CONSUMER USE OF NUTRITION LABELS ON PACKAGED MEATS

Consumer perceptions of the importance of nutritional labeling of fresh meats and knowledge of nutritional terms have been presented in the Journal of Food Distribution Research (Piedra, et al 1995). This article presents follow up information on consumer reported uses of nutritional labels on packaged meats and the specific nutrients that the consumers check for on packaged meats. The results indicate that consumers use nutrition labels to check for desirable dietary components and to compare nutrient content among meats as well as to check for the presence of undesirable dietary components in packaged meats.Consumer/Household Economics,

HOUSEHOLD PERCEPTIONS OF THE NUTRITIONAL LABELING OF MEATS

Previous research on the relationship between diet and health has increased consumer interest in the nutritional content of specific foods. Federal programs, such as the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and The Food Pyramid, have had similar impacts. A 1994 mail survey of 3,080 Louisiana households in eight rural and urban parishes examined consumer awareness of the nutritional labeling of fresh meats and its importance. Rural respondents placed more emphasis on nutritional labeling than did urban respondents. The respondents also ranked three descriptive terms (lean, extra lean and low fat) for fat content as defined by the USDA. Eighteen percent of households ranked them correctly with white households displaying better ranking capability. These results tend to justify an earlier decision by Congress to implement legislation covering the nutritional labeling of fresh meats.Consumer/Household Economics,

Short-wavelength out-of-band EUV emission from Sn laser-produced plasma

We present the results of spectroscopic measurements in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) regime (7-17 nm) of molten tin microdroplets illuminated by a high-intensity 3-J, 60-ns Nd:YAG laser pulse. The strong 13.5 nm emission from this laser-produced plasma is of relevance for next-generation nanolithography machines. Here, we focus on the shorter wavelength features between 7 and 12 nm which have so far remained poorly investigated despite their diagnostic relevance. Using flexible atomic code calculations and local thermodynamic equilibrium arguments, we show that the line features in this region of the spectrum can be explained by transitions from high-lying configurations within the Sn$^{8+}$-Sn$^{15+}$ ions. The dominant transitions for all ions but Sn$^{8+}$ are found to be electric-dipole transitions towards the $n$=4 ground state from the core-excited configuration in which a 4$p$ electron is promoted to the 5$s$ sub-shell. Our results resolve some long-standing spectroscopic issues and provide reliable charge state identification for Sn laser-produced plasma, which could be employed as a useful tool for diagnostic purposes.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Cross-calibration of a combined electrostatic and time-of-flight analyzer for energy- and charge-state-resolved spectrometry of tin laser-produced plasma

We present the results of the calibration of a channeltron-based electrostatic analyzer operating in time-of-flight mode (ESA-ToF) using tin ions resulting from laser-produced plasma, over a wide range of charge states and energies. Specifically, the channeltron electron multiplier detection efficiency and the spectrometer resolution are calibrated, and count rate effects are characterized. With the obtained overall response function, the ESA-ToF is shown to accurately reproduce charge-integrated measurements separately and simultaneously obtained from a Faraday cup (FC), up to a constant factor the finding of which enables absolute cross-calibration of the ESA-ToF using the FC as an absolute benchmark. Absolute charge-state-resolved ion energy distributions are obtained from ns-pulse Nd:YAG-laser-produced microdroplet tin plasmas in a setting relevant for state-of-the-art extreme ultraviolet nanolithography

A note on quantum structure constants

The Cartan-Maurer equations for any $q$-group of the $A_{n-1}, B_n, C_n, D_n$ series are given in a convenient form, which allows their direct computation and clarifies their connection with the $q=1$ case. These equations, defining the field strengths, are essential in the construction of $q$-deformed gauge theories. An explicit expression \om ^i\we \om^j= -\Z {ij}{kl}\om ^k\we \om^l for the $q$-commutations of left-invariant one-forms is found, with \Z{ij}{kl} \om^k \we \om^l \qonelim \om^j\we\om^i.Comment: 9 pp., LaTe

Noncommutative N=1 super Yang-Mills, the Seiberg-Witten map and UV divergences

Classically, the dual under the Seiberg-Witten map of noncommutative U(N), {\cal N}=1 super Yang-Mills theory is a field theory with ordinary gauge symmetry whose fields carry, however, a \theta-deformed nonlinear realisation of the {\cal N}=1 supersymmetry algebra in four dimensions. For the latter theory we work out at one-loop and first order in the noncommutative parameter matrix \theta^{\mu\nu} the UV divergent part of its effective action in the background-field gauge, and, for N>=2, we show that for finite values of N the gauge sector fails to be renormalisable; however, in the large N limit the full theory is renormalisable, in keeping with the expectations raised by the quantum behaviour of the theory's noncommutative classical dual. We also obtain --for N>=3, the case with N=2 being trivial-- the UV divergent part of the effective action of the SU(N) noncommutative theory in the enveloping-algebra formalism that is obtained from the previous ordinary U(N) theory by removing the U(1) degrees of freedom. This noncommutative SU(N) theory is also renormalisable.Comment: 33 pages, 4 figures. Version 2: Unnecessary files removed. Version 3: New types of field redefinitions were considered, which make the large N U(N) and the SU(N) theories renormalisable. The conclusions for U(N) with finite N remain unchanged. Version 4: Corrected mistyped equations, minor revision

Wehrl entropy, Lieb conjecture and entanglement monotones

We propose to quantify the entanglement of pure states of $N \times N$ bipartite quantum system by defining its Husimi distribution with respect to $SU(N)\times SU(N)$ coherent states. The Wehrl entropy is minimal if and only if the pure state analyzed is separable. The excess of the Wehrl entropy is shown to be equal to the subentropy of the mixed state obtained by partial trace of the bipartite pure state. This quantity, as well as the generalized (R{\'e}nyi) subentropies, are proved to be Schur--convex, so they are entanglement monotones and may be used as alternative measures of entanglement

Noncommutative Solitons of Gravity

We investigate a three-dimensional gravitational theory on a noncommutative space which has a cosmological constant term only. We found various kinds of nontrivial solutions, by applying a similar technique which was used to seek noncommutative solitons in noncommutative scalar field theories. Some of those solutions correspond to bubbles of spacetimes, or represent dimensional reduction. The solution which interpolates $G_{\mu\nu}=0$ and Minkowski metric is also found. All solutions we obtained are non-perturbative in the noncommutative parameter $\theta$, therefore they are different from solutions found in other contexts of noncommutative theory of gravity and would have a close relation to quantum gravity.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures. v2: minor corrections done in Section 3.1 and Appendix, references added. v3, v4: typos correcte

Molecular typing of mycobacterium tuberculosis by using nine novel variable-number tandem repeats across the Beijing family and low-copy-number IS6110 isolates

Molecular epidemiological tools for genotyping clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis have been developed and used to help track and contain transmission of tuberculosis. We identified 87 short sequence repeat loci within the genome of the M. tuberculosis H37Rv strain. Nine tandem repeats were found to be variable (variable-number tandem repeats (VNTRs)) in a set of 91 isolates. Fifty-seven of the isolates had only four IS6110 bands. The other 34 isolates were members of the Beijing strain family. The number of alleles of each these nine VNTRs was determined by examining each isolate. Six of the loci (Mtb-v1, -v4, -v10, -v15, -v18, and -v20) were able to differentiate the Beijing spoligotype identical isolates into seven distinct genotypes. Five of the loci (Mtb-v3, -v5, -v6, -v10, and -v15) were informative in discriminating the four-band IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism isolates from each other. The Nei's diversity values of each marker ranged from 0.02 to 0.59, with the number of alleles ranging from two to eight across the entire strain set. These nine loci provide a useful, discriminatory extension of VNTR typing methods for application to molecular epidemiologic studies of M. tuberculosis

Nominal or Real? The Impact of Regional Price Levels on Satisfaction with Life

According to economic theory, real income, i.e., nominal income adjusted for purchasing power, should be the relevant source of life satisfaction. Previous work, however, has only studied the impact of inflation adjusted nominal income and not taken into account regional differences in purchasing power. Therefore, we use a novel data set to study how regional price levels affect satisfaction with life. The data set comprises about 7 million data points that are used to construct a price level for each of the 428 administrative districts in Germany. We estimate pooled OLS and ordered probit models that include a comprehensive set of individual level, time-varying and time-invariant control variables as well as control variables that capture district heterogeneity other than the price level. Our results show that higher price levels significantly reduce life satisfaction. Furthermore, we find that a higher price level tends to induce a larger loss in life satisfaction than a corresponding decrease in nominal income. A formal test of neutrality of money, however, does not reject neutrality of money. Our results provide an argument in favor of regional indexation of government transfer payments such as social welfare benefits