76,079 research outputs found
Effect of addition of olive leaves before fruits extraction process to some monovarietal Tunisian extra-virgin olive oils using chemometric analysis
No full textThe analysis of the effect of cultivar and olive leaves addition before the extraction on the different analytical values revealed significant differences (p < 0.05) in some parameters, mainly in peroxide value, phenols and tocopherol contents, and oxidative stability. Aroma profiles were also influenced by the different varieties and the addition of different amounts (0% and 3%) of olive leaves. Twenty-three compounds were characterized, representing 86.1–99.2% of the total volatiles. Chétoui cultivar has the highest amount of (E)-2-hexenal, followed by Chemlali cultivar, whereas (E)-2-hexen-1-ol was the major constituent of Zalmati and crossbreeding Chemlali by Zalmati cultivars. Sensory analysis showed that Chemlali and Chétoui Zarzis possessed a high fruity, bitter, and pungent taste, whereas the Zalmati and crossbreeding Chemlali by Zalmati had a ‘green’ taste among its attributes. Indeed, the taste panel found an improvement of the oil quality when an amount of olive leaves (3%) added to the olives fruits
Evaluation of Vegetative Development of Quinoa under Water Stress by Applying Different Organic Amendments
No full textProlonged drought periods, increasingly occurring worldwide due to global climate change,
could affect the growth and productivity of both traditional and climate-resilient crops, including
quinoa. Specifically, the vegetative growing cycle of this species is highly sensitive to drought
conditions. In this context, using organic amendments could help plants cope with drought due
to their ability to enhance soil water status. So, the current study aimed to investigate the effect of
different organic amendments, i.e., two biochars (from woodchips and vineyard prunings) and a
vermicompost (from cattle manure), applied to the soil alone and mixed at 2% rate (w/w), on the
vegetative development of quinoa (cv. Titicaca), during which a period of water stress was imposed
from the twelve-leaf stage to the bud stage. A set of growth-related parameters were measured both
during and at the end of the experiment, along with a set of water-related parameters, at the end of
the water-stress period and after soil re-watering. The results showed that woodchip biochar, both
alone and mixed with vermicompost, significantly affected plant growth during the water-stress
period, also allowing a quicker recovery once drought conditions ended. Indeed, the leaf number and
area, SPAD index, leaf and stem fresh weight, and dry matter content in plants treated with woodchip
biochar, alone and mixed with vermicompost, were higher than vineyard pruning biochar, alone
and mixed with vermicompost and similar to the well-watered control plants. Similar results were
observed considering the yield contributing traits detected at the end of the experiment, including
the main panicle length, number of sub-panicle, as well as fresh weight and dry matter content of
both panicle and sub-panicles. Additionally, the water-related parameters, especially the low turgid
weight to dry weight ratio of woodchip biochar treated plants, showed evidence of better growth than
vineyard pruning biochar. At the end of the experiment, the WUE of plants treated with woodchip
biochar and vermicompost, both alone and mixed, was higher than vineyard pruning biochar alone
and mixed with vermicompost. Among the tested organic amendments, woodchip biochar alone
and mixed with vermicompost positively affected the vegetative growth response of quinoa under
water-stress conditions
The Benefits of Being Economics Professor A (and not Z)
Get PDFAlphabetic name ordering on multi-authored academic papers, which is the convention in the economics discipline and various other disciplines, is to the advantage of people whose last name initials are placed early in the alphabet. As it turns out, Professor A, who has been a first author more often than Professor Z, will have published more articles and experienced afaster growth rate over the course of her career as a result of reputation and visibility. Moreover, authors know that name ordering matters and indeed take ordering seriously: Several characteristics of an author group composition determine the decision to deviate from the default alphabetic name order to a significant extent.performance measurement, incentives, economists, name ordering
Mango and Avocado Byproducts as Feed Ingredients and Additives in Ruminant diet
No full textThe intensification of food-feed competitions and environmental concerns has driven research into
unconventional feed sources for optimizing ruminant feeding. In this study, we explored the
potential use of mango peel (MP), mango seed (MS), mango seed coat (MSC), avocado peel (AP),
and avocado seed (AS) in two experiments. Experiment 1 evaluated the feed potential of these
fruits byproducts by assessing their chemical composition, in vitro true digestibility, gas production,
and volatile fatty acid production. In vitro true digestibility was determined using the Ankom DaisyII
incubator. Among the various byproducts, MP and AP exhibited higher total phenolic content
ranging from 121.50 to 243.69 (mg GAE/g) and antioxidant capacity from 342.92 to 366.63 (mg
TE/g), indicating their potential to positively influence the rumen ecosystem. MP, MS, and AS
showed higher digestibility (86.4–89.5%), increased gas production, and elevated metabolizable
energy (8.41-9.59 MJ/kg DM), while MSC and AP exhibited lower values. Acetate-to-propionate
ratio, a key methane indicator, was higher in AS (3.97), MSC (3.76), and MS (3.53), and lower in
AP and MP (3.05 and 3.08, mmol/l respectively). Experiment 2 was conducted to assess the
effectiveness of incorporating mango and avocado by-products extracts (20 mg) as feed additives,
in comparison to alfalfa hay utilized as a control basal diet (200mg DM) across all groups. The
findings demonstrated that the AS extract group exhibited the highest 24-hour gas production (47.3
ml/0.2 g DM) when compared to both the control and other extract groups (42.1 to 42.5 ml/0.2 g
DM). MP and AP extracts significantly reduced acetate to propionate ratio compared to control and
other extracts (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the extract groups exhibited a lower ammonia nitrogen
concentration compared to the control. In conclusion, MP, MS, and AS show promising results as
feed ingredients. Peel extracts of mango and avocado emerge as feed additives, modulating
rumen fermentation parameters effectively
Final word on Jersey Dutch
No full textIn this article, William Z. Shetter compares and contrasts the dialects that developed between different Dutch colonies in the New World. He explores in-depth the nuances of Jersey Dutch, and provides theories to explain how Dutch and colonial languages blended. The article is reprinted from American Speech, December 1958, Volum XXXIII, No. 4
Specification and animation of security design models using Z
No full textL'écriture de spécifications pour des logiciels en général et en particulier pour des applications sécurisées demande de développer des techniques qui facilitent la détection et la prévention des erreurs de conception, dès les premières phases du développement. Ce besoin est motivé par les coûts et délais des phases de vérification et validation. De nombreuses méthodes de spécification, tant formelles qu'informelles ont été proposées et, comme nous le verrons dans cette thèse, les approches formelles donnent des spécifications de meilleure qualité.L'ingénierie des systèmes sécurisés propose l'utilisation de modèles de conception de la sécurité pour représenter les applications sécurisées. Dans de nombreux cas, ces modèles se basent sur les notations graphiques d'UML avec des extensions, sous forme de profils comme SecureUML, pour exprimer la sécurité. Néanmoins, les notations d'UML, même étendues avec des assertions OCL, sont insuffisantes pour garantir la correction de ces modèles. Ceci est notamment du aux limites des outils d'animation utilisés pour valider des modèles UML étendus en OCL. Nous proposons de combiner des langages formels comme Z avec UML pour valider des applications en animant leurs spécifications, indépendamment de futurs choix d'implémentation. Le but de cette thèse est de présenter une approche pour analyser par animation des modèles de conception de la sécurité. Nous utilisons un outil pré-existant, RoZ, pour traduire les aspects fonctionnels du modèle UML en Z. Cependant, RoZ ne couvre pas la modélisation des aspects sécuritaires. Dans cette thèse, nous avons complété l'outil RoZ en l'associant à un noyau de sécurité qui spécifie les concepts du modèle RBAC (Role Based Access Control). Nous utilisons l'animation pour explorer dynamiquement et ainsi valider les aspects sécuritaires de l'application.Notre approche et les outils qui la supportent intègrent UML, SecureUML (un langage de modélisation de la sécurité), RBAC, RoZ, Z et Jaza, un animateur pour le langage Z. L'animation des spécifications prend la forme de scénarios définis par l'utilisateur qui permettent de se convaincre que la spécification décrit correctement ses besoins. Notre approche permet une validation dès la phase de spécification, qui prend en considération l'interaction entre les modèles fonctionnel et sécuritaire, et qui fait abstraction des choix de l'implémentation. Les éléments du modèle fonctionnel peuvent être utilisés comme contexte dans la définition des permissions du modèle de sécurité. Notre approche ne met pas de contrainte sur ce modèle fonctionnel ce qui permet de l'utiliser pour une vaste gamme d'applications.Specifying security-critical software urges to develop techniques that allow early bugs detection and prevention. This is aggravated by the fact that massive cost and time are spent during product validation and verification (V&V). There exists a multitude of formal and informal techniques striving to confront the challenge of specifying and validating specifications. Our approach mainly concerns validating the security specifications by animating the formal models, which adds a new dimension to the state-of-the-art.Secure system engineering dedicated to tackle security features offers security-design models to sketch secure applications. Generally for these, Unified Modeling Language (UML) is considered a de facto standard along with a few extensions such as SecureUML and Object Constraint Language (OCL). OCL tends to add precision in design but yet it remains far from obtaining bugs free specifications. One reason to that is the inability of the OCL-based techniques to animate models before proceeding to an implementation.Combining formal languages such as Z with UML allows applying animation techniques enabling early validation of software design. The RoZ tool is capable of translating UML models into the Z specifications which further can be verified or validated. But RoZ is lacking to provide similar features for secure applications. In this thesis, we have upgraded this tool using an underlying security kernel backed up by Role Based Access Control (RBAC). Our approach not only allows validating the specifications but can animate the formal models. The animation also takes into account both the static and the dynamic aspects (i.e., session management) of RBAC-based security policies. Our unified approach and toolset involves a systematic usage and linkage of UML, SecureUML, RBAC, RoZ, Z, and the Just Another Z Animator (Jaza) tool. Using Jaza, the sort of validation we perform allows enumerating user defined scenarios to determine if the specification describes the intended reality. We emphasize on simultaneous consideration of functional and non-functional properties and consider functional models as contextual constraints over the security models. From a user viewpoint, our proposed approach can arbitrarily be composed with any functional model to examine an RBAC-based security policy
Dancing the Multicultural Conversation? Critical Responses to Akram Khan's Work in the Context of Pluralist Poetics
No full textAkram Khan, born in London of Bangladeshi heritage, is acknowledged by the UK press to be one of the British dance scene's biggest stars. His choreography combines classical Indian Kathak with Western contemporary dance techniques, and Khan has become well known for his high-profile collaborations, two of which form the focus of this article: Zero Degrees (2005) and Sacred Monsters (2006). Both works explore complex identity politics and cross-cultural encounters through dance and speech, employing a range of strategies to encourage empathy between performers and audience, including simultaneous spoken narratives and movement synchrony. This article begins by exploring the rich critical context for intercultural performance in dance studies and then goes on to question the simplifications of some dance critics in their appreciation of Khan's “rich melting pot” on the one hand and criticism of his “pretentious introspection” on the other. I argue that the nuances of Khan's own conceptions of multiculturalism are perceptible only when we consider his words alongside his endlessly nuanced physical explorations of both cultural collision and synchrony
Using Z in the development and maintenance of computational models of real-world systems
No full textThere are two main challenges in developing computational models of a real-world phenomena. One is the difficulty in ensuring clear communication between the scientists, who are the end-users of the model, and the model developers. This results from the difference in their backgrounds and terminologies. Another challenge for the developers is to ensure that the resultant software satisfies all the requirements accurately. Utilising a formal notation such as Z which is easy to learn, read, understand and remember can address these issues by (a) acting as a means to unambiguously communicate between scientists and simulation developers, and (b) providing a basis for systematically producing and maintaining simulation code that meets the specification. In this paper, we describe a translation scheme for producing code for the widely used agent-based simulation environment NetLogo from Z specifications. Additionally, we report on the use of the approach on a real project studying the movement of chyme, i.e. food undergoing digestion, through a pig’s intestine as a means of understanding the effect of dietary fibre on human health
Benzodiazepine and z-hypnotic prescribing for older people in primary care: a cross-sectional population-based study
No full textBackground Overall prescribing of benzodiazepines and z-hypnotics (B&Zs) has slowly reduced over the past 20 years. However, long-term prescribing still occurs, particularly among older people, and this is at odds with prescribing guidance. Aim To compare prescribing of B&Zs between care home and non-care home residents ≥65 years old. Design and setting Cross-sectional population-based study in primary care in Scotland. Method National patient-level B&Z prescribing data, for all adults aged ≥65 years, were extracted from the Prescribing Information System (PIS) for the calendar year 2011. The PIS gives access to data for all NHS prescriptions dispensed in primary care in Scotland. Data were stratified by health board, residential status, sex, and age (65–74, 75–84, and ≥85 years). To minimise disclosure risk, data from smaller health boards were amalgamated according to geography, thereby reducing the number from 14 to 10 areas. Results A total of 17% (n= 879 492) of the Scottish population were aged ≥65 years, of which 3.7% (n= 32 368) were care home residents. In total, 12.1% (n= 106 412) of older people were prescribed one or more B&Z: 5.9% an anxiolytic, 7.5% a hypnotic, and 1.3% were prescribed both. B&Zs were prescribed to 28.4% (9199) of care home and 11.5% (97 213) of non-care home residents (relative risk = 2.88, 95% CI = 2.82 to 2.95,P<0.001). Estimated annual B&Z exposure reduced with increasing age of care home residents, whereas non-care home residents’ exposure increased with age. Conclusion B&Zs were commonly prescribed for older people, with care home residents approximately three times more likely to be prescribed B&Zs than non-care home residents. However, overall B&Z exposure among non-care home residents was found to rise with increasing age
Logarithmic variance profiles and the corresponding f-1 spectra of temperature fluctuations in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection
No full textWe report experimental results for the temperature variance 2(z) and the corresponding frequency spectra P(f) in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC) in a cylindrical sample of aspect ratioT= D/L = 1:00 (D = 1:12 m is the diameter and L = 1:12 m the height). The measurements were conducted in the Rayleigh-number range 1011 < Ra < 1:35 1014 and Pr ' 0:8. For Ra = 1:35x1014, 2(z) could be described well by a logarithmic dependence on the vertical position z in a range of z 1 < z < z 2 with z 1 ' 70 and z 2 = 0:1L. Here L=(2Nu) is the thickness of a thin thermal sublayer adjacent to the horizontal plate where the heat flux (denoted by the Nusselt number Nu) is carried mostly by thermal diffusion. In the log layer, we found that the temperature spectra had a significant frequency range over which P(f) f with close to 1. As Ra decreased, increased so that the log layer became thinner. At Ra = 2:05 1011, z 2 < z 1 and therefore there was no range for a log layer. Correspondingly, the temperature spectrum near the horizontal plate did not have the f1 scaling form either
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