Modelling of heat transfer for progressive freeze concentration process by spiral finned crystallizer

This study presents a novel design for a spiral finned crystallizer which is the primary element of progressive freeze concentration (PFC) system,which simplifies the setup of the conventional system.After the crystallizer has been designed,the research experiments have been conducted and evaluated through a thorough analysis of its performance by developing a mathematical model that can be used to predict the productivity of ice crystal at a range of coolant temperature.The model is developed based on the basic heat transfer equation,and by considering the solution's and the coolant's convective heat transfer coefficient (h) under the forced flow condition.The model's accuracy is verified by making comparison between the ice crystal mass' experimental value and the values predicted by the model.Conseouentiv,the study found that the model helos in enhancing the PFC system.     

Recognition by Humans and Pigeons of Novel Views of 3-D Objects and Their Photographs.

Humans and pigeons were trained to discriminate between 2 views of actual 3-D objects or their photographs. They were tested on novel views that were either within the closest rotational distance between the training views (interpolated) or outside of that range (extrapolated). When training views were 60° apart, pigeons, but not humans, recognized novel views of actual objects better than their pictures. Further, both species recognized interpolated views of both stimulus types better than extrapolated views, but a single distinctive geon enhanced recognition of novel views only for humans. When training views were 90° apart, pigeons recognized interpolated views better than extrapolated views with actual objects but not with photographs. Thus, pigeons may represent actual objects differently than their pictures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frequency effects in lexical decisions: A test of the verification model.

Lexical decisions about high-frequency words are faster than about low-frequency words. It has been suggested that the locus of this effect is in a verification stage in which a frequency-ordered comparison takes place that requires the continuous availability of a sensory representation of the stimulus. This proposal was tested in 4 lexical-decision experiments, using 64 undergraduates. In Exp I, high- and low-frequency words and nonword stimuli remained visible until Ss responded. The stimuli in Exp II were illuminated for only 1 retrace on a video monitor (16.7 msec), and in Exp III, the single retrace was followed by a pattern mask 50 msec later. The latter 2 conditions have been suggested as manipulations that would eliminate the verification stage of recognition. Nevertheless, the effect of word frequency on decision latencies was comparable in all 3 experiments. Data from Exp IV eliminated orthographic regularity as a factor contributing to the obtained frequency effect. It is suggested that frequency has its effects prior to verification and that the notion of verification as the sole basis for frequency effects needs to be revised. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of distinctive parts on recognition of depth-rotated objects by pigeons (Columba livia) and humans.

To explore whether effects observed in human object recognition represent fundamental properties of visual perception that are general across species, the authors trained pigeons (Columba livia) and humans to discriminate between pictures of 3-dimensional objects that differed in shape. Novel pictures of the depth-rotated objects were then tested for recognition. Across conditions, the object pairs contained either 0, 1, 3, or 5 distinctive pails. Pigeons showed viewpoint dependence in all object-part conditions, and their performance declined systematically with degree of rotation from the nearest training view. Humans showed viewpoint invariance for novel rotations between the training views but viewpoint dependence for novel rotations outside the training views. For humans, but not pigeons, viewpoint dependence was weakest in the 1-part condition. The authors discuss the results in terms of structural and multiple-view models of object recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bidimensional Regression: Assessing the Configural Similarity and Accuracy of Cognitive Maps and Other Two-Dimensional Data Sets.

Bidimensional regression is a method for comparing the degree of resemblance between 2 planar configurations of points and, more generally, for assessing the nature of the geometry (Euclidean and non-Euclidean) between 2-dimensional independent and dependent variables. For example, it can assess the similarity between location estimates from different tasks or participant groups, measure the fidelity between cognitive maps and actual locations, and provide parameters for psychological process models. The authors detail the formal similarity between uni- and bidimensional regression, provide computational methods and a new index of spatial distortion, outline the advantages of bidimensional regression over other techniques, and provide guidelines for its use. The authors conclude by describing substantive areas in psychology for which the method would be appropriate and uniquely illuminating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Global-scale location and distance estimates: Common representations and strategies in absolute and relative judgments.

The authors examined whether absolute and relative judgments about global-scale locations and distances were generated from common representations. At the end of a 10-week class on the regional geography of the United States, participants estimated the latitudes of 16 North American cities and all possible pairwise distances between them. Although participants were relative experts, their latitude estimates revealed the presence of psychologically based regions with large gaps between them and a tendency to stretch North America southward toward the equator. The distance estimates revealed the same properties in the representation recovered via multidimensional scaling. Though the aggregated within- and between-regions distance estimates were fitted by Stevens's law (S. S. Stevens, 1957), this was an averaging artifact: The appropriateness of a power function to describe distance estimates depended on the regional membership of the cities. The authors conclude that plausible reasoning strategies, combined with regionalized representations and beliefs about the location of these relative to global landmarks, underlie global-scale latitude and distance judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Updating geographical knowledge: Principles of coherence and inertia.

In 2 experiments, the authors investigated how representations of global geography are updated when people learn new location information about individual cities. Participants estimated the latitude of cities in North America (Experiment 1) and in the Old and New Worlds (Experiment 2). After making their first estimates, participants were given information about the latitudes of 2 cities and asked to make a second set of estimates. Both the first and second estimates revealed evidence for psychologically distinct geographical subregions that were coordinated, in an ordinal sense, across the Atlantic Ocean. Further, the second estimates were affected by the nature of the physical adjacency between regions (e.g., the southern U.S. and Mexico) and by accurate location information about distant, but coordinated, subregions (e.g., the southern U.S. and Mediterranean Europe). The data provide support for a framework for making geographical estimates in which people strike a balance between 2 principles: the need to keep their knowledge base coherent, and the inertial tendency to resist changing the knowledge base unless it is necessary to maintain coherence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection of changes in cell membrane structures using the Bioimprint technique

Recent advances in medical sciences have revealed the significance of cellular structures and morphology in biological function. A cell’s membrane represents the boundary between the cells and its environment. The variations in cell surface and morphologies may be used as indications of malfunction or even diseases. If abnormalities such as cancer can be detected at the molecular level this will offer an important means for early diagnosis using small numbers of cells. The use of electron and scanning probe microscopy such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) could facilitates the opportunity to study and examine the molecular processes of living cells in greater details. The difficulties faced in direct cellular analysis when using and operating the AFM in situ for morphological studies of the cells has led to the development of a novel approach called Bioimprint (Traut and Papanicolaou, 1941 [1]). Inspired by the high resolution of nanoimprint lithography processes, Bioimprint has been applied to a new area of biological cell replication for the purpose of imaging and analysis and has revealed some very important biological events when combined with AFM imaging. For this research, the structural features of endometrial cancer cells were investigated. Regulation of selected peptides were examined, especially those which are associated with angiogenic factors that promote the proliferation of nutrient-bearing blood vessels that support tumour growth. Using the Bioimprint technique which is a soft lithography process, an impression of the cell topology was created by applying a layer of monomer mixture onto the cells attached to a substrate and rapidly curing it under UV-light. Fast UV-radiation enables the imprint to lock cellular processes within minutes and replicas of the cancer cells exhibit structures down to nanometer scale. Cancer cells were cultured and incubated in accordance with standard biological culturing procedures and protocols approved by the New Zealand Human Ethics Committee. High-resolution AFM imagery provides the opportunity to examine the structure and topography of the cells closely so that any abnormalities can be identified. To study the replicated imprints, the features that resembled secretory pores on the AFM images were noted. The numbers of pores correlated well with levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) that were secreted by the cells. Further experiments were conducted in which anti-VEGF-coated microbeads were observed in the AFM images to be attracted to the areas of the pores.     

Optimization of fractional crystallization on crude biodiesel purification via response surface methodology

In order to improve separation and purification efficiency of biodiesel, an alternative method has been explored which is fractional crystallization. In this study, glycerol that has a higher melting point was formed as a solid phase while the pure biodiesel was remained in liquid phase during the crystallization process. Response surface methodology (RSM) and central composite design (CCD) were employed to search for the optimum operating conditions. The best responses were 0.117 and 46.734% for effective partition constant (K) and concentration efficiency (Eff), respectively, while the optimum operating conditions were coolant temperature at ?9.5°C and stirring rate at 362 rpm.