Volatile composition of pomegranates from 9 Spanish cultivars using headspace solid phase microextraction

Fruits of 9 Spanish pomegranate cultivars were analyzed for quality parameters, volatile composition, and sensory profile. Volatile compounds were extracted using headspace solid phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and flame ionization detector (GC-FID). Twenty-one compounds were found in the headspace of fresh pomegranate juices, including aldehydes, monoterpenes, and alcohols. The most abundant compounds were hexanal, limonene, trans-2-hexenal, and cis-3-hexenol. Fruits from the cultivars Mollar Elche(ME) ME14, ME1, and ME2 presented the highest values of overall liking by the consumer panel; however, their total volatiles concentration were low compared to the other pomegranate cultivars and their color intensity was intermediate. Overall consumer liking of pomegranate juices was mainly associated with the presence of monoterpenes (α-terpineol); however, high aldehydes (trans-2-hexenal) concentrations were correlated with poor overall consumer liking. Fruits from sour-sweet cultivars (PTO7 and ADO4) could improve the quality of ME pomegranate juices due to their intense color, high monoterpenes concentrations, and their moderate sourness. Practical Application: The information provided in this study proves that sour-sweet pomegranate fruits can be used in the manufacturing of pomegranate juices and will improve the sensory quality and the volatile composition of this product.     

Happiness versus sadness as a determinant of thought confidence in persuasion: A self-validation analysis.

The present research introduces a new mechanism by which emotion can affect evaluation. On the basis of the self-validation hypothesis (R. E. Petty, P. Bri?ol, & Z. L. Tormala, see record 2002-12575-003), the authors predicted and found that emotion can influence evaluative judgments by affecting the confidence people have in their thoughts to a persuasive message. In each study, participants first read a strong or weak persuasive communication. After listing their thoughts about the message, participants were induced to feel happy or sad. Relative to sad participants, those put in a happy state reported more thought confidence. As a consequence, the effect of argument quality on attitudes was greater for happy than for sad participants. These self-validation effects generalized across different emotion inductions, different persuasion topics, and different measures of thought confidence. In one study, happy and sad conditions each differed from a neutral affect control. Most important, these metacognitive effects of emotion only occurred under high elaboration conditions. In contrast, individuals with relatively low motivation to think showed a main effect of emotion on attitudes, regardless of argument quality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structure and bonding of ArClF: Intermolecular potential surface

The ground-state potential surface of the Ar-ClF complex is determined by restricted coupled-cluster with single and double excitations and a noniterative perturbation treatment of triple excitation (RCCSD(T)) calculations, using augmented correlation consistent basis sets supplemented with an additional set of midbond functions. Three local minima are found for the Ar-ClF, which correspond to linear Ar-Cl-F and Ar-F-Cl configurations and a near T-shaped structure. The well depths and the equilibrium distances are 283.62 cm⁻¹ at 3.84 Å and 128.96 cm⁻¹ at 4.31 Å for the linear ones and 173.13 cm⁻¹ at 3.58 Å for the one at θ = 107.5°. Bound-state calculations are carried out and the linear Ar-Cl-F structure is found to be the most stable one, in accordance with the experiment. Dissociation energies, intermolecular distances, and vibrational frequencies are computed and compared with available experimental data.     

Stock Market Response to Acquisitions and Alliances in the European Telecom Industry: An Information Asymmetry Perspective

This paper investigates two kinds of strategic combinations carried out by the European telecom operators between 1986 and 2001: acquisitions, on the one hand, and strategic alliances, on the other. The aim of the paper is twofold. First, it analyzes the behavior adopted by these companies to adapt to an environment that, after the processes of globalization and privatization presents a clearly different structure. Second, it focuses on the effect that internationalization and diversification could exert over the returns obtained by the European telecom firms involved in acquisitions and alliances, differentiating when such strategic combinations are more profitable for the shareholders of the firms that carry them out.     

Effects of JPEG2000 data compression on an automated system for detecting clustered microcalcifications in digital mammograms.

The functionalities of the JPEG2000 standard have led to its incorporation into digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM), which makes this compression method available for medical systems. In this study, we evaluated the compression of mammographic images with JPEG2000 (16 : 1, 20 : 1, 40 : 1, 60.4 : 1, 80: 1, and 106 : 1) for applications with a computer-aided detection (CAD) system for clusters of microcalcifications. Jackknife free-response receiver operating characteristic (JAFROC) analysis indicated that differences in the detection of clusters of microcalcifications were not statistically significant for uncompressed versus 16: 1 (T = -0.7780; p = 0.4370), 20 : 1 (T = 1.0361; p = 0.3007), and 40 : 1 (T = 1.6966; p = 0.0904); and statistically significant for uncompressed versus 60.4 : 1 (T = 5.8883; p < 0.008), 80 : 1 (T = 7.8414; p < 0.008), and 106 : 1 (T = 17.5034; p = < 0.008). Although there is a small difference in peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) between compression ratios, the true-positive (TP) and false-positive (FP) rates, and the free-response receiver operating characteristic (FROC), figure of merit values considerably decreased from a 60 : 1 compression ratio. The performance of the CAD system is significantly reduced when using images compressed at ratios greater than 40 : 1 with JPEG2000 compared to uncompressed images. Mammographic images compressed up to 20 : 1 provide a percentage of correct detections by our CAD system similar to uncompressed images, regardless of the characteristics of the cluster. Further investigation is required to determine how JPEG2000 affects the detectability of clusters of microcalcifications as a function of their characteristics.     

Overt head movements and persuasion: A self-validation analysis.

The authors report 3 experiments that examine a new mechanism by which overt head movements can affect attitude change. In each experiment, participants were induced to either nod or to shake their heads while listening to a persuasive message. When the message arguments were strong, nodding produced more persuasion than shaking. When the arguments were weak, the reverse occurred. These effects were most pronounced when elaboration was high. These findings are consistent with the "self-validation" hypothesis that postulates that head movements either enhance (nodding) or undermine (shaking) confidence in one's thoughts about the message. In a 4th experiment, the authors extended this result to another overt behavior (writing with the dominant or nondominant hand) and a different attitude domain (self-esteem). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incorporating Maintenance Effectiveness in the Estimation of Dynamic Infrastructure Performance Models

Abstract:   We show how intervention analysis can be used in conjunction with dynamic performance modeling to analyze the effect of maintenance activities on the performance of infrastructure facilities. Specifically, we consider state-space specifications of autoregressive moving averages with exogenous inputs models to develop deterioration and inspection models for infrastructure facilities, and intervention analysis to estimate transitory and permanent effects of maintenance, for example, performance jumps or deterioration rate changes. To illustrate the methodology, we analyze the effectiveness of an overlay on a flexible pavement section from the AASHO Road Test. The results show the effect of the overlay on improvements both on surface distress, that is, rutting and slope variance, as well as on the pavement's underlying serviceability. The results also provide evidence that the overlay changes the pavement's response to traffic, that is, the overlay causes a reduction in the rate at which traffic damages the pavement .     

Design of a digital FM demodulator based on a 2nd-order all-digital phase-locked loop

Software-defined radio (SDR) is a revolution in radio design due to the ability to create radios that can self-adapt on the fly. In SDR devices, all of the signal processing is implemented in the digital domain, mainly on DSP blocks or by DSP software. By simply downloading a new program, a SDR device is able to interoperate with different wireless protocols, incorporate new services, and upgrade to new standards. Therefore, massively parallel signal processing at higher frequencies are needed to implement a realistic SDR. Thus, FPGAs have been used extensively for implementing essential functions in SDR architectures at lower frequencies. In this paper, we explore the design of a digital FM receiver using the approach of an All-Digital Phase Locked-Loop (ADPLL). The circuit is designed in VHDL, then synthesized and simulated using LeonardoSpectrum Level 3 and ModelSim SE 6, respectively. It operates at a frequency up to 150 MHz and occupies the area of roughly 15 K logic gates.     

Development of a software library of functions for analysis of spatial mechanisms

An integrated method for symbolical derivation of Eqs and numerical computations using dual numbers for analysis of spatial mechanisms is presented in this paper. The formulation is based on 3×3 dual transformation matrices and derived symbolically using the Mathematica ^TM software package. Based on the solution procedure presented in this paper, a software library of functions for displacement analysis of spatial mechanisms has been developed. Functions in this software library can be readily used in theC ^H language environment, where dual number is treated as a first-class object. Displacement analysis of the RCRCR spatial mechanisms is used as an example to illustrate the solution procedure and programming details.