Comparison of bioactive peptides prepared from sheep cheese whey using a food‐grade bacterial and a fungal protease preparation

Novel bacterial (HT) and fungal (FPII) food‐grade protease preparations were evaluated for their ability to hydrolyse sheep cheese whey (SCW) and the generation of bioactive peptides. Both protease preparations hydrolysed the whey proteins to small peptides over 24‐h hydrolysis time, but the time course hydrolysis profiles were different as evaluated by SDS‐PAGE. The HT whey hydrolysate had considerably higher antioxidant and angiotensin‐I converting enzyme (ACE)‐inhibitor activity than the FPII hydrolysate. Neither hydrolysate was cytotoxic towards Vero cells. OFFGEL electrophoresis of the small peptide pool fraction (<15 amino acids) of each hydrolysate indicated differences in the pI distribution of the bioactive peptides. This likely reflects the diverse hydrolytic specificity of the proteases. Although the antioxidant activity of both hydrolysates was not significantly affected by simulated gastrointestinal digestion, the loss of ACE‐inhibitor activity was greater with the FPII hydrolysate.     

Parental affect and coping.

Parental affect and coping strategies have been identified as being important for the understanding of the processes involved in the socialization of children. In the present study, 24 fathers (mean age 35.21 yrs old) and 62 mothers (mean age 35.05 yrs) (unrelated) described a stressful incident with one of their children and completed questionnaires addressing their appraisal of the event, their affect, and consequent coping strategy. Both child characteristics (age, birth order, and gender) and parent characteristics (gender, affect intensity, and ego level) were examined in relation to parents' appraisal of the cause of the event, their affect, and their coping strategy. Feelings of being angry, afraid, sad, and guilty, and use of coping strategies are discussed in light of the need for further research on emotion in parenting situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing the reproducibility and robustness of the cancer biology literature by robot

Scientific results should not just be ‘repeatable’ (replicable in the same laboratory under identical conditions), but also ‘reproducible’ (replicable in other laboratories under similar conditions). Results should also, if possible, be ‘robust’ (replicable under a wide range of conditions). The reproducibility and robustness of only a small fraction of published biomedical results has been tested; furthermore, when reproducibility is tested, it is often not found. This situation is termed ‘the reproducibility crisis'', and it is one the most important issues facing biomedicine. This crisis would be solved if it were possible to automate reproducibility testing. Here, we describe the semi-automated testing for reproducibility and robustness of simple statements (propositions) about cancer cell biology automatically extracted from the literature. From 12 260 papers, we automatically extracted statements predicted to describe experimental results regarding a change of gene expression in response to drug treatment in breast cancer, from these we selected 74 statements of high biomedical interest. To test the reproducibility of these statements, two different teams used the laboratory automation system Eve and two breast cancer cell lines (MCF7 and MDA-MB-231). Statistically significant evidence for repeatability was found for 43 statements, and significant evidence for reproducibility/robustness in 22 statements. In two cases, the automation made serendipitous discoveries. The reproduced/robust knowledge provides significant insight into cancer. We conclude that semi-automated reproducibility testing is currently achievable, that it could be scaled up to generate a substantive source of reliable knowledge and that automation has the potential to mitigate the reproducibility crisis.     

Literacy development in Canada.

Literacy development has been found to have a considerable influence on individuals' lives, modern society, and its economy. As a consequence, a great deal of attention has been devoted to the facets of literacy, the conditions that facilitate its development, and its impact. This special issue of Canadian Psychology provides a sample of current research programmes carried out on literacy development by Canadian researchers in psychology and education. The topics addressed include emergent literacy, the longitudinal prediction of reading development, the development of oral reading and reading comprehension, literacy development amongst French immersion students, the importance of culturally and developmentally appropriate practices in literacy instruction, and the prevention of reading difficulties. The concluding article provides an overview of the current definitions of learning/reading disabilities in Canadian provinces and territories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring technological diversification: identifying the effects of patent scale and patent scope

Although technological diversification is an important strategic decision for both large and small firms alike, the conventional method of measuring such diversification may well introduce significant scale bias against small- and medium-sized firms. We examine this issue in this study using a sample of 73 Taiwanese integrated-circuit (IC) design firms covering the period from 1995 to 2007 and conclude that the conventional measure of technological diversification reflects the spread or distribution amongst technology classes of a company’s current technology portfolio, and does not capture the incremental expansion in technological scope, or the ‘dynamic act of diversification’, as reflected in our alternative scope measure. Our results suggest clear constraints on the applications made under the conventional index, particularly for firms with small patent scale.     

Chemical vapor deposition of Pb1−xLaxTiO3

Abstract

We report chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of PbLaTiO₃ films for integrated pyroelectric devices. Pb(thd)₂, La(thd)₃ and Ti(O-Pr)₂(thd)₂ were introduced to the reactor via a single liquid precursor solution that is vaporized. Substrate temperatures were approximately 535°C and post deposition annealing was not used. Films were deposited on fused silica and Pt metallized Si substrates. The liquid delivery technique permitted excellent composition control and films on fused silica were predominantly [100] oriented with trace amounts of [110] and [111] present. Pyroelectricity for 0.7μm thick films deposited on Pt metallized Si was measured using a modified Byer-Roundi technique and pyroelectric coefficients as high as 90 nC/cm²·K were observed. The high crystalline quality and pyroelectric properties are attributed to the excellent composition control afforded by the liquid delivery CVD technique.     

Using Dihedral Angles for Edge Extraction in Range Data

The volume of raw range image data that is required to represent just a single scene can be extensive; hence direct interpretation of range images can incur a very high computational cost. Range image feature extraction has been identified as a mechanism to produce a more compact scene representation, in particular using features such as edges and surfaces, and hence enables less costly scene interpretation for applications such as object recognition and robot navigation. We present an approach to edge detection in range images that can be used directly with any range data, regardless of whether the data have regular or irregular spatial distribution. The approach is evaluated with respect to accuracy of both edge location and visual results are also provided.     

Polyester networks based upon epoxidized and maleinated natural oils

Novel families of flexible, semiflexible and rigid crosslinked polyesters were prepared from modified natural oils such as soybean, rape-seed and linseed oil. Maleinated oils were used as anhydride-functional curing agents of epoxy resins such as bisphenol-A-diglycidylether and epoxidized natural oils. A new class of unsaturated polyester resins was based upon maleic anhydride, epoxidized natural oils and styrene. The resulting thermosetting polyesters were reinforced with natural fibers such as hemp and flax fibers. The influence of molecular architectures, curing conditions and formulations on thermal, mechanical and morphological properties were investigated.