970 research outputs found
Napping: una metodologia per a l'avaluació sensorial de vins : aplicació a l'estudi de vins catalans i xilens
Es presenta en aquest article un nova metodologia per a l'avaluació sensorial de productes alimentaris d'una manera global, no condicionada a un determinat conjunt de descriptors de notes específiques del producte, sinó a una percepció global del producte. El procediment es fonamenta en la disposició de les mostres tastades sobre unes estovalles (napping) d'acord amb la seva similitud. El tractament estadístic dels resultats, les rotacions procrustes i l'anàlisi factorial múltiple permeten l'obtenció d'informació tant de les mostres com dels tastadors. En l'article es presenta l'experiència realitzada a la seu de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans, organitzada per l'Associació Catalana de Ciències de l'Alimentació (ACCA), l'Agrocampus de Rennes, la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, l'Institut Químic de Sarrià i amb el suport de l'ambaixada de França, relativa a la degustació, de divuit tastadors, de diferents vins catalans i xilens.A new methodology for sensory evaluation of food products is presented in this paper. Instead the conventional descriptive procedure, the judge response is an holistic personal criteria about each sample, represented as coordinates on a tablecloth (napping). Procrustean rotations and multiple factor analysis allow to achieve the relevant information, both related to samples and judges. The experience of a tasting session developed in the Institut dEstudis Catalans, supported by the Associació Catalana de Ciències de lAlimentació (ACCA), Agrocampus de Rennes, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Institut Químic de Sarrià and the France Embassy in Barcelona, samples of Catalan and Chilean wines is presented, as well as the results of the analysis of responses of eighteen members jury
The H-Index as a Quantitative Indicator of the Relative Impact of Human Diseases
Assessment of the relative impact of diseases and pathogens is important for agencies and other organizations charged with providing disease surveillance, management and control. It also helps funders of disease-related research to identify the most important areas for investment. Decisions as to which pathogens or diseases to target are often made using complex risk assessment approaches; however, these usually involve evaluating a large number of hazards as it is rarely feasible to conduct an in-depth appraisal of each. Here we propose the use of the H-index (or Hirsch index) as an alternative rapid, repeatable and objective means of assessing pathogen impact. H-index scores for 1,414 human pathogens were obtained from the Institute for Scientific Information's Web of Science (WOS) in July/August 2010. Scores were compared for zoonotic/non-zoonotic, and emerging/non-emerging pathogens, and across taxonomic groups. H-indices for a subset of pathogens were compared with Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) estimates for the diseases they cause. H-indices ranged from 0 to 456, with a median of 11. Emerging pathogens had higher H-indices than non-emerging pathogens. Zoonotic pathogens tended to have higher H-indices than human-only pathogens, although the opposite was observed for viruses. There was a significant correlation between the DALY of a disease and the H-index of the pathogen(s) that cause it. Therefore, scientific interest, as measured by the H-index, appears to be a reflection of the true impact of pathogens. The H-index method can be utilized to set up an objective, repeatable and readily automated system for assessing pathogen or disease impact
Wavelength-scale stationary-wave integrated Fourier-transform spectrometry
Spectrometry is a general physical-analysis approach for investigating
light-matter interactions. However, the complex designs of existing
spectrometers render them resistant to simplification and miniaturization, both
of which are vital for applications in micro- and nanotechnology and which are
now undergoing intensive research. Stationary-wave integrated Fourier-transform
spectrometry (SWIFTS)-an approach based on direct intensity detection of a
standing wave resulting from either reflection (as in the principle of colour
photography by Gabriel Lippmann) or counterpropagative interference
phenomenon-is expected to be able to overcome this drawback. Here, we present a
SWIFTS-based spectrometer relying on an original optical near-field detection
method in which optical nanoprobes are used to sample directly the evanescent
standing wave in the waveguide. Combined with integrated optics, we report a
way of reducing the volume of the spectrometer to a few hundreds of cubic
wavelengths. This is the first attempt, using SWIFTS, to produce a very small
integrated one-dimensional spectrometer suitable for applications where
microspectrometers are essential
Classification of non-Riemannian doubled-yet-gauged spacetime
Assuming covariant fields as the `fundamental' variables,
Double Field Theory can accommodate novel geometries where a Riemannian metric
cannot be defined, even locally. Here we present a complete classification of
such non-Riemannian spacetimes in terms of two non-negative integers,
, . Upon these backgrounds, strings become
chiral and anti-chiral over and directions respectively, while
particles and strings are frozen over the directions. In
particular, we identify as Riemannian manifolds, as
non-relativistic spacetime, as Gomis-Ooguri non-relativistic string,
as ultra-relativistic Carroll geometry, and as Siegel's
chiral string. Combined with a covariant Kaluza-Klein ansatz which we further
spell, leads to Newton-Cartan gravity. Alternative to the conventional
string compactifications on small manifolds, non-Riemannian spacetime such as
, may open a new scheme of the dimensional reduction from ten to
four.Comment: 1+41 pages; v2) Refs added; v3) Published version; v4) Sign error in
(2.51) correcte
Neisseria meningitidis Differentially Controls Host Cell Motility through PilC1 and PilC2 Components of Type IV Pili
Neisseria meningitidis is a strictly human pathogen that has two facets since asymptomatic carriage can unpredictably turn into fulminant forms of infection. Meningococcal pathogenesis relies on the ability of the bacteria to break host epithelial or endothelial cellular barriers. Highly restrictive, yet poorly understood, mechanisms allow meningococcal adhesion to cells of only human origin. Adhesion of encapsulated and virulent meningococci to human cells relies on the expression of bacterial type four pili (T4P) that trigger intense host cell signalling. Among the components of the meningococcal T4P, the concomitantly expressed PilC1 and PilC2 proteins regulate pili exposure at the bacterial surface, and until now, PilC1 was believed to be specifically responsible for T4P-mediated meningococcal adhesion to human cells. Contrary to previous reports, we show that, like PilC1, the meningococcal PilC2 component is capable of mediating adhesion to human ME180 epithelial cells, with cortical plaque formation and F-actin condensation. However, PilC1 and PilC2 promote different effects on infected cells. Cellular tracking analysis revealed that PilC1-expressing meningococci caused a severe reduction in the motility of infected cells, which was not the case when cells were infected with PilC2-expressing strains. The amount of both total and phosphorylated forms of EGFR was dramatically reduced in cells upon PilC1-mediated infection. In contrast, PilC2-mediated infection did not notably affect the EGFR pathway, and these specificities were shared among unrelated meningococcal strains. These results suggest that meningococci have evolved a highly discriminative tool for differential adhesion in specific microenvironments where different cell types are present. Moreover, the fine-tuning of cellular control through the combined action of two concomitantly expressed, but distinctly regulated, T4P-associated variants of the same molecule (i.e. PilC1 and PilC2) brings a new model to light for the analysis of the interplay between pathogenic bacteria and human host cells
Search for pentaquark in high statistics measurement of at CLAS
The exclusive reaction was studied in the
photon energy range between 1.6-3.8 GeV searching for evidence of the exotic
baryon . The decay to requires the assignment of
strangeness to any observed resonance. Data were collected with the CLAS
detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility corresponding to
an integrated luminosity of 70 . No evidence for the
pentaquark was found. Upper limits were set on the production cross section as
function of center-of-mass angle and mass. The 95% CL upper limit on the
total cross section for a narrow resonance at 1540 MeV was found to be 0.8 nb.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letter
Comparación de la irrigación del tendón de Aquiles en el hombre y en el cerdo doméstico
Las tensiones que soporta el tendón de Aquiles no son iguales en el cuadrúpedo que en el bípedo. El objetivo del trabajo fue determinar si esa diferencia de tensión se ve reflejada en la cantidad de arterias que lo irrigan.Facultad de Ciencias Médica
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