213,364 research outputs found
Effect of carrot puree edible films on quality preservation of fresh-cut carrots
peer-reviewedFinancial support from the high level talent fund of Henan University of Technology Science and Technology (No. 2012BS024) is gratefully acknowledged.The effect of edible films based on carrot puree, chitosan, corn starch, gelatin, glycerol and cinnamaldehyde on fresh-cut carrots was studied during storage. Several parameters, such as firmness, colour, weight loss, total carotenoids, total phenols, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity and peroxidase (POD) activity in coated carrots were determined at regular intervals and then compared with the uncoated carrots throughout the storage period. Significant and expected changes were observed in all carrot samples that were compared. The coating treatment significantly (P < 0.05) delayed the senescence, reduced the deterioration of exterior quality and retained total carotenoids well compared with control (P < 0.05). In addition, significant inhibition of PPO activity (P < 0.05) and POD activity (P < 0.05) as well as reduced accumulation of polyphenols (P < 0.05) were observed for all coated samples. All of these favourable responses induced by coating treatment on minimally processed fresh-cut carrots showed beneficial physiological effects, which would give some useful references to the fresh-cut fruit and vegetable processing industry and satisfy people’s requirements allowing for extending product shelf life without negatively affecting the sensory quality or acceptability.Henan University of Technology Science and Technolog
Influences of magnetic coupling process on the spectrum of a disk covered by the corona
Recently, much attention has been paid to the magnetic coupling (MC) process,
which is supported by very high emissivity indexes observed in Seyfert 1 galaxy
MCG-6-30-15 and GBHC XTE J1650-500. But the rotational energy transferred from
a black hole is simply assumed to be radiated away from the surrounding
accretion disk in black-body spectrum, which is obviously not consistent with
the observed hard power-law X-ray spectra. We intend to introduce corona into
the MC model to make it more compatible with the observations. We describe the
model and the procedure of a simplified Monte Carlo simulation, compare the
output spectra in the cases with and without the MC effects, and discuss the
influences of three parameters involved in the MC process on the output
spectra. It is shown that the MC process augments radiation fluxes in the UV or
X-ray band. The emergent spectrum is affected by the BH spin and magnetic field
strength at the BH horizon, while it is almost unaffected by the radial profile
of the magnetic field at the disk. Introducing corona into the MC model will
improve the fitting of the output spectra from AGNs and GBHCs.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, accepted by A&
The structural, mechanical, electronic, optical and thermodynamic properties of t-XAs (X Si, Ge and Sn) by first-principles calculations
The structural, mechanical, electronic, optical and thermodynamic properties
of the t-XAs (X Si, Ge and Sn) with
tetragonal structure have been investigated by first principles calculations.
Our calculated results show that these compounds are mechanically and
dynamically stable. By the study of elastic anisotropy, it is found that the
anisotropic of the t-SnAs is stronger than that
of t-SiAs and
t-GeAs. The band structures and density of states
show that the t-XAs (Si, Ge and Sn) are
semiconductors with narrow band gaps. Based on the analyses of electron density
difference, in t-XAs As atoms get electrons, X
atoms lose electrons. The calculated static dielectric constants,
, are 15.5, 20.0 and 15.1 eV for
t-XAs (X Si, Ge and Sn), respectively. The
Dulong-Petit limit of t-XAs is about 10 J
molK. The thermodynamic stability successively
decreases from t-SiAs to
t-GeAs to t-SnAs.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 6 table
Realistic Gluino Axion Model Consistent with Supersymmetry Breaking at the TeV Scale
The recently proposed model of using the dynamical phase of the gluino to
solve the strong CP problem is shown to admit a specific realization in terms
of fundamental singlet superfields, such that the breaking of supersymmetry
occurs only at the TeV scale, despite the large axion scale of 10^{9} to
10^{12} GeV. Phenomenological implications are discussed.Comment: 12 pp, 2 fig
A first step to accelerating fingerprint matching based on deformable minutiae clustering
Fingerprint recognition is one of the most used biometric
methods for authentication. The identification of a query fingerprint requires
matching its minutiae against every minutiae of all the fingerprints
of the database. The state-of-the-art matching algorithms are costly, from
a computational point of view, and inefficient on large datasets. In this
work, we include faster methods to accelerating DMC (the most accurate
fingerprint matching algorithm based only on minutiae). In particular,
we translate into C++ the functions of the algorithm which represent the
most costly tasks of the code; we create a library with the new code and
we link the library to the original C# code using a CLR Class Library
project by means of a C++/CLI Wrapper. Our solution re-implements
critical functions, e.g., the bit population count including a fast C++
PopCount library and the use of the squared Euclidean distance for calculating
the minutiae neighborhood. The experimental results show a
significant reduction of the execution time in the optimized functions of
the matching algorithm. Finally, a novel approach to improve the matching
algorithm, considering cache memory blocking and parallel data processing,
is presented as future work.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech
Does abortion reduce self-esteem and life satisfaction?
PurposeThis study aims to assess the effects of obtaining an abortion versus being denied an abortion on self-esteem and life satisfaction.MethodsWe present the first 2.5 years of a 5-year longitudinal telephone-interview study that follows 956 women who sought an abortion from 30 facilities across the USA. We examine the self-esteem and life satisfaction trajectories of women who sought and received abortions just under the facility's gestational age limit, of women who sought and received abortions in their first trimester of pregnancy, and of women who sought abortions just beyond the facility gestational limit and were denied an abortion. We use adjusted mixed effects linear regression analyses to assess whether the trajectories of women who sought and obtained an abortion differ from those who were denied one.ResultsWomen denied an abortion initially reported lower self-esteem and life satisfaction than women who sought and obtained an abortion. For all study groups, except those who obtained first trimester abortions, self-esteem and life satisfaction improved over time. The initially lower levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction among women denied an abortion improved more rapidly reaching similar levels as those obtaining abortions at 6 months to one year after abortion seeking. For women obtaining first trimester abortions, initially higher levels of life satisfaction remained steady over time.ConclusionsThere is no evidence that abortion harms women's self-esteem or life satisfaction in the short term
Preparation and characterization of methacrylate hydrogels for zeta potential control
A technique based on the measurement of streaming potentials has been developed to evaluate the effects of hydrophilic coatings on electroosmotic flow. The apparatus and procedure are described as well as some results concerning the electrokinetic potential of glass capillaries as a function of ionic strength, pH, and temperature. The effect that turbulence and entrance flow conditions have on accurate streaming potential measurements is discussed. Various silane adhesion promoters exhibited only a slight decrease in streaming potential. A coating utilizing a glycidoxy silane base upon which methylcellulose is applied affords a six-fold decrease over uncoated tubes. Hydrophilic methacrylate gels show similar streaming potential behavior, independent of the water content of the gel. By introduction of positive or negative groups into the hydrophilic methacrylate gels, a range of streaming potential values are obtained having absolute positive or negative signs
Diagnosing space telescope misalignment and jitter using stellar images
Accurate knowledge of the telescope's point spread function (PSF) is
essential for the weak gravitational lensing measurements that hold great
promise for cosmological constraints. For space telescopes, the PSF may vary
with time due to thermal drifts in the telescope structure, and/or due to
jitter in the spacecraft pointing (ground-based telescopes have additional
sources of variation). We describe and simulate a procedure for using the
images of the stars in each exposure to determine the misalignment and jitter
parameters, and reconstruct the PSF at any point in that exposure's field of
view. The simulation uses the design of the SNAP (http://snap.lbl.gov)
telescope. Stellar-image data in a typical exposure determines secondary-mirror
positions as precisely as . The PSF ellipticities and size, which
are the quantities of interest for weak lensing are determined to and accuracies respectively in each exposure,
sufficient to meet weak-lensing requirements. We show that, for the case of a
space telescope, the PSF estimation errors scale inversely with the square root
of the total number of photons collected from all the usable stars in the
exposure.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figs, submitted to PAS
Anomalous Pinning Fields in Helical Magnets: Screening of the Quasiparticle Interaction
The spin-orbit interaction strength g_so in helical magnets determines both
the pitch wave number q and the critical field H_c1 where the helix aligns with
an external magnetic field. Within a standard Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson (LGW)
theory, a determination of g_so in MnSi and FeGe from these two observables
yields values that differ by a factor of 20. This discrepancy is remedied by
considering the fermionic theory underlying the LGW theory, and in particular
the effects of screening on the effective electron-electron interaction that
results from an exchange of helical fluctuations.Comment: 4pp, 2 fig
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