A study on independent component analysis over galois fields

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Elétrica, 2015.

Use of inert gas-enriched atmospheres and post-packaging irradiation in shelf-life extension of watercress

Watercress (Nasturtium officinale R. Br.) is a semi-aquatic plant of the Brassicaceae family highly appreciated in the Mediterranean cuisine. It features sharp, peppery and slightly tangy taste and contains health-promoting phytochemicals. Its consumption as a fresh-cut product has increased in recent years, as well as the global market of minimally processed vegetables. This demand is driven by the growing interest in the role of food in promoting the human health and wellbeing and to meet consumer needs for fresh-like and more convenient foods. Due to the reduced shelf-life of this plant, the suitability of inert gas-enriched atmospheres and ionizing irradiation for preserving visual, nutritional and functional quality attributes during cold storage was studied. Watercress samples were gathered in the Northeast region of Portugal, rinsed in tap water and a portion was immediately analyzed (non-stored control). The remaining fresh material was packaged in polyethylene bags under N2- and Ar-enriched atmospheres, conventional atmosphere (air) and vacuum (no atmosphere). Samples under conventional atmosphere were irradiated at 1, 2 and 5 kGy of gamma-rays (predicted doses) in a 60Co experimental chamber. A non-irradiated control followed all the experiment. Then, all packaged samples were stored at 4 ºC for 7 days. The studied quality parameters included the colour that was measured with a Konica Minolta colorimeter, and total soluble solids and pH determined in squeezed juice. The proximate composition (moisture, proteins, fat, ash, carbohydrates and energy) was evaluated using the AOA C procedures. Organic acids, free sugars, fatty acids and tocopherols were analyzed by chromatographic techniques. Samples were also evaluated for its DPPH• scavenging activity, reducing power, and lipid peroxidation inhibition capacity trough the inhibition of the β-carotene bleaching and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBAR S) formation. Differences among treatments were analyzed using the one-way analysis of variance (ANO VA) and a linear discriminant analysis (LDA ) was used to evaluate the effects on the overall postharvest quality. After evaluating the effect on the individual quality parameters, the LDA revealed that the Ar-enriched atmosphere and the irradiation at 2 kGy were suitable processing choices for preserving the integrity of the non-stored control samples during cold storage. Thus, these non-thermal treatments were highlighted for shelf-life extension of fresh-cut watercress.

Impact of extension of coverage to agricultural workers under PL 94-566, their characteristics and economic welfare.

"Prepared by G. Joachim [i.e. Joachim G.] Elterich and Linda Graham"--Prelim. p.

An extension of STARD statements for reporting diagnostic accuracy studies on liver fibrosis tests: the Liver-FibroSTARD standards

International audience

Nitrogen vs argon: what is the most effective atmosphere for shelf-life extension of buckler sorrel leaves?

Buckler sorrel (Rumex induratus Boiss. & Reut.) is an underutilized leafy vegetable with peculiar sensory properties and potential as a gourmet food. In the food industry, different packaging methods have been used for shelf-life extension, but it is important to know how the quality of minimally processed vegetable is affected by these treatments. Recently, nitrogen and argon have been used for food packaging. Nitrogen is low soluble in water and other food constituents and does not support the growth of aerobic microbes. In turn, argon is biochemically active and appears to interfere with enzymatic oxygen receptor sites. In this study, modified atmospheres enriched with nitrogen and argon were evaluated for shelf-life extension of buckler sorrel leaves. Wild samples were gathered in Bragança, Portugal, considering local consumers’ sites and criteria. Healthy and undamaged leaves were selected, rinsed in tap water, and a portion was immediately analyzed (non-stored control). The remaining fresh material was packaged in polyethylene bags under nitrogen- and argon-enriched atmospheres and a conventional control atmosphere (air). All packaged samples were stored at 4 ºC for 12 days and then analyzed. The headspace gas composition was monitored during storage. Different quality attributes were evaluated, including visual (colour), nutritional (macronutrients, individual sugars and fatty acids) and bioactive (hydrophilic and lipophilic molecules and antioxidant properties) parameters. Different statistical tools were used; the one-way analysis of variance (ANO VA) was applied for analyse the differences among treatments and a linear discriminant analysis (LDA ) was used to evaluate the effects on the overall postharvest quality. The argon-enriched atmosphere better prevent the samples yellowing. The proximate composition did not change significantly during storage. Samples in control atmosphere revealed higher protein and ash contents and lower levels of lipids. The non-stored control samples presented the higher amounts of fructose, glucose and trehalose. The storage time increased the palmitic acid levels and decreased the content in α-linolenic and linoleic acids. The γ- e δ-tocopherols were higher after the 12 days of cold storage. Probably, the synthesis of these lipophilic compounds was a plant strategy to fight against the abiotic stress induced by storage. Higher levels of total phenolics and flavonoids and increased reducing power and β-carotene bleaching inhibition capacity were also found in the stored control samples. Once again, this result may be attributed to the intrinsic plant-protection mechanisms. Overall, the argon atmosphere was more suitable for quality preservation and shelf-life extension of buckler sorrel.

Plan submitted for the alteration of the streets and av. around the Capitol : consequent upon its extension /

Oriented with north to the right.

[Map of proposed extension of Vermont Avenue N.W. between Florida and Georgia avenues as desired by the Trustees of Howard University, Washington D.C.] /

Partial cadastral map showing lots in path of proposed avenue extension.

The interpretation of scholars' interpretations of confidence intervals: criticism, replication, and extension of Hoekstra et al. (2014)

Hoekstra et al. (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2014, 21:1157–1164) surveyed the interpretation of confidence intervals (CIs) by first-year students, master students, and researchers with six items expressing misinterpretations of CIs. They asked respondents to answer all items, computed the number of items endorsed, and concluded that misinterpretation of CIs is robust across groups. Their design may have produced this outcome artifactually for reasons that we describe. This paper discusses first the two interpretations of CIs and, hence, why misinterpretation cannot be inferred from endorsement of some of the items. Next, a re-analysis of Hoekstra et al.’s data reveals some puzzling differences between first-year and master students that demand further investigation. For that purpose, we designed a replication study with an extended questionnaire including two additional items that express correct interpretations of CIs (to compare endorsement of correct vs. nominally incorrect interpretations) and we asked master students to indicate which items they would have omitted had they had the option (to distinguish deliberate from uninformed endorsement caused by the forced-response format). Results showed that incognizant first-year students endorsed correct and nominally incorrect items identically, revealing that the two item types are not differentially attractive superficially; in contrast, master students were distinctively more prone to endorsing correct items when their uninformed responses were removed, although they admitted to nescience more often that might have been expected. Implications for teaching practices are discussed.

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP FOR RESPONSIVE EXTENSION EDUCATION: THE CASE OF SAFE AND UCC IN GHANA

Developing nations in Africa are not shielded from the pressures of a globalized competitive agricultural marketplace. With an appreciable bulk of her people deriving livelihoods from diverse agricultural enterprises, these nations must respond to important contemporary issues shaping global agriculture. Farmers from such nations, including Ghana, will be able to improve their participation in the competitive local, regional and global agricultural marketplace if the appropriate agricultural technologies and extension information support are available. To achieve this, a new breed of agricultural extension graduates who can respond to current and emerging challenges in agriculture and interface effectively with farmers must be produced through responsive extension education and training. While extension education can produce effective extensionists to hasten agricultural development, budgetary constraints make it difficult for most African governments to successfully and sustainably implement such educational programs. However, public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives offer a way out of this financial dilemma. Beginning in 1993, the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education (SAFE) worked with the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in Ghana to develop an innovative extension education program through a public private partnership. The program, comprising a BSc. and Diploma components, was designed to respond to the myriad of challenges facing higher agricultural extension education in Ghana. A key practical feature of the curricula is the “Supervised Enterprise Projects” (SEPS), which enable students to work with relevant stakeholders to identify and tackle agricultural problems in farming communities through experiential extension approaches and action research. The SAFE-UCC initiative fulfils important education goals such as: expanding and improving access; ensuring quality and relevance; ensuring funding and mobilizing resources for sustainability; building partnerships and linkages; and promoting international co-operation. The paper discusses the underlying conditions for a successful public private partnership in agricultural and extension education and sheds light on the impacts, lessons learned and challenges.

Synthesis of waterborne polyurethane-urea dispersions with chain extension step in homogeneous and heterogeneous media

Hypothesis: The possibility of tailoring the final properties of environmentally friendly waterborne polyurethane and polyurethane-urea dispersions and the films they produce makes them attractive for a wide range of applications. Both the reagents content and the synthesis route contribute to the observed final properties. Experiments: A series of polyurethane-urea and polyurethane aqueous dispersions were synthesized using 1,2-ethanediamine and/or 1,4-butanediol as chain extenders. The diamine content was varied from 0 to 4.5 wt%. Its addition was carried out either by the classical heterogeneous reaction medium (after phase inversion step), or else by the alternative homogeneous medium (prior to dispersion formation). Dispersions as well as films prepared from dispersions have been later extensively characterized. Findings: 1,2-Ethanediamine addition in heterogeneous medium leads to dispersions with high particle sizes and broad distributions whereas in homogeneous medium, lower particle sizes and narrow distributions were observed, thus leading to higher uniformity and cohesiveness among particles during film formation. Thereby, stress transfer is favored adding the diamine in a homogeneous medium; and thus the obtained films presented quite higher stress and modulus values. Furthermore, the higher uniformity of films tends to hinder water molecules transport through the film, resulting, in general, in a lower water absorption capacity.

Memorándum de Entendimiento entre University of California, San Diego, Extension y Universidad de Cuenca

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Losses from Horizontal Merger: an Extension to a Successive Oligopoly Model with Product Differentiation

This paper generalizes the model of Salant et al. (1983; Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 98, pp. 185–199) to a successive oligopoly model with product differentiation. Upstream firms produce differentiated goods, retailers compete in quantities, and supply contracts are linear. We show that if retailers buy from all producers, downstream mergers do not affect wholesale prices. Our result replicates that of Salant's, where mergers are not profitable unless the size of the merged firm exceeds 80 per cent of the industry. This result is robust to the type of competition.

A natural extension of the classical envelope theorem in vector differential programming

The aim of this paper is to extend the classical envelope theorem from scalar to vector differential programming. The obtained result allows us to measure the quantitative behaviour of a certain set of optimal values (not necessarily a singleton) characterized to become minimum when the objective function is composed with a positive function, according to changes of any of the parameters which appear in the constraints. We show that the sensitivity of the program depends on a Lagrange multiplier and its sensitivity.

Conexiones de Galois y técnicas de tratamiento de la información

En el ámbito de las estructuras ordenadas, Ø. Ore introdujo en 1944 el concepto de conexión de Galois como un par de funciones antítonas entre dos conjuntos parcialmente ordenados, generalizando así la teoría de polaridades entre retículos completos. Este concepto supone una generalización de la correspondencia subgrupo-subcuerpo que se describe en el clásico Teorema Fundamental de la Teoría de Galois, de ahí el origen del término. Años más tarde, J. Schmidt mantuvo la terminología de conexión de Galois, pero cambió las funciones antítonas por funciones isótonas, lo cual favoreció la aplicabilidad de este concepto a Computación. El término adjunción fue introducido en 1958 por D. M. Kan. Originalmente fueron definidas en un contexto categórico y tal vez debido a esto, pueden encontrarse gran cantidad de ejemplos de adjunciones en varias áreas de investigación, que van desde las más teóricas a las más aplicadas. En 1965, Lotfi Zadeh introduce la Teoría de Conjuntos Difusos. En su trabajo se aborda definitivamente el problema del modelado matemático de la ambigüedad, con la definición de conjunto difuso X en un universo U como una aplicación X: U→ [0,1] que asocia a cada elemento u del conjunto U un valor del intervalo real [0,1] y donde X(u) representa el grado de pertenencia de u al conjunto difuso X. El término conexión de Galois difusa fue introducido por R. Belohlávek como un par de aplicaciones definidas entre los conjuntos de conjuntos difusos definidos sobre dos universos. Desde entonces, en el ámbito de la lógica difusa, se pueden encontrar numerosos artículos en los cuales se estudian las conexiones de Galois difusas desde un punto de vista algebraico y abstracto. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es estudiar y caracterizar, a partir de una aplicación f: A→ B desde un conjunto A dotado con una determinada estructura hasta un conjunto B no necesariamente dotado de estructura, las situaciones en las cuales se pueda definir una estructura en B similar a la de A, de forma que además se pueda construir una aplicación g: B→ A tal que el par (f,g) sea una adjunción (conexión de Galois isótona). Se considera el conjunto A dotado con un orden parcial y se realiza la descomposición canónica de la función f a través del conjunto cociente de A con respecto a la relación núcleo. Partiendo del problema inicial de deducir las condiciones necesarias y suficientes para la existencia de un orden parcial en B y para la definición de un adjunto por la derecha de f, con esta descomposición canónica se pretende dividir la cuestión en tres problemas más simples, a saber, la construcción de un orden en el codominio y un adjunto por la derecha para cada una de las aplicaciones que forman parte de la citada descomposición. Esto resuelve la cuestión planteada para el caso de funciones que son sobreyectivas. Para el caso general, es necesario analizar previamente cómo extender una relación de preorden definida sobre un subconjunto de un conjunto dado a dicho conjunto, así como la definición de un adjunto por la derecha para la inclusión natural del subconjunto dentro del conjunto. Se continua la investigación considerando el conjunto A dotado con un preorden, en este caso la ausencia de la propiedad antisimétrica hace necesario utilizar la denominada relación p-núcleo, que es el cierre transitivo de la unión de la relación núcleo y la relación de equivalencia núcleo simétrico. Asimismo, el hecho de que no se tenga unicidad para el máximo o el mínimo de un subconjunto, conduce a trabajar con relaciones definidas en el conjunto de partes de un conjunto (concretamente, con el preorden de Hoare). Todo ello hace aumentar la dificultad en la búsqueda de las condiciones necesarias y suficientes para la existencia de una relación de preorden en el codominio y la existencia de un adjunto por la derecha. Se finaliza esta sección con el análisis de la unicidad del adjunto por la derecha y del orden parcial (preorden) definido sobre el codominio. Después del estudio anterior, se introducen los denominados operadores y sistemas de ≈-cierre en conjuntos preordenados y se analiza la relación existente entre ambos (que deja de ser biunívoca, como sucede en el caso de órdenes parciales). Se trabaja con la noción de compatibilidad respecto a una relación de equivalencia y se caracteriza la construcción de adjunciones entre conjuntos preordenados en términos de la existencia de un sistema de ≈-cierre compatible con la relación núcleo. En una segunda parte de la tesis, se aportan las definiciones de las nociones de adjunción difusa, co-adjunción difusa y conexiones de Galois difusas por la derecha y por la izquierda entre conjuntos con preórdenes difusos. Además se presentan las distintas caracterizaciones de los conceptos anteriormente señalados, así como las relaciones entre ellos. Se aborda la construcción de adjunciones entre conjuntos con órdenes difusos, utilizando de nuevo la relación núcleo, en su versión difusa, y la descomposición canónica de la función de partida respecto a ella. El teorema principal de esta sección recoge una caracterización para la definición de una relación difusa de orden sobre el codominio B y un adjunto por la derecha para f:(A, ρA) → B donde (A, ρA) es un conjunto con un orden difuso. El estudio del problema anterior entre conjuntos con preórdenes difusos, hace necesario trabajar con la relación difusa denominada p-núcleo. También es preciso definir un preorden difuso en el conjunto de partes de un conjunto para describir las condiciones bajo las que es posible la construcción de una adjunción. Se finaliza proponiendo la definición de sistema de cierre en un conjunto con un preorden difuso y algunas caracterizaciones más manejables. También se trabaja con los operadores de cierre definidos en un conjunto con un preorden difuso y se analiza la relación con los sistemas de cierre. Todo ello encaminado a caracterizar la construcción de un adjunto por la derecha y un preorden difuso sobre el codominio B de una de una aplicación f:(A, ρA) → B, donde ρA es un preorden difuso sobre A.