Textural and sensory characteristics of whole and skimmed flavored set-type yogurt during long storage

A study of refrigerated storage (10°C for 91 d) of whole and skimmed flavored set-type yogurt was made. Comparison with storage at 20°C for 21 d and 30°C for 3 d (accelerated) was also carried out. Refrigerated storage yogurts were assessed by a trained panel and by a consumer panel. Trained-panel scores were correlated to instrumental data, and the acceptability data for long storage were studied using consumer criteria. In all cases, after-storage pH values barely changed over storage time, indicating that the yogurt samples did not develop much acidity under any of the storage conditions studied. The profile of the instrumental texture curves obtained corresponded to a firm gel, which broke after a plunger penetrated the sample, and the firmness values of the whole yogurt were lower than for the skimmed yogurt under all the storage conditions studied. From a microbiological point of view, the viability of the yogurts was adequate at the different storage times and temperatures studied, although those stored at 10°C for long periods would not comply with some countries’ minimum requirements. Logistic regression of the data from a 50-consumer sensory evaluation showed that the probability of the whole yogurt being accepted after 91 d storage at 10°C was around 40%, whereas for the skimmed yogurt it was only 15%, largely because the skimmed yogurt developed certain negative attributes at an earlier stage of storage than the whole yogurt.     

Self-embedded context-free grammars with regular counterparts

In general, it is undecidable if an arbitrary context-free grammar has a regular solution. Past work has focused on special cases, such as one-letter grammars, non self-embedded grammars and the finite-language grammars, for which regular counterparts have been proven to exist. However, little is known about grammars with the self-embedded property. Using systems of equations, we highlight a number of subclasses of grammars, with self-embeddedness terms, such as and , that can still have regular languages as solutions. Constructive proofs that allow these subclasses of context-free grammars to be transformed to regular expressions are provided. We also point out a subclass of context-free grammars that is inherently non-regular. Our latest results can help demarcate more precisely the known boundaries between the regular and non-regular languages, within the context-free domain.Received: 17 January 2003, Published online: 17 February 2004Stefan Andrei: stefan@infoiasi.ro     

Assessment of the 3-d reconstruction and high-resolution geometrical modeling of the human skeletal trunk from 2-D radiographic images

This paper presents an in vivo validation of a method for the three-dimensional (3-D) high-resolution modeling of the human spine, rib cage, and pelvis for the study of spinal deformities. The method uses an adaptation of a standard close-range photogrammetry method called direct linear transformation to reconstruct the 3-D coordinates of anatomical landmarks from three radiographic images of the subject's trunk. It then deforms in 3-D 1-mm-resolution anatomical primitives (reference bones) obtained by serial computed tomography-scan reconstruction of a dry specimen. The free-form deformation is calculated using dual kriging equations. In vivo validation of this method on 40 scoliotic vertebrae gives an overall accuracy of 3.3 +/- 3.8 mm, making it an adequate tool for clinical studies and mechanical analysis purposes.     

InN Stillinger-Weber参数:用于InxGa1-xN合金

使用Stillinger-Weber(SW)类型经典势,研究了InxGa1-xN合金的原子结构以及富铟Clusters引起的InGaN/GaN量子阱的形变.SW参数来自氮化铟晶体常数和闪锌矿及铅锌矿结构中的弹性常数.还给出了含有富铟团簇的量子阱的能量.     

Pesticide determination by enzymatic inhibition and amperometric detection in a low-temperature cofired ceramics microsystem

Among the several fabrication techniques used to construct microflow systems, the low-temperature cofired ceramics (LTCC) technology, taking advantage of its multilayer approach, is one of the most versatile ones. It permits the integration of several unitary operations of an analytical process in a modular or monolithic way. Moreover, due to its perfect compatibility with screen-printing techniques, it also permits the integration of electronic components used to control the whole system setup. In this work the design, construction, and evaluation of a miniaturized analyzer for pesticide determination that integrates a pretreatment stage, based on two mixers or reactors, and an amperometric detection system to measure the product of an enzymatic inhibition reaction are presented. The detection system was monolithically integrated in the microfluidic platform, and it consisted of a screen-printed reference electrode and two platinum sheets, acting as auxiliary and working electrodes, which were embedded within the ceramic structure. The miniaturized system was characterized and successfully evaluated by determining carbofuran at the nanomolar level.     

The influence of Science and Technology Park characteristics on firms' innovation results

The effectiveness of Science and Technology Parks (STPs) as instruments of innovation policy has generated thriving debate among academics, practitioners and policy makers. A gap in the existing literature on STPs is that research mostly does not consider STPs' heterogeneity. The present paper aims at filling this gap, analysing the influence of different STP characteristics on their tenants' performance. Using data on 849 firms and 25 STPs from the 2009 Community Innovation Survey for Spain and a survey of STP managers respectively and after controlling for a wide set of firms characteristics, we find that: (i) firms located in very new or longer established STPs show better innovative performance; (ii) the size of the STP and its management company positively affects the innovative performance of tenants while services provision has no effect on firms' achieving better results; and (iii) firms in less technologically developed regions benefit more from location in an STP. Theoretical, policy and managerial contributions of our research are discussed in the paper.     

8.2% pure selenide kesterite thin‐film solar cells from large‐area electrodeposited precursors

Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ solar cell absorbers are synthesized by large‐area electrodeposition of metal stack precursors followed by selenization. A champion solar cell exhibits 8.2% power conversion efficiency, a new record for Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ solar cells prepared from electrodeposited metallic precursors. Significant improvements of device performance are achieved by the application of two etching procedures and buffer layer optimization. These results validate electrodeposition as a credible alternative to vacuum processes (sputtering, co‐evaporation) for earth‐abundant thin‐film solar cell fabrication at low cost. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pharmacogenetics in Neuroblastoma: What Can Already Be Clinically Implemented and What Is Coming Next?

Pharmacogenetics is one of the cornerstones of Personalized Precision Medicine that needs to be implemented in the routine of our patients’ clinical management in order to tailor their therapies as much as possible, with the aim of maximizing efficacy and minimizing toxicity. This is of great importance, especially in pediatric cancer and even more in complex malignancies such as neuroblastoma, where the rates of therapeutic success are still below those of many other types of tumors. The studies are mainly focused on germline genetic variants and in the present review, state of the art is presented: which are the variants that have a level of evidence high enough to be implemented in the clinic, and how to distinguish them from the ones that still need validation to confirm their utility. Further aspects as relevant characteristics regarding ontogeny and future directions in the research will also be discussed.     

Dynamic behaviour of PV generator trackers under irradiation and temperature changes

Maximum power point trackers (MPPTs) have a decisive role to extract power from the photovoltaic (PV) generators as they have to assume the maximum power output (MPP) whatever are the continuous changes of temperature and irradiation conditions. Therefore, they take a prior place in the global PV system efficiency. These trackers are driven by MPPT algorithms and lot of these MPPT algorithms are proposed in literature. The two most common implemented algorithms for power optimisation are the Perturb and Observe (P&O) and the Incremental of Conductance (IncCond) algorithms, which present a high simplicity of implementation within electronics programmable circuits. With an approach based on realistic parameters such as those found when the generator is integrated in a real photovoltaic installation, the two MPPT techniques are dynamically compared using testing procedures developed with Matlab/Simulink. The study leads us to conclude that both algorithms can be performed for PV exposures in unfavourable but realistic external conditions.