Long-term semantic memory versus contextual memory in unconscious number processing.

Subjects classified visible 2-digit numbers as larger or smaller than 55. Target numbers were preceded by masked 2-digit primes that were either congruent (same relation to 55) or incongruent. Experiments 1 and 2 showed prime congruency effects for stimuli never included in the set of classified visible targets, indicating subliminal priming based on long-term semantic memory. Experiments 2 and 3 went further to demonstrate paradoxical unconscious priming effects resulting from task context. For example, after repeated practice classifying 73 as larger than 55, the novel masked prime 37 paradoxically facilitated the "larger" response. In these experiments task context could induce subjects to unconsciously process only the leftmost masked prime digit, only the rightmost digit, or both independently. Across 3 experiments, subliminal priming was governed by both task context and long-term semantic memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in phytate and minerals during germination and cooking of fenugreek seeds

The effects of germination, cooking and roasting on the phytic acid content, total phosphorus, water soluble inorganic phosphorus and mineral content of fenugreek seeds have been estimated. After 96 h germination, the dry weight of fenugreek seeds decreased while total ash content increased. Phytase and phosphatase activity of the ungerminated and germinated seeds have been assayed. It is observed that during germination the phytic acid values diminish and the water soluble inorganic phosphorus values increase. Phytase activity which is absent in the ungerminated seeds originates after germination and the phosphatase activity is increased in the germinated seeds. Heat treatment practised in cooking and roasting fenugreek seeds has less effect on phytate elimination than does germination. Changes in calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, copper and zinc are found to be dependent on the loss of dry weight which occurs during processing of fenugreek seeds.     

Preliminary studies on the mucilages extracted from Okra fruits,Taro tubers,Jew's mellow leaves and Fenugreek seeds

Okra fruits, Taro tubers, Jew's mellow leaves and Fenugreek seeds are commonly used in Egypt to prepare popular diets with desired slimy consistency.The mucilages were extracted and preliminary studies conducted to characterise them physically. The pH values of a 1% solution of the mucilages varied from 6·9-7·5 for Okra and Taro, 7·1–7·8 for Jew's mellow, and 5·9-6 for Fenugreek, depending upon extraction conditions. The highest viscosity was observed in Okra solutions, followed by Fenugreek, Jew's mellow and Taro mucilages. Okra and Jew's mellow mucilages are acidic polysaccharides which contain higher amounts of ash than the Taro and Fenugreek mucilages which are neutral polysaccharides. All mucilages are associated with protein. Gel chromatography indicated strong interaction of protein with the polysaccharide. The acid hydrolysis of the mucilages followed by paper chromatography revealed that all mucilages contain methyl pentose, glucose, galactose, and fructose, in different proportions. Taro and Fenugreek mucilages are free of rhamnose. All mucilages are devoid of arabinose and mannose except Fenugreek which contained these two sugars.     

Hygrothermal behavior modeling of the hygroscopic envelopes of buildings: A dynamic co-simulation approach

High levels of humidity in buildings lead to building pathologies. Moisture also has an impact on the indoor air quality and the hygrothermal comfort of the building’s occupants. To better assess these pathologies, it is necessary to take into account the heat and moisture transfer between the building envelope and its indoor ambience. In this work, a new methodology was developed to predict the overall behavior of buildings, which combines two simulation tools: COMSOL Multiphysics© and TRNSYS. The first software is used for the modeling of heat, air and moisture transfer in multilayer porous walls (HAM model: Heat, Air and Moisture transfer), and the second is used to simulate the hygrothermal behavior of the building (BES model: Building Energy Simulation). The combined software applications dynamically solve the mass and energy conservation equations of the two physical models. The HAM-BES coupling efficiency was verified. In this paper, the use of a coupled (HAM-BES) co-simulation for the prediction of the hygrothermal behavior of building envelopes is discussed. Furthermore, the effect of the 2D HAM modeling on relative humidity variations within the building ambience is shown. The results confirm the importance of the HAM modeling in the envelope on the hygrothermal behavior and energy demand of buildings.     

Modeling of water spray evaporation: Application to passive cooling of buildings

The use of water droplet evaporation in shower towers and passive downdraft evaporative cooling needs the estimation of the time needed to completely evaporate the drops. To solve this problem, a cellular approach is proposed in which the spray is considered as a pile of rigid spheres of equal size; each sphere has multiple layers and contains a drop in its center. The evaporation takes place gradually from the superficial layer towards the internal layers. Parametric studies show the influence of each variable on the evaporation time of the droplets. The model may be used for sizing passive evaporative cooling systems and towers for buildings using the passive evaporative down draught effect. A building equipped with a shower tower has been tested in the framework of the European project PDEC/JOULE in Catania (Italy). The spraying system was successfully sized by using the model proposed in this paper.     

Improved RFID anti-collision algorithm

In this paper, we propose an improved anti-collision technique based on the binary search algorithm. The improvement is achieved thanks to the manner of the requests’ building. This latter reduces considerably the responding tag's numbers and therefore, decreases the probability of bit's collision. Further, the algorithm provides a noticeable advantage for the length of transmitted binary data compared against basic binary search and dynamic binary search algorithms. Besides, it provides same performance in terms of average request's number making the identification process faster, and the expose time of information is then reduced.