Is there a direct relationship between oral astringency and human salivary protein binding?

For decades, it is believed that astringency is due to the polyphenol-induced complexation of proline-rich salivary proteins in the oral cavity. In order to compare for the first time the human sensory threshold concentrations and the salivary protein binding activity of a series of astringent stimuli, human saliva protein was incubated for 5 min at 37 °C in the presence of astringent food-derived compounds and, after micro-centrifugation, the amount of the target molecules in the supernatant was quantitatively determined by HPLC-UV/Vis. Significant protein binding was observed for (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, (−)-gallocatechin-3-gallate, (+)-gallocatechin, and (−)-catechin-3-gallate, all of which containing at least one galloyl moiety in the molecule and exhibiting rather high sensory thresholds of more than 200 μmol/L. In comparison, (+)-catechin and procyanidin B2, both lacking in any galloyl function, showed only comparatively low binding activity and, most interestingly, quercetin-3-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-d-glucopyranoside and 3-carboxymethyl-indole-1-N-β-d-glucopyranoside did not show any protein binding at all, although the later N- and O-glycosides exhibited extraordinarily low sensory threshold concentrations of less than 0.001 and 0.0003 μmol/L, respectively. The data give some first evidence that the quantity of the non-bound, “free” astringent stimulus in the saliva liquid might be more closely related to the sensory perception of astringency than the amount complexed or precipitated by proteins. It is therefore questionable as to whether oral perception of astringency is related to the complexation and/or precipitation of salivary proteins.     

Comparison of copper emission rates from wood treated with different preservatives to the environment

This study describes a laboratory method for the estimation of emission from preservative-treated wood in the different situations where emissions could enter the environment for use classes 3 (not in contact with ground) and 4 and 5 (in contact with the ground, fresh water or sea water) according to OECD Guidelines. Samples of scotch pine sapwood (Pinus sylvestris L.) were treated with CCA (1% and 2%), ACQ-1900 (3% and 7%), ACQ-2200 (2%), Tanalith E 3491 (2% and 2.8%), and Wolmanit CX-8 (2%).     

Face recognition using elastic local reconstruction based on a single face image

In this paper, we propose a new face recognition algorithm based on a single frontal-view image for each face subject, which considers the effect of the face manifold structure. To compare two near-frontal face images, each face is considered a combination of a sequence of local image blocks. Each of the image blocks of one image can be reconstructed according to the corresponding local image block of the other face image. Then an elastic local reconstruction (ELR) method is proposed to measure the similarities between the image block pairs in order to measure the difference between the two face images. Our algorithm not only benefits from the face manifold structure, in terms of being robust to various image variations, but also is computationally simple because there is no need to build the face manifold. We evaluate the performance of our proposed face recognition algorithm with the use of different databases, which are produced under various conditions, e.g. lightings, expressions, perspectives, with/without glasses and occlusions. Consistent and promising experimental results were obtained, which show that our algorithm can greatly improve the recognition rates under all the different conditions.     

Michael Tye,Consciousness, Color,and Content,Representation and Mind Series,Cambridge, MA/London: A Bradford Book,MIT Press, 2000, xiii + 198 pp., $29.95 (cloth), ISBN 0-262-20129-1

Minds and Machines -     

Health IT: A Roundtable Discussion with Healthcare Information Technology Executives

Introducing new technology in a healthcare setting is a complex undertaking. In an environment in which accuracy, security, and reliability are critical elements, careful planning is the primary factor in ensuring a successful implementation.     

人脸识别研究进展

人脸识别技术在各种应用的推动下发展很快。而近几年中，为避免各种实际应用环境的限制，非约束环境下的人脸识别也得到了很大的发展。本文概述了人脸识别的一些主要方法，讨论了影响人脸识别的几个主要因素及其处理方法以及基于视频的人脸识别技术，最后指出了鲁棒的人脸识别技术的研究方向和发展前景。     

Implementation of a mechanics-based system for estimating the strength of timber

The most accurate way of determining the strength of lumber requires destructive testing. An intelligent mechanics-based lumber-grading system was developed to provide a better estimation of the strength of a board nondestructively. This system processed X-ray-extracted geometric features (of 1080 boards that eventually underwent destructive strength testing) by using finite element methods to generate associated stress fields. The stress fields were then fed to a feature-extracting-processor, which produced 26 strength predicting features. The best strength predicting features were determined from the coefficient of determination (correlation r/sup 2/) between the features and actual strengths of the boards. The coefficients of determination of each feature (or combination of features), with the actual strength of the board, were calculated and compared. A coefficient of determination of 0.4158 was achieved by using a longitudinal (along the local grain angle) maximum stress concentration (MSC) feature to predict the estimated strength of lumber.     

Meßtechnik zur Charakterisierung von Gas/Flüssigkeits-Reaktoren

Measuring techniques for characterizing gas/liquid reactors . The article considers measuring techniques for the characterization of the phases in gas/liquid reactors. These include the velocity profile and turbulence in the continuous phase as well as holdup, size, and velocity of the dispersed phase. Also, methods for the determination of the specific interfacial area and the volumetric mass transfer coefficients are discussed. Measuring methods have made enormous advances in recent years. In spite of this, there is a lack of reliable methods, especially for use during reactions without disturbing the state of the reactor. It is suspected that probe technique will gradually fall into disuse and more and more attention will be focussed on contractless methods. This calls for further development of ultrasonic methods and methods relying on emission of light.