A fire station placement model

The authors have constructed an analytical model to solve the fire station placement problem. Quick and ready graphs have been prepared for its application by fire service personnel. Note: Mr. Guild is a member of the Department of Industrial Engineering, and Mr. Rollin is with the Ordnance Research Laboratory.     

Trends in deaths due to motorcycle crashes and risk factors in injury collisions

In the past 25 years, the numbers of registered motorcycles in the United States and California have increased about 1000 and 1100%, respectively. In the same period, the motorcycle collision death rate per million population more than doubled. The purposes of the study were to examine time trends in deaths due to motorcycle collisions, examine a methodologic problem in the study of motor vehicle collision death rates, and to determine driver and vehicle factors which may discriminate in the production of motorcycle crash related injurites.

With the exception of 1974, the increase in the ratio of registered motorcycles per 100,000 population in the United States corresponded to an increase in the crude death rate per million population. A similar pattern was also found in California.

Stepwise discriminant analysis was used to determine an optimum set of factors associated with motorcycle collision injuries. The analysis indicated that for male drivers age was the single factor most significantly related to motorcycle collision injuries. Other factors, in addition to age, which added to the power of the discrimination included number of prior motorcycle driving violations, frequency of motorcycle use, number of prior motorcycle crashes, motorcycle drivers' training, and height of the drivers.     

Poincaré Sphere Method for Optimizing the Phase Modulation Response of a Twisted Nematic Liquid Crystal Display

We report an experimental procedure for achieving spatial modulation of the phase of an input wave field with an off-the-shelf twisted nematic liquid crystal display. This method involves illumination of an addressed liquid crystal display (LCD) with circularly polarized light and measurement of the Stokes parameters of the outgoing beam as the applied voltage is changed. The analysis of the distribution of the polarization states in the S₁-S₂ plane suggests a simple way to optimize the liquid crystal phase response by means of a properly oriented quarter wave-plate followed by an analyzer. Laboratory results for a commercial display are presented. A phase modulation depth of 240deg is obtained at 514 nm with a residual intensity variation which is lower than 4%     

The effects of sorghum proanthocyanidins on digestive enzyme activity in vitro and in the digestive tract of chicken

The effects of sorghum grain proanthocyanidins (PAs) on the digestive enzyme activity of broiler chickens were investigated in vitro and in vivo using seven sorghum varieties grown in Zimbabwe. All seven sorghum varieties, classified as either high‐PA (DC‐75, Mutode, Red Swazi and Chirimaugute) or low‐PA (SV2, Brown Tsweta and Chibonda), were used to assess the PA–protein binding capacity and inhibition of trypsin and amylase in vitro. Three of the varieties (Chirimaugute, Chibonda and Brown Tsweta) were subsequently used in broiler diets to test the effects of PAs on the growth performance and digestive enzyme activity of 48 broiler chicks at 42 days of age. Protein precipitation and trypsin and amylase inhibition increased (P < 0.05) with an increase in level of PAs from the low‐PA varieties (by 1–10%) to the high‐PA varieties (by 40–70%). The activity of trypsin in the duodenal lumen of chicks fed the control diet was almost double that of chicks fed Chirimaugute. Amylase activity in the high‐PA group was lowered significantly (P < 0.01) relative to the control and low‐PA groups. The difference between in vitro and in vivo residual enzyme activities was 10–20% for amylase and 5–10% for trypsin. Chicks fed the high‐PA diet showed lower performance than chicks fed the control and low‐PA diets. Mean body weight gains were 59.9, 34.4, 57.3 and 61.4 (SE 4.02) g day⁻¹, final weights were 1936.4, 1363.3, 1773.2 and 1857.0 (SE 78.5) g and feed efficiencies were 1.85, 2.26, 1.65 and 2.13 (SE 0.014) for the control, Chirimaugute, Brown Tsweta and Chibonda groups respectively. The results indicate that PA–enzyme interaction, in addition to dietary protein–PA binding, contributes to the poor performance of chickens fed high‐PA sorghum diets. © 2000 Society of Chemical Industry     

Experimental and Theoretical Studies on Hydrogenation in Multiphase Fixed‐Bed Reactors

Multiphase fixed‐bed reactors have complex hydrodynamic and mass transfer characteristics. The modeling and scale‐up are therefore difficult. The present work focuses on the role of mass transfer on the effective reaction rate. The catalytic 1‐octene hydrogenation was taken as a model reaction. The reaction rate in the trickle‐bed reactor is by a factor of 20 smaller than (theoretically) in the absence of any mass transfer limitations. For high octene concentrations (> 10 %), the effective reaction rate is limited by the H₂ consumption, above all by the gas/liquid and liquid/solid mass transfer. For lower octene concentrations the reaction is zero order with respect to H₂ and only depends on the octene consumption, i.e., on the interplay of chemical reaction, L/S and intraparticle mass transfer of octene.     

Kinetics of Triphase Extractive Oxidative Desulfurization of Benzothiophene with Molecular Oxygen Catalyzed by HPA-5

The triphasic aerobic extractive desulfurization of benzothiophene (BT) using an aqueous H₈[PV₅Mo₇O₄₀] solution as catalyst and O₂ as oxidant was investigated. A time-resolved analysis of all reaction products in the gas, organic and aqueous phase, is given. The organic sulfur in BT is mainly converted to sulfuric acid. Mass transport limitations can be excluded. The reaction orders are 1 with regard to BT, and 0.5 both for HPA-5 and O₂. Calculated data derived from this mechanism with a power law kinetic approach show good agreement to the experimental data for conversions below 60 %. At higher BT conversions, significant deviations are found, suggesting that acidic products formed in the BT oxidation affect the catalyst and therefore the initial kinetics of the BT oxidation.     

Trendy solutions: Why do states adopt Sustainable Energy Portfolio Standards?

Thirty-four states had adopted Sustainable Energy Portfolio Standards (SEPS) or similar goals by the end of 2008, with 14 adoptions since 2006. There appears to be something trendy about SEPS and states may adopt SEPS when internal variables would indicate otherwise. This analysis extends the current discussion of SEPS adoption beyond internal variables, relying on innovation and diffusion theory. Logistic regression with SEPS adoption as the dependent variable is used to test internal determinants and diffusion measures for the years 1997–2008. Of the internal determinants variables, affluence and government ideology were found to be positive and significant. The results show that regional and neighbor diffusion variables are significant in SEPS adoption decisions—even when accounting for ideological distance from previous adopters.     

Molecular Methods for Microbiological Quality Control of Meat and Meat Products: A Review

Achieving food safety is a global health goal and the food-borne diseases take a major check on global health. Therefore, detection of microbial pathogens in food is the solution to the prevention and recognition of problems related to health and safety. Conventional and standard bacterial detection methods such as culture and colony counting methods and immunology-based methods may take up to several hours or even a few days to yield a result. Obviously, this is inadequate, and recently many researchers are focusing towards the progress of rapid diagnostic methods. The advent of molecular techniques has led to the development of a diverse array of assay for quality control of meat and meat products. Rapid analysis using DNA hybridization and amplification techniques offer more sensitivity and specificity to get results than culture based methods as well as dramatic reduction in the time to get results. Many methods have also achieved the high level automation, facilitating their application as routine sample screening assays. This review is intended to provide an overview of the molecular methods for microbiological quality control of meat and meat products.     

Modeling of Biomass Gasification in a Downdraft Gasifier with Integrated Tar Adsorption

Thermal gasification of biomass is known for its capabilities in flexible and decentral power station applications for cogeneration. However, the product gas contains tar compounds adversely for a stable operation. Integrated tar adsorption in a subsequent cooled section is therefore an option to reduce the tar pollution. The char coal, used here as adsorption agent, is formed by biomass pyrolysis in the gasifier. A kinetic model is proposed, considering the kinetics of all main reactions as well as heat and mass transport phenomena. Results are presented for axial temperature profiles, gas compositions, and the gas purity at different air‐to‐fuel ratios. The resulting output mass flows could indicate a requirement on the adsorption capacity of at least 0.3 g g^?1 for the activated char coal.     

Development of a novel pomegranate standard and new method for the quantitative measurement of pomegranate polyphenols

BACKGROUND: The Folin–Ciocalteu method is routinely used to calculate total polyphenol concentrations (TPP) in food products. However, the use of inappropriate standards such as gallic acid (GA) may give inaccurate estimates of TPP content. A method for the production of a pomegranate (Punica granatum L. ‘Wonderful’) standard was developed and validated to avoid this problem. The PPS was produced by solid phase (C18) isolation of polyphenols from POMx powder (a nutritional supplement) and used for TPP analysis. RESULTS: TPP content of POMx was > 90% using PPS, whereas the GA standard underestimated TPP by up to 30%. Compositional analysis confirmed a balance of about 9% non‐polyphenolic compounds. Mass spectrometry analysis corroborated polyphenol composition and confirmed pomegranate‐specific peaks, i.e., punicalagin and punicalin. CONCLUSION: Results support the use of pomegranate‐specific standards to accurately determine TPP. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry