A Homogenization Approach for the Roasting of an Array of Coffee Beans

While the processes underlying the roasting of a single coffee bean have been the focus of a number of recent studies, the more industrially relevant problem of roasting an array of coffee beans has not been well studied from a modeling standpoint. Starting with a microscale model for the heat and mass transfer processes within a single bean during roasting, we apply homogenization theory to upscale this model to an effective macroscale model for the roasting of an array of coffee beans. We then numerically simulate this effective model for two caricatures of roasting configurations which are of great importance to industrial scale coffee bean roasting: namely, drum roasters (where the beans are placed in a rotating drum) and fluidized bed roasters (where hot air is blown through the beans). The derivation of the homogenization problem has been carried out in a three-dimensional rectangular geometry. Simulations are presented both for simplified one-dimensional arrays of three-dimensional beans (as these are easier to visualize), as well as cross sections of full three-dimensional arrays of beans (for the sake of verification). We also verify our simulation results against experimental data from the literature. Among the findings is that increasing the air-to-bean volume fraction ratio decreases the drying time for the array of beans in a linear manner. We also find that, in the case of a fluidized bed, an increase in the hot air inflow velocity will decrease the drying time in a nonlinear manner, with diminishing returns observed beyond some point for large enough air inflow velocities

Who Skips the Ambulance? A Study Examining Which Patients Choose Private Vehicle Transport Over EMS in Trauma

Introduction: Current data suggest trauma patients arriving via private vehicle transport (PVT) have improved outcomes forpenetrating trauma compared to patients arriving via EMS. These studies suggest patients that utilize EMS overprivate vehicle transport (PVT) have worse outcomes and are described as older, hypotensive, higher injury severityscore (ISS) and lower GCS. While previous studies focus on national data, regional behaviors likely play a role in selection of PVT. This study tests the hypothesis that these findings will also be reflected on a regional level in Detroit. Methods: This study was conducted at an academic, regional, Level 1 Trauma Center in Detroit from 2013-2017. Inclusion criteria were trauma patients presenting to the hospital utilizing PVT that were admitted, died in the emergencydepartment, or transferred out of hospital. Exclusion criteria includes patients transferred from outside hospitals,burn patients and pediatric patients defined as age less than 15 years old. Patients with the same inclusion and exclusion criteria utilizing EMS were the comparison group (N=4568, PVT n=1498). The data were obtained from a trauma registry and chart review. To describe statistical significance (p\u3c0.01), chi-square tests were utilized for nominal data, and independent samples t-tests were utilized for continuous data. Results: 32.8% of trauma patients arrived via PVT. Of the 16% with penetrating injuries, 39.5% arrived via PVT. Patients arriving via PVT were found to have a significantly higher GCS and lower injury severity, intubation rate, activation level, poly-trauma rate, injury to critical anatomic locations, length of stay, ICU admissions and deaths. Significant differences were also observed with anticoagulation use, self-pay patients, and cognitively impaired patients. Race,age, gender, preexisting comorbidities, intoxication status, vital signs on arrival, and disposition to operating roomor general admission were not different between groups. Conclusions: Findings suggest patients arriving by PVT are in less critical condition with improved outcomes than those arriving by EMS as evidenced by higher GCS, lower intubation rates, lower activation levels, fewer admissions to ICU and lower mortality rates. Though this may suggest a survival benefit, the observation may be because patients arechoosing to call EMS because they recognize a more critical condition. These findings are similar to studies conducted on a national level, however, the rate of utilization of PVT is significantly higher in Detroit suggesting the role of regional factors in PVT utilization.https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/merf2019clinres/1064/thumbnail.jp

Factors Associated with 5-Year Glaucomatous Progression in Glaucoma Suspect Eyes

Background: The US Preventive Services Task Force found that treatment of early asymptomatic primary open-angle glaucoma reduces visual field defects. However, it remains unclear which factors are associated with glaucomatous progression and which patients are at higher risk. The purpose of this study was to assess demographic factors, medical comorbidities, Humphrey visual field (VF) results, and Cirrus optical coherence tomography variables that could be predictive for 5-year glaucoma progression. Methods: A retrospective longitudinal study was conducted with the following inclusion criteria: glaucoma suspect eyes (defined as an asymmetric cup to disc ratio or an intraocular pressure \u3e21mmHg), best-corrected visual acuity 20/100 or better, spherical equivalent better than −8 diopters and astigmatism less than 3 diopters. Two consecutive abnormal VF tests during a 5-year follow-up was considered glaucomatous progression. Results: A total of 365 eyes (288 patients) were included in the study, of which 55 (15%) converted to glaucoma after 5 years. Logistic regression analysis showed that baseline mean deviation (MD), pattern standard deviation (PSD), VF index, and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) colors were statistically significant in predicting 5-year glaucomatous progression. Though there were differences in glaucoma progression rates when analyzing sex, age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, family history of glaucoma, and baseline intraocular pressure, these factors were not statistically significant. Conclusions: The study found that VF test results (MD and PSD) and RNFL colors can strongly predict which patients are at an increased risk of glaucoma progression. Clinicians can consider these factors when initiating, or continuing, prophylactic treatment for patients with glaucoma suspect eyes

Cosmic ray tests of the D0 preshower detector

The D0 preshower detector consists of scintillator strips with embedded wavelength-shifting fibers, and a readout using Visible Light Photon Counters. The response to minimum ionizing particles has been tested with cosmic ray muons. We report results on the gain calibration and light-yield distributions. The spatial resolution is investigated taking into account the light sharing between strips, the effects of multiple scattering and various systematic uncertainties. The detection efficiency and noise contamination are also investigated.Comment: 27 pages, 24 figures, submitted to NIM

Towards a Circular Economy: An Emerging Economies Context

yesCircular Economy (CE) and the adoption of its principles globally are more important than ever to sustain the rate of production of goods and services to meet the ever-increasing consumer demand that is burdening the environment and society. This study investigates the adoption of CE principles amongst emerging economies as the challenges faced by these economies are generally different in terms of resource availability, varying government policies and consumer behaviour from those of developed economies. This research presents an empirically validated CE adoption model using a sample of 183 consumer responses. The study highlights the strong influence of factors such as consumer behaviour on the acceptance of remanufactured products and using products as a service to encourage the adoption of CE practices in emerging economies. This research offers businesses, consumers and policy makers insights into measures that have been taken by emerging economies that are in line with CE principles

Evidence for Pervasive Adaptive Protein Evolution in Wild Mice

The relative contributions of neutral and adaptive substitutions to molecular evolution has been one of the most controversial issues in evolutionary biology for more than 40 years. The analysis of within-species nucleotide polymorphism and between-species divergence data supports a widespread role for adaptive protein evolution in certain taxa. For example, estimates of the proportion of adaptive amino acid substitutions (alpha) are 50% or more in enteric bacteria and Drosophila. In contrast, recent estimates of alpha for hominids have been at most 13%. Here, we estimate alpha for protein sequences of murid rodents based on nucleotide polymorphism data from multiple genes in a population of the house mouse subspecies Mus musculus castaneus, which inhabits the ancestral range of the Mus species complex and nucleotide divergence between M. m. castaneus and M. famulus or the rat. We estimate that 57% of amino acid substitutions in murids have been driven by positive selection. Hominids, therefore, are exceptional in having low apparent levels of adaptive protein evolution. The high frequency of adaptive amino acid substitutions in wild mice is consistent with their large effective population size, leading to effective natural selection at the molecular level. Effective natural selection also manifests itself as a paucity of effectively neutral nonsynonymous mutations in M. m. castaneus compared to humans

Factors Associated With 5-Year Glaucomatous Progression In Glaucoma Suspect Eyes: A Retrospective Longitudinal Study

Purpose: To study the association of 5-year glaucomatous progression with several demographic, clinical, visual field and optical coherence tomography (OCT) variables in glaucoma suspect eyes. Methods: A retrospective chart review of 365 eyes of 288 patients were included (323 eyes with suspicious cup-to-disc ratio and 42 eyes with ocular hypertension). The study subjects were divided into two groups: eyes that progressed to glaucoma and those that did not. We calculated the percentage of glaucoma suspect eyes that progressed to glaucoma within 5 years. The inclusion criteria were glaucoma suspect eyes (i.e., suspicious cup-to-disc ratio and/or intraocular pressure \u3e21 mm Hg), age ≥ 30 years old, follow-up time of 5 years, best-corrected visual acuity 20/100 or better, spherical equivalent better than −8 diopters and astigmatism less than 3 diopters. We excluded eyes with any significant retinal or neurological disease, and glaucoma which was determined by at least 2 consecutive reliable visual field tests regardless of the appearance of the optic disc. Results: Bivariate analysis showed eyes that progressed to glaucoma had significantly worse mean deviation, higher pattern standard deviation (PSD), less visual field index, thinner average, superior, and inferior retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL), and more severe average, superior, and inferior RNFL damages (i.e., color grading scale) at baseline. Logistic regression analysis showed only PSD and severe inferior RNFL damage (i.e., red color) were significantly associated with 5-year glaucomatous progression. Conclusions: Segmental RNFL damage and PSD are associated with 5-year glaucomatous progression in glaucoma suspect eyes

Search for R-parity Violating Supersymmetry in Dimuon and Four-Jets Channel

We present results of a search for R-parity-violating decay of the neutralino chi_1^0, taken to be the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle. It is assumed that this decay proceeds through one of the lepton-number violating couplings lambda-prime_2jk (j=1,2; k=1,2,3). This search is based on 77.5 pb-1 of data, collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron in ppbar collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.8 TeV in 1992-1995.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Measurement of the semileptonic charge asymmetry in B0 meson mixing with the D0 detector

We present a measurement of the semileptonic mixing asymmetry for B0 mesons, a^d_{sl}, using two independent decay channels: B0 -> mu+D-X, with D- -> K+pi-pi-; and B0 -> mu+D*-X, with D*- -> antiD0 pi-, antiD0 -> K+pi- (and charge conjugate processes). We use a data sample corresponding to 10.4 fb^{-1} of ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV, collected with the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. We extract the charge asymmetries in these two channels as a function of the visible proper decay length (VPDL) of the B0 meson, correct for detector-related asymmetries using data-driven methods, and account for dilution from charge-symmetric processes using Monte Carlo simulation. The final measurement combines four signal VPDL regions for each channel, yielding a^d_{sl} = [0.68 \pm 0.45 \text{(stat.)} \pm 0.14 \text{(syst.)}]%. This is the single most precise measurement of this parameter, with uncertainties smaller than the current world average of B factory measurements.Comment: Version includes minor textual changes following peer review by journal, most notably the updating of Ref. [21] to reflect the most recent publicatio