THE USE OF RHEOLOGY TO CHARACTERIZE FLOW BEHAVIOR OF LIQUORICE SOLUTIONS

The rheological behavior of liquorice solutions at different concentrations (ranging between 30 and 60 Brix) and temperatures (in the range between 25 and 80C) has been investigated performing both dynamic tests in the linear viscoelastic region and steady shear tests, in 0.1–100 s^?1 shear rate range, by using a stress controlled rheometer (DSR 200, Rheometric Scientific, USA) and parallel plate geometry (φ = 40 mm). Small amplitude oscillations has shown the presence of both moduli also at the lowest tested concentration, with G′ greater than G″, except for the 30 Brix sample. It has been found that experimental viscosity data show a good agreement with a power law model, thus allowing the estimation of both the friction factor and the pressure drops in a typical pipeline used for liquorice solution conveying. It has been observed that the assumption of Newtonian behavior can lead to the erroneous design of the apparatuses that have to process liquorice extracts.     

A UNIFIED COLLOCATION ALGORITHM FOR PACKED-BED CHEMICAL REACTOR SIMULATION

Mathematical models of packed-bed catalytic reactors are aimed to predict the conversions and temperature profiles in both fluid and solid phases within the reactor. Although very general models can be mathematically formulated, usually several simplifying hypothesis are introduced for the fluid phase and/or the solid phase, in order to overcome computational difficulties

We describe in this paper a computational algorithm based on Orthogonal Collocation Method on finite elements, with elimination of the knot unknown functions, coupled with an integration method for stiff ordinary differential equations. This has been used in the development of a computer code, which allows us to find the transient behavior of the reactor by solving the equation relative to the external field, coupled with those describing the transient behavior in the catalyst particles, for a wide class of reactor models. The most general examined model includes axial dispersion in the external fluid phase, interphase mass and heat transfer resistances, intraphase mass resistance and any given kinetic scheme with complex reaction rate expressions.     

Mesenchymal stem cells,secretome and biomaterials in <i>in-vivo</i> animal models: Regenerative medicine application in cutaneous wound healing

The treatment of nonhealing and chronic cutaneous wounds still needs a clinical advancement to be effective. Both mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), obtained from different sources, and their secretome derived thereof (especially exosomes) can activate signaling pathways related to promotion of cell migration, vascularization, collagen deposition, and inflammatory response demonstrating prohealing, angiogenetic and anti-scarring capacities. On the other hand, biodegradable biomimetic scaffolds can facilitate endogenous cell attachment and proliferation as well as extracellular matrix production. In this Review, we revise the complex composites made by biomimetic scaffolds, mainly hydrogels, and MSC-derived exosomes constructed for cutaneous wound healing. Studies demonstrate that there exists a synergistic action of scaffolds with encapsulated exosomes, displaying a sustained release profiles to facilitate longlasting healing effects. It can be envisioned that dressings made by biomimetic hydrogels and MSC-derived exosomes will be clinically applied in the near future for the effective treatment of nonhealing and chronic wounds.     

Collective communication operations: experimental results vs. theory

Collective communication operations (CCOs) are one of the most powerful tools for parallel processing on distributed memory architectures. From the theoretical viewpoint there has been a major effort in the design of optimal algorithms for these operations, especially for massive parallel processors (MPPs). However, in spite of the increasing availability of MPPs, there are just a few limited experimental checks of the different theories, so the assessment of their real value is not easy. The aim of the present paper is to address such issues for the most common CCOs, considering practical algorithms that can be included in a generic communication library. The main result is a new algorithm for building a quasi-optimal broadcast tree that is much simpler than, and as efficient as, previously available algorithms. To investigate the advantages and drawbacks of the proposed algorithms, a large set of experimental data has been collected on an IBM SP2 parallel system. The data demonstrate the efficiency of our approach in a number of interesting cases. Finally, all the experimental results have been related to the model used in designing the algorithms. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

EVIDENCE FOR THE PHOSPHORYLATION AND GLYCOSYLATION OF THE AMARANTH 11S GLOBULIN (AMARANTHIN)

A series of 11S globulins isolated and purified from genetically different Amaranthus lines were found to be both glycosylated and phosphorylated to varying degrees, i.e., 4.0–7.8% and 0.030–0.058%, respectively. Carbohydrate was found to be N-linked to amino acids in the amaranth globulin and was composed of 28.0% xylose, 34.4% mannose 8.3% galactose and 29.3% glucose whereas phosphate was found to be O-linked with six residues per globulin molecule. Both co- or post-translational modifications were found to influence the hydrophilicity, surface charge characteristics and stability of the secondary conformation of the globulin. Glycosylation was shown to be important in the folding and assembly of the globulin, whereas phosphorylation was found to enhance the metal-binding capacity of the globulin.     

VERBALIZATION, STIMULUS RELEVANCE, AND PERSONALITY CHANGE.

VERBAL PRODUCTIVITY IN THEMATIC STORIES GIVEN OVER A 10-MO PERIOD BY 3 GROUPS-SUCCESSFULLY TREATED ADOLESCENT DELINQUENT BOYS, UNTREATED DELINQUENTS, AND NONDELINQUENTS-REVEALED THAT THE NUMBER OF WORDS INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY ONLY FOR THE TREATED DELINQUENTS AND ONLY IN 1 OF THE AREAS CHOSEN FOR STIMULUS RELEVANCE, THAT OF CONTROL OF AGGRESSION. THE PRODUCTIVITY IN STORIES TO SELF-IMAGE AND ATTITUDE TOWARD AUTHORITY SHOWED NO CHANGE. THESE RESULTS WERE CONSISTENT BOTH WITH THEORY AND THE TREATMENT GOALS. THEY SUGGEST THAT VERBALIZATION MAY SERVE AS 1 MECHANISM THROUGH WHICH CONTROL OVER OVERT HOSTILE BEHAVIOR MAY BE OBTAINED. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Routines and Other Recurring Action Patterns of Organizations: Contemporary Research Issues

This paper reports and extends discussions carried out duringa workshop held at the Santa Fe Institute in August 1995 bythe authors. It treats eight major topics: (i) the importanceof carefully examining research on routine, (ii) the conceptof ‘action patterns’ in general and in terms ofroutine, (iii) the useful categorization of routines and otherrecurring patterns, (iv) the research implications of recentcognitive results, (v) the relation of evolution to action patterns,(vi) the contributions of simulation modeling for theory inthis area, (vii) examples of various approaches to empiricalresearch that reveal key problems, and (viii) a possible definitionof ‘routine’. An extended appendix by Massimo Egidiprovides a lexicon of synonyms and opposites covering use ofthe word ‘routine’ in such areas as economics, organizationtheory and artificial intelligence.     

Hierarchical Selection and Organizational Adaptation

The paper portrays the firm as a hierarchy of processes, exploringhow interactions among nested dynamics shape the evolution oforganizations. A computer model of intraorganizational evolutionshows how interactions among different process levels withinthe firm lead to the emergence of an ‘adaptation style’,by dynamically tuning explorations efforts and exploitationopportunities. In complex environments, this results in waveformprocesses of discovery and learning, which may be subject tocompetence and memory traps. The model analyzes interactionsbetween innovation and diffusion of organizational competences,showing how different strategies of competence replication arisealong innovation cycles. Furthermore, the paper suggests howthe model can be operationalized, singling out organizations'‘traits’ and tracking their diffusion and modificationover time.     

Probabilistic assessment of small disturbance stability in multimachine power systems

In planning electric power systems, it is always necessary to assess whether small-disturbance (SD) instability phenomena occur at prefixed system operating conditions. This analysis can become very difficult when the problem data are uncertain. In such cases the use of deterministic approaches is inadequate and the application of probabilistic analysis techniques is the most feasible alternative. This paper presents a new and practical probabilistic approach for the assessment of SD stability in multimachine power systems taking into account the uncertainties associated with bus load forecasting and treating loads as random uncorrelated variables with normal distributions. This approach proves suitable for determining the risk of SD instability for each expected system operating condition and for systematically individualizing all factors that can affect the probability of SD instability in large power systems. A numerical example illustrates the capability of the proposed technique.