The effect of a concentration‐dependent viscosity on particle transport in a channel flow with porous walls

The transport of a dilute suspension of particles through a channel with porous walls, accounting for the concentration dependence of the viscosity, is analyzed. In particular, we study two cases of fluid permeation through the porous channel walls: (1) at a constant flux and (2) dependent on the pressure drop across the wall. We also consider the effect of mixing the suspension first compared with point injection by considering inlet concentration distributions of different widths. We find that a pessimal inlet distribution width exists that maximizes the required hydrodynamic pressure for a constant fluid influx. The effect of an external hydrodynamic pressure, to compensate for the reduced transmembrane pressure difference due to osmotic pressure, is investigated. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 1891–1904, 2014     

A LC-HRMS After QuEChERS Cleanup Method for the Rapid Determination of Dye Residues in Fish Products

The reliability of a rapid LC-HRMS method was studied in order to find a sensitive and accurate, simple, cheap, and rapid method for screening and quantitative determination of malachite green (MG), leucomalachite green (LMG), brilliant green (BG), crystal violet (CV), and leucocrystal violet (LCV) in fish muscle. All the analytes were extracted using a mixture of acetonitrile and citrate buffer, while the cleanup phase was carried out by Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) method. All the data analyzed were acquired using both full MS and dd-MS² modes. Good specificity, precision (relative standard deviation <11% for each sample tested), recovery (10–60%), decision limit (CCα between 0.55 and 0.62 μg kg^?1), detection capabilities (CCβ between 0.65 and 0.78 μg kg^?1), and ruggedness were achieved for the reliability of the method. Satisfactory results were obtained during the linearity test in the range of 0.10–2 ng mL^?1 (r ² > 0.999). Best recoveries were obtained by the QuEChERS cleanup method for all the analytes examined, presenting values between 70 and 104%. The application of 70,000 FWHM mass resolution and narrow mass windows significantly improved the selectivity of the method, leading to simultaneous screening and quantification of dye residues in comparison to other methods proposed in literature. The optimized method proposed in this work enables a simple and fast preparation; it offers exceptional sensitivity and selectivity and maximizes efficiency and reproducibility with a low consumption of reagents. Finally, the present method was successfully employed to detect dye residues in 73 fish samples, as provided for the national residue control plan.     

Tetracyclines induce changes in accessibility of ribosomal proteins to proteases

It is generally assumed that folding intermediates contain partially formed native-like secondary structures. However, if we consider the fact that the conformational stability of the intermediate state is simpler than that of the native state, it would be expected that the secondary structures in a folding intermediate would not necessarily be similar to those of the native state. beta-Lactoglobulin is a predominantly beta-sheet protein, although it has a markedly high intrinsic preference for alpha-helical structure. We have studied the refolding kinetics of bovine beta-lactoglobulin using stopped-flow circular dichroism and find that a partly alpha-helical intermediate accumulates transiently before formation of the native beta-sheets. The present results suggest that the folding reaction of beta-lactoglobulin follows a non-hierarchical mechanism, in which non-native alpha-helical structures play important roles.     

The experience with neutron irradiation in locally advanced adenocarcinoma of the prostate

The protective effect of breastfeeding against infantile diarrhoea may be less pronounced in areas with modern water supply and sanitation facilities. This finding raises the question whether protection by breastfeeding against infantile diarrhoea in developing countries will decline with improvement in water supply and sanitation. To address this question a historical cohort study of the associations between feeding modes and diarrhoea incidence and severity in children aged 0-14 months at baseline was done in Al Ain city, United Arab Emirates. In this city in a newly developed country, modern water supply and sanitation facilities have become available to everyone during the last two decades. During three months of follow-up of 249 children, the nonbreastfed had more diarrhoea than did the partly breastfed, who in turn had more diarrhoea than did the fully breastfed. After multivariate adjustment, this dose-response effect was consistent for three measures of diarrhoeal morbidity in each child: occurrence or non-occurrence of incidence episodes, number of episodes, and total severity score. However, significant differences were seen only between the nonbreastfed and fully breastfed subgroups. These results indicate that in Al Ain, despite the universal access to modern water supply and sanitation facilities, breastfeeding plays an important role in reducing the incidence and severity of infantile diarrhoea. This observation is particularly important given the growing concern that, as an unwanted effect of 'modernisation', breastfeeding is on the decline in Al Ain and comparable populations elsewhere.     

Sensitivity analysis of the MASLWR helical coil steam generator using TRACE

Accurate simulation of transient system behavior of a nuclear power plant is the goal of systems code calculations, and the evaluation of a code's calculation accuracy is accomplished by assessment and validation against appropriate system data. These system data may be developed either from a running system prototype or from a scaled model test facility, and characterize the thermal hydraulic phenomena during both steady state and transient conditions. The identification and characterization of the relevant thermal hydraulic phenomena, and the assessment and validation of thermal hydraulic systems codes, has been the objective of multiple international research programs. The validation and assessment of the best estimate thermal hydraulic system code TRACE against the Multi-Application Small Light-Water Reactor (MASLWR) Natural Circulation (NC), helical coil Steam Generator (SG), Nuclear Steam Supply System (NSSS) design is a novel effort, and is the topic of the present paper. Specifically, the current work relates to the assessment and validation process of TRACE code against the NC database developed in the OSU-MASLWR test facility. This facility was constructed at Oregon State University under a U.S. Department of Energy grant in order to examine the NC phenomena of importance to the MASLWR reactor design, which includes an integrated helical coil SG. Test series have been conducted at this facility in order to assess the behavior of the MASLWR concept in both normal and transient operation and to assess the passive safety systems under transient conditions. In particular the test OSU-MASLWR-002 investigated the primary system flow rates and secondary side steam superheat, used to control the facility, for a variety of core power levels and Feed Water (FW) flow rates. This paper illustrates a preliminary analysis, performed by TRACE code, aiming at the evaluation of the code capability in predicting NC phenomena and heat exchange from primary to secondary side by helical SG in superheated condition and to evaluate the fidelity of various methods to model the OSU-MASLWR SG in TRACE. The analyses of the calculated data show that the phenomena of interest of the OSU-MASLWR-002 test are predicted by the code and that one of the reasons of the instability of the superheat condition of the fluid at the outlet of the SG is the equivalent SG model used to simulate the different group of helical coils. The SNAP animation model capability is used to show a direct visualization of selected calculated data.     

Exploring emotions on wine websites: finding joy

There is little research on the emotions expressed by wine estate websites and whether the emotions conveyed are related to or can significantly predict the positive or negative sentiment articulated by these websites. In order to examine the emotions and sentiment of wine estate websites, content from the websites of 10 wine estates from 5 countries well known for their diverse and high-quality wines (South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, France, the USA) were selected and analyzed using IBM’s Watson. IBM’s Watson assessed the emotions and sentiment expressed on each website, and an output was then used in a multiple regression analysis with emotions predicting sentiment. The findings show that emotions are not related significantly to the overall sentiment on the winery websites. Finally, this research shows how wine estates and wine marketers can test whether the content of their websites mirrors the emotions that they desire to express to consumers and visitors, which can assure that appropriate expectations are set for the consumption experience.     

The serious side to funny cartoons: understanding public perception of wine through cartoon content analysis

Understanding public perception of a wine festival, organic wine, or the impact of climate change on wine quality can be a complex task. Wine consumers’ opinions, thoughts, feelings and attitudes seem to appear in traditional channels, such as newspapers and magazines, as well as in digital channels, such as blogs, tweets, text messages, social media comments, and consumer ratings. These come in all sorts of formats, but most commonly through text (e.g. posts, tweets) and images (e.g. pictures and videos). Content analysis can be an effective way to understand these widely shared means of expressing sentiment towards a wine and the wine industry. This article examines 300 wine cartoons using a content analysis method that classifies their content into four analytical dimensions: narrative, domestication, binary struggle, and normative transference. This cartoon content analysis reveals details of how different types of wine customers consume and evaluate wine across contexts (e.g. wine in restaurants or at home). This analysis also explores public perception trends regarding wine: social status associations, emotional consumer responses, and consumption-specific concerns. We conclude by discussing future research directions and managerial implications.     

Physical and sensory properties of regional sea salts

Seven varieties of sea salt and a Kosher control were characterized by composition, various physical properties and rates of dissolution in artificial saliva. These measures were compared to sensory time–intensity data in which the temporal profile of salt taste of the sea salt crystals was measured by a trained panel (n = 12). Salts contained either the same or less sodium than the Kosher salt. Three salts contained similar sodium contents as the Kosher control while True Kona contained the lowest sodium content with 16.75% less sodium than Kosher salt. Significant differences were observed among salts for their rates of dissolution, temporal perception of salt taste as well as composition. From a sensory perspective, there were few differences in maximum salt taste intensity. There were, however, some differences in the salts' time–intensity profiles. Red Aelea exhibited the lowest maximum intensity but also exhibited the longest duration of salt taste intensity in comparison to all other salts. Rates of dissolution were found to be negatively correlated with time to maximum salt taste intensity and overall duration of salt taste. Significant differences were found between the size of the salt particles and size was strongly correlated with rates of in-vitro dissolution as well as with a variety of time–intensity sensory measures Based on the fact that salts did not show large differences is taste intensity and many of the salts did not contain less sodium than the Kosher control, using the studied sea salts as a sodium reduction strategy is not viable.