CoCal‐2 – A simple toolbox to prove authenticity of milk chocolate

CoCal‐2 offers an important measure to assess compliance with labelling provisions of milk chocolate as laid down in Directive 2000/36/EC. By performing a single triacylglycerol analysis using gas liquid chromatography several useful pieces of information can be determined, i. e., (i) the milk fat content of the chocolate sample, (ii) the contribution of triacylglycerols originating from milk fat, (iii) the presence/absence of cocoa butter equivalents, and (iv) the amount of vegetable fat present in milk chocolate.     

The Gamification of Civic Participation: Two Experiments in Improving the Skills of Citizens to Reflect Collectively on Spatial Issues

For civic participation to lead to sustainable civic engagement, participants need to go through a process of collective reflection. Games have been put forward as tools to support this process. The commercialization of the Internet, mobile communication devices, and sensing technologies precipitated a substantial increase in the development and use of games, gamified environments, and playful experiences, to the extent that scholars speak of the gamification of society. The goal of this paper is to investigate the potential of gamification to improve the skills of citizens to reflect collectively on spatial issues in their daily environment. The paper presents two gamification experiments; B3-Design your Marketplace! and Cure for the Campus. It discusses the extent to which they support collective reflection operationalized as a process during which the players are triggered to (1) observe their environment; (2) categorize their observations; and (3) structure these categories. It analyzes the first results gained based on these two cases and discusses their limitations and further research directions.     

Effect of NaOH addition on the thermochemical heat storage capacity of nanoporous molecular sieves

The water vapor sorption capacity and corresponding generated heat amount are the most important properties for adsorbents in thermochemical heat storage systems. In order to understand the adsorption/desorption behavior of three nanoporous molecular sieves such as 5A, mordenite and natural clinoptilolite (with different structures, Si/Al ratios and balancing cations), the pure zeolites and their composites (obtained by depositing NaOH onto the molecular sieves) were characterized in their structural and surface properties by using appropriate techniques (N₂ adsorption isotherms at ?196 °C, XRD and (MAS) NMR). The adsorption of water was performed using a Setaram TG‐DSC 111 apparatus. Three successive cycles of hydration (at 20 °C)/dehydration (at 150 °C) were carried out to check the stability of the system in conditions close to those used in adsorption heat pumps. The measured heats of dehydration vary in the 183–614 kJ kg^?1_sample range for the various samples that present also different water vapor sorption capacities (from ≈ 0.08 to ≈ 0.14 kg_H2O kg^?1_sample). The water adsorption/desorption behavior of the zeolites was mainly related to the porous structure and to the Si/Al ratio, that drive the affinity of zeolite to water. The experimental results showed that the impregnation of the three kinds of nanoporous zeolites with different amounts of sodium hydroxide negatively affects the sorption characteristics of the composites. The blockage of zeolite pores (that limits the access to water molecules), the slight amorphization of the zeolite structure and the formation of carbonates are some of the phenomena identified to influence the water sorption onto NaOH‐containing composites. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Non-Lyapunov Type Stability in a Model of the Dewetted Bridgman Crystal Growth Under Zero Gravity Conditions

A numerical model has been developed based on a mass conservation level set algorithm considering a wall adhesion to predict the surface motion for a single and double dam break problems. The simulation for the single dam break shows that the wall adhesion force can be introduced through contact angle by modifying the level set function on the boundary in the level set method, and the magnitude of the contact angle has an effect on the moving location of the leading front of water–gas system. Moreover, the simulation for the double dam break presents clearly the processes of coalescence and break up of the free surface.     

Microstructure and anisotropic swelling behaviour of compactedbentonite/sand mixture

Pre-compacted elements(disks,torus) of bentonite/sand mixture are candidate materials for sealing plugs of radioactive waste disposal.Choice of this material is mainly based on its swelling capacity allowing all gaps in the system to be sealed,and on its low permeability.When emplaced in the gallery,these elements will start to absorb water from the host rock and swell.Thereby,a swelling pressure will develop in the radial direction against the host rock and in the axial direction against the support structure.In this work,the swelling pressure of a small scale compacted disk of bentonite and sand was experimentally studied in both radial and axial directions.Different swelling kinetics were identified for different dry densities and along different directions.As a rule,the swelling pressure starts increasing quickly,reaches a peak value,decreases a little and finally stabilises.FOr some dry densities,higher peaks were observed in the radial direction than in the axial direction.The presence of peaks is related to the microstructure change and to the collapse of macropores.In parallel to the mechanical tests,microstructure investigation at the sample scale was conducted using microfocus X-ray computed tomography(μCT).Image observation showed a denser structure in the centre and a looser one in the border,which was also confirmed by image analysis.This structure heterogeneity in the radial direction and the occurrence of macro-pores close to the radial boundary of the sample can explain the large peaks observed in the radial swelling pressure evolution.Another interesting result is the higher anisotropy found at lower bentonite dry densities,which was also analysed by means of μCT observation of a sample at low bentonite dry density after the end of test It was found that the macro-pores,especially those between sand grains,were not filled by swelled bentonite,which preserved the anisotropic microstructure caused by uniaxial compression due to the absence of microstructure collapse.     

The Odorant-Binding Proteins of the Spider Mite Tetranychus urticae

Spider mites are one of the major agricultural pests, feeding on a large variety of plants. As a contribution to understanding chemical communication in these arthropods, we have characterized a recently discovered class of odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) in Tetranychus urticae. As in other species of Chelicerata, the four OBPs of T. urticae contain six conserved cysteines paired in a pattern (C1–C6, C2–C3, C4–C5) differing from that of insect counterparts (C1–C3, C2–C5, C4–C6). Proteomic analysis uncovered a second family of OBPs, including twelve members that are likely to be unique to T. urticae. A three-dimensional model of TurtOBP1, built on the recent X-ray structure of Varroa destructor OBP1, shows protein folding different from that of insect OBPs, although with some common features. Ligand-binding experiments indicated some affinity to coniferyl aldehyde, but specific ligands may still need to be found among very large molecules, as suggested by the size of the binding pocket.     

Surfome analysis of a wild-type wine Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, besides being an eukaryotic cell model, plays a fundamental role in the production of fermented foods. In the winemaking industry, yeast cell walls may be involved in numerous processes and contribute substantially to the final chemical and sensorial profiles of wines. Nonetheless, apart from mannoproteins, little is known on the protein components of the yeast cell wall and their changes during the fermentation of must into wine. In this work, we performed a dynamic analysis of the cell surface proteome (surfome) of an autochthonous wine yeast strain (previously selected as a wine fermentation starter) by shaving intact cells with trypsin and identifying tryptic peptides by means of nLC-ESI-LIT-MS/MS. Out of the 42 identified proteins, 16 and 14 were found to be specifically expressed in wine yeast surfome at the beginning and at the end of fermentation, respectively. The molecular functions of these specifically expressed proteins might help in explaining their roles in the cell wall as a response to the alcoholic fermentation-related stresses. Additionally, we provided the identification of 20 new potential cell wall related proteins. Globally, our results might provide new useful data for the selection and characterization of yeast strains to be used in the winemaking industry.     

Effect of thermostat and window opening occupant behavior models on energy use in homes

Existing dynamic energy simulation tools exceed the static dimension of the simplified methods through a better and more accurate prediction of energy use; however, their ability to predict real energy consumption is undermined by a weak representation of human interactions with the control of the indoor environment. The traditional approach to building dynamic simulation considers energy consumption as fully deterministic, taking into account standardized input parameters and using fixed and unrealistic schedules (lighting level, occupancy, ventilation rate, thermostat set-point). In contrast, in everyday practice occupants interact with the building plant system and building envelope in order to achieve desired indoor environmental conditions. In this study, occupant behavior in residential building was modelled accordingly to a probabilistic approach. A new methodology was developed to combine probabilistic user profiles for both window opening and thermostat set-point adjustments into one building energy model implemented in the dynamic simulation tool IDA Ice. The aim of the study was to compare mean values of the probabilistic distribution of the obtained results with a singular heating energy consumption value obtained by means of standard deterministic simulations. Major findings of this research demonstrated the weakness of standardized occupant behavior profile in energy simulation tools and the strengths of energy models based on measurements in fields and probabilistic modelling providing scenarios of occupant behavior in buildings.