Calcium chloride irrigation influence on yield,calcium content,quality and shelf‐life of the white mushroom Agaricus bisporus

Seven CaCl₂ irrigation treatments (0.15, 0.25, 0.35, 0.45, 0.55, 0.75 and 1.00%) were applied to the Agaricus bisporus white strain A15 (Sylvan) in order to evaluate, in comparison with the water‐irrigated crop, their effect on production characteristics, ie yield, sporophore number and size mix, average mushroom weight as well as pileus and stipe Ca content. In addition, initial mushroom colour and texture in three successive flushes and their variations during post‐harvest storage for 8 days at 4 °C and for 2 days at 18 °C were determined. Statistical analysis of data revealed that crop yields were not affected by the individual treatments, whereas the mushroom number was reduced and the average sporophore weight was enhanced. A strong positive correlation was established between CaCl₂ dosage and Ca content of fresh mushrooms, which increased considerably in the third flush by accumulating in both pileus and stipe parts (the former containing less Ca than the latter) and presented a maximum for the 0.75 and 1.00% CaCl₂ treatments. At harvest, colour of second‐ and third‐break mushrooms was significantly improved by all CaCl₂ treatments. This beneficial effect was more pronounced after 8 days of cold storage and during shelf‐life in sporophores treated with 0.35, 0.75 and 1.00% CaCl₂. No consistent correlation was found between Ca content and texture of fresh and stored mushrooms. However, although softer mushrooms were recorded at harvest in most CaCl₂‐irrigated crops, 0.25, 0.75 and 1.00% concentrations appeared to retard mushroom softening, promoting firmness at the 8th day of cold storage and during shelf‐life. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry     

Estimating Hansen solubility parameters of organic pigments by group contribution methods

The Hansen solubility parameters(HSP) are frequently used for solvent selection and characterization of polymers,and are directly related to the suspension behavior of pigments in solvent mixtures.The performance of currently available group contribution(GC) methods for HSP were evaluated and found to be insufficient for computer-aided product design(CAPD) of paints and coatings.A revised and,for this purpose,improved GC method is presented for estimating HSP of organic compounds,intended for organic pigments.Due to the significant limitations of GC methods,an uncertainty analysis and parameter confidence intervals are provided in order to better quantify the estimation accuracy of the proposed approach.Compared to other applicable GC methods,the prediction error is reduced significantly with average absolute errors of 0.45 MPa~(1/2),1.35 MPa~(1/2),and 1.09 MPa~(1/2) for the partial dispersion(δ_D),polar(δ_P) and hydrogen-bonding(δ_H) solubility parameters respectively for a database of 1106 compounds.The performance for organic pigments is comparable to the overall method performance,with higher average errors for δ_D and lower average errors for δ_P and δ_H.     

Controlled Release of Volatile Antimicrobial Compounds from Mesoporous Silica Nanocarriers for Active Food Packaging Applications

Essential oils and their active components have been extensively reported in the literature for their efficient antimicrobial, antioxidant and antifungal properties. However, the sensitivity of these volatile compounds towards heat, oxygen and light limits their usage in real food packaging applications. The encapsulation of these compounds into inorganic nanocarriers, such as nanoclays, has been shown to prolong the release and protect the compounds from harsh processing conditions. Nevertheless, these systems have limited shelf stability, and the release is of limited control. Thus, this study presents a mesoporous silica nanocarrier with a high surface area and well-ordered protective pore structure for loading large amounts of natural active compounds (up to 500 mg/g). The presented loaded nanocarriers are shelf-stable with a very slow initial release which levels out at 50% retention of the encapsulated compounds after 2 months. By the addition of simulated drip-loss from chicken, the release of the compounds is activated and gives an antimicrobial effect, which is demonstrated on the foodborne spoilage bacteria Brochothrix thermosphacta and the potentially pathogenic bacteria Escherichia coli. When the release of the active compounds is activated, a ≥4-log reduction in the growth of B. thermosphacta and a 2-log reduction of E. coli is obtained, after only one hour of incubation. During the same one-hour incubation period the dry nanocarriers gave a negligible inhibitory effect. By using the proposed nanocarrier system, which is activated by the food product itself, increased availability of the natural antimicrobial compounds is expected, with a subsequent controlled antimicrobial effect.     

Psychotherapy integration in internships and counseling psychology doctoral programs.

Training directors from APA-accredited internships and counseling psychology doctoral programs reported on the status of doctoral training in psychotherapy integration. A mail survey was used to assess several areas related to psychotherapy integration, such as didactic and clinical training, faculty/staff theoretical orientation and hiring practices, student competency and evaluation, directors' beliefs about integrative/eclectic training, and internship admissions. Overall results show a positive attitude toward psychotherapy integration in predoctoral training and suggest that the foundations for further student development in psychotherapy integration exist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigation of the behavior of a three phase grid-connected photovoltaic system to control active and reactive power

In this paper, a photovoltaic (PV) system, with maximum power point tracking (MPPT), connected to a three phase grid is presented. The connection of photovoltaic system on the grid takes place in one stage using voltage source inverter (VSI). For a better utilization of the photovoltaic system, the control strategy applied is based on p-q theory. According to this strategy during sunlight the system sends active power to the grid and at the same time compensates the reactive power of the load. In case there is no sunlight (during the night for instance), the inverter only compensates the reactive power of the load. In this paper the use of p-q theory to supply the grid with active power and compensate the reactive power of the load is investigated. The advantage of this control strategy is that the photovoltaic system is operated the whole day. Furthermore, the p-q theory uses simple algebraic calculations without demanding the use of PLL to synchronize the inverter with the grid.     

A novel hybrid process design for efficient recovery of hydrophilic ionic liquids from dilute aqueous solutions

Ionic liquids (ILs) have received much attention in both academia and industries due to their superior performance in many applications. Efficient recovery/recycling of ILs from their dilute aqueous solutions is essential for the acceptance and implementation of many IL-based technologies by industry. In this work, a practical and cost-effective hybrid process design method that combines aqueous two-phase extraction, membrane separation, and distillation operating at their highest efficiencies is proposed for the recovery of hydrophilic ILs from dilute aqueous solutions. The application of this hybrid process design method is illustrated through case studies of recovering two hydrophilic ILs, n-butylpyridinium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([C₄Py][TfO]) (CAS number: 390423-43-5) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C₄mIm][Cl]) (CAS number: 79917-90-1), from their dilute aqueous solutions. For the recovery of 10 wt.% [C₄Py][TfO] from aqueous solution, the hybrid process using (NH₄)₂SO₄ as the salting-out agent could reduce the total annual cost (TAC) and energy consumption by 57% and 91%, respectively, compared with the pure distillation processes. In the case of recovering 10 wt.% [C₄mIm][Cl] from aqueous solution, the reduction in TAC and energy savings of the hybrid process with salting-out agent (NH₄)₂SO₃ could reach 49% and 87%, respectively, compared with the pure distillation process. Furthermore, uncertainty analysis through Monte Carlo simulations show that the proposed hybrid process design is more robust to uncertainties in energy prices and other material (e.g., equipment and solvent) costs.     

Herstellung von hydrolysestabilen Ammoniumsalzen sulfonierter Phosphite und deren Einsatz als Cokatalysatoren in der rhodiumkatalysierten Hydroformylierung

Hydrolytic Stable Ammonium Salts of Sulfonated Organic Phosphites and their Use as Cocatalysts in the Rhodium-catalyzed Hydroformylation of Olefins Ammonium salts of sulfonated organic phosphites, which are resistant to hydrolysis, have been prepared by transesterification of triphenylphosphite with mono-ammonium salt of p-hydroxyphenylsulfonic acid in yields between 66 and 76%. A mixture containing triisooctylammonium salts of sulfonated triphenylphosphite [TPPp-SO₃HN(i-octyl)₃] was submitted to a test for stability to hydrolysis. The time required for hydrolysis of 7.4% of the TPPp-SO₃HN(i-octyl)₃ was 3 hours under drastic conditions. Triphenylphosphite was in the same test hydrolyzed quantitatively within three hours. Tetradec-1-ene was hydroformylated by means of the catalytic systems consisting of rhodium-2-ethylhexanoate with either TPPp-SO₃HN(i-octyl)₃, triphenylphosphite (TPPp) or triphenylphosphine (TPP) at 125°C, 0.6 MPa and a rhodium concentration of 50 ppm. Higher reaction selectivities for linear aldehydes were achieved with the rhodium/TPPp-SO₃HN(i-octyl)₃ catalytic system. Reaction rates increased with the Rh/TPPp-SO₃HN(i-octyl)₃ catalyst at lower temperature (110°C). Using this catalyst at 110°C, higher yields are achieved than with the Rh/TPP or Rh/TPPp catalysts. Hex-1-ene was hydroformylated by using the catalytic systems Rh₄(CO)₁₂ with TPPp-SO₃HN(i-octyl)₃, Rh₄(CO)₁₂ TPP or Rh₄ (CO)₁₂ with TPPp at 125°C, 2,5 MPa and a rhodium concentration of 20 ppm. This confirms the above experiments which indicated that higher linear: branched aldehyde ratios were obtained with the rhodium/TPPp-SO₃HN(i-octyl)₃ catalyst.     

Simulating asynchronous hardware on multiprocessor platforms: the case of AMULET1

Synchronous VLSI design is approaching a critical point, with clock distribution becoming an increasingly costly and complicated issue and power consumption rapidly emerging as a major concern. Hence, recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in asynchronous digital design techniques which promise to liberate digital design from the inherent problems of synchronous systems. This activity has revealed a need for modelling and simulation techniques suitable for the asynchronous design style. The concurrent process algebra communicating sequential processes (CSP) and its executable counterpart, occam, are increasingly advocated as particularly suitable for this purpose. This paper focuses on issues related to the execution of CSP/occam models of asynchronous hardware on multiprocessor machines, including I/O, monitoring and debugging, partition, mapping and load balancing. These issues are addressed in the context of occarm, an occam simulation model of the AMULET1 asynchronous microprocessor; however, the solutions devised are more general and may be applied to other systems too. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydroformylierung mit wasser- und methanollöslichen Rhodiumcarbonyl/Phenyl-sulfonatoalkylphosphan-Katalysatorsystemen – Ein neues Konzept für die Hydroformylierung höhermolekularer Olefine

Hydroformylation with Water- and Methanol-soluble Rhodium Carbonyl/phenyl-sulfonatoalkyl-phosphine Catalyst Systems – A New Concept for the Hydroformylation of Higher Molecular Olefins The heterogenization of the homogeneous hydroformylating catalyst system enables the recovery of the catalyst from the reaction products by a simple phase separation but it is unfavourable that many advantages of the homogeneous catalysis are given up by this procedure. To avoid this drawback we used rhodium carbonyl/tert. phosphine catalyst systems soluble as good in methanol as in water for the homogeneously catalyzed hydroformylation of the olefin in methanolic solution. Only after reaction the product mixture is heterogenized by adding water forming an aqueous phase containing the catalyst system. It was shown by the hydroformylation of n-tetradecene-1 with rhodium carbonyl/phenyl-sulfonatoalkyl-phosphine catalyst systems that this new conception is very useful for the oxo reaction of high-molecular olefins.     

SRv6-based Time-Sensitive Networks (TSN) with low-overhead rerouting

Time-Sensitive Networks (TSN) aims at providing a solid underpinning for the support of application connectivity demands across a wide spectrum of use cases and operational environments, such as industrial automation and automotive networks. However, handling network updates in TSN entails additional challenges, stemming from the need to perform both flow rerouting and TSN schedule reconfiguration. To address this issue, we propose a software-defined network (SDN)-based approach for low-overhead TSN network updates, exploiting segment routing over IPv6 (SRv6) for path control. To this end, we introduce the concept of TSN subgraphs in order to quickly reschedule the flows traversing the problematic area and propose a TSN-aware routing heuristic to minimize the convergence time. We further describe the control plane implementation and its integration into Mininet, which empowers us to conduct a wide range of performance tests. Our evaluation results indicate that our approach yields faster recovery and reduces significantly the number of required reconfigurations upon failures, at the expense of a small SRv6 encoding/decoding overhead.