Functional and nutritional evaluation of lobster shell soluble proteins

The water soluble protein fraction from lobster shell was investigated on the basis of solubility, foaming capacity, foam, emulsion and thermal stability and amino acid composition. The protein material has good functional properties with the exception of foam stability; the thermal stability and the essential amino acid index were low. However, it may find interesting applications mainly on the basis of its functional properties and as a protein supply in such foods where a better balanced protein may result.     

Lymphocyte phenotyping in infants: maturation of lymphocyte subpopulations and the effects of HIV infection

Oxygen administration is one of the most important therapeutic interventions for a child with severe acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRI). Inexpensive and efficient methods of oxygen administration are highly desirable in hospitals in developing countries. The objectives of this study were to compare the frequency and nature of complications when nasopharyngeal catheters or nasal prongs are used to deliver oxygen. One hundred and twenty-one children between the ages of 2 weeks and 5 years with hypoxia due to ALRI were randomized to receive oxygen via a catheter (61 children) or via nasal prongs (60 children). The two groups were similar in terms of diagnoses, clinical severity, oxygen saturation on admission and case fatality rates. There was no difference in the incidence of hypoxaemic episodes between the two groups. The oxygen flow rates required on the day of admission for adequate oxygenation (SaO2 > 90%) ranged from 0.8 litres per minute to 1.2 litres per minute. The required oxygen flow rate decreased during the course of treatment. Mucus production was more of a problem in the catheter group, and nasal blockage, intolerance of the method of oxygen administration and nursing effort were generally higher amongst the catheter group, but none of these differences was significant. Ulceration or bleeding of the nose was significantly more common in the catheter group (19.7% vs 6.7%, p < 0.05). Abdominal distension and nasal perforation were not seen in either group. This study suggests that nasal prongs are safer, more comfortable and require less nursing expertise than nasopharyngeal catheters for administration of oxygen to children.     

Self-administered cocaine causes long-lasting increases in impulsive choice in a delay discounting task.

Cocaine use is associated with high levels of impulsive choice (preference for immediate over delayed rewards), but it is not clear whether cocaine use causes elevated impulsive choice, or whether elevated impulsive choice is solely a predisposing factor for cocaine use. This study examined the effects of prior cocaine self-administration on rats performing a delay discounting task commonly used to measure impulsive choice. Male Long-Evans rats were implanted with intravenous catheters, and following recovery, were trained to self-administer 30 mg/kg/day cocaine HCl (approx. 0.5 mg/kg/infusion) for 14 consecutive days (a control group received yoked intravenous saline infusions). Following three weeks of withdrawal, all rats were food-restricted and began training on the delay discounting task in standard operant chambers. On each trial, rats were given a choice between two levers. A press on one lever delivered a small food reward immediately, and a press on the other delivered a large food reward after a variable delay period. Rats that self-administered cocaine displayed greater impulsive choice (enhanced preference for the small immediate over the large delayed reward, as reflected by shorter indifference points) compared to controls, but were no different from controls on a “probabilistic discounting” task in which they chose between small certain and large uncertain rewards. These data suggest that self-administered cocaine can cause lasting elevations in impulsive choice, and that the high levels of impulsive choice observed in human cocaine users may be due in part to long-term effects of cocaine on brain function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Low-Power and Compact CMOS APS Circuits for Hybrid Cryogenic Infrared Fast Imaging

This brief presents a complete set of CMOS basic building blocks for low-cost scanning infrared (IR) cryogenic imagers. Low-power and compact novel circuits are proposed for single-capacitor integration and correlated double sampling, embedded pixel test, pixel charge-multiplexing and video composition and buffering. In order to validate the new basic building blocks, experimental results are reported in standard 0.35-mum CMOS technology for a 50 mum x 100 mum active pixel cell operating at 77 K. Based on the proposed circuits, IR imagers capable of capturing up to 256 x 2560 pixels at 25 fps can be implemented.     

Performance evaluation of the RQMA-CDMA scheme for multimedia traffic with QoS guarantees

The rapid growth of cellular mobile technology in recent years, coupled with the explosive growth of the Internet, has significantly increased the demand for wireless data services. Traffic on mobile devices is expected to be a mix of real-time traffic such as video, voice, and data, with users requiring diverse quality of service (QoS) guarantees for different types of traffic (video, voice and data). One of the primary challenges of providing QoS is how to prioritize and allocate network resources among contending applications. In order to achieve these goals, a scheduling scheme that can provide equitable and effective packet routing is required. This paper proposes a scheduling scheme called remote queuing multiple access-code division multiple access (RQMA-CDMA), whose purpose is to equitably assign bandwidth resources with QoS guarantees to different mobile devices. RQMA-CDMA is a rate scheduling scheme that can be used to assign bandwidth resources in conjunction with GPS (generalized processor sharing). Additionally, we analyze an admission control that is based on signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) for multimedia traffic. Finally, the performance of RQMA-CDMA is evaluated and compared to schemes based on CDMA-GPS according to dropped packets, delay, and throughput.     

Flexible Piezoelectric ZnO–Paper Nanocomposite Strain Sensor

The fabrication of a mechanically flexible, piezoelectric nanocomposite material for strain sensing applications is reported. Nanocomposite material consisting of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures embedded in a stable matrix of paper (cellulose fibers) is prepared by a solvothermal method. The applicability of this material as a strain sensor is demonstrated by studying its real‐time current response under both static and dynamic mechanical loading. The material presented highlights a novel approach to introduce flexibility into strain sensors by embedding crystalline piezoelectric material in a flexible cellulose‐based secondary matrix.