Generating structured music for bagana using quality metrics based on Markov models.

This research is partially supported by the project Lrn2Cre8 which acknowledges the financial support of the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme within the Seventh Framework Programme for Research of the European Commission, under FET Grant No. 610859

Large differences between test strategies for the detection of anti-Borrelia antibodies are revealed by comparing eight ELISAs and five immunoblots

We investigated the influence of assay choice on the results in a two-tier testing algorithm for the detection of anti-Borrelia antibodies. Eighty-nine serum samples from clinically well-defined patients were tested in eight different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) systems based on whole-cell antigens, whole-cell antigens supplemented with VlsE and assays using exclusively recombinant proteins. A subset of samples was tested in five immunoblots: one whole-cell blot, one whole-cell blot supplemented with VlsE and three recombinant blots. The number of IgM- and/or IgG-positive ELISA results in the group of patients suspected of Borrelia infection ranged from 34 to 59%. The percentage of positives in cross-reactivity controls ranged from 0 to 38%. Comparison of immunoblots yielded large differences in inter-test agreement and showed, at best, a moderate agreement between tests. Remarkably, some immunoblots gave positive results in samples that had been tested negative by all eight ELISAs. The percentage of positive blots following a positive ELISA result depended heavily on the choice of ELISA–immunoblot combination. We conclude that the assays used to detect anti-Borrelia antibodies have widely divergent sensitivity and specificity. The choice of ELISA–immunoblot combination severely influences the number of positive results, making the exchange of test results between laboratories with different methodologies hazardous

Characterizing the tissue of apple air-dried and osmo-air-dried rings by X-CT and OCT and relationship with ring crispness and fruit maturity at harvest measured by TRS

Air-dried apple rings were prepared from ‘Golden Delicious’ apples selected at harvest as less mature and more mature according to the absorption coefficient measured at 670 nm by time-resolved reflectance spectroscopy (TRS), stored in air for 5 months, and subjected to air-drying with (OSMO) and without (noOSMO) osmodehydration pre-treatment (60% sucrose syrup). Selected rings were submitted to microstructural analysis by X-ray computed tomography (X-CT), to subsurface structure analysis by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to texture and sound emission analysis by bending–snapping test. Higher crispness index, higher number of sound events and higher average sound pressure level (SPL) characterized the OSMO rings. Total porosity was related to SPLav 60, pore fragmentation index to fracturability and specific surface area to the work required to snap the ring. A differentiation of the drying treatments, as well as of the products according to the TRS maturity class at harvest was obtained analyzing by principal component analysis (PCA) microstructure parameters and texture and acoustic parameters. The differences in mechanical and acoustic characteristics between OSMO and noOSMO rings were due to the different subsurface structure as found with OCT analysis