Cottonseed oil and meal utilization

For five consecutive years world-wide production of cottonseed has set new highs, and cottonseed is more valuable as a source of food, feed, and fiber than ever before. However this paper is primarily concerned with the utilization of cottonseed oil and meal in the United States. During the three-year period, 1963–65, U.S. farmers received about $300 million annually for 6.18 million tons of cottonseed. Annual U.S. crushings were 5.79 million tons, having produced 1.94 billion pounds of crude oil valued at $222 million, 2.72 million tons of meal valued at $174 million, and 1,609,700 running bales of linters valued at $41.2 million. Retail value of cottonseed products is estimated to have been $1.1 billion annually. Changes in the U.S. cottonseed industry include shifts westward, to fewer and larger extraction plants and to the use of new and improved extraction techniques which involve solvents and high-speed expellers. The cottonseed extraction industry has a payroll of $38.2 million and consists of 188 oil mills in about 14 states, employing 8,400 people. Cottonseed oil accounted for 11.5% of total 1965 U.S. factory consumption of 12.7 billion pounds of fats and oils. Some 62% was used in salad or cooking oil, 27% in baking or frying fats, and 8% in margarine. During the 1960–65 period, usage increased in salad or cooking oils, in baking or frying fats, and in inedible products but decreased in margarine, mellorine, and other edible products. Increases exceeded decreases, and total consumption of cottonseed oil in edible and inedible products increased from 1.28 billion lb. to 1.47 billion lb. Practically all of the 2.76 million tons of cottonseed meal produced in the three-year period beginning October 1963 was used for feed. Relatively insignificant amounts were used as fertilizer on farms of cotton growers. Cattle, sheep, horse, and mule rations consumed 1.88 million tons, poultry rations 440 thousand tons, and swine rations 350 thousand tons. Cottonseed meal in cattle rations has had a downward trend since the early 1950’s although usage in poultry and swine rations has increased. It is estimated that 1.52 million tons were used by feed manufacturers in the preparation of mixed feeds during the 1964–65 season, representing a steady increase over the past two decades and a 54% increase over 1962–63. Domestic use of cottonseed flour has not changed appreciably during the past few years.     

Characterization of vertical Bridgman grown Cd0.9Zn0.1Te0.97Se0.03 single crystal for room-temperature radiation detection

We report a modified vertical Bridgman method to grow Cd_0.9Zn_0.1Te_0.97Se_0.03 (CZTS) single crystals using in-house zone-refined 7 N (99.99999%) purity elemental precursors for room-temperature radiation detection. CZTS is an economic yet high performance alternative to expensive CdZnTe (CZT) detectors for room-temperature gamma-ray detection. Radiation detector in planar geometry has been fabricated on an 11.0?×?11.0?×?3.0 mm³ CZTS single crystal. A bulk resistivity of 10¹⁰ Ω.cm has been achieved without using any compensating dopant. The elemental composition of the grown crystal has been examined using energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed formation of zincblende phase with a lattice constant of 6.447 Å, and sharp peaks confirmed the formation of highly crystalline single-phase CZTS crystals. A modified Vegard’s law has been applied to calculate the atomic percentage of Se in the grown crystals from the XRD patterns and compared with the intended and the measured stoichiometry. The electron mobility-lifetime (μτ) product and the drift mobility have been calculated to be 1.5?×?10^–3 cm²/V and 710 cm²/V.s, respectively, using alpha spectroscopy. The presented vertical Bridgman growth method uses a single pass through the controlled heating zone in contrast to the previously reported multiple pass growth techniques, thus, reducing the growth duration by two third which would help to further reduce the cost of production of CZTS-based room-temperature detectors.

     

Synthesis of CdZnTeSe single crystals for room temperature radiation detector fabrication: mitigation of hole trapping effects using a convolutional neural network

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - In this article, we report the growth of Cd0.9Zn0.1Te0.97Se0.03 (CZTS) wide bandgap semiconductor single crystals for room temperature...     

The splitting tendency of uniaxially-oriented PET tapes investigated with nano-indentation,nano-scratch,differential scanning calorimetry,and X-ray

Earlier, various additives werescreened to improve the weavability of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) tape. For predicting the weavability, three tests had been used: tensile impact strength, fibrillar versus puckered fracture and an axial folding test. This paper shows the possibility of using a simple nano-indentation method to decide on the splintering tendency of uniaxially-oriented PET tapes, as a predictor for weavability. A plasticity index derived from the nano-indentation correlated with PET tapes that were, or were not, weavable. Nano-scratches applied parallel and perpendicular to the tape also showed differences that could be correlated to the splitting tendency. While investigating these tests methods, it was observed that pure uniaxially- oriented PET tape heat set at 140°C had a non-splintering character even without additives, while polymeric additives were needed to resist splintering for the tape heat set at 240°C. Calorimetry showed no difference in heat-of-fusion implying identical crystallinity in the tapes heat set at 140°C and 240°C. However, X-ray studies revealed that the crystallites in the tape heat set at 140°C were smaller/and or imperfect, and hence there were more lateral tie-molecules that provided it the splitting resistance. Pure PET tape if heat set below 150°C may be a workable solution for weaving, thereby dispensing with the need for toughening additives.     

Reduced asthma symptoms with n-3 fatty acid ingestion are related to 5-series leukotriene production

Asthma may respond to dietary modification, thereby reducing the need for pharmacologic agents. This study determined the effectiveness of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) ingestion in ameliorating methacholine-induced respiratory distress in an asthmatic population. The ability of urinary leukotriene excretion to predict efficacy of n-3 PUFA ingestion was assessed. After n-3 PUFAs in ratios to n-6 PUFAs of 0.1:1 and 0.5:1 were ingested sequentially for 1 mo each; patient respiratory indexes were assessed after each treatment. Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume for 1 s (FEV1), peak expiratory flow (PEF), and forced expiratory flow 25-75% (FEF 25-75) were measured along with weekly 24-h urinary leukotriene concentrations. With low n-3 PUFA ingestion, methacholine-induced respiratory distress increased. With high n-3 PUFA ingestion, alterations in urinary 5-series leukotriene excretion predicted treatment efficacy. Elevated n-3 PUFA ingestion resulted in a positive methacholine bronchoprovocation dose change in > 40% of the test subjects (responders). The provocative dose to cause a 20% reduction (PD20) in FEV1, FVC, PEF, and FEF25-75 values could not be calculated because of a lack of significant respiratory reduction. Conversely, elevated n-3 PUFA ingestion caused some of the patients (nonresponders) to further lose respiratory capacity. Five-series leukotriene excretion with high n-3 PUFA ingestion was significantly greater for responders than for nonresponders. A urinary ratio of 4-series to 5-series leukotrienes < 1, induced by n-3 PUFA ingestion, may predict respiratory benefit.     

Generic reconfiguration for restoration

This paper introduces and compares four algorithms by which reconfiguration for restoration of an arbitrary number of interdependent critical infrastructure systems can be achieved. A method of modeling systems called Graph Trace Analysis is used to enable generic operation on various system types. The algorithms described are compared with each other and with prior work when run on a model of an actual electrical distribution system. The described algorithms are also run on an example model to demonstrate the ability to reconfigure interdependent infrastructure systems.     

Automation Effects on Reliability and Operation Costs in Storm Restoration

Abstract—Storm response and restoration can be very expensive for electric utilities. The deployment of automated switches can benefit the utility by decreasing storm restoration hours. The automated switches also improve system reliably by decreasing customer interruption duration. In this article, a Monte Carlo simulation is used to mimic storm equipment failure events, followed by reconfiguration for restoration and power flow evaluations. The customer outage status and duration are examined. Changes in reliability for the system with and without automated switching devices are investigated. Economic benefits of utilizing smart grid automated devices are considered.     

Aging Effects on the Phase Composition and Chain Mobility of Isotactic Poly(propylene)

Changes in phase composition and chain mobility in injection‐molded isotactic poly(propylene), crystallized from the melt with slow cooling rate and subsequently quenched, associated with aging at temperature well above T_g for 150 and 1 000 h, are studied using time‐domain ¹H solid‐state NMR and XRD. All sample exhibit physical aging when exposed to elevated temperatures, and the physical aging kinetics was observed to depend on the morphology of the homopolymer iPP and aging temperatures. The significant increase in the tensile modulus in time was observed for injection‐molded iPP. The observed property changes induced by aging are attributed to microstructural changes within the semi‐rigid and amorphous fractions.