Optimization of co-current spray drying process of sugar-rich foods. Part I - Moisture and glass transition temperature profile during drying

A steady state mathematical model for co-current spray drying was developed for sugar-rich foods with the application of the glass transition temperature concept. Maltodextrin-sucrose solution was used as a sugar-rich food model. The model included mass, heat and momentum balances for a single droplet drying as well as temperature and humidity profile of the drying medium. A log-normal volume distribution of the droplets was generated at the exit of the rotary atomizer. This generation created a certain number of bins to form a system of non-linear first-order differential equations as a function of the axial distance of the drying chamber. The model was used to calculate the changes of droplet diameter, density, temperature, moisture content and velocity in association with the change of air properties along the axial distance. The difference between the outlet air temperature and the glass transition temperature of the final products (AT) was considered as an indicator of stickiness of the particles in spray drying process. The calculated and experimental AT values were close, indicating successful validation of the model. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Theory of strongly correlated electron systems. I. Intersite coulomb interaction and the approximation of renormalized fermions in total energy calculations

The diagrammatic strong-coupling perturbation theory (SCPT) for correlated electron systems is developed for intersite Coulomb interaction and for a nonorthogonal basis set. The construction is based on iterations of exact closed equations for many - electron Green functions (GFs) for Hubbard operators in terms of functional derivatives with respect to external sources. The graphs, which do not contain the contributions from the fluctuations of the local population numbers of the ion states, play a special role: a one-to-one correspondence is found between the subset of such graphs for the many - electron GFs and the complete set of Feynman graphs of weak-coupling perturbation theory (WCPT) for single-electron GFs. This fact is used for formulation of the approximation of renormalized Fermions (ARF) in which the many-electron quasi-particles behave analogously to normal Fermions. Then, by analyzing: (a) Sham's equation, which connects the self-energy and the exchange- correlation potential in density functional theory (DFT); and (b) the Galitskii and Migdal expressions for the total energy, written within WCPT and within ARF SCPT, a way we suggest a method to improve the description of the systems with correlated electrons within the local density approximation (LDA) to DFT. The formulation, in terms of renormalized Fermions LIDA (RF LDA), is obtained by introducing the spectral weights of the many electron GFs into the definitions of the charge density, the overlap matrices, effective mixing and hopping matrix elements, into existing electronic structure codes, whereas the weights themselves have to be found from an additional set of equations. Compared with LDA+U and self-interaction correction (SIC) methods, RF LDA has the advantage of taking into account the transfer of spectral weights, and, when formulated in terms of GFs, also allows for consideration of excitations and nonzero temperature. Going beyond the ARF SCPT, as well as RF LIDA, and taking into account the fluctuations of ion population numbers would require writing completely new codes for ab initio calculations. The application of RF LDA for ab initio band structure calculations for rare earth metals is presented in part 11 of this study (this issue). (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

"One-Step" alkynylation of adamantyl iodide with Silver(I) acetylides

Silver(I) acetylides allow one-step alkynylation of adamantyl iodide in yields ranging from 25 to 68%.

Mechanism and kinetics of dithiobenzoate-mediated RAFT polymerization. I. The current situation

Investigations into the kinetics and mechanism of dithiobenzoate-mediated Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT) polymerizations, which exhibit nonideal kinetic behavior, such as induction periods and rate retardation, are comprehensively reviewed. The appreciable uncertainty in the rate coefficients associated with the RAFT equilibrium is discussed and methods for obtaining RAFT-specific rate coefficients are detailed. In addition, mechanistic studies are presented, which target the elucidation of the fundamental cause of rate retarding effects. The experimental and theoretical data existing in the literature are critically evaluated and apparent discrepancies between the results of different studies into the kinetics of RAFT polymerizations are discussed. Finally, recommendations for further work are given. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Development of a rapid biological assay for determination of potency of Newcastle disease vaccine (strain I-2)

A rapid biological assay based on incubation time has been developed for determination of the potency of Newcastle disease virus strain I-2 vaccine. It is based on the observation that the interval between inoculation and the first detection of haemagglutinin (HA) depends on the titre of the vaccine inoculated. Chicken embryonated eggs were inoculated with different titres (10(9), 10(6) and 10(3) EID50/0.1 ml) of vaccine and incubated for 24 h. At hourly intervals, 5 eggs from each vaccine titre were tested for the presence of HA. The results showed that the HA activity was detected from 5, 11 and 15 h after inoculation with vaccine doses of 10(9), 10(6) and 10(3) EID50, respectively. On the basis of these results it is suggested that if there is no HA detected from 5 to 11 h after inoculation of eggs with the vaccine virus, the vaccine should not be used to vaccinate chickens as it might have an infectivity titre of less than 10(6) EID50/0.1 ml, which is equivalent to the recommended single chicken dose. It is concluded that measuring the time between inoculation of the vaccine virus and the onset of HA activity might provide an estimate of the titre of the vaccine within 24 h.

Determination of organ tropism of Newcastle disease virus (strain I-2) by virus isolation and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction

The vaccines 1-2 and V4 are avirulent strains of Newcastle disease virus. Organ tropism of strain V4 has been determined and the virus has a predilection for the digestive tract. Tropism of strain 1-2 has not yet been determined. The objective of this study was to determine the distribution of strain 1-2 in various body organs and fluids following vaccination in comparison with V4. Four-week-old chickens were vaccinated by eye drop separately with these two avirulent strains. Virus isolation and the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction technique were employed to detect 1-2 and V4 viruses in various tissues and body fluids for 7 days following vaccination. Tissues from the respiratory tract showed earlier positive signals than tissues from other organs for chickens vaccinated with strain 1-2. Conversely, tissues from mainly digestive tract produced earlier positive signals than from respiratory tract and other organs from chickens vaccinated with strain V4. In early infection, strain 1-2 had preferential predilection for the respiratory tract and strain V4 for the digestive tract. Later after vaccination, other organs showed positive results from chickens vaccinated with both 1-2 and V4 strains. The differences in organ tropism observed in this study suggest that 1-2 may perform better than V4 as a live vaccine strain.

Thermostability profile of Newcastle disease virus (strain I-2) following serial passages without heat selection

I-2 is an avirulent strain of Newcastle disease virus. During establishment of the I-2 strain master vaccine seed, a series of selection procedures was carried out at 56 degrees C in order to enhance heat resistance. This master seed is used to produce a working seed, which is then employed to produce the vaccine. These two passages are done without further heat selection; however, it is not known how rapidly and to what extent thermostable variants would be lost during further passage. The study was therefore conducted to determine the effect of passage on thermostability of strain I-2. The virus was serially passaged and at various passage levels samples were subjected to heat treatment at 56 degrees C for 120 min. The inactivation rates for infectivity and haemagglutinin (HA) titres were assayed by use of chicken embryonated eggs and HA test, respectively. Thermostability of HA and infectivity of I-2 virus were reduced after 10 and 5 passages, respectively, without heat selection at 56 degrees C. These results suggest that 5 more passages could be carried out between the working seed and vaccine levels without excessive loss of thermostability. This would result in increased vaccine production from a single batch of a working seed.

The life and architectural works of William Henman, F.R.I.B.A.

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Social construction of Geographic Information Systems. (Volumes I and II)

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is an emerging information technology (IT) which promises to have large scale influences in how spatially distributed resources are managed. It has had applications in the management of issues as diverse as recovering from the disaster of Hurricane Andrew to aiding military operations in Desert Storm. Implementation of GIS systems is an important issue because there are high cost and time involvement in setting them up. An important component of the implementation problem is the "meaning" different groups of people who are influencing the implementation give to the technology. The research was based on the theory of (theoretical stance to the problem was based on the) "Social Construction of Knowledge" systems which assumes knowledge systems are subject to sociological analysis both in usage and in content. An interpretive research approach was adopted to inductively derive a model which explains how the "meanings" of a GIS are socially constructed. The research design entailed a comparative case analysis over two county sites which were using the same GIS for a variety of purposes. A total of 75 in-depth interviews were conducted to elicit interpretations of GIS. Results indicate that differences in how geographers and data-processors view the technology lead to different implementation patterns in the two sites.

Prolonged Rehabilitation of Jones Fracture in Division I-A Collegiate American Football Player: A Case Report

Objective: To describe the prolonged rehabilitation program for a Jones fracture in a Division I-A American football player. Background: A 21 year old, African American, collegiate football player (body mass= 264 lb; height= 76.5 in; body fat= 16.0%) complained of a sharp pain at the dorsal aspect of the left foot. The athlete experiences a compressive force to the fifth metatarsal and upon evaluation, mild swelling was present along the lateral aspect of the foot. Differential Diagnosis: Jones fracture, metatarsal fracture, bone contusion. Treatment: An intramedullary fixation surgery was scheduled two weeks post injury, to correct and stabilize the fracture. Intramedullary fixation is a method of mending the bone internally with a screw, wire, or metal plate along the fractured bone length wise. Following surgery the athlete continued use of crutches for ambulation and was placed in a removable walking boot for 5 weeks. Uniqueness: This case presented a unique challenge in the rehabilitation program, as the athlete experienced slow formation of the bone callus and therefore a prolonged rate of recovery. The athlete was in a walking boot longer than expected (2 weeks longer than anticipated) which inhibited advancement in his rehabilitation due to a slow bone callus formation. A soft callus usually begins to form at day 5 following injury, but documentation was incomplete, and a hypothesis for slow bone callus formation could be secondary to lengthened time between injury occurrence and injury reporting. The athlete may have been weight bearing during the early callus formation, but healing may have been prohibited. Also, vascularization in the area is already limited and may also have played a role in delayed bone growth. Conclusions: Although the return to participation was longer than expected, the rehabilitation program was successful in returning the athlete to competition.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from CLIMAX I Expedition stations

The cores described in this report were taken on the CLIMAX I Expedition in September 1968 by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography from the R/V Horizon. A total of 3 cores were recovered and are available at Scripps for sampling and study.