the cooked grain, but washes enriched iron, folate, thiamin and niacin from polished and parboiled rice. Cooking rice in excess water efficiently reduces the amount of As in the cooked grain. Excess water cooking reduces average inorganic As by 40% from long grain polished, 60% from parboiled and 50% from brown rice. Iron, folate, niacin and thiamin are reduced by 50–70% for enriched polished and parboiled rice, but significantly less so for brown rice, which is not enriched.     

Linkage analysis of complex traits using affected sibpairs: effects of single-locus approximations on estimates of the required sample size

We investigated the power of the affected sibpair method for detecting a disease locus when the disease is inherited through two bi-allelic loci. The power was computed for all possible values of the gene frequencies and penetrances that lead to a given population prevalence and a given sibling relative risk. A method to generate rapidly all possible models that give a specific population prevalence and relative risk is provided. We applied it to the case of a two-locus disease with a prevalence of 10% and a low sibling relative risk of 1.5. For this particular example, regardless of the true underlying model, a sample size (N = 450 for alpha = 0.05, N = 1,500 for alpha = 0.0001) may be determined such that one would expect enough power (0.80) to detect at least one of the two disease genes. In addition to the general case, we examined a special class of models in which the marginal penetrances at each locus are either recessive or dominant. In this instance, the gene frequencies were excellent predictors of the power afforded by a particular sample size. These methods have been implemented in a C program called SIBPOWER which is freely available from the first author. With this program, investigators can perform their own power calculations for any two-locus model of their choice thus avoiding the need to use single-locus approximations that may grossly underestimate the necessary sample size.     

Condensed matter physics journals

On the basis of a citation/reference criterion, 20 core journals are selected in the field of condensed matter physics. Citation data and indicators from 1980Journal Citation Reports reveal their different characteristic features such as applied orientation, communication function and longevity. The manually obtained data for the core journals are written into a matrix in order to determine an appropriate ranking parameter. The method ofPrice is used first to reduce the diagonal elements and then, following the method ofGeller, influence weights are calculated for the core journals. Influence weights are determined also for non-core journals using only the references received from the core.     

Thermal behavior of VRLA battery during closed oxygen cycle operation

This paper presents the results of the investigations of the thermal behavior of a model valve-regulated lead-acid cell at overcharge and saturation level around 90%. The heat capacity and the heat transfer coefficient are experimentally obtained. The quasi-steady state characteristics of the cell at constant charging current are measured. The experimental data show that, when operating in recombination regime, the stationary cell temperature is a linear function of the charging current. When the cell is gassing, part of the heat is dissipated with the released gases, as a result of which the cell temperature is lower than predicted from the linear temperature/current dependence. Introduced dimensionless slope of the temperature/current dependence is a characteristic of the VRLA battery, which could be used for fast and easy estimation of the temperature increase of the battery. The kinetic parameters of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) proceeding at the positive plates of VRLA cells are experimentally determined. The current/overpotential dependence of the OER obeys the Tafel relation. The temperature/current dependence and the kinetics of the OER are used to estimate the critical charging voltage for safe operation of the battery.     

Tuning of long-period fibre gratings written by CO/sub 2/ laser with resonant transmission below -45 dB

Long-period fibre gratings (LPGs) that were made to have resonant transmission below -45 dB are tuned via their simultaneous bending and straining. It was found that the position of the LPG resonance can be tuned over more than 6 nm, maintaining the level of the resonant transmission below -45 dB. Fine tuning of the resonance transmission without a change in its spectral position is also demonstrated. The reported LPGs should satisfy the strictest requirements on the control of LPG filtering characteristics, especially in terms of the phase response     

On the stability radii of continuous-time infinite Markov jump linear systems

In this paper we introduce the subject of stability radii for continuous-time infinite Markov jump linear systems (MJLS) with respect to unstructured perturbations. By means of the small-gain approach, a lower bound for the complex radius is derived along with a linear matrix inequality (LMI) optimization method which is new in this context. In this regard, we propose an algorithm to solve the optimization problem, based on a bisectional procedure, which is tailored in such a way that avoids the issue of scaling optimization. In addition, an easily computable upper bound for the real and complex stability radii is devised, with the aid of a spectral characterization of the problem. This seems to be a novel approach to the problem of robust stability, even when restricted to the finite case, which in turn allows us to obtain explicit formulas for the stability radii of two-mode scalar MJLS. We also introduce a connection between stability radii and a certain margin of stability with respect to perturbations on the transition rates of the Markov process. The applicability of the main results is illustrated with some numerical examples.     

Volume Holographic Gratings: Modelling Their Optical Properties

Abstract

Numerical studies of non-sinusoidal holographic gratings are reported. It is assumed that losses are present during the hologram recording process. At reconstruction the structures are treated as pure-phase volume gratings. The photo induced changes in the refractive index of the material are described by an exponential saturation law. Angular and wavelength selectivities of unslanted transmission and reflection gratings are evaluated.