Design and implementation of a continuous microwave heating system for ballast water treatment

A continuous microwave system to treat ballast water inoculated with different invasive species was designed and installed atthe Louisiana State University Agricultural Center. The effectiveness of the system to deliver the required heating loads to inactivate the organisms present was studied. The targeted organisms were microalgae (Nannochloropsis oculata), zooplankton at two different growth stages (newly hatched brine shrimp-Artemia nauplii and adult Artemia), and oyster larvae (Crassosstrea virginica). The system was tested at two different flow rates (1 and 2 liters per min) and power levels (2.5 and 4.5 kW). Temperature profiles indicate that, depending on the species present and the growth stage, the maximum temperature increase will vary from 11.8 to 64.9 degrees C. The continuous microwave heating system delivered uniform and near-instantaneous heating at the outlet proving its effectiveness. The power absorbed and power efficiency varied for the species present. More than 80% power utilization efficiency was obtained at all flow rate and microwave power combinations for microalgae, Artemia nauplii and adults. Test results indicated that microwave treatment can be an effective tool for ballast water treatment, and current high treatment costs notwithstanding, this technique can be added as supplemental technology to the palette of existing treatment methods.     

Synthesis of aromatase inhibitors and dual aromatase steroid sulfatase inhibitors by linking an arylsulfamate motif to 4-(4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-ylamino)benzonitrile: SAR, crystal structures, in vitro and in vivo activities

4-(((4-Cyanophenyl)(4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-yl)amino)methyl)phenyl sulfamate (6 a) was the first dual aromatase-sulfatase inhibitor (DASI) reported. Several series of its derivatives with various linker systems between the steroid sulfatase (STS) and the aromatase inhibitory pharmacophores were synthesised and evaluated in JEG-3 cells. The X-ray crystal structures of the aromatase inhibitors, DASI precursors 42 d and 60, and DASI 43 h were determined. Nearly all derivatives show improved in vitro aromatase inhibition over 6 a but decreased STS inhibition. The best aromatase inhibitor is 42 e (IC(50)=0.26 nM) and the best DASI is 43 e (IC(50 aromatase)=0.45 nM, IC(50 STS)=1200 nM). SAR for aromatase inhibition shows that compounds containing an alkylene- and thioether-based linker system are more potent than those that are ether-, sulfone-, or sulfonamide-based, and that the length of the linker has a limited effect on aromatase inhibition beyond two methylene units. Compounds 43 d-f were studied in vivo (10 mg kg(-1), single, p.o.). The most potent DASI is 43 e, which inhibited PMSG-induced plasma estradiol levels by 92 % and liver STS activity by 98 % 3 h after dosing. These results further strengthen the concept of designing and developing DASIs for potential treatment of hormone-related cancers.     

Effect of Operational Parameters on Determination of Oxidative Stability Measured by Rancimat Method

Operational parameters of Rancimat, including sample weight (3, 6, 9 g), airflow rate (10, 15, 20 L/h) and temperature (110, 120, 130°C) were evaluated to determine their effects on oxidative stability index, temperature coefficient, Q10 number, and shelf life prediction of ghee (anhydrous milk fat). These parameters showed statistically significant effects on the oxidative stability index. It was observed that when the sample weight and airflow rate at a given temperature were at saturated air condition, the oxidative stability indexes showed no significant differences (p < 0). As the temperature increased, oxidative stability index decreased and average coefficient of variation was minimal at 120°C. The conditions under which the ghee sample was saturated with air and had a relatively lower oxidative stability index, was with sample weight of 6 g, temperature at 120°C and an airflow rate of 15 L/h. Temperature coefficient and Q10 number were independent of sample weight and air flow rate, however, they had a significant effect on shelf life prediction of ghee.     

What kind of #conversation is Twitter? Mining #psycholinguistic cues for emergency coordination

The information overload created by social media messages in emergency situations challenges response organizations to find targeted content and users. We aim to select useful messages by detecting the presence of conversation as an indicator of coordinated citizen action. Using simple linguistic indicators drawn from conversation analysis in social science, we model the presence of coordination in the communication landscape of Twitter¹ using a corpus of 1.5 million tweets for various disaster and non-disaster events spanning different periods, lengths of time, and varied social significance. Within replies, retweets and tweets that mention other Twitter users, we found that domain-independent, linguistic cues distinguish likely conversation from non-conversation in this online form of mediated communication. We demonstrate that these likely conversation subsets potentially contain more information than non-conversation subsets, whether or not the tweets are replies, retweets, or mention other Twitter users, as long as they reflect conversational properties. From a practical perspective, we have developed a model for trimming the candidate tweet corpus to identify a much smaller subset of data for submission to deeper, domain-dependent semantic analyses for the identification of actionable information nuggets for coordinated emergency response.     

Pressure drop prediction in hydraulic transport of bi-dispersed particles of coal and copper ore in pipeline

Hydraulic transport studies with coal and copper ore have been carried out in a 0.0254 m and a 0.019 m diameter pipeline to observe the effect of solids concentration, surface characteristics and particle size distribution on pressure drop. The coarse coal showed a lower pressure drop than the fines at any velocity of suspension, whereas copper ore, exhibited the opposite trend. It has been observed, that the pressure drop for hydraulic transportation of bi-dispersed particles is a minimum at certain weight proportions of coarse to fines, as compared to that for the transportation of either of the single size. Based on the experimental results, an empirical expression was developed for the prediction of pressure gradient.     

Solar drying vs. open sun drying: A framework for financial evaluation

Initiatives towards large-scale dissemination of solar dryers for drying of agri-produce face severe competition from the largely prevalent practice of open sun drying in most of the developing countries. Therefore, solar drying systems must offer exceptionally attractive financial gains to enhance their acceptance among the potential users. A modest attempt to develop a simple framework to facilitate a comparison of the financial feasibility of solar drying as against open sun drying has been made in the present work. Results of some exemplifying calculations are presented and briefly discussed.     

Dietary and bioactive properties of the berries and leaves from the underutilized Hippophae salicifolia D. Don grown in Northeast India

Food Science and Biotechnology - The physico-chemical, polyphenols, antioxidant and antibacterial properties of berries and mixture of male and female leaves of Hippophae salicifolia were...     

Improved Design of Beam Tunnel for 42 GHz Gyrotron

In gyrotron, there is the chance of generation and excitation of unwanted RF modes (parasite oscillations). These modes may interact with electron beam and consequently degrade the beam quality. This paper presents the improved design of the beam tunnel to reduce the parasite oscillations and the effect of beam tunnel geometry on the electron beam parameters. The design optimization of the beam tunnel has been done with the help of 3-D simulation software CST-Microwave Studio and the effect of beam tunnel geometry on the electron beam parameters has been analyzed by EGUN code.     

Differential cross section calculations of positron and electron impact ionization of Ar (3p)

We report the distorted wave Born approximation results of triple differential cross section of Ar (3p) by positron and electron impact. We compare the results of our calculations with the recent available experimental and theoretical results. We also provide a comparison of our positron impact ionization results with the electron impact ionization results to understand the effect of projectile charge on the projectile-target interaction.