Durability Phenomenon in Manufactured Sand Concrete: Effects of Zinc Oxide and Alcofine on Behaviour

Silicon - Despite several studies focusing on producing sustainable concrete with nonconventional materials, there are short-term and long-term lapses in behavior of some of the concretes. This...     

Exploring pathways to food science careers in Southern California: A case study in food science career development

Southern California is a diverse region that is home to a high concentration of food science companies, with an increasing demand for additional food scientists and technologists to join this workforce. Despite this abundance of food science companies and the high demand for jobs, there is currently a shortage in the number of qualified food scientists and technologists in the region. This shortage is also observed within higher education, with declining enrollments in the food science graduate and undergraduate programs across Southern California. Here, we conduct a case study to explore the factors that influence students from Southern California to pursue or not pursue careers in food science. We surveyed both undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled in food science as well as industry professionals in the region to determine sources of knowledge about the discipline, and motivations and barriers for pursuing careers in food science. We also surveyed high school educators in the region to gain additional perspectives on how food science is being introduced at the secondary level, if at all. Our results demonstrate that many students and high school educators are not knowledgeable about career options within food science and that students who are pursuing food science largely report similar motivations for pursuing the discipline as those currently working in the food science industry. We conclude by discussing implications for the food science education community within Southern California and beyond.     

Toward a spectroscopic hemogram: Raman spectroscopic differentiation of the two most abundant leukocytes from peripheral blood

The first response to infection in the blood is mediated by leukocytes. As a result crucial information can be gained from a hemogram. Conventional methods such as blood smears and automated sorting procedures are not capable of recording detailed biochemical information of the different leukocytes. In this study, Raman spectroscopy has been applied to investigate the differences between the leukocyte subtypes which have been obtained from healthy donors. Raman imaging was able to visualize the same morphological features as standard staining methods without the need of any label. Unsupervised statistical methods such as principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were able to separate Raman spectra of the two most abundant leukocytes, the neutrophils and lymphocytes (with a special focus on CD4(+) T-lymphocytes). For the same cells a classification model was built to allow an automated Raman-based differentiation of the cell type in the future. The classification model could achieve an accuracy of 94% in the validation step and could predict the identity of unknown cells from a completely different donor with an accuracy of 81% when using single spectra and with an accuracy of 97% when using the majority vote from all individual spectra of the cell. This marks a promising step toward automated Raman spectroscopic blood analysis which holds the potential not only to assign the numbers of the cells but also to yield important biochemical information.     

Evaluation of the real-time protein adsorption kinetics on albumin-binding surfaces by dynamic in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry

Functionalized surfaces with an affinity for albumin over competing serum proteins were prepared by immobilizing linear peptides or a small chemical ligand (SCL) with albumin-binding properties on silanized silicon surfaces. The real time adsorption of human serum albumin from single- and multi-component systems was monitored by dynamic ellipsometry. The experimentally obtained time-dependent adsorption data were analyzed by two models: a) a pseudo-first-order model and b) a biphasic kinetic model that accounted for the formation of tightly and loosely bound complexes. The biphasic kinetic model better fit the experimental data, and the binding constants were determined by non-linear regression analyses. The net forward rate constant for the tightly bound complex formation was distinctively higher for surfaces functionalized with peptides (~ 0.014 min^− 1) when compared to surfaces functionalized with SCL (~ 10^− 3 min^− 1).     

Assessment of a Small Molecule Synthetic Lignan in Enhancing Oxidative Balance and Decreasing Lipid Accumulation in Human Retinal Pigment Epithelia

Visual function depends on the intimate structural, functional and metabolic interactions between the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the neural retina. The daily phagocytosis of the photoreceptor outer segment tips by the overlaying RPE provides essential nutrients for the RPE itself and photoreceptors through intricate metabolic synergy. Age-related retinal changes are often characterized by metabolic dysregulation contributing to increased lipid accumulation and peroxidation as well as the release of proinflammatory cytokines. LGM2605 is a synthetic lignan secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) with free radical scavenging, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties demonstrated in diverse in vitro and in vivo inflammatory disease models. In these studies, we tested the hypothesis that LGM2605 may be an attractive small-scale therapeutic that protects RPE against inflammation and restores its metabolic capacity under lipid overload. Using an in vitro model in which loss of the autophagy protein, LC3B, results in defective phagosome degradation and metabolic dysregulation, we show that lipid overload results in increased gasdermin cleavage, IL-1 β release, lipid accumulation and decreased oxidative capacity. The addition of LGM2605 resulted in enhanced mitochondrial capacity, decreased lipid accumulation and amelioration of IL-1 β release in a model of defective lipid homeostasis. Collectively, these studies suggest that lipid overload decreases mitochondrial function and increases the inflammatory response, with LGM2605 acting as a protective agent.     

A new process based agglomeration parameter to characterize ceramic powders

Uranium dioxide powders are made through aqueous chemical route involving precipitation, drying, calcination and reduction. The presence of agglomerates causes powder packing difficulties in the compaction die, and non-uniform and incomplete densification on sintering. To quantify the degree of agglomeration, several authors have proposed ‘Agglomeration Parameters’. The change in BET specific surface area of calcined U₃O₈ upon reduction to UO₂ per unit temperature difference is a simple new measure of agglomeration in uranium dioxide powders.     

Methylmethacrylate polymerization photoinitiated by 1‐(bromoacetyl)pyrene

The photopolymerization of methylmethacrylate induced by pyrene, 1‐acetylpyrene (AP), and 1‐(bromoacetyl)pyrene (BP) has been investigated. Under all conditions employed, pyrene was completely ineffective. Introduction of a carbonyl and a bromo group in pyrene enhanced the polymerization efficiencies. Efficiency of AP as photoinitiator was very low; however, BP was proved to be a good photoinitiator. The polymerization with BP follows first‐order kinetics with respect to monomer conversion, with a shorter induction period as compared with that of AP. The value of the initiator exponent (0.5) and the linear dependence of reciprocal average degree of polymerization on the square root of the initiator concentration suggest radical polymerization with bimolecular termination. IR and NMR spectra showed the atactic nature of polymethylmethacrylate. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 99: 920–926, 2006