Molecular structure and granule morphology of native and heat‐moisture‐treated pinhão starch

Pinhão seed is an unconventional source of starch and the pines grow up in native forests of southern Latin America. In this study, pinhão starch was adjusted at 15, 20 and 25% moisture content and heated to 100, 110 and 120 °C for 1 h. A decrease in λ max (starch/iodine complex) was observed as a result of increase in temperature and moisture content of HMT. The ratio of crystalline to amorphous phase in pinhão starch was determined via Fourier transform infra red by taking 1045/1022 band ratio. A decrease in crystallinity occurred as a result of HMT. Polarised light microscopy indicated a loss of birefringence of starch granules under 120 °C at 25% moisture content. Granule size distribution was further confirmed via scanning electron microscopy which showed the HMT effects. These results increased the understanding on molecular and structural properties of HMT pinhão starch and broadened its food and nonfood industrial applications.     

Chemical-Shift Perturbations Reflect Bile Acid Binding to Norovirus Coat Protein: Recognition Comes in Different Flavors

Bile acids have been reported as important cofactors promoting human and murine norovirus (NoV) infections in cell culture. The underlying mechanisms are not resolved. Through the use of chemical shift perturbation (CSP) NMR experiments, we identified a low-affinity bile acid binding site of a human GII.4 NoV strain. Long-timescale MD simulations reveal the formation of a ligand-accessible binding pocket of flexible shape, allowing the formation of stable viral coat protein–bile acid complexes in agreement with experimental CSP data. CSP NMR experiments also show that this mode of bile acid binding has a minor influence on the binding of histo-blood group antigens and vice versa. STD NMR experiments probing the binding of bile acids to virus-like particles of seven different strains suggest that low-affinity bile acid binding is a common feature of human NoV and should therefore be important for understanding the role of bile acids as cofactors in NoV infection.     

Controllability of One Spin and Two Interacting Spins

Mathematics of Control, Signals, and Systems - ?We consider the problem of steering control for the systems of one spin ½ particle and two interacting spin ½ particles in an...     

A Neural Network Model of Caenorhabditis Elegans: The Circuit of Touch Sensitivity

The paper presents a neural network model of the touch sensitivity circuit of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We describe a serie of simulations in which neural networks are trained, using a genetic algorithm, to reproduce the habituation of the nematode's touch sensitive behavior. A lesion study of the network allows to make a direct comparison between the fine functioning of the model and the data collected in real organisms. The model accords well with the known neurobiological data and it suggests some hypotheses about the functioning of the neural circuit and of single neurons.     

Acculturation, Familism, Parental Monitoring, and Knowledge as Predictors of Marijuana and Inhalant Use in Adolescents.

The authors investigated relationships between marijuana and inhalant use and several cultural and demographic factors in Anglo American and Hispanic American adolescents (N=1,094). Outcome measures assessed lifetime and 30-day marijuana and inhalant use. Predictors and covariates used in logistic regression analyses were region, grade, gender, knowledge, acculturation, familism, and parental monitoring. Hispanic Americans exhibited higher usage across all measures. In this group, high acculturation was associated with low marijuana, but high inhalant, use. Across all participants, positive family relations and parental monitoring were strongly associated with attenuated marijuana use hut only among those most knowledgeable about drugs. Familism and monitoring were not associated with diminished usage among the less knowledgeable. For inhalants, monitoring combined with high knowledge or high familism was associated with diminished usage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Convolution profiles for right inversion of multivariable non-minimum phase discrete-time systems

The problem of the non-causal inversion of linear multivariable discrete-time systems is analyzed in the geometric approach framework and is solved through the computation of convolution profiles which guarantee perfect tracking under the assumption of infinite-length preaction and postaction time intervals. It is shown how the shape of the convolution profiles is related to both the relative degree and the invariant zeros of the plant. A computational setting for the convolution profiles is derived by means of the standard geometric approach tools. Feasibility constraints are also taken into account. A possible implementation scheme, based on a finite impulse response system acting on a stabilized control loop, is provided.     

Stability analysis of network-based cooperative resource allocation strategies

Resource allocation involves deciding how to divide a resource of limited availability among multiple demands in a way that optimizes current objectives. In this brief paper we focus on one type of distributed resource allocation problem where via an imperfect communication network multiple processors can share the load presented by multiple task types. We introduce asynchronous “cooperative” resource allocation strategies, and show that they lead to a bounded cumulative demand.     

An Algebraic Approach for Compiling Real-Time Programs

Compiler Verification has been identified as a vital process in the implementation of correct safety-critical systems. We extend here Hoare's refinement-algebra approach to compilation in order to include real-time languages in which processes interact asynchronously via communication queues. The existence of unique fixed-points is exploited to verify the implementation of crucial operators such as asynchronous input, delay and timeout.