Syrup Clarification for Plantation White Sugar to Meet New Quality Standards

There is significant interest in many sugar producing countries towards producing a higher quality plantation white or direct consumption sugar with lower colour and lower residual sulfur dioxide levels. National standards for residual sulfur dioxide and colour have been lowered to reflect the growing demand for improved quality and concerns for health risks. Investigations at SRI have focused on identifying optimum conditions for clarification options to remove scale components, colour and other impurities by clarifying intermediate and final effect syrups. Trials in two Australian factories demonstrated the benefits for improved sugar quality and productivity improvements for the pan and centrifugal stages. Recent investigations in four overseas countries have focused on the application of syrup clarification with or without syrup sulfitation to achieve compliance with the changing standards. Results show that syrup clarification technology can be used to achieve lower sugar colours and reduced residual sulfur dioxide. In one case where syrup clarification was used in conjunction with syrup sulfitation, the colour of the product sugar was reduced from about 150 IU to below 100 IU. In another case, the colour of the sugar was reduced from 150 IU down to 120 IU by replacing the syrup sulfitation process with syrup clarification. In the latter case, residual sulfur dioxide values were reduced from about 25 ppm down to about 14 ppm. There are other advantages to be derived from clarification of the raw syrup, including reduced turbidity and lower ash. A reduction in viscosity has provided productivity gains for the pan and centrifugal stations

SCISAT-1 ACE Mission C&DH Unit Development

The SCISAT-1 Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) Mission is a part of the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA’s) space science program, to support ongoing research in the areas of solarterrestrial relations, atmospheric sciences and space astronomy. Bristol Aerospace Limited is the CSA’s Spacecraft Prime Contractor for the ACE Mission. The ACE spacecraft will be launched on a Pegasus XL vehicle in mid-2002, co-manifested with a NASA spacecraft. A Control and Data Handling (C&DH) Unit is being developed by Bristol for the ACE Mission. This C&DH Unit will be responsible for all onboard command, control, monitoring and science data recording. This unit is being developed to support a range of Canadian small science missions, from Smallsats to Microsats. The unit is low power and light weight, and features a rad-tolerant core to assure reliable operation in a single string architecture. The C&DH Unit is comprised of a Controller Card (CC), Data Handling Card (DHC), Input/Output Card (IOC) and a Power Supply Card (PSC). Each card is housed in its own aluminum frame, and the frames are integrated into a vertical stack. The unit is expected to operate with 7 Watts orbit average power and uses a UTMC 80C196 16-bit processor running at 16 MHz to manage the satellite operations and perform attitude control. Mass storage of 1.5 Gbytes and CCSDS variable-rate telemetry up to 5 Mbits/sec are provided. This paper will present an overview of the ACE Mission and a description of the C&DH Unit, describing its architecture, hardware/software partitioning, FPGA functionality and key performance specifications

Catching Element Formation In The Act

Gamma-ray astronomy explores the most energetic photons in nature to address some of the most pressing puzzles in contemporary astrophysics. It encompasses a wide range of objects and phenomena: stars, supernovae, novae, neutron stars, stellar-mass black holes, nucleosynthesis, the interstellar medium, cosmic rays and relativistic-particle acceleration, and the evolution of galaxies. MeV gamma-rays provide a unique probe of nuclear processes in astronomy, directly measuring radioactive decay, nuclear de-excitation, and positron annihilation. The substantial information carried by gamma-ray photons allows us to see deeper into these objects, the bulk of the power is often emitted at gamma-ray energies, and radioactivity provides a natural physical clock that adds unique information. New science will be driven by time-domain population studies at gamma-ray energies. This science is enabled by next-generation gamma-ray instruments with one to two orders of magnitude better sensitivity, larger sky coverage, and faster cadence than all previous gamma-ray instruments. This transformative capability permits: (a) the accurate identification of the gamma-ray emitting objects and correlations with observations taken at other wavelengths and with other messengers; (b) construction of new gamma-ray maps of the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies where extended regions are distinguished from point sources; and (c) considerable serendipitous science of scarce events -- nearby neutron star mergers, for example. Advances in technology push the performance of new gamma-ray instruments to address a wide set of astrophysical questions.Comment: 14 pages including 3 figure

Smoke gets in your eyes: re-reading gender in the "nostalgia film"

Upon its release, American Graffiti (George Lucas, 1973) was much admired by critics and audiences alike. Yet, in subsequent years, the film became known for its supposed “flattening of history,” and celebration of patriarchal values. This article demonstrates that such a judgement owes much to Fredric Jameson’s historically contingent work on postmodernism, which argues that American Graffiti constitutes the paradigmatic nostalgia film. In contrast, using close textual analysis, I demonstrate that American Graffiti provides a more complex construction of the past, and of gender, than has hitherto been acknowledged. Far from blindly idealising the early 1960s, the film interrogates the processes through which the period and its gender relations come to be idealised. This article has consequences not only for our understanding of Lucas’ seminal film, but also for the American New Wave, and the “nostalgia” text

Conflicts of interest are harming maternal and child health : time for scientific journals to end relationships with manufacturers of breast-milk substitutes

► Forty years after the World Health Assembly adopted the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, inappropriate marketing of breast-milk substitutes persists and puts infants and young chil- dren at risk of malnutrition, illness and death. ► The formula industry is large and powerful and has used various ‘medical marketing’ strategies to influ- ence scientists and health professionals as to the purported benefit of breast-milk substitutes. ► The examples provided in this commentary show how a manufacturer is using a leading scientific journal to market breast-milk substitutes through paid advertisements and advertisement features. ► By receiving funding from breast-milk substitute manufacturers, journals create a conflict of interest, whereby the publisher and readers of the journal may favour corporations consciously or unconsciously in ways that undermine scientific integrity, editorial in- dependence and clinical judgement. ► Conflicts of interest have previously been identified in infant and young child nutrition science and in journal advertising policies and have been criticised by public health experts, yet the practice continues. ► All scientific journals and publishers should stop ac- cepting funding from manufacturers and distributors of breast-milk substitutes, in accordance with global public health guidance. Public health must come be- fore profit.The DSI/NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security.https://gh.bmj.comhj2022Paediatrics and Child Healt

Stretching the IR theoretical spectrum on Irish neutrality: a critical social constructivist framework

In a 2006 International Political Science Review article, entitled "Choosing to Go It Alone: Irish Neutrality in Theoretical and Comparative Perspective," Neal G. Jesse argues that Irish neutrality is best understood through a neoliberal rather than a neorealist international relations theory framework. This article posits an alternative "critical social constructivist" framework for understanding Irish neutrality. The first part of the article considers the differences between neoliberalism and social constructivism and argues why critical social constructivism's emphasis on beliefs, identity, and the agency of the public in foreign policy are key factors explaining Irish neutrality today. Using public opinion data, the second part of the article tests whether national identity, independence, ethnocentrism, attitudes to Northern Ireland, and efficacy are factors driving public support for Irish neutrality. The results show that public attitudes to Irish neutrality are structured along the dimensions of independence and identity, indicating empirical support for a critical social constructivist framework of understanding of Irish neutrality

Mre11-Rad50 Promotes Rapid Repair of DNA Damage in the Polyploid Archaeon Haloferax volcanii by Restraining Homologous Recombination

Polyploidy is frequent in nature and is a hallmark of cancer cells, but little is known about the strategy of DNA repair in polyploid organisms. We have studied DNA repair in the polyploid archaeon Haloferax volcanii, which contains up to 20 genome copies. We have focused on the role of Mre11 and Rad50 proteins, which are found in all domains of life and which form a complex that binds to and coordinates the repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Surprisingly, mre11 rad50 mutants are more resistant to DNA damage than the wild-type. However, wild-type cells recover faster from DNA damage, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis shows that DNA double-strand breaks are repaired more slowly in mre11 rad50 mutants. Using a plasmid repair assay, we show that wild-type and mre11 rad50 cells use different strategies of DSB repair. In the wild-type, Mre11-Rad50 appears to prevent the repair of DSBs by homologous recombination (HR), allowing microhomology-mediated end-joining to act as the primary repair pathway. However, genetic analysis of recombination-defective radA mutants suggests that DNA repair in wild-type cells ultimately requires HR, therefore Mre11-Rad50 merely delays this mode of repair. In polyploid organisms, DSB repair by HR is potentially hazardous, since each DNA end will have multiple partners. We show that in the polyploid archaeon H. volcanii the repair of DSBs by HR is restrained by Mre11-Rad50. The unrestrained use of HR in mre11 rad50 mutants enhances cell survival but leads to slow recovery from DNA damage, presumably due to difficulties in the resolution of DNA repair intermediates. Our results suggest that recombination might be similarly repressed in other polyploid organisms and at repetitive sequences in haploid and diploid species

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570