CONTAMINATION AND DETERIORATION OF ALFALFA SPROUTS CAUSED BY A SEEDBORNE ISOLATE OF ERWINIA HERBICOLA1

A Gram negative, rod-shaped, yellow-pigmented bacterium was recovered from beneath the seed coats of surface-sterilized alfalfa seed from three seed lots used for the commercial production of sprouts. This bacterium was responsible for the deterioration of alfalfa sprouts marketed in film-wrapped plastic containers. Identity of the isolate was confirmed as Erwinia herbicola (Löhnis) Dye (synonym Pantoea agglomerans comb. nov.). The level of contamination by this bacterium in nonsurface-sterilized seed was 34.7% while in surface-sterilized seed it was 13.2%. No other microorganisms were consistently recovered from surface-sterilized seed samples from these lots, or from other alfalfa seed samples assayed as controls. The bacterium was able to survive for more than three years beneath the seed coats of contaminated seed. We recommend that alfalfa sprout companies routinely assay samples for seedborne microorganisms from lots intended for sprouting.     

FUTURE TIME PERSPECTIVE: ITS RELATION TO THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS AND THE DELINQUENT ROLE.

USED THE ASSUMPTION THAT PERSONAL FUTURE TIME PERSPECTIVE (FTP) IS RELATED TO THE OUTCOME OF THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT NONDELINQUENT (ND) AND DELINQUENT (D) BOYS WOULD BE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT IN THE EXTENT OF FTP. 100 NDS AND 100 DS MATCHED FOR AGE, SOCIAL STATUS, RACE, AND INTELLIGENCE WERE ADMINISTERED THE FUTURE EVENTS TEST. THE NDS ACHIEVED A SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER EXTENT OF FTP THAN THE DS. RESULTS WERE REPLICATED ON A RANDOM SAMPLE OF 100 NDS AND 100 DS. THE RESULTS WERE ALMOST IDENTICAL TO THOSE FOUND IN THE MATCHED GROUPS. AN ANALYSIS OF THE 36 TEST ITEMS REVEALED THOSE ITEMS WITH (1) DIFFERENTIAL ENDORSEMENT BETWEEN ND AND D SAMPLES, (2) SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT MEAN FUTURE AGE SCORES BETWEEN GROUPS, AND (3) DIFFERENTIAL VARIABILITY BETWEEN THE NDS AND DS. GENERALLY THE NDS ENDORSED THE MORE PROSOCIAL ITEMS, WERE MORE HOMOGENEOUS IN FTP SCORES, AND WERE MORE REALITY ORIENTED WITH REGARD TO THE FUTURE. (21 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

EFFECT OF SOLAR DRYING ON THE COMPOSITION OF ESSENTIAL OIL OF SACHA CULANTRO (ERYNGIUM FOETIDUM L.) GROWN IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON

Two solar drying methods (direct cabinet solar dryer and indirect cabinet solar dryer) were tested under tropical conditions for drying aerial parts of sacha culantro ( Eryngium foetidum L.) in Pucallpa City (Peruvian Amazon). The drying behavior was monitored during all experimental runs. Dried samples and fresh leaves were hydrodistilled and isolated oils were analyzed using gas chromatography with flame ionization detector and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. ( E )-2-dodecenal was determined as the main constituent of the sacha culantro essential oil, averaging 61.8–62.2%, followed by n -dodecanal (10.9–15.5%), ( E )-2-tetradecenal (6.7–7.6%) and 1-tetradecene (3.6–5.7%). When comparing both solar drying methods, the indirect method was found as more suitable for drying E. foetidum since the dried product resembled the fresh herb more closely in its chemicalcomposition and had better appearance. However, a better drying efficiency of 10.3% was achieved when drying in the direct solar dryer compared with 5.8% for the indirect solar dryer.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Harvested leaves of sacha culantro are widely used as a condiment in a range of Peruvian, Latin American and Caribbean foods, including vegetable and meat dishes, canned food and sauces. There is lack of any postharvest processing of this herb although it may extend possibilities for use of the herb and facilitate the product export from local production areas and might be a good economic source for poor local farmers. This study shows solar drying as a reasonable preservation technique of sacha culantro leaves which may have a practical application in case of postharvest processing of the herb in the target region of Pucallpa City in Peruvian Amazon.     

Compositional mapping of bitumen using local electrostatic force interactions in atomic force microscopy

In recent years, many researchers have investigated bitumen surface morphology, especially the so‐called bee‐like structures, in an attempt to relate the chemical composition and molecular conformation to bitumen micromechanics and ultimately performance properties. Even though recent studies related surface morphology and its evolution to stiffness and stress localization, the complex chemical nature of bitumen and its time‐ and temperature‐dependent properties still engender significant questions about the nature and origin of the observed morphological features and how they evolve due to exposure to various environmental and loading conditions. One such question is whether the observed surface features are formed from wax or from the coprecipitation of wax and asphaltene. Our prior work was mainly theoretical; it used density functional theory and showed that the coprecipitation theory may not stand, mainly because wax–asphaltene interactions are not thermodynamically favourable compared to wax–wax interactions. This paper presents a comprehensive approach based on experiments to study surface morphology of bitumen and conduct compositional mapping to shed light on the origin of the bee‐like surface morphological features. We used Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), with the main focus being on single‐pass detection and mapping of local electric properties, as a novel approach to enhance existing compositional mapping techniques. This method was found to be highly effective in differentiating various domains with respect to their polarity. The results of our study favour the hypothesis that the bee‐like features are mainly composed of wax, including a variety of alkanes.     

Feature Recognition in Solar Images

Despite several decades of research and development in the field of pattern recognition, the general problem of recognizing complex patterns with arbitrary orientations, locations, and scales remains unsolved and normally is applied using iterative manual evaluation of the detection results. This problem is becoming increasingly important with the growing number of massive archives of solar images produced by instruments located at ground-based observatories and aboard current satellites such as YOHKOH, SOHO and TRACE, with future satellites such as SOLAR B, SDO and STEREO in prospect. The size of expected archives requires a new automated approach to digital image processing and data extraction with robust and efficient pattern recognition techniques to be developed and implemented. This review evaluates techniques for the standardisation in shape and intensity of solar images and summarises the existing manual and semi-automated feature recognition techniques applied to a representative range of solar features, including sunspots, filaments, active regions, flares, coronal mass ejections and magnetic neutral lines. The review also surveys the most recent fully-automated detection techniques developed for the creation of Solar Feature Catalogues of sunspots, active regions and filaments for the European Grid of Solar Observations. The survey is aimed to help researchers and students to learn about the recognition techniques applied to astrophysical images with different levels of noise and distortions and to work effectively with the Solar Feature Catalogue.     

Tuneable Two-Pole One-Dielectric-Resonator Filter with Elliptic Characteristics

A frequency tuneable microwave filter based on a dual mode dielectric resonator has been developed. Tuning of the filter was realised by using metal plate located over the dielectric resonator and moved along the resonator axis by a piezoelectric bimorph. The main parameters of the filter were: central frequency in the middle of the range of tuning—2.35 GHz, bandwidth for 1dB level—～ 0.5%, range of tuning—～ 10%. The insertion losses in the whole tuning range were below ～ 1 dB.     

DIMENSIONS AND PATTERNS OF ADOLESCENT ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR.

A SELF-REPORT CHECKLIST OF ANTISOCIAL ACTIVITIES WAS FILLED OUT ANONYMOUSLY BY 505 HIGH SCHOOL BOYS AND 391 BOYS AT INSTITUTIONS FOR DELINQUENTS. THE 52 ITEMS OF THE CHECKLIST DETERMINED THE EXTENT OF PARTICIPATION IN A BROAD RANGE OF MISBEHAVIORS. CLUSTER ANALYSIS OF THE ITEMS OF THE SCALE ON 3 DIFFERENT SAMPLES REVEALED 4 DIMENSIONS OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR: DELINQUENT ROLE, DRUG USAGE, PARENTAL DEFIANCE, AND ASSAULTIVENESS. ON EACH OF THE 4 DIMENSIONS OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR, THE SCORES OF DELINQUENTS AND NONDELINQUENTS DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY. DELINQUENT BOYS WERE THEN CLASSIFIED INTO 7 EMPIRICAL TYPES BASED ON SCORE PATTERNS ON THE 4 DIMENSIONS. THESE EMPIRICAL TYPES DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY IN RACIAL COMPOSITION AND ON OTHER SOCIAL AND PERSONOLOGICAL VARIABLES. (22 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Universal Method of Stress Analysis of Viscoelastic-Elastic Composites

The stresses which are caused by differing thermal expansion values of materials and depend on the processes of structural and mechanical relaxation in glass are considered. The analysis of stresses in cylindrical coaxial seals may be reduced to computation of stresses in equivalent sandwich seals; this calculation can be accomplished by using a well-known algorithm. The results of the calculations agree well with existing experimental data.     

纳米晶铁钴基软磁材料的研究

铁钴基纳米晶软磁性材料具有高居里温度的非晶纳米晶两相结构，通过两相结构的匹配完成纳米晶粒间的磁矩交换耦合，使得材料在高温环境下具备优异的软磁性能。通过采用VSM、TEM、XRD等技术对材料软磁性能、组织结构以及软磁性能的热稳定性的研究与分析，优化了FeCoHfBCu合金成分。试验表明(Fe0.6Co0．4)86Hf7B6Cu1合金在500-600℃的工作温度区间范围内具备最佳的饱和磁化强度和较低矫顽力，并且550℃条件下具有优异的软磁性能热稳定性。该材料是高温软磁应用领域的重要候选材料。     

Crystallization Behavior and Magnetic Properties of （Fe0.6Co0.4）86Hf7B6Cu1 Alloy

(Fe0.6Co0.4)86HfTB6Cu1 nanocrystalline alloy obtained in isothermal annealing process from amorphous precursor was investigated as candidate of soft magnetic materials for high temperature applications. Co substitution for Fe can enhance the curie temperature of amorphous alloy (Tc = 630℃) and improve the magnetization of nanocrystalline alloy at high temperature ( ≈ 1.56T at 550℃). After annealing amorphous precursor at 550℃ for 1 hour, the optimum nanocrystalline alloy can be obtained which shows the local minimum coercivity ( ≈ 16 A/m). The coercivity increases with the increase of annealing temperature corresponding to the formation of ferromagnetic phase in the secondary crystallization. Furthermore, additions of Hf and B elements reduce the melting temperature of the alloy studied comparing with the Fe-Co binary alloy.