21,099 research outputs found
Spatial Competition in Private Labels
Previous studies find that private labels increase retailers' bargaining power with manufacturers and allow retailers to price discriminate. We use a spatial discrete choice model to show that retailers also use store brands to create market power through store differentiation, but not as a means of building market share.Marketing,
High pressure processing of foods for microbiological safety and quality
Consumers are demanding foods that are “natural”, of good nutritional and
sensory quality, free from chemical preservatives, microbiologically safe and with
extended shelf-life. High pressure processing can, potentially, meet these criteria.
Recent advances in equipment design now allow foods to be processed up to 900
MegaPascals (130,000 psi). However, further work is required to more fully understand
the factors that can affect the response of microorganisms, including pathogens, to
pressure so that treatments can be optimised and microbiological safety can be assured.
This paper describes how the pressure resistance of microorganisms can vary
depending on factors such as species, strain, stage of growth and food composition.
Strategies for overcoming the problem of pressure resistance will be discussed, for
example the use of pressure cycling and the combination of pressure with mild heat.
The current commercial uses of high pressure to preserve foods will be reported and
potential applications will also be discussed
A review of residual stress analysis using thermoelastic techniques
Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA) is a full-field technique for experimental stress analysis
that is based on infra-red thermography. The technique has proved to be extremely effective for
studying elastic stress fields and is now well established. It is based on the measurement of the
temperature change that occurs as a result of a stress change. As residual stress is essentially a
mean stress it is accepted that the linear form of the TSA relationship cannot be used to
evaluate residual stresses. However, there are situations where this linear relationship is not
valid or departures in material properties due to manufacturing procedures have enabled
evaluations of residual stresses. The purpose of this paper is to review the current status of
using a TSA based approach for the evaluation of residual stresses and to provide some
examples of where promising results have been obtained
Deformed Brueckner-Hartree-Fock calculations
The renormalized Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (RBHF) theory for many-body nuclear systems is generalized to permit calculations for intrinsic states having permanent deformation. Both Hartree-Fock and Brueckner self-consistencies are satisfied, and details of the numerical techniques are discussed. The Hamada-Johnston interaction is used in a study of deformations, binding, size, and separation energies for several nuclei. Electromagnetic transition rates, moments, and electron scattering form factors are calculated using nuclear wave functions obtained by angular momentum projection. Comparison is made to experiment as well as to predictions of ordinary and density-dependent Hartree-Fock Theory
Short-range correlations in carbon-12, oxygen-16, and neon-20: Intrinsic properties
The Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (BHF) method has been applied to nuclei whose intrinsic structure is nonspherical. Reaction matrix elements were calculated as functions of starting energy for the Hamada-Johnston interaction using the Pauli operator appropriate to O-16 and a shifted oscillator spectrum for virtual excited states. Binding energies, single particle energies, radii, and shape deformations of the intrinsic state, in ordinary as well as renormalized BHF, are discussed and compared with previous HF studies and with experiment when possible. Results are presented for C-12, 0-16 and Ne-20. It is found that the binding energies and radii are too small, but that separation energies are well reproduced when the renormalized theory is used
Electrochemical Energy Storage Subsystems Study, Volume 2
The effects on life cycle costs (LCC) of major design and performance technology parameters for multi kW LEO and GEO energy storage subsystems using NiCd and NiH2 batteries and fuel cell/electrolysis cell devices were examined. Design, performance and LCC dynamic models are developed based on mission and system/subsystem requirements and existing or derived physical and cost data relationships. The models are exercised to define baseline designs and costs. Then the major design and performance parameters are each varied to determine their influence on LCC around the baseline values
Electrochemical energy storage subsystems study, volume 1
The effects on life cycle costs (LCC) of major design and performance technology parameters for multi kW LEO and GEO energy storage subsystems using NiCd and NiH2 batteries and fuel cell/electrolysis cell devices were examined. Design, performance and LCC dynamic models are developed based on mission and system/subsystem requirements and existing or derived physical and cost data relationships. The models define baseline designs and costs. The major design and performance parameters are each varied to determine their influence on LCC around the baseline values
A Deep Proper-Motion Survey in Kapteyn Selected Areas: I. Survey Description and First Results for Stars in the Tidal Tail of Sagittarius and in the Monoceros Ring
We describe a high-precision, deep (to V ~ 19-21) absolute proper-motion
survey that samples ~50 lines of sight in the Kapteyn Selected Areas along
declination zones -15, 0 and 15 degrees. In many fields the astrometric
baseline reaches nearly a century. We demonstrate that these data provide
typical per star precisions between ~ 1 and 3 mas/yr to the above magnitude
limits, with the absolute reference frame established by numerous extragalactic
sources in each survey field. Combined with existing and ongoing photometric
and radial velocity surveys in these fields, these astrometric data will
enable, among other things, accurate, detailed dynamical modeling of satellite
interactions with our Galaxy. In this contribution we describe the astrometric
part of our survey and show preliminary results along the trailing tail of the
Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, and in the Monoceros ring region.Comment: Accepter for publication in the Astronomical Journa
Influence of GABA and GABA-producing Lactobacillus brevis DPC 6108 on the development of diabetes in a streptozotocin rat model
peer-reviewedThe aim of this study was to investigate if dietary administration of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-producing Lactobacillus brevis DPC 6108 and pure GABA exert protective effects against the development of diabetes in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic Sprague Dawley rats. In a first experiment, healthy rats were divided in 3 groups (n=10/group) receiving placebo, 2.6 mg/kg body weight (bw) pure GABA or L. brevis DPC 6108 (~109microorganisms). In a second experiment, rats (n=15/group) were randomised to five groups and four of these received an injection of STZ to induce type 1 diabetes. Diabetic and non-diabetic controls received placebo [4% (w/v) yeast extract in dH2O], while the other three diabetic groups received one of the following dietary supplements: 2.6 mg/kg bw GABA (low GABA), 200 mg/kg bw GABA (high GABA) or ~109 L. brevis DPC 6108. L. brevis DPC 6108 supplementation was associated with increased serum insulin levels (P0.05), compared with non-diabetic controls while all other diabetic groups displayed reduced diversity (P<0.05). L. brevis DPC 6108 attenuated hyperglycaemia induced by diabetes but additional studies are needed to understand the mechanisms involved in this reduction.The authors and their work were supported
by the APC Microbiome Institute. The APC Microbiome Institute is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
This publication has emanated from research supported by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under Grant Number SFI/12/RC/2273
The Dog on the Ship: The "Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy" as an Outlying Part of the Argo Star System
Overdensities in the distribution of low latitude, 2MASS giant stars are
revealed by systematically peeling away from sky maps the bulk of the giant
stars conforming to ``isotropic'' density laws generally accounting for known
Milky Way components. This procedure, combined with a higher resolution
treatment of the sky density of both giants and dust allows us to probe to
lower Galactic latitudes than previous 2MASS giant star studies. While the
results show the swath of excess giants previously associated with the
Monoceros ring system in the second and third Galactic quadrants at distances
of 6-20 kpc, we also find a several times larger overdensity of giants in the
same distance range concentrated in the direction of the ancient constellation
Argo. Isodensity contours of the large structure suggest that it is highly
elongated and inclined by about 3 deg to the disk, although details of the
structure -- including the actual location of highest density, overall extent,
true shape -- and its origin, remain unknown because only a fraction of it lies
outside highly dust-obscured, low latitude regions. Nevertheless, our results
suggest that the 2MASS M giant overdensity previously claimed to represent the
core of a dwarf galaxy in Canis Major (l ~ 240 deg) is an artifact of a dust
extinction window opening to the overall density rise to the more significant
Argo structure centered at larger longitude (l ~ 290 +- 10 deg, b ~ -4 +- 2
deg).Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
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