Effect of temperature on raw whole milk density and its potential impact on milk payment in the dairy industry

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of temperature on whole milk density measured at four different temperatures: 5, 10, 15, and 20 °C. A total of ninety-three individual milk samples were collected from morning milking of thirty-two Holstein Friesian dairy cows, of national average genetic merit, once every two weeks over a period of 4 weeks and were assessed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for milk composition analysis. Density of the milk was evaluated using two different analytical methods: a portable density meter DMA35 and a standard desktop model DMA4500M (Anton Paar GmbH, UK). Milk density was analysed with a linear mixed model with the fixed effects of sampling period, temperature and analysis method; triple interaction of sampling period x analysis method x temperature; and the random effect of cow to account for repeated measures. The effect of temperature on milk density (ρ) was also evaluated including temperature (t) as covariate with linear and quadratic effects within each analytic method. The regression equation describing the curvature and density–temperature relationship for the DMA35 instrument was ρ = 1.0338−0.00017T−0.0000122T² (R² = 0.64), while it was ρ = 1.0334 + 0.000057T−0.00001T² (R² = 0.61) for DMA4500 instrument. The mean density determined with DMA4500 at 5 °C was 1.0334 g cm⁻³, with corresponding figures of 1.0330, 1.0320 and 1.0305 g cm⁻³ at 10, 15 and 20 °C, respectively. The milk density values obtained in this study at specific temperatures will help to address any bias in weight–volume calculations and thus may also improve the financial and operational control for the dairy processors in Ireland and internationally.     

Gender and helping behavior: A meta-analytic review of the social psychological literature.

Contends, on the basis of posited social-role theory of gender and helping, that the male gender role fosters helping that is heroic and chivalrous, whereas the female gender role fosters helping that is nurturant and caring. In social psychological studies, helping behavior has mainly been examined in the context of short-term encounters with strangers. This focus has tended to exclude from the research literature those helping behaviors prescribed by the female gender role, because they are displayed primarily in long-term, close relationships. In contrast, the helping behaviors prescribed by the male gender role have been generously represented in research findings because they are displayed in relationships with strangers as well as in close relationships. Results from a meta-analytic review of sex differences in 172 studies (appended) in helping behavior indicate that in general men helped more than women and women received more help than men. Nevertheless, sex differences in helping were inconsistent across studies and were successfully predicted by various attributes of the studies and the helping behaviors. (96 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parvovirus B19 infection in AIDS patients

We report a 16-year-old boy, born to consanguineous parents, with mental retardation, gait disturbances and dysarthria; brain magnetic resonance showed features consistent with rhombencephalosynapsis. This condition is characterised by a hypoplastic single-lobed cerebellum. The interest of this case is the presence of common ancestors, pointing to an autosomal recessive inheritance of the malformation.     

Learning Situation Models in a Smart Home

This paper addresses the problem of learning situation models for providing context-aware services. Context for modeling human behavior in a smart environment is represented by a situation model describing environment, users, and their activities. A framework for acquiring and evolving different layers of a situation model in a smart environment is proposed. Different learning methods are presented as part of this framework: role detection per entity, unsupervised extraction of situations from multimodal data, supervised learning of situation representations, and evolution of a predefined situation model with feedback. The situation model serves as frame and support for the different methods, permitting to stay in an intuitive declarative framework. The proposed methods have been integrated into a whole system for smart home environment. The implementation is detailed, and two evaluations are conducted in the smart home environment. The obtained results validate the proposed approach.     

Paramagnetic 1H-NMR relaxation probes of stereoselectivity in metalloporphyrin catalyzed olefin epoxidation

Enantioselective catalytic epoxidation of olefins is an important problem from both practical and mechanistic points of view. The origins of chiral induction by asymmetric porphyrin and salen complexes were investigated by FT-NMR T1 relaxation techniques. A new chiral vaulted porphyrin (1) that carries (S)-binaphthyl-L-alanine straps across both faces of the porphyrin macrocycle was synthesized and characterized. (R)-styrene oxide was obtained in > 90% ee in the initial stages of styrene epoxidation with F5PhIO catalyzed by 1-Fe(III)Cl. The transition state for olefin epoxidation with high-valent metal-oxo species was modeled by coordinating epoxides to paramagnetic copper complexes of the corresponding ligands. The epoxide enantiomer that better fit the chiral cavity of the catalyst, as revealed by T1 relaxation measurements, was also the major product of catalytic olefin epoxidation. These results are consistent with the "lock-and-key" mechanism of asymmetric catalysis by metalloporphyrins. The copper complex of a chiral salen ligand showed no differentiation in terms of T1 relaxation rates between the enantiomers of cis-beta-methylstyrene oxide in contrast to the high enantioselectivity observed for catalytic epoxidation.     

Fast computation of the difference of low-pass transform

This paper defines the difference of low-pass (DOLP) transform and describes a fast algorithm for its computation. The DOLP is a reversible transform which converts an image into a set of bandpass images. A DOLP transform is shown to require O(N2) multiplies and produce O(N log(N)) samples from an N sample image. When Gaussian low-pass filters are used, the result is a set of images which have been convolved with difference of Gaussian (DOG) filters from an exponential set of sizes. A fast computation technique based on ``resampling' is described and shown to reduce the DOLP transform complexity to O(N log(N)) multiplies and O(N) storage locations. A second technique, ``cascaded convolution with expansion,' is then defined and also shown to reduce the computational cost to O(N log(N)) multiplies. Combining these two techniques yields an algorithm for a DOLP transform that requires O(N) storage cells and requires O(N) multiplies.     

Position estimation using principal components of range data

This paper describes a new approach to mobile robot position estimation, based on principal component analysis of laser range data. An eigenspace is constructed from the principal components of a large number of range data sets. The structure of an environment, as seen by a range sensor, is represented as a family of surfaces in this space. Subsequent range data sets from the environment project as a point in this space. Associating this point to the family of surfaces gives a set of candidate positions and orientations (poses) for the sensor. These candidate poses correspond to positions and orientations in the environment which have similar range profiles. A Kalman filter can be used to select the most likely candidate pose based on coherence with small movements.

The first part of this paper describes how a relatively small number of depth profiles of an environment can be used to generate a complete eigenspace. This space is used to build a representation of the range scan profiles obtained from a regular grid of positions and orientations (poses). This representation has the form of a family of surface (a manifold). This representation converts the problem of associating a range profile to possible positions and orientations into a table lookup. As a side benefit, the method provides a simple means to detect obstacles in a range profile. The final section of the paper reviews the use of estimation theory to determine the correct pose hypothesis by tracking.     

Synthesis and characterization of perfectly alternating polycarbonate‐polydimethylsiloxane multiblock copolymers possessing controlled block lengths

An array of perfectly alternating polycarbonate‐polydimethylsiloxane (PC‐PDMS) multiblock copolymers possessing systematic variations in block molecular weights were successfully produced by coupling preformed PC and PDMS telechelic oligomers using hydrosilylation. Based on gel permeation chromatography results, the multiblock copolymers were essentially void of the oligomeric precursors. Despite the relatively large difference in solubility parameter between PC and PDMS, the multiblock copolymers exhibited significant partial miscibility between the two phases. As expected, the degree of partial miscibility was dependent on the molecular weight of the blocks with the extent of partial miscibility increasing with decreasing block molecular weights. Morphological characterization using small angle X‐ray scattering showed that, at a given PC block molecular weight, the uniformity of the two phase morphology increased with increasing PDMS block molecular weight, which is consistent with a decrease in the extent of phase mixing with increasing PDMS block molecular weight. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:1648–1663, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Material properties and fire test results

Five material properties commonly used to describe the fire behavior of solids were evaluated as sole explanatory variables for four small‐scale fire tests with pass/fail outcomes by using a physically based probabilistic (phlogistic) burning model. The phlogistic model describes the likelihood of passing vertical Bunsen burner tests and a regulatory heat release rate test reasonably well over a wide range of material properties, as deduced from the correlation coefficient and mean deviation of the predicted and measured values. Of the thermal, combustion, and fire properties examined, the best predictors of the likelihood of passing the fire tests of this study were the heat of combustion of the sample, the heat release capacity, and the heat release parameter. The relative merits and drawbacks of qualitative (threshold) and quantitative (probabilistic) approaches to predicting fire test results using thermal and combustion properties are discussed. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

Rapid detection of Salmonella in pet food: design and evaluation of integrated methods based on real-time PCR detection

Reducing the risk of Salmonella contamination in pet food is critical for both companion animals and humans, and its importance is reflected by the substantial increase in the demand for pathogen testing. Accurate and rapid detection of foodborne pathogens improves food safety, protects the public health, and benefits food producers by assuring product quality while facilitating product release in a timely manner. Traditional culture-based methods for Salmonella screening are laborious and can take 5 to 7 days to obtain definitive results. In this study, we developed two methods for the detection of low levels of Salmonella in pet food using real-time PCR: (i) detection of Salmonella in 25 g of dried pet food in less than 14 h with an automated magnetic bead-based nucleic acid extraction method and (ii) detection of Salmonella in 375 g of composite dry pet food matrix in less than 24 h with a manual centrifugation-based nucleic acid preparation method. Both methods included a preclarification step using a novel protocol that removes food matrix-associated debris and PCR inhibitors and improves the sensitivity of detection. Validation studies revealed no significant differences between the two real-time PCR methods and the standard U.S. Food and Drug Administration Bacteriological Analytical Manual (chapter 5) culture confirmation method.