Intracellular distribution of ampicillin in murine macrophages infected with Salmonella typhimurium and treated with (3H)ampicillin-loaded nanoparticles

A performance evaluation of the DIABETES rule-based expert system prototype for clinical decision making is presented. The system facilitates multiple insulin regimen and dose adjustment of insulin dependent Type I or II diabetic patients. The study was performed on 600 subjects from two diabetological centres and three diabetological offices of Greek hospitals. The responses of the attendant medical doctors were compared with those of the DIABETES system, with the aid of a specifically devised valuation range (0-5 degrees, 0 indicating full agreement and 5 full disagreement). The capabilities and the weakness of the system in terms of its practicality for decision support in assisting therapy of diabetes mellitus by blood glucose monitoring and subsequent insulin dose adjustment are discussed. The potential benefits of decision support systems for diabetic patient management are seen to be the cost saving they provide in terms of man-hours of verbal instruction by medical experts, the support in terms of objective and consistent decision making, as well as the recording of medical knowledge in the ill-defined field of insulin administration, thus aiding the education and training of medical personnel.     

Carbocatalytic dehydration of xylose to furfural in water

Graphene, graphene oxide, sulfonated graphene, and sulfonated graphene oxide (SGO) have been prepared, characterized and tested for the dehydration of xylose to furfural in water. In particular, SGO was proven to be a rapid and water-tolerant solid acid catalyst even at very low catalyst loadings down to 0.5 wt.% vs xylose, maintaining its initial activity after 12 tested repetitions at 200 °C, with an average yield of 61% in comparison to 44% for the uncatalyzed system. Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ¹³C solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and surface area analysis suggested that the aryl sulfonic acid groups were the key active sites for high temperature production of furfural in water. They were more thermally stable under the reaction conditions and acidic than other functional groups attached to the graphene surface.     

Transesterification of Refined Sunflower Oil to Biodiesel Using a CaO/ZSM-5 Powder Catalyst

The production of biodiesel from refined sunflower vegetable oil over basic CaO/ZSM-5 catalysts was investigated. Several catalysts with various loadings of CaO on ZSM-5 were prepared, calcined at 800 °C, and characterized by N₂ adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and CO₂-temperature-programmed desorption techniques. Calcined catalysts were tested in the transesterification reaction and reaction conditions were optimized by varying the catalyst-to-oil ratio and reaction time. The most active catalyst was the CaO/ZSM-5 catalyst with a 35 wt % loading which gave the highest fatty acid methyl ester yield. The high catalytic activity was attributed to the active basic sites generated following CaO addition. Furthermore, the catalyst demonstrated stability against the leaching process.     

Chemical engineering in an unsustainable world: Obligations and opportunities

Human society faces a set of unprecedented challenges emanating from the unsustainable nature of the current societal model. The creation of a new sustainable societal construct is required, essentially adopting a needs based approach over one based on ever increasing consumption. Failure to achieve this will result in the widespread destruction of our increasingly stressed environment followed quickly by inevitable collapse of society as we know it, both socially and economically.Technology alone is insufficient to meet the challenges at hand; ecological, social and economic considerations must be incorporated through a multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary approach. Because chemical engineers possess a core set of threshold concepts which are central to a sustainable society, and because engineers will ultimately help design any new society, they bear a moral and ethical responsibility to play an active and indeed central role in its development. A new engineering paradigm is required therefore, whereby sustainability becomes the context of engineering practice. To achieve this, a sustainability informed ethos must prevail throughout engineering curricula. Both professional institutions and educators bear responsibility in ensuring this happens without delay. Some key threshold concepts are presented here to demonstrate how this can be advanced through the chemical engineering curriculum.     

Effect of pneumatic conveying parameters on physical quality characteristics of infant formula

The geometry and operating conditions of a pneumatic conveying rig for infant formula were varied according to an L₁₈ orthogonal array, with the goal of minimising variations in four product quality characteristics: bulk density, volume mean diameter, particle density and wettability. A modular pneumatic conveying rig was fabricated from 316L stainless steel components. The factors that were varied in these experiments included mode of conveying, air velocity, number of rig passes, bend radii and vertical rig section length. A factorial analysis of variance showed that the mode of conveying, air velocity and number of passes had a statistically-significant effect on bulk density. The optimum settings to minimise variability were dense phase conveying with a 50 mm plug length, 960 mm vertical section, 3 m/s air velocity, 2 passes and 50 mm bend radii, assuming a linear model. The bulk density change at these optimum settings was negligible at 0.9%.     

Effects of changing freestall area on lameness,lying time,and leg injuries on dairy farms in Alberta,Canada

Cow comfort is of increasing importance in the dairy industry, due to an increased focus on animal welfare. However, whether producer changes to the cows' environment affect cow comfort has not been well characterized. Our objectives were to: (1) quantify the effect of freestall area changes on the prevalence of lameness, leg injuries, and average lying time; and (2) compare cow comfort outcomes on farms that had never had an assessment of cow comfort to farms that had had a previous assessment of cow comfort. A sample of 60 Holstein-Friesian cows were selected on each of 15 farms that made changes to the freestall area after an assessment of cow comfort (change, CHG); 15 farms that did not make changes to the freestall area after an assessment of cow comfort (no change, NC); and 14 farms that had yet to be evaluated (new farms, NF). Cows in NC and NF were lame 1.50 and 1.71 times more often, respectively, than cows on CHG farms. Additionally, daily lying time was 0.33 and 0.62 h/d lower in NC and NF, respectively, than on CHG farms. The prevalence of hock and knee injuries was not different among the 3 groups of farms. No differences were detected in the parameters of interest when comparing NF with NC farms; therefore, we concluded that the NC group was not biased by a previous assessment of cow comfort. Farms in the CHG group had a lower prevalence of lame cows and greater lying time than the NC and NF groups.