Impaired verbal comprehension of quantifiers in corticobasal syndrome.

Objective: Patients with Corticobasal Syndrome (CBS) have atrophy in posterior parietal cortex. This region of atrophy has been previously linked with quantifier comprehension difficulty, but previous studies employed visual stimuli, making it difficult to account for potentially confounding visuospatial deficits in CBS patients. The current study evaluated comprehension of generalized quantifiers using strictly verbal materials. Method: Non-aphasic CBS patients, a brain-damaged control group (consisting of patients with Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia), and age-matched healthy controls participated in this study. We assessed familiar temporal, spatial, and monetary domains of verbal knowledge comparatively. Judgment accuracy was only evaluated in statements for which patients demonstrated accurate factual knowledge about the target domain. Results: We found that patients with CBS are significantly impaired in their ability to evaluate quantifiers when compared to healthy seniors and a brain-damaged control group, even in this strictly verbal task. This impairment was seen in the vast majority of individual CBS patients. Conclusions: These findings offer additional evidence of quantifier impairment in CBS patients and emphasize that this impairment cannot be attributed to potential visuo spatial processing impairments in patients with parietal disease. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interatomic potentials for Zirconium Diboride and Hafnium Diboride

We report on the first interatomic potentials for Zirconium Diboride and Hafnium Diboride. The potentials are of the Tersoff form, and are obtained by fitting to a first-principles database of basic properties of elemental Zr, Hf, B, and the compounds ZrB₂ and HfB₂. Two variants of the Zr–B potentials have been obtained, and one for Hf–B. The potentials have been tested against a variety of properties of the compound, with the conclusion that they are stable and provide a reasonable representation of the desired properties of the two diborides.     

The impact of barley straw conditioning on the inhibition of Scenedesmus using chemostats

The current paper investigates the role of barley straw conditioning on inhibiting the alga Scenedesmus. Fresh, pre-rotted and white rot fungi (WRF) augmented straw was tested in a series of chemostat experiments over 15 weeks. All three systems were effective at inhibiting the alga with differences observed in the lag time before inhibition occurred and the rate of alga decline. Lag times of 8, 4 and 1 week(s) were recorded for the fresh, rotted and fungi-treated straws, respectively, with a maximum inhibition rate of >7 × 10⁴ cells week⁻¹ observed for the fungi pre-treated system. Overall, the results indicate that pre-treatment is a viable method to enable barley straw to be used in a more reactive manner. Explanation is postulated that during pre-treatment no alternative sources of nitrogen are available, thereby leading to greater bacterial decomposition of straw lignin to release inhibitory substances. The principle of utilising an engineered pre-treatment by inoculating barley straw with WRF to enhance the impact of the straw on algal inhibition has been clearly demonstrated. Further work is required to understand how the straw pre-treatment stage can be reduced to minimise its duration while maximising the inhibitory effect of adding barley straw.     

Identification and management of acid generating mine wastes-procedures and practices in south-east Asia and the Pacific regions

Development of mineral resources in the Asian/Pacific region are a particular concern due to the generation of solid waste and disposal of this waste in a wet and humid environment. This paper addresses the major geochemical issues associated with mine waste disposal under these conditions with particular emphasis on acid mine drainage and acid generating waste materials. A strategy is presented for classifying the acid forming potential of mine waste based on the acid-base account and the net acid generation (NAG) confirmation test. The need for a correct and adequate sampling strategy is highlighted since sample selection is a crucial step in the identification of acid generating waste.     

Causal Effects of Aroma Compounds on Royal Gala Apple Flavours

Volatile flavour compounds produced by Royal Gala apple have been identified by GC-MS. Major components were 2-methylbutyl acetate, butyl acetate, hexyl acetate, butanol, 2-methylbutanol and hexanol. Odour-port evaluation of the components separated by GC indicated that the first four compounds were important contributors to the aroma and flavour. Use of analytical sensory panels revealed that 2-methylbutyl acetate, butanol and hexyl acetate had the greatest causal effect on those aroma and flavour attributes considered important for Royal Gala apples.     

Study of the Blast Wave Parameters from Small Scale Explosions

Although the science of blast overpressure is well understood there are major difficulties in obtaining accurate values for peak overpressure, positive duration, and positive impulse. These parameters are required to assess damage potential of blast overpressures. This paper describes the problems associated with such measurements and how the problems can be overcome by the use of known analytical techniques based on the modified Friedlander equation. Other methods used include curve smoothing of the pressure-time history and integration to obtain impulse values through which the curve decay parameter can be found. Several different analytical methods are compared. The experiments have been carried out on small charges (200 g and 400 g) and the results obtained analysed to assess far-field distances for such charges. This has been achieved by comparing peak overpressure values with the scaled distance.     

Acidified sodium caseinate emulsion foams containing liquid fat: A comparison with whipped cream

Aeration properties of acidified casein-stabilized emulsions containing liquid oil droplets have been compared to the whipping of dairy cream. The foam systems were characterized in terms of overrun, microstructure, drainage stability, and rheology. With acidification using glucono-δ-lactone, the casein-stabilized emulsions could be aerated to give foams of far higher overrun (>600%) than whipped cream (∼120%). The development of foam volume, stability and rheology in the aerated casein-stabilized emulsion systems was found to be strongly dependent on the pH and the concentration of added calcium ions. Whereas whipped cream is stabilized by partially coalesced fat globules, the casein emulsion foams are stabilized by aggregation (gelation) of the protein coat surrounding the oil droplets. Casein emulsion foams formed at low pH were found to be more stable than whipped cream, whilst those formed at high pH were predominantly liquid-like and unstable. Instability arose in the acidified casein emulsion foams mainly through gel syneresis. We conclude that there are substantial textural differences between whipped cream and acidified casein emulsion foams, especially in terms of the small-deformation rheology and the extent of the linear viscoelastic regime.     

Evaluation of an alkaline phosphatase-labeled oligonucleotide probe for the detection and enumeration of the thermostable-related hemolysin (trh) gene of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Reliable methods are needed to detect total and pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus. One marker of V. parahaemolyticus virulence is the thermostable-related hemolysin. We developed an alkaline phosphatase-labeled DNA probe method for the specific detection and enumeration of trh-positive V. parahaemolyticus by colony hybridization. The probe was tested against a panel of 200 bacterial strains and determined to be specific for trh-positive V. parahaemolyticus. Additionally, the trh alkaline phosphatase probe colony hybridization was successfully used to detect and enumerate trh-positive V. parahaemolyticus in seafood and water samples collected from the United States and the United Kingdom.