MODELLING CONVECTIVE THIN-LAYER DRYING OF CARROT SLICES AND QUALITY PARAMETERS

The influence of thin layer convective dehydration parameters on drying kinetics parameters, chemical composition, and color parameters of carrot slices were investigated, and corresponding mathematical models were developed. In the carrot slices, convective dehydration process hot air temperature and the sample slice thickness were varied, while measured, calculated, and modeled responses were: time of dehydration, effective moisture diffusivity, the energy of activation, proteins and cellulose contents, lightness, redness, and yellowness. The obtained results showed that varied convective dehydration process parameters statistically significantly affected all investigated responses except activation energy. The most efficient drying model with the minimum thickness (3 mm) and the maximum drying temperature (70 °C) had the shortest drying time (231 minutes). This model had the minimum resistance to mass transfer (the minimum effective moisture diffusivity, 2.04. 10–08 – 7.12. 10–08 [m2s–1]), and the average maximum energy of activation (31.31 kJ/mol). As far as the carrot slices’ chemical composition and color parameters were concerned, the model with the maximum thickness (9 mm) and the minimum drying temperature (35 °C) was the optimal one. This model had the longest dehydration time (934 minutes), the maximum resistance to the mass transfer (8.87. 10–08 [m2s–1]), the minimum total protein content (5.26 %), and the darkest color (49.70). The highest protein content (7.91%) was found for the samples subjected to the highest drying temperatures and the lowest carrot slice thickness. In contrast, the process of convective dehydration had led to the lighter, reddish, and yellowish carrot slices. All developed mathematical models were statistically significan

Omecamtiv mecarbil in chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, GALACTIC‐HF: baseline characteristics and comparison with contemporary clinical trials

Aims: The safety and efficacy of the novel selective cardiac myosin activator, omecamtiv mecarbil, in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is tested in the Global Approach to Lowering Adverse Cardiac outcomes Through Improving Contractility in Heart Failure (GALACTIC‐HF) trial. Here we describe the baseline characteristics of participants in GALACTIC‐HF and how these compare with other contemporary trials. Methods and Results: Adults with established HFrEF, New York Heart Association functional class (NYHA) ≥ II, EF ≤35%, elevated natriuretic peptides and either current hospitalization for HF or history of hospitalization/ emergency department visit for HF within a year were randomized to either placebo or omecamtiv mecarbil (pharmacokinetic‐guided dosing: 25, 37.5 or 50 mg bid). 8256 patients [male (79%), non‐white (22%), mean age 65 years] were enrolled with a mean EF 27%, ischemic etiology in 54%, NYHA II 53% and III/IV 47%, and median NT‐proBNP 1971 pg/mL. HF therapies at baseline were among the most effectively employed in contemporary HF trials. GALACTIC‐HF randomized patients representative of recent HF registries and trials with substantial numbers of patients also having characteristics understudied in previous trials including more from North America (n = 1386), enrolled as inpatients (n = 2084), systolic blood pressure < 100 mmHg (n = 1127), estimated glomerular filtration rate < 30 mL/min/1.73 m2 (n = 528), and treated with sacubitril‐valsartan at baseline (n = 1594). Conclusions: GALACTIC‐HF enrolled a well‐treated, high‐risk population from both inpatient and outpatient settings, which will provide a definitive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of this novel therapy, as well as informing its potential future implementation

Current State of Research on the Mechanism of Cavitation Effects in the Treatment of Liquid Petroleum Products—Review and Proposals for Further Research

Cavitation, as a unique technology for influencing liquid substances, has attracted much attention in the oil refining industry. The unique capabilities of cavitation impact can initiate the destruction of molecular compounds in the liquid. At the same time with a large number of successful experimental studies on the treatment of liquid hydrocarbon raw materials, cavitation has not been introduced in the oil refining industry. Often the impossibility of implementation is based on the lack of a unified methodology for assessing the intensity and threshold of cavitation creation. The lack of a unified methodology does not allow for predicting the intensity and threshold of cavitation generation in different fluids and cavitation-generating devices. In this review, the effect of cavitation on various rheological properties and fractional composition of liquid hydrocarbons is investigated in detail. The possibility of using the cavitation number as a single parameter for evaluating the intensity and threshold of cavitation generation is analyzed, and the limitations of its application are evaluated. The prospects of introducing the technology into the industry are discussed and a new vision of calculating the analog of cavitation numbers based on the analysis of the mutual influence of feedstock parameters and geometry of cavitators on each other is presented

Using Data of Control Public Points for Obtaining Values of Speeds on Ribs of the Roads

A new developed scheme of public transport of the Belgorod agglomeration was introduced into the GIS system. This system allows to create a complete graph of roads with directions of public transport, as well as various information necessary to compile a full database. The data of dispatching points of public transport for obtaining velocity values on the edges of the graph of the roads of the city roads was surveyed

Potato thin layer convective dehydration model and energy efficiency estimation

The dehydration parameters (temperature, thickness, and mass load) statistically significantly (p<0.05) affect the thin-layer convective dehydration of potato slices. The slices with thicknesses of 3, 5, and 8 mm were dehydrated as monolayers at different temperatures (30, 50, and 70 °C) and mass load (1.00, 0.63, and 0.38 kg m-2). The results showed that the shortest dehydration time (183 minutes), the smallest energy consumption (0.176 kWh), and the smallest emission of carbon dioxide (0.17 kg) had the dehydration model of potato slices with a 3 mm thickness, 0.38 kg m-2 mass load, dehydrated on the temperature of 70 °C. Dehydration of potato slices of 8 mm slice thickness dehydrated at 70 °C, with 0.38 kg m-2 mass load, showed the highest resistance to mass transfer (the maximum effective moisture diffusivity 2.3761 × 10-7 ± 4.45646 × 10-9 m2 s-1) and the minimum activation energy (27.02 kJ mol-1). Data obtained from these mathematical models could predict and optimize the thin layer dehydration of potato slices, with a dominant influence of temperature and potato slice thickness parameters as variables

Phosphorus Feast and Famine in Cyanobacteria: Is Luxury Uptake of the Nutrient Just a Consequence of Acclimation to Its Shortage?

To cope with fluctuating phosphorus (P) availability, cyanobacteria developed diverse acclimations, including luxury P uptake (LPU)&mdash;taking up P in excess of the current metabolic demand. LPU is underexplored, despite its importance for nutrient-driven rearrangements in aquatic ecosystems. We studied the LPU after the refeeding of P-deprived cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. PCC 7118 with inorganic phosphate (Pi), including the kinetics of Pi uptake, turnover of polyphosphate, cell ultrastructure, and gene expression. The P-deprived cells deployed acclimations to P shortage (reduction of photosynthetic apparatus and mobilization of cell P reserves). The P-starved cells capable of LPU exhibited a biphasic kinetic of the Pi uptake and polyphosphate formation. The first (fast) phase (1&ndash;2 h after Pi refeeding) occurred independently of light and temperature. It was accompanied by a transient accumulation of polyphosphate, still upregulated genes encoding high-affinity Pi transporters, and an ATP-dependent polyphosphate kinase. During the second (slow) phase, recovery from P starvation was accompanied by the downregulation of these genes. Our study revealed no specific acclimation to ample P conditions in Nostoc sp. PCC 7118. We conclude that the observed LPU phenomenon does not likely result from the activation of a mechanism specific for ample P conditions. On the contrary, it stems from slow disengagement of the low-P responses after the abrupt transition from low-P to ample P conditions

Fabrication of High-Entropy Alloys Using a Combination of Detonation Spraying and Spark Plasma Sintering: A Case Study Using the Al-Fe-Co-Ni-Cu System

The use of pre-alloyed powders as high-entropy alloy (HEA) coating precursors ensures a predetermined (unaltered) elemental composition of the coating with regard to the feedstock powder. At the same time, it is interesting to tackle a more challenging task: to form alloy coatings from powder blends (not previously alloyed). The powder-blend-based route of coating formation eliminates the need to use atomization or ball milling equipment for powder preparation and allows for the introduction of additives into the material in a flexible manner. In this work, for the first time, a HEA was obtained using detonation spraying (DS) followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS). A powder mixture with a nominal composition of 10Al-22.5Fe-22.5Co-22.5Ni-22.5Cu (at.%) was detonation-sprayed to form a multicomponent metallic coating on a steel substrate. The elemental composition of the deposited layer was (9 ± 1)Al-(10 ± 1)Fe-(20 ± 1)Co-(34 ± 1)Ni-(27 ± 1)Cu (at.%), which is different from that of the feedstock powder because of the differences in the deposition efficiencies of the metals during DS. Despite the compositional deviations, the deposited layer was still suitable as a precursor for a HEA with a configurational entropy of ~1.5R, where R is the universal gas constant. The subsequent SPS treatment of the substrate/coating assembly was carried out at 800–1000 °C at a uniaxial pressure of 40 MPa. The SPS treatment of the deposited layer at 1000 °C for 20 min was sufficient to produce an alloy with a single-phase face-centered cubic structure and a porosity of 0.3). The hardness of the coatings measured in two perpendicular directions did not differ significantly. The features of the DS–SPS route of the formation of HEA coatings and its potential applications are discussed

Phosphorus starvation and luxury uptake in green microalgae revisited

Phosphorus (P) is central to storing and transferring energy and information in living cells, including those of microalgae. Many microalgal species dwelling in low P environments are naturally equipped to take up and store P whenever it becomes available through a complex phenomenon known as “luxury P uptake.” Its research is required for better understanding of the nutrient geochemical cycles in aquatic environments but also for biotechnological applications such as sequestration of nutrients from wastewater and production of algal fertilizers. Here, we report on our recent insights into luxury P uptake and polyphosphate formation originating from physiological, ultrastructural, and transcriptomic evidence. The cultures pre-starved of P and re-fed with inorganic phosphate (Pi) exhibited a bi-phasic kinetics of Pi uptake comprising fast (1–2 h after re-feeding) and slow (1–3 d after re-feeding) phases. The rate of Pi uptake in the fast phase was ca. 10 times higher than in the slow phase with an opposite trend shown for the cell division rate. The transient peak of polyphosphate accumulation was determined 2–4 h after re-feeding and coincided with the period of slow cell division and fast Pi uptake. In this phase, the microalgal cells reached the highest P content (up to 5% of dry cell weight). The P re-feeding also reversed the characteristic changes in cell lipids induced by P starvation, namely increase in the major membrane glycolipid (DGDG/MGDG) ratio and betaine lipids. These changes were reversed upon Pi re-feeding of the starved culture. Electron microscopy revealed the ordered organization of vacuolar polyphosphate indicative of the possible involvement of an enzyme (complex) in their synthesis. A candidate gene encoding a protein similar to the vacuolar transport chaperone (VTC) protein, featuring an expression pattern corresponding to polyphosphate accumulation, was revealed. Implications of the findings for efficient biocapture of phosphorus are discussed

Cardiac myosin activation with omecamtiv mecarbil in systolic heart failure

BACKGROUND The selective cardiac myosin activator omecamtiv mecarbil has been shown to improve cardiac function in patients with heart failure with a reduced ejection fraction. Its effect on cardiovascular outcomes is unknown. METHODS We randomly assigned 8256 patients (inpatients and outpatients) with symptomatic chronic heart failure and an ejection fraction of 35% or less to receive omecamtiv mecarbil (using pharmacokinetic-guided doses of 25 mg, 37.5 mg, or 50 mg twice daily) or placebo, in addition to standard heart-failure therapy. The primary outcome was a composite of a first heart-failure event (hospitalization or urgent visit for heart failure) or death from cardiovascular causes. RESULTS During a median of 21.8 months, a primary-outcome event occurred in 1523 of 4120 patients (37.0%) in the omecamtiv mecarbil group and in 1607 of 4112 patients (39.1%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.86 to 0.99; P = 0.03). A total of 808 patients (19.6%) and 798 patients (19.4%), respectively, died from cardiovascular causes (hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.92 to 1.11). There was no significant difference between groups in the change from baseline on the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire total symptom score. At week 24, the change from baseline for the median N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide level was 10% lower in the omecamtiv mecarbil group than in the placebo group; the median cardiac troponin I level was 4 ng per liter higher. The frequency of cardiac ischemic and ventricular arrhythmia events was similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS Among patients with heart failure and a reduced ejection, those who received omecamtiv mecarbil had a lower incidence of a composite of a heart-failure event or death from cardiovascular causes than those who received placebo. (Funded by Amgen and others; GALACTIC-HF ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02929329; EudraCT number, 2016 -002299-28.)