An empirical evaluation for business process tools

As the use of web grows, organizations are increasingly choosing to use it to provide their services. The modeling process is a previous step in the systematization of a process. Due to the great number of modeling tools in existence, it is necessary to identify the information that tools allow to specify. A set of concepts is proposed to evaluate modeling tools using three levels of abstractions. The proposal compares the modeling capabilities supplied by the different techniques and allows determining what modeling tool is the most appropriate to model specific concepts of interest to a problem.1st International Workshop on Advanced Software Engineering: Expanding the Frontiers of Software Technology - Session 2: Software ModelingRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

An empirical evaluation for business process tools

As the use of web grows, organizations are increasingly choosing to use it to provide their services. The modeling process is a previous step in the systematization of a process. Due to the great number of modeling tools in existence, it is necessary to identify the information that tools allow to specify. A set of concepts is proposed to evaluate modeling tools using three levels of abstractions. The proposal compares the modeling capabilities supplied by the different techniques and allows determining what modeling tool is the most appropriate to model specific concepts of interest to a problem.1st International Workshop on Advanced Software Engineering: Expanding the Frontiers of Software Technology - Session 2: Software ModelingRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Monitoring of degradation of porous silicon photonic crystals using digital photography

We report the monitoring of porous silicon (pSi) degradation in aqueous solutions using a consumer-grade digital camera. To facilitate optical monitoring, the pSi samples were prepared as one-dimensional photonic crystals (rugate filters) by electrochemical etching of highly doped p-type Si wafers using a periodic etch waveform. Two pSi formulations, representing chemistries relevant for self-reporting drug delivery applications, were tested: freshly etched pSi (fpSi) and fpSi coated with the biodegradable polymer chitosan (pSi-ch). Accelerated degradation of the samples in an ethanol-containing pH 10 aqueous basic buffer was monitored in situ by digital imaging with a consumer-grade digital camera with simultaneous optical reflectance spectrophotometric point measurements. As the nanostructured porous silicon matrix dissolved, a hypsochromic shift in the wavelength of the rugate reflectance peak resulted in visible color changes from red to green. While the H coordinate in the hue, saturation, and value (HSV) color space calculated using the as-acquired photographs was a good monitor of degradation at short times (t  pSi-ch.We acknowledge the financial support from Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain), Dirección General de Enseñanza Superior (Spain) (CTQ2009-14428-C02-01), and Junta de Andalucía (Spain) (P10-FQM-5974). A.N. wants to acknowledge Fundación Alfonso Martín Escudero for a postdoctoral fellowship. This material is based upon the work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR-1210417

Iron bioavailability in two commercial cultivars of wheat: a comparison between wholegrain and white flour and the effects of nicotianamine and 2'-deoxymugineic acid on iron uptake into Caco-2 cells

Iron bioavailability in unleavened white and wholegrain bread made from two commercial wheat varieties was assessed by measuring ferritin production in Caco-2 cells. The breads were subjected to simulated gastrointestinal digestion and the digests applied to the Caco-2 cells. Although Riband grain contained a lower iron concentration than Rialto, iron bioavailability was higher. No iron was taken up by the cells from white bread made from Rialto flour or from wholegrain bread from either variety, but Riband white bread produced a small ferritin response. The results probably relate to differences in phytate content of the breads, although iron in soluble monoferric phytate was demonstrated to be bioavailable in the cell model. Nicotianamine, an iron chelator in plants involved in iron transport, was a more potent enhancer of iron uptake into Caco-2 cells than ascorbic acid or 2'-deoxymugineic acid, another metal chelator present in plants

Biofortified red mottled beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in a maize and bean diet provide more bioavailable iron than standard red mottled beans: Studies in poultry (Gallus gallus) and an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Our objective was to compare the capacities of biofortified and standard colored beans to deliver iron (Fe) for hemoglobin synthesis. Two isolines of large-seeded, red mottled Andean beans (<it>Phaseolus vulgaris </it>L.), one standard ("Low Fe") and the other biofortified ("High Fe") in Fe (49 and 71 μg Fe/g, respectively) were used. This commercial class of red mottled beans is the preferred varietal type for most of the Caribbean and Eastern and Southern Africa where almost three quarters of a million hectares are grown. Therefore it is important to know the affect of biofortification of these beans on diets that simulate human feeding studies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Maize-based diets containing the beans were formulated to meet the nutrient requirements for broiler except for Fe (Fe concentrations in the 2 diets were 42.9 ± 1.2 and 54.6 ± 0.9 mg/kg). One day old chicks (<it>Gallus gallus</it>) were allocated to the experimental diets (n = 12). For 4 wk, hemoglobin, feed-consumption and body-weights were measured.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Hemoglobin maintenance efficiencies (HME) (means ± SEM) were different between groups on days 14 and 21 of the experiment (P < 0.05). Final total body hemoglobin Fe contents were different between the standard (12.58 ± 1.0 mg {0.228 ± 0.01 μmol}) and high Fe (15.04 ± 0.65 mg {0.273 ± 0.01 μmol}) bean groups (P < 0.05). At the end of the experiment, tissue samples were collected from the intestinal duodenum and liver for further analyses. Divalent-metal-transporter-1, duodenal-cytochrome-B, and ferroportin expressions were higher and liver ferritin was lower (P < 0.05) in the standard group vs. the biofortified group. <it>In-vitro </it>analysis showed lower iron bioavailability in cells exposed to standard ("Low Fe") bean based diet.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that the <it>in-vivo </it>results support the <it>in-vitro </it>observations; biofortified colored beans contain more bioavailable-iron than standard colored beans. In addition, biofortified beans seems to be a promising vehicle for increasing intakes of bioavailable Fe in human populations that consume these beans as a dietary staple. This justifies further work on the large-seeded Andean beans which are the staple of a large-region of Africa where iron-deficiency anemia is a primary cause of infant death and poor health status.</p

Enteric methane mitigation strategies for ruminant livestock systems in the Latin America and Caribbean region: a meta-analysis.

Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) is a developing region characterized for its importance for global food security, producing 23 and 11% of the global beef and milk production, respectively. The region?s ruminant livestock sector however, is under scrutiny on environmental grounds due to its large contribution to enteric methane (CH4) emissions and influence on global climate change. Thus, the identification of effective CH4 mitigation strategies which do not compromise animal performance is urgently needed, especially in context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) defined in the Paris Agreement of the United Nations. Therefore, the objectives of the current study were to: 1) collate a database of individual sheep, beef and dairy cattle records from enteric CH4 emission studies conducted in the LAC region, and 2) perform a meta-analysis to identify feasible enteric CH4 mitigation strategies, which do not compromise animal performance. After outlier?s removal, 2745 animal records (65% of the original data) from 103 studies were retained (from 2011 to 2021) in the LAC database. Potential mitigation strategies were classified into three main categories (i.e., animal breeding, dietary, and rumen manipulation) and up to three subcategories, totaling 34 evaluated strategies. A random effects model weighted by inverse variance was used (Comprehensive Meta-Analysis V3.3.070). Six strategies decreased at least one enteric CH4 metric and simultaneously increased milk yield (MY; dairy cattle) or average daily gain (ADG; beef cattle and sheep). The breed composition F1 Holstein × Gyr decreased CH4 emission per MY (CH4IMilk) while increasing MY by 99%. Adequate strategies of grazing management under continuous and rotational stocking decreased CH4 emission per ADG (CH4IGain) by 22 and 35%, while increasing ADG by 22 and 71%, respectively. Increased dietary protein concentration, and increased concentrate level through cottonseed meal inclusion, decreased CH4IMilk and CH4IGain by 10 and 20% and increased MY and ADG by 12 and 31%, respectively. Lastly, increased feeding level decreased CH4IGain by 37%, while increasing ADG by 171%. The identified effective mitigation strategies can be adopted by livestock producers according to their specific needs and aid LAC countries in achieving SDG as defined in the Paris Agreement

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified