Information problem solving instruction: Some cognitive and metacognitive issues

Children, teenagers, and adults abundantly use the Web to search for information. Yet this high frequency of use stands in marked contrast with the users’ relatively low awareness and mastery of metacognitive skills to search the Web effectively and efficiently. This paper provides a review of five different studies that sought to overcome these skill deficiencies by various kinds of instructional and environmental support. Following a discussion on the use of cognitive models of the search process in designing Web searching instruction and support, the studies’ findings are considered in view of their aim and approach in supporting metacognition.     

Scale-Invariant Scale-Channel Networks: Deep Networks That Generalise to Previously Unseen Scales

Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision - The ability to handle large scale variations is crucial for many real-world visual tasks. A straightforward approach for handling scale in a deep...     

Molecular Recognition in C-Type Lectins: The Cases of DC-SIGN,Langerin, MGL,and L-Sectin

Carbohydrates play a pivotal role in intercellular communication processes. In particular, glycan antigens are key for sustaining homeostasis, helping leukocytes to distinguish damaged tissues and invading pathogens from healthy tissues. From a structural perspective, this cross-talk is fairly complex, and multiple membrane proteins guide these recognition processes, including lectins and Toll-like receptors. Since the beginning of this century, lectins have become potential targets for therapeutics for controlling and/or avoiding the progression of pathologies derived from an incorrect immune outcome, including infectious processes, cancer, or autoimmune diseases. Therefore, a detailed knowledge of these receptors is mandatory for the development of specific treatments. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge about four key C-type lectins whose importance has been steadily growing in recent years, focusing in particular on how glycan recognition takes place at the molecular level, but also looking at recent progresses in the quest for therapeutics.     

Assessment of the minimalist approach to computer user documentation

The minimalist approach (Carroll, 1990a) advocates the development of a radically different type of manual when compared to a conventional one. For example, the manual should proceed almost directly to procedural skills development rather than building a conceptual model first. It ought to focus on authentic tasks practised in context, as opposed to mock exercises and isolated practice. In addition, it should stimulate users to exploit their knowledge and thinking, as opposed to imposing the writer's view and discussing everything that users should see or know.

In the first part of the paper the construction of a tutorial based on the minimalist principles is described. A parallel is drawn with constructivism with which minimalism shares important notions of instruction. In the second part, an experiment is described in which the minimal manual was tested against a conventional one. The outcome favoured the new manual. For example, minimal manual users completed about 50% more tasks successfully on a performance test and displayed significantly more self-reliance (e.g. more self-initiated error-recoveries, and fewer manual consultations).     

Study of taste-active compounds in the water-soluble extract of mature Cheddar cheese

The chemical composition of the water-soluble extracts of mature Cheddar cheese were identified, with the emphasis on understanding the interplay of compounds contributing to the savoury taste in Cheddar. The ultra-filtered water-soluble extracts of two mature Cheddar cheeses were fractionated by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). By sensory evaluation, two taste-active GPC fractions were identified from each cheese. On the basis of chemical profiling of these fractions, aqueous model tastant mixtures were prepared and sensory omission tests carried out. Glutamic acid, organic acids and mineral salts were the main tastants, whereas the other amino acids had a limited impact on taste. The characteristic umami taste was explained by a synergistic effect of glutamic acid and salts. Matching umami taste intensities were obtained from different concentrations of glutamic acid and salts. Unmasking of a bitter or sweet taste from mixtures of sub-threshold concentrations of amino acids without glutamic acids was also observed.     

Bioactivity of Flavonoids on Insulin‐Secreting Cells

ABSTRACT: Flavonoids are usually found in fruits and other plant organs and therefore widely consumed. They are antioxidants, anti‐inflammatory, anticarcinogenic, and protective against coronary disease and metabolic disorders. These beneficial effects make them good candidates for the development of new functional foods with potential protective/preventive properties against several diseases. We must consider that this fact could lead to a higher intake of some of these flavonoids. Most of the studies concerning their beneficial effects showed peripheral activity of these molecules, but there is no clear information about their central effects on a key organ on metabolic control: the endocrine pancreas. The pancreas has an endocrine function of major importance to regulate nutrient metabolism, such as control of glucose homeostasis via insulin and glucagon secretion. Its importance in whole body nutrient equilibrium is highlighted by the fact that several pathologies, such as type 1 and/or 2 diabetes, are related at some point to a pancreatic cell deregulation. In this review, we compile the most relevant results concerning the effects of flavonoids on several aspects of pancreatic functionality. Studies using animals with drug‐induced diabetes support the hypothesis that flavonoids can ameliorate this pathogenesis. The great diversity of flavonoid structures makes it difficult to establish common effects in the pancreas. Published data suggest that there might be direct effects of flavonoids on insulin secretion, as well as on prevention of beta‐cell apoptosis, and they could even act via modulation of proliferation. The mechanisms of action involve mainly their antioxidant properties, but other pathways might also take place.     

Cheese made from instant infusion pasteurized milk: Rennet coagulation,cheese composition,texture and ripening

Milk subjected to instant infusion pasteurization (IIP) at 72 °C, 100 °C and 120 °C (holding time 0.2 s) exhibited increased rennet coagulation time and decreased curd firming rate for increasing heat treatment temperature, when compared with raw or high temperature short time pasteurized (HTST) milk. However, addition of 4.5 mm or 9.0 mm of calcium restored the impaired rennet coagulation ability. Open texture cheeses produced from IIP milk (100 °C and 120 °C) contained significantly more moisture, had lower pH and shorter texture than similar cheese from IIP at 72 °C and HTST pasteurized milk. Cheese ripening was also affected by heat treatment, and different patterns of casein breakdown and peptide formation resulted from cheeses made from milk treated to IIP at 100 °C and 120 °C compared with cheeses made using IIP at 72 °C or HTST.     

Study of Cheese Associated Lactic Acid Bacteria Under Carbohydrate-Limited Conditions Using D-Stat Cultivation

The metabolic pathways alternative to glycolytic energy (ATP) during growth of starter and nonstarter lactic acid bacteria were studied simulating the depletion of carbohydrates during cheese ripening. D-stat cultivation strategy with the gradual decrease of galactose concentration in tryptone-arginine feeding medium was used. With the decrease of galactose feeding, the biomass yield calculated on carbohydrate consumption (Y_X/HEX) and acetate/lactate production ratio of all strains increased. We assume that ATP and biomass yields improved by directing the pyruvate flow from lactate to acetate and that metabolic energy could be obtained either by producing acetate from carbohydrates or from arginine metabolism in ADI-positive strains. Four LAB strains out of eight produced ornithine from arginine indicating active arginine-deiminase (ADI) pathway. These ADI-positive strains achieved 3-10 times higher Y_X/HEX than ADI-negative strains in tryptone-arginine medium. Lactobacillus plantarum also used serine as an energy source. Starters and NSLAB strains using the amino acids arginine and serine or limited amounts of carbohydrates therefore have the potential to influence flavor production in cheese more efficiently.