Rheological studies of nickel oxide and quartz/hematite mixture systems

This study aimed to investigate the rheology of two-mineral mixture systems as a function of pH and solid concentration. Single minerals (nickel oxide, quartz and hematite) and two-mineral systems (nickel oxide–quartz and nickel oxide–hematite) were studied. Rheology tests were conducted to investigate the effect of pH and solid concentration on shear yield stress of suspensions while zeta potential measurements of suspensions were used to explain the rheology results. Rheology results indicated that single mineral experiments showed that 5 and 10 vol.% of quartz and hematite had no shear yield stress whereas the one of nickel oxide was positive value. Shear yield stress of nickel oxide–quartz mixture and nickel oxide–hematite mixtures increased as increasing pH and solid concentration, and the value was higher than the one obtained with only nickel oxide. These results obtained with two-mineral mixture systems were explained by electrokinetic properties of the minerals, i.e. zeta potential of the minerals.     

Quantifying requirements elaboration to improve early software cost estimation

This paper describes an empirical study undertaken to investigate the quantitative aspects of the phenomenon of requirements elaboration which deals with transformation of high-level goals into low-level requirements. Prior knowledge of the magnitude of requirements elaboration is instrumental in developing early estimates of a project’s cost and schedule. This study examines the data on two different types of goals and requirements - capability and level of service (LOS) - of 20 real-client, graduate-student, team projects done at USC. Metrics for data collection and analyses are described along with the utility of results they produce. Besides revealing a marked difference between the elaboration of capability goals and the elaboration of LOS goals, these results provide some initial relationships between the nature of projects and their ratios of elaboration of capability goals into capability or functional requirements.     

pH control for enhanced reductive bioremediation of chlorinated solvent source zones

Enhanced reductive dehalogenation is an attractive treatment technology for in situ remediation of chlorinated solvent DNAPL source areas. Reductive dehalogenation is an acid-forming process with hydrochloric acid and also organic acids from fermentation of the electron donors typically building up in the source zone during remediation. This can lead to groundwater acidification thereby inhibiting the activity of dehalogenating microorganisms. Where the soils' natural buffering capacity is likely to be exceeded, the addition of an external source of alkalinity is needed to ensure sustained dehalogenation. To assist in the design of bioremediation systems, an abiotic geochemical model was developed to provide insight into the processes influencing the groundwater acidity as dehalogenation proceeds, and to predict the amount of bicarbonate required to maintain the pH at a suitable level for dehalogenating bacteria (i.e., > 6.5). The model accounts for the amount of chlorinated solvent degraded, site water chemistry, electron donor, alternative terminal electron-accepting processes, gas release and soil mineralogy. While calcite and iron oxides were shown to be the key minerals influencing the soil's buffering capacity, for the extensive dehalogenation likely to occur in a DNAPL source zone, significant bicarbonate addition may be necessary even in soils that are naturally well buffered. Results indicated that the bicarbonate requirement strongly depends on the electron donor used and availability of competing electron acceptors (e.g., sulfate, iron (III)). Based on understanding gained from this model, a simplified model was developed for calculating a preliminary design estimate of the bicarbonate addition required to control the pH for user-specified operating conditions.     

Determination of total dietary fibre and available carbohydrates: A rapid integrated procedure that simulates in vivo digestion

The new definition of dietary fibre introduced by Codex Alimentarius in 2008 includes resistant starch and the option to include non‐digestible oligosaccharides. Implementation of this definition required new methodology. An integrated total dietary fibre method was evaluated and accepted by AOAC International and AACC International (AOAC Methods 2009.01 and 2011.25; AACC Method 32–45.01 and 32–50.01, and recently adopted by Codex Alimentarius as a Type I Method. However, in application of the method to a diverse range of food samples and particularly food ingredients, some limitations have been identified. One of the ongoing criticisms of this method was that the time of incubation with pancreatic α‐amylase/amyloglucosidase mixture was 16 h, whereas the time for food to transit through the human small intestine was likely to be approximately 4 h. In the current work, we use an incubation time of 4 h, and have evaluated incubation conditions that yield resistant starch and dietary values in line with ileostomy results within this time frame. Problems associated with production, hydrolysis and chromatography of various oligosaccharides have been addressed resulting in a more rapid procedure that is directly applicable to all foods and food ingredients currently available.

     

Effect of Heat Treatment Upon the Chemical Composition of Cottonseed Meal and Upon the Reactivity of Cottonseed Condensed Tannins

The effects of heat treatment on the chemical composition of cottonseed meal (CSM), with or without the addition of cottonseed hulls (containing condensed tannins; CT), and upon reactivity of the CT were studied. Heat was applied in a forced draught oven at 100°C for 2 h. Fluorodinitrobenzene (FDNB)-available lysine, free gossypol, extractable- and bound-CT concentrations, in vitro total nitrogen (N) solubility and the in vitro rumen degradation of the two major seed proteins (52 and 48 kDa) present in cottonseed kernel (which does not contain CT) were determined. The reactivity of CT was assessed by determining N solubility and rumen degradation of cottonseed kernel proteins in the presence or absence of polyethylene glycol (PEG; molecular weight (MW) 3500), which binds and inactivates CT. Heat treatment reduced the concentrations of free gossypol and FDNB-available lysine by small amounts, reduced measurable total CT content by 13%, reduced the solubility of total N, and reduced potential degradability of the 52 and 48 kDa cottonseed storage proteins by mixed rumen microorganisms. Addition of hulls further depressed solubility of total N and ruminal degradation of the two major storage proteins in cottonseed kernel. The action of PEG in vitro indicated that only part of the depression caused by hull addition could be explained by the presence of CT in the hulls, and that the effects of CT upon N solubility and potential degradability in heated CSM were similar to that in unheated CSM. Addition of hulls also substantially reduced FDNB-available lysine. In commercially produced materials, CSM from the Brisbane mill had a lower total CT content, lower N solubility and lower ruminal protein degradation rate than CSM from the Narrabri mill, but a similar level of FDNB-available lysine. Although application of heat inactivated 13% of the total CT, such that it could no longer be extracted and detected with butanol/HCl, it did not seem to change the overall effects produced by CT in reducing N solubility and protein degradation. The effect of hull addition in reducing available lysine has considerable relevance for feeding CSM to monogastric livestock. Interactions involving heat, hulls and CT need to be further studied.     

The Extractable and Bound Condensed Tannin Content of Leaves from Tropical Tree,Shrub and Forage Legumes

The extractable, protein-bound and fibre-bound condensed tannin (CT) concentrations in the leaves of tropical legumes grown in both Colombia and Northern Australia were determined by the butanol–HCl method, whilst extractable CT was also determined by the vanillin–HCl method. With the exception of Senna siamea all species contained CT. The very high CT concentration found in many plants growing in Colombia may have been partly due to soil fertility being much lower at the Colombian than the Northern Australian site. Acacia boliviana , Arachis pintoi , Centrosema latidens , Senna velutina and Gliricidia sepium contained <55 g total CT kg⁻¹ DM, which suggests that they could comprise a reasonable proportion of ruminant diets. All other species grown in South America contained 100–240 g CT kg⁻¹ DM, which suggests that they should only be fed in small amounts as supplements to dilute the CT concentration. Leucaena species and Calliandra calothyrsus grown in Northern Australia contained intermediate concentrations of total CT (60–90 g kg⁻¹ DM). Most species contained 70–95% of total CT as extractable CT, with the exception of Flemingia macrophylla , where 60% was extractable and 40% bound, and Gliricidia sepium , where almost all the CT was bound to protein. Values for Flemingia macrophylla differed between accessions. Extractable CT determined with vanillin–HCl was generally higher than extractable CT determined with butanol–HCl. Three accessions showed negligible (<1 g kg⁻¹ DM) extractable CT with butanol–HCl but 10–12 g extractable CT kg⁻¹ DM with vanillin–HCl. Two accessions showed undetectable levels of extractable CT but substantial levels of protein-bound CT, illustrating the importance of using a bound CT method for identifying forages containing CT. Relative to freeze drying, oven drying of Leucaena species reduced the concentration of extractable CT and increased concentrations of bound CT. The significance of the results for the nutrition of ruminant livestock are discussed, including the possible roles of protein-bound and fibre-bound CT.     

A computer filtering method to drive out tiny genes from the yeast genome

The authors of the first yeast chromosome sequence defined a minimum threshold requirement of 100 codons, above which an open reading frame (ORF) is retained as a putative coding sequence. However, at least 58 yeast genes shorter than 100 codons have an assigned protein function. Therefore, the yeast genome may contain other tiny but functionally important genes that are discarded from analyses by this simple filtering rule. We have established discriminant functions from the in-phase hexamer frequencies of functional genes and of simulated ORFs derived from a stationary Markov chain model. Fifty-two out of the 58 genes were recognized as coding ORFs by our discriminating method. The test was also applied to all the small ORFs (36 to 100 codons) found in the intergenic regions of published chromosomes. It retained 140 new potential tiny coding sequences, among which we identified seven new genes by similarity searches. Our method, used conjointly with similarity searches, can also highlight sequencing errors resulting from the disruption of the coding frame of longer ORFs. This method, by its ability to detect potential coding ORFs, can be a very useful tool for functional analysis.     

Antimicrobial resistance of Escherichia coli O157 from cattle in Korea

Of 45 Escherichia coli O157 isolates from cattle feces, which were collected between May 2000 and September 2003 in Korea, 32 were resistant to at least 1 antibiotic and 28 were resistant to 4 or more antibiotics, with 32, 30 and 30 of the isolates being resistant to streptomycin, tetracycline and sulfisoxazole, respectively. Two isolates were resistant to fluoroquinolones and to 10 or more of the 22 other antimicrobial agents that were tested. Thirteen antimicrobial resistant patterns were observed. The most frequent resistance type, which was found for 11 isolates, was streptomycin-tetracycline-kanamycin-ampicillin-piperacillin-cephalothin-sulfisoxazole-ticarcillin. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of the isolates for E. coli O157 virulence markers revealed that 25 of the resistant E. coli O157 isolates tested positive for stx2 or both stx1 and stx2 genes. These findings suggest that many of the resistant E. coli O157 isolates might cause disease in humans.     

In vitro incorporation of14C-acetate into lipids of hamster flank organ (Costovertebral organ) sebaceous glands and epidermis

Following in vitro incubation of flank organs from male golden Syrian hamsters with sodium [1-¹⁴C] acetate, sebaceous glands and appendage-freed epidermis were obtained by treating the flank organ tissue with calcium chloride. This method permitted the study of incorporation of carbon-14 into the lipids of these skin components. Extracted lipids were identified by thin layer chromatography and autoradiography and were quantitated by liquid scintillation counting. Mono-, di-, and triglycerides, free sterols, fatty acids, wax monoesters, and squalene were identified as products of sebaceous gland metabolism of labeled acetate. In marked contrast, little incorporation of¹⁴C into triglycerides by the epidermal preparations was noted, although the epidermal lipids showed higher relative proportions of free sterols and polar lipids (including phospholipids). Accumulation of sterol esters did not occur. In both preparations phosphatidylcholine represented the major labeled phospholipid.