Effects of temperature, ammonium and glucose concentrations on yeast growth in a model wine system

In enology, alcoholic fermentation is a complex process involving several mechanisms. Slow and incomplete alcoholic fermentation is a chronic problem for the wine industry and factors leading to sluggish and stuck fermentations have been extensively studied and reviewed. The most studied cause of sluggish and stuck fermentation is the nitrogen content limitation. Nevertheless, other factors, such as temperature of fermentation and sugar concentration can affect the growth of yeasts. In this study we modelled the yeast growth‐cycle in wine model system as a function of temperature, sugar and ammonium concentrations; the individual effects and the interaction of these factors were analysed by means of a quadratic response surface methodology. Cell concentrations and weight loss were monitored in the whole wine fermentation process. The results of central composite design show that lower is the availability of nitrogen, higher is the cell growth rate; moreover, initial nitrogen concentration also influences survival time of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.     

On the sensitivity of coupled resonator filters without some direct couplings

This paper presents an analysis of the sensitivity of coupled resonator filters in which some direct couplings are missing. The effect of changes in the coupling coefficients and resonant frequencies of the resonators is investigated by directly computing the gradient of the scattering parameters. It is shown that structures that are modular in the input-to-output direction are much less sensitive than those with modularity in the orthogonal direction for the same frequency response.     

A parallel systems approach to universal receivers

The problem of communication over a channel with unknown characteristics is addressed. The true channel is from a known set of channels, but the transmitter and receiver do not know which of these channels is actually in effect. The goal of a universal receiver is to provide nearly optimal demodulation regardless of the channel that is actually in effect. A parallel receiver implementation is proposed for a universal scheme to cope with such uncertainty. The parallel system consists of a finite number of receivers with the property that, for each channel in the set, the performance of at least one of the receivers will be within a specified performance range. Data verification is accomplished by an appropriate coding system. Sufficient conditions for the existence of such a universal receiver for a prescribed set of channels are established, procedures are outlined for the receiver design, and an example is given to illustrate the applicability of the theory. For M-ary signaling it is shown that, from an information-theoretic viewpoint, the data verification can be achieved at no extra cost by use of the intrinsic side information that is provided by an appropriate coding scheme that also provides error correction     

Homogenization of hardness distribution and distortion in high pressure gas quenching

Quenching with gases rather than oil or other liquid media has the advantages of reducing the risks concerning health and environment, while simultaneously homogenizing the quenching results and minimizing distortion due to a wide range of possible process parameter variations and the pure convective heat transfer. In this contribution, a coupled solution for increasing homogenization of quenching results within high pressure gas quenching will be presented. In the first stage, an experimental test facility was set up for flow investigations and in the second stage a numerical simulation model was generated. The numerical and experimental results of the flow through the chamber were compared for several boundary conditions. Finally, after complete verification of the simulation, the model may be used to assist in parameter variation for optimization of homogeneous high pressure gas quenching.     

Determination of the relationship of pressure to process time in pneumatic forming of a round membrane in the superplastic condition

The deformation of a round membrane into a cylindrical matrix is considered. The relationship of pressure to time of the process of pneumatic forming in the superplastic condition is established. The results obtained are compared with known data. A conclusion is drawn on the applicability of the proposed approach for calculation of the production parameters of forming of axisymmetric parts in the superplastic condition.Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 11, pp. 71–75, November, 1993.     

Evaporation induced self-assembly of zeolite A micropatterns due to the stick-slip dynamics of contact line

In this study, a new surfactant-solvent system was described for the preparation of periodic stripe patterns of zeolite A on solid substrates. The evaporation induced self-assembly of zeolite A particles was due to the stick-slip dynamics of the three-phase contact line of the colloid solutions in acetone containing 10% (v/v) poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) fluid (2 cst.). In order to investigate the possible effects of particle size and the particle concentration on the stick-slip dynamics, three types of zeolite A samples with different particle sizes (zeolite A-I: 250-500 nm, zeolite A-II: 100-250 nm and zeolite A-III: 0-100 nm) were utilized to prepare 0.007-0.06% (w/v) colloidal dispersions. Zeolite A micropatterns were self-assembled on the surface of glass, high density polyethylene (HDPE) and poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) substrates, which were placed vertically inside the colloid solutions and held against the wall of the cylindrical vial during the evaporation of acetone. The stripe patterns of zeolite A particles were analyzed with field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and optical microscope. The widths of microstripes and the distance between the stripes were found as 2-20 μm and 40-60 μm respectively depending on the particle concentration. By using the stick-slip dynamics of colloids, the linear micropatterns of zeolite A nanocrystals were prepared with low cost and low energy.