217 research outputs found

    Exploiting food choice biases for healthier recipe recommendation

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    By incorporating healthiness into the food recommendation / ranking process we have the potential to improve the eating habits of a growing number of people who use the Internet as a source of food inspiration. In this paper, using insights gained from various data sources, we explore the feasibility of substituting meals that would typically be recommended to users with similar, healthier dishes. First, by analysing a recipe collection sourced from Allrecipes.com, we quantify the potential for finding replacement recipes, which are comparable but have different nutritional characteristics and are nevertheless highly rated by users. Building on this, we present two controlled user studies (n=107, n=111) investigating how people perceive and select recipes. We show participants are unable to reliably identify which recipe contains most fat due to their answers being biased by lack of information, misleading cues and limited nutritional knowledge on their part. By applying machine learning techniques to predict the preferred recipes, good performance can be achieved using low-level image features and recipe meta-data as predictors. Despite not being able to consciously determine which of two recipes contains most fat, on average, participants select the recipe with the most fat as their preference. The importance of image features reveals that recipe choices are often visually driven. A final user study (n=138) investigates to what extent the predictive models can be used to select recipe replacements such that users can be "nudged'' towards choosing healthier recipes. Our findings have important implications for online food systems

    Integrative analyses of speciation and divergence in Psammodromus hispanicus (Squamata: Lacertidae)

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    BackgroundGenetic, phenotypic and ecological divergence within a lineage is the result of past and ongoing evolutionary processes, which lead ultimately to diversification and speciation. Integrative analyses allow linking diversification to geological, climatic, and ecological events, and thus disentangling the relative importance of different evolutionary drivers in generating and maintaining current species richness.ResultsHere, we use phylogenetic, phenotypic, geographic, and environmental data to investigate diversification in the Spanish sand racer (Psammodromus hispanicus). Phylogenetic, molecular clock dating, and phenotypic analyses show that P. hispanicus consists of three lineages. One lineage from Western Spain diverged 8.3 (2.9-14.7) Mya from the ancestor of Psammodromus hispanicus edwardsianus and P. hispanicus hispanicus Central lineage. The latter diverged 4.8 (1.5-8.7) Mya. Molecular clock dating, together with population genetic analyses, indicate that the three lineages experienced northward range expansions from southern Iberian refugia during Pleistocene glacial periods. Ecological niche modelling shows that suitable habitat of the Western lineage and P. h. edwardsianus overlap over vast areas, but that a barrier may hinder dispersal and genetic mixing of populations of both lineages. P. h. hispanicus Central lineage inhabits an ecological niche that overlaps marginally with the other two lineages.ConclusionsOur results provide evidence for divergence in allopatry and niche conservatism between the Western lineage and the ancestor of P. h. edwardsianus and P. h. hispanicus Central lineage, whereas they suggest that niche divergence is involved in the origin of the latter two lineages. Both processes were temporally separated and may be responsible for the here documented genetic and phenotypic diversity of P. hispanicus. The temporal pattern is in line with those proposed for other animal lineages. It suggests that geographic isolation and vicariance played an important role in the early diversification of the group, and that lineage diversification was further amplified through ecological divergence

    A novel source of arterial valve cell linked to bicuspid aortic valve without rephe in mice

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    Abnormalities of the arterial valve leaflets, predominantly bicuspid aortic valve, are the commonest congenital malformations. Although many studies have investigated the development of the arterial valves, it has been assumed that, as with the atrioventricular valves, endocardial to mesenchymal transition (EndMT) is the predominant mechanism. We show that arterial is distinctly different from atrioventricular valve formation. Whilst the four septal valve leaflets are dominated by NCC and EndMT-derived cells, the intercalated leaflets differentiate directly from Tnnt2-Cre+/Isl1+ progenitors in the outflow wall, via a Notch-Jag dependent mechanism. Further, when this novel group of progenitors are disrupted, development of the intercalated leaflets is disrupted, resulting in leaflet dysplasia and bicuspid valves without raphe, most commonly affecting the aortic valve. This study thus overturns the dogma that heart valves are formed principally by EndMT, identifies a new source of valve interstitial cells, and provides a novel mechanism for causation of bicuspid aortic valves without raphe.British Heart Foundation RG/12/15/29935 Lorriane Eley Rachel V Richardson Lindsay Murphy Bill Chaudhry Deborah J Henderson; British Heart Foundation PG/15/46/31589 Lorriane Eley Bill Chaudhry Deborah J Henderson; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades of Spain CB16/11/00399 (Ciber Cardiovascular) Donal MacGrogan Alejandro Salguero-Jimenez Jose Luis de La Pompa; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades of Spain SAF2016-78370-R Donal MacGrogan Alejandro Salguero-Jimenez Jose Luis de La Pompa; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades of Spain RD16/0011/0021 (Red de Terapia Celular, TERCEL) Donal MacGrogan Alejandro Salguero-Jimenez Jose Luis de La Pompa; The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.S

    On the Effects of N-P-K Fertilizer to the Electricity Generated by Aloe barbadensis miller

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    Nowadays, electricity is a pressing conflict due to the increase in demand by the populace. Thus, energy prices have also increased, making it considerably inaccessible to several population members. Considering this, the researchers have studied the type of N-PK fertilizer that can improve the efficiency of producing electricity from a living plant. There were four experimental setups of Aloe barbadensis miller that were utilized in the experiment. Every variable and component of each setup was constant, except the type of fertilizer that was added to the soil. The first setup did not have any fertilizer, the second group had Nitrogen-based (N-P-K 21:0:0), the third group had Phosphorus-based (N-P-K 0:22:0), and the fourth group had Potassium-based (N-P-K 0:0:50). The researchers gathered data on electricity generated in the Aloe vera derived from a capacitor using a multimeter every 12 hours for 16 days. Descriptive statistics and repeated measures of ANOVA statistical tests were utilized to perform the data analysis. Results showed that the setup with potassium-based fertilizer had produced significantly greater electricity (p \u3c .05) among the four setups whose differences were insignificant (p \u3e .05). Time had a moderate but negligible effect on the electricity produced by the Aloe vera. It is advised to increase the time taken to observe the plant if further research will be done on the topic

    Analysis of meteorology-chemistry interactions during air pollution episodes using online coupled models within AQMEII Phase-2

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    This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).This study reviews the top ranked meteorology and chemistry interactions in online coupled models recommended by an experts’ survey conducted in COST Action EuMetChem and examines the sensitivity of those interactions during two pollution episodes: the Russian forest fires 25 Jul -15 Aug 2010 and a Saharan dust transport event from 1 Oct -31 Oct 2010 as a part of the AQMEII phase-2 exercise. Three WRF-Chem model simulations were performed for the forest fire case for a baseline without any aerosol feedback on meteorology, a simulation with aerosol direct effects only and a simulation including both direct and indirect effects. For the dust case study, eight WRF-Chem and one WRF-CMAQ simulations were selected from the set of simulations conducted in the framework of AQMEII. Of these two simulations considered no feedbacks, two included direct effects only and five simulations included both direct and indirect effects. The results from both episodes demonstrate that it is important to include the meteorology and chemistry interactions in online-coupled models. Model evaluations using routine observations collected in AQMEII phase-2 and observations from a station in Moscow show that for the fire case the simulation including only aerosol direct effects has better performance than the simulations with no aerosol feedbacks or including both direct and indirect effects. The normalized mean biases are significantly reduced by 10-20% for PM10 when including aerosol direct effects. The analysis for the dust case confirms that models perform better when including aerosol direct effects, but worse when including both aerosol direct and indirect effects, which suggests that the representation of aerosol indirect effects needs to be improved in the model.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

    ICT platform for support AC circuits study

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    [EN] The software used for making educational tools allows analyze the engineering phenomena in a more complete and explained way, by means of simulation and experimentation. It is necessary to know the equations about the behaviour of the object under study for the generation of these tools, and to solve them through the right software, obtaining the output values from the input values. With this software it is possible to realize new studies only modifying the parameters of the model or the input values. In this work the alternating current electric circuits are analyzed. Joined with the simulation, this technology also allows the experimentation through the development of practices by WEB that can be done with remote access. These tools can be used both for teaching in the classroom and laboratories. and for doing exercises and in their own study time of the students[ES] La utilización de software para la elaboración de herramientas didácticas permite, mediante simulación y experimentación, analizar los fenómenos de Ingeniería de una forma más completa e ilustrativa. Para la generación de estas herramientas será necesario conocer las ecuaciones que rigen el comportamiento del fenómeno objeto de estudio, y resolverlas mediante el software adecuado, obteniendo las variables de salida a partir de las variables de entrada. Con el software es posible realizar nuevos estudios modificando los parámetros del modelo o las variables de entrada. En este trabajo se analizan los Circuitos Eléctricos de Corriente Alterna. Junto a la simulación, la tecnología permite también la experimentación, mediante el desarrollo de prácticas vía WEB que pueden ser realizadas con acceso remoto. Estas herramientas pueden ser usadas tanto en la impartición de la docencia en aula y laboratorio, como para la elaboración de problemas y en el propio tiempo de estudio del alumno.San Martín Ojeda, ML.; Parra Gonzalo, EP.; Blanco Caballero, M.; Sánchez Lite, A.; Serrano Sanz, JA.; Jiménez Gómez, MI.; García García, M. (2014). Plataforma TIC de apoyo al estudio de circuitos eléctricos de corriente alterna. Modelling in Science Education and Learning. 7:123-130. doi:10.4995/msel.2014.2127SWORD123130
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