Some characteristics of the membranes protecting oil emulsions in protein solutions

Expressed olive juice contains emulsified globules of olive oil. Electron photomicrographs of these globules show a rough membrane protecting them against coalescence. Some features of the membranes, such as the existence of “poles” and deposited microcrystals, are disclosed by the photographs and by electron diffraction patterns. Heavy metals appear to concentrate in the membranes and not in the aqueous medium. Presented at the 50th annual spring meeting, American Oil Chemists' Society, New Orleans, La., April 20–22, 1959.     

Experimental Design for Optimizing the Cleaning of Starch Adhering to Stainless-Steel Surfaces Using Nonionic Surfactants and Silica Microparticles

The statistical design of experiments has been used to assess the detergency of starch adhering to stainless steel considering three factors: pH, flow rate, and concentration of silica particles in the cleaning solution. The cleaning tests were carried out in a continuous-flow device that simulates the behavior of a Cleaning-In-Place washing system. Different statistical designs were used to evaluate the detergency of cleaning solutions in the absence of surfactants and with two nonionic surfactants, i.e., an ethoxylated alcohol, and an alkylpolyglucoside (APG). Expressions were developed to simulate detergency levels as a function of the variables assayed, determining the optimal detergency of each cleaning solution studied. The results indicate that the variable most influential on detergency was pH. Cleaning solutions with high alkalinity are required to achieve a significant cleaning efficiency. On the other hand, the silica-particle concentration did not influence the detergency results using cleaning solutions without surfactants. Nevertheless, the addition of either the ethoxylated alcohol or the APG to the cleaning solution with silica particles has a significant effect on detergency: it diminished with the ethoxylated alcohol and increased with the APG. Maximum detergency was found at the highest level of pH, particle concentration, and flow rate when the APG was added to the cleaning solution.     

Advanced analytics for detection and diagnosis of false alarms and faults: A real case study

Onshore and offshore wind farms require a high level of advanced maintenance. Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and condition monitoring systems are now being employed, generating large amounts of data. They require robust and flexible approaches to convert dataset into useful information. This paper presents a novel approach based on the correlations of SCADA variables to detect and identify faults and false alarms in wind turbines. A correlation matrix between all the SCADA variables is used for pattern recognition. A new method based on curve fittings is employed for detecting false alarms and abnormal behaviours or faults in the components. The study is done in a real case study, validated with false alarms.     

Absence of ferromagnetism in ferroelectric Mn-doped BaTiO3 nanofibers

Pure and Mn-doped barium titanate nanofibers were synthesized by the electrospinning method. The morphology, microstructure and crystal structure of as-spun and annealed composite nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. After annealing at 850°C, we obtain nanofibers a few μm long, formed by nanoparticles of irregular shape with sizes around 100 nm. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy show that a partial phase transition from tetragonal to hexagonal takes place for BaTi_0.90Mn_0.10O₃. Vibrational phonon modes were calculated for BaTiO₃ within the density functional theory (DFT) framework. Ferroelectricity has been probed on pure and Mn-doped BaTiO₃ nanofibers, by means of piezoresponse force microscopy in an atomic force microscope, confirming the polar domain switching behavior of the fibers. The measured piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃ were 31 and 22 pm/V for BaTiO₃ and BaTi_0.90Mn_0.10O₃. Magnetic properties of the samples were probed in a superconducting quantum interference device. Diamagnetic and paramagnetic behaviors were found in pure and Mn-doped samples, respectively.     

Babesia Bovis Ligand-Receptor Interaction: AMA-1 Contains Small Regions Governing Bovine Erythrocyte Binding

Apical membrane antigen 1 is a microneme protein which plays an indispensable role during Apicomplexa parasite invasion. The detailed mechanism of AMA-1 molecular interaction with its receptor on bovine erythrocytes has not been completely defined in Babesia bovis. This study was focused on identifying the minimum B. bovis AMA-1-derived regions governing specific and high-affinity binding to its target cells. Different approaches were used for detecting ama-1 locus genetic variability and natural selection signatures. The binding properties of twelve highly conserved 20-residue-long peptides were evaluated using a sensitive and specific binding assay based on radio-iodination. B. bovis AMA-1 ectodomain structure was modelled and refined using molecular modelling software. NetMHCIIpan software was used for calculating B- and T-cell epitopes. The B. bovis ama-1 gene had regions under functional constraint, having the highest negative selective pressure intensity in the Domain I encoding region. Interestingly, B. bovis AMA-1-DI (¹⁰⁰YMQKFDIPRNHGSGIYVDLG¹¹⁹ and ¹²⁰GYESVGSKSYRMPVGKCPVV¹³⁹) and DII (³⁰²CPMHPVRDAIFGKWSGGSCV³²¹)-derived peptides had high specificity interaction with erythrocytes and bound to a chymotrypsin and neuraminidase-treatment sensitive receptor. DI-derived peptides appear to be exposed on the protein’s surface and contain predicted B- and T-cell epitopes. These findings provide data (for the first-time) concerning B. bovis AMA-1 functional subunits which are important for establishing receptor-ligand interactions which could be used in synthetic vaccine development.     

Mobile phone use while driving: A hybrid modeling approach

The analysis of the effects that mobile phone use produces while driving is a topic of great interest for the scientific community. There is consensus that using a mobile phone while driving increases the risk of exposure to traffic accidents. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the drivers’ behavior when they decide whether or not to use a mobile phone while driving. For that, a hybrid modeling approach that integrates a choice model with the latent variable “risk perception” was used. It was found that workers and individuals with the highest education level are more prone to use a mobile phone while driving than others. Also, “risk perception” is higher among individuals who have been previously fined and people who have been in an accident or almost been in an accident. It was also found that the tendency to use mobile phones while driving increases when the traffic speed reduces, but it decreases when the fine increases. Even though the urgency of the phone call is the most important explanatory variable in the choice model, the cost of the fine is an important attribute in order to control mobile phone use while driving.     

Incorporation of chloramphenicol and captopril into poly(GL)‐b‐poly(GL‐co‐TMC‐co‐CL)‐b‐poly(GL) monofilar surgical sutures

Incorporation of chloramphenicol and captopril into coated and uncoated monofilament sutures was evaluated, as well as the derived bactericide and wound healing effects. To this end, a commercially available suture and an amorphous random copolymer constituted by trimethylene carbonate and lactide units were considered. The suture had a segmented architecture based on polyglycolide hard blocks and a soft block constituted by glycolide, trimethylene carbonate and ε‐caprolactone units. Chloramphenicol was better loaded when the coating copolymer was employed due to its protective effect whereas captopril showed an opposite behavior due to partial solubilization during immersion in the coating bath. Interestingly, the release behavior was very different for the two studied drugs since a significant retention of chloramphenicol was always detected, suggesting the establishment of interactions between drug and copolymers. On the other hand, delivery of captopril showed a typical dose dependent behavior. A low in vitro toxicity of the two drugs was determined considering both epithelial‐like and fibroblast‐like cells. Bactericide effect of chloramphenicol against Gram‐negative and Gram‐positive bacteria was demonstrated at a dose that was non‐toxic for all assayed cells. An accelerating wound healing effect of captopril was also demonstrated for early events. In this case, the use of a coating copolymer was fundamental to avoid cytotoxic effects on highly loaded sutures. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44762.     

Surface plasmon resonance and magnetism of thiol-capped gold nanoparticles

Surface plasmon resonance measurements and magnetic characterization studies have been carried out for two types of thiol-capped gold nanoparticles (NPs) with similar diameters between 2.0 and 2.5?nm and different organic molecules linked to the sulfur atom: dodecanethiol and tiopronin. In addition, Au NPs capped with tetraoctyl ammonium bromide have also been included in the investigation since such capping molecules weakly interact with the gold surface atoms and, therefore, this system can be used as a model for naked gold NPs; such particles presented a bimodal size distribution with diameters around 1.5 and 5?nm. The plasmon resonance is non-existent for tiopronin-capped NPs, whereas a trace of such a feature is observed for NPs covered with dodecanethiol molecules and a bulk-like feature is measured for NPs capped with tetralkyl ammonium salts. These differences would indicate that the modification of the surface electronic structure of the Au NPs depends on the geometry and self-assembling capabilities of the capping molecules and on the electric charge transferred between Au and S atoms. Regarding the magnetization, dodecanethiol-capped NPs have a ferromagnetic-like behaviour, while the NPs capped with tiopronin exhibit a paramagnetic behaviour and tetralkyl ammonium-protected NPs are diamagnetic across the studied temperature range; straight chains with a well-defined symmetry axis can induce orbital momentum on surface electrons close to the binding atoms. The orbital momentum not only contributes to the magnetization but also to the local anisotropy, giving rise to permanent magnetism. Due to the domain structure of the adsorbed molecules, orbital momentum is not induced for tiopronin-capped NPs and the charge transfer only induces a paramagnetic spin component.