27,505 research outputs found
Quality related communication approaches for organic food
As food quality becomes more complex, consumer s are tending to reduce their involvement in the food purchase decision- making process. Consequently, prices are becoming more significant as they represent an easy choice criterion when consumer s have less information about the differences between the product and process quality inherent in food items (including environmental or social issues). The organic food sector provides high, complex food quality profiles and has therefore been seriously affected by this development. Consequently some SMEs in the food business sector are starting to emphasize certain quality factors, such as sustainable production and processing, as a means of communicating their added value to consumer s. Based on published scientific and unpublished literature, this paper provides an overview of the main instrument s and media of communication on food quality, illustrated by case studies. It also present s the results of a test by means of an information display matrix, conducted in order to analyse the consumer information and quality assessment behaviour involved in apple purchase in Switzerland. Keywords food quality, food indicators, means of communication, food miles, social standards, consumer behaviour.Marketing,
Nonlinear projective filtering in a data stream
We introduce a modified algorithm to perform nonlinear filtering of a time
series by locally linear phase space projections. Unlike previous
implementations, the algorithm can be used not only for a posteriori processing
but includes the possibility to perform real time filtering in a data stream.
The data base that represents the phase space structure generated by the data
is updated dynamically. This also allows filtering of non-stationary signals
and dynamic parameter adjustment. We discuss exemplary applications, including
the real time extraction of the fetal electrocardiogram from abdominal
recordings.Comment: 8 page
CaII and NaI absorption signatures from the circumgalactic gas of the Milky Way
We combine CaII/NaI absorption and HI 21 cm emission line measurements to
analyse the metal abundances, the distribution, the small-scale structure, and
the physical conditions of intermediate- and high-velocity gas in the Galactic
halo.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to appear in proceeding of "Galaxies in the Local
Volume" Sydney 8-13 July 200
Ionized Gas in the Galactic Center: New Observations and Interpretation
We present new observations of the [Ne II] emission from the ionized gas in
Sgr A West with improved resolution and sensitivity. About half of the emission
comes from gas with kinematics indicating it is orbiting in a plane tipped
about 25\degree\ from the Galactic plane. This plane is consistent with that
derived previously for the circumnuclear molecular disk and the northern arm
and western arc ionized features. However, unlike most previous studies, we
conclude that the ionized gas is not moving along the ionized features, but on
more nearly circular paths. The observed speeds are close to, but probably
somewhat less than expected for orbital motions in the potential of the central
black hole and stars and have a small inward component. The spatial
distribution of the emission is well fitted by a spiral pattern. We discuss
possible physical explanations for the spatial distribution and kinematics of
the ionized gas, and conclude that both may be best explained by a one-armed
spiral density wave, which also accounts for both the observed low velocities
and the inward velocity component. We suggest that a density wave may result
from the precession of elliptical orbits in the potential of the black hole and
stellar mass distribution.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figures, ApJ in pres
Hdo And SO2 Thermal Mapping On Venus: Evidence For Strong SO2 Variability
We have been using the TEXES high-resolution imaging spectrometer at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility to map sulfur dioxide and deuterated water over the disk of Venus. Observations took place on January 10-12, 2012. The diameter of Venus was 13 arcsec, with an illumination factor of 80%. Data were recorded in the 1344-1370 cm(-1) range (around 7.35 mu m) with a spectral resolving power of 80 000 and a spatial resolution of about 1.5 arcsec. In this spectral range, the emission of Venus comes from above the cloud top (z = 60-80 km). Four HDO lines and tens of SO2 lines have been identified in our spectra. Mixing ratios have been estimated from HDO/CO2 and SO2/CO2 line depth ratios, using weak neighboring transitions of comparable depths. The HDO maps, recorded on Jan. 10 and Jan. 12, are globally uniform with no significant variation between the two dates. A slight enhancement of the HDO mixing ratio toward the limb might be interpreted as a possible increase of the D/H ratio with height above the cloud level. The mean H2O mixing ratio is found to be 1.5 +/-0.75 ppm, assuming a D/H ratio of 0.0312 (i.e. 200 times the terrestrial value) over the cloud deck. The SO2 maps, recorded each night from Jan. 10 to Jan. 12, show strong variations over the disk of Venus, by a factor as high as 5 to 10. In addition, the position of the maximum SO2 mixing ratio strongly varies on a timescale of 24 h. The maximum SO2 mixing ratio ranges between 75 +/-25 ppb and 125 +/-50 ppb between Jan. 10 and Jan. 12. The high variability of sulfur dioxide is probably a consequence of its very short photochemical lifetime.NASA NNX-08AE38A, NNX08AW33G S03NSF AST-0607312, AST-0708074Astronom
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