Influence of gas flow rate on liquid distribution in trickle-beds using perforated plates as liquid distributors

Two wire mesh tomography devices and a liquid collector were used to study the influence of the gas flow rate on liquid distribution when fluids distribution on top of the reactor is ensured by a perforated plate. In opposition to most of the studies realized by other authors, conditions in which the gas has a negative impact in liquid distribution were evidenced. Indeed, the obtained results show that the influence of gas flow rate depends on the quality of the initial distribution, as the gas forces the liquid to "respect" the distribution imposed at the top of the reactor. Finally, a comparison between the two measuring techniques shows the limitations of the liquid collector and the improper conclusions to which its use could lead

Quantitative analysis of fatty acid in Indian goat milk and its comparison with other livestock

Abstract Milk fat contains 400 vital fatty acids beneficial for human health. Special attention is given to fatty acids (FAs) that could play a positive role for human health; such are butyric, oleic acid, caproic, caprylic and capric acids. Keeping the medicinal properties of milk fatty acids in consideration, goat milk samples were analyzed for estimation of fatty acid contents in Indian goat milk by using gas chromatography. Analysis of goat milk samples revealed the highest concentration saturated fatty acids (SFA) out of total milk fatty acids (FA) with an average of 69.55 g/100g of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) ranging from 43.26 to 88.05g/100g of FAME. Within saturated fatty acid the major contribution was given by palmitic (C16:0) 26.99% followed by myristic (C14:0) 11.77%, stearic (C18:0) 7.66% and capric (C10:0) 6.75% respectively. The concentration of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs, C4 to C10) was found to be 13.51 g/100g varying from 2.23 to 33.63 g/100g of FAME. Whereas the concentration of medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs , C12to C15) was 20.05% varying from 7.470 to 45.27 g/100 g of FAME and Long chain FA (LFA, C16 to C24) was 35.08% varying from 4.77 to 51.22 g/100g of FAME. The average concentration of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) was 28.50 g/100grm of FAME varying from 10.44 to 45.74 g/100g of FAME which includes monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) with an average of 24.57 g/100g of FAME ranges varying from 4.79 to 39.40 g/100g of FAME and 3.96 g/100g of FAME ranges varying from 0.5928 to 18.30g/100 g of FAME, respectively

Fission and cluster decay of 76^{76}Sr nucleus in the ground-state and formed in heavy-ion reactions

Calculations for fission and cluster decay of $^{76}Sr$ are presented for this nucleus to be in its ground-state or formed as an excited compound system in heavy-ion reactions. The predicted mass distribution, for the dynamical collective mass transfer process assumed for fission of $^{76}Sr$, is clearly asymmetric, favouring $\alpha$-nuclei. Cluster decay is studied within a preformed cluster model, both for ground-state to ground-state decays and from excited compound system to the ground-state(s) or excited states(s) of the fragments.Comment: 14 pages LaTeX, 5 Figures available upon request Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Emission of intermediate mass fragments from hot 116^{116}Ba∗^* formed in low-energy 58^{58}Ni+58^{58}Ni reaction

The complex fragments (or intermediate mass fragments) observed in the low-energy $^{58}$Ni+$^{58}$Ni$\to ^{116}$Ba$^*$ reaction, are studied within the dynamical cluster decay model for s-wave with the use of the temperature-dependent liquid drop, Coulomb and proximity energies. The important result is that, due to the temperature effects in liquid drop energy, the explicit preference for $\alpha$-like fragments is washed out, though the $^{12}$C (or the complementary $^{104}$Sn) decay is still predicted to be one of the most probable $\alpha$-nucleus decay for this reaction. The production rates for non-$\alpha$ like intermediate mass fragments (IMFs) are now higher and the light particle production is shown to accompany the IMFs at all incident energies, without involving any statistical evaporation process in the model. The comparisons between the experimental data and the (s-wave) calculations for IMFs production cross sections are rather satisfactory and the contributions from other $\ell$-waves need to be added for a further improvement of these comparisons and for calculations of the total kinetic energies of fragments.Comment: 22 pages, 15 figure

Genetic diversity, population structure, and genome‑wide association study for the flowering trait in a diverse panel of 428 moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia) accessions using genotyping by sequencing

Background Moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia) is an underutilized, protein-rich legume that is grown in arid and semiarid areas of south Asia and is highly resistant to abiotic stresses such as heat and drought. Despite its economic importance, the crop remains unexplored at the genomic level for genetic diversity and trait mapping studies. To date, there is no report of SNP marker discovery and association mapping of any trait in this crop. Therefore, this study aimed to dissect the genetic diversity, population structure and marker-trait association for the flowering trait in a diversity panel of 428 moth bean accessions using genotyping by sequencing (GBS) approach. Results A total of 9078 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were discovered by genotyping of 428 moth bean accessions. Model-based structure analysis and PCA grouped the moth bean accessions into two subpopulations. Cluster analysis revealed accessions belonging to the Northwestern region of India had higher variability than accessions from the other regions suggesting that this region represents its center of diversity. AMOVA revealed more variations within individuals (74%) and among the individuals (24%) than among the populations (2%). Marker-trait association analysis using seven multi-locus models including mrMLM, FASTmrEMMA FASTmrEMMA, ISIS EM-BLASSO, MLMM, BLINK and FarmCPU revealed 29 potential genomic regions for the trait days to 50% flowering, which were consistently detected in three or more models. Analysis of the allelic effect of the major genomic regions explaining phenotypic variance of more than 10% and those detected in at least 2 environments showed 4 genomic regions with significant phenotypic effect on this trait. Further, we also analyzed genetic relationships among the Vigna species using SNP markers. The genomic localization of moth bean SNPs on genomes of closely related Vigna species demonstrated that maximum numbers of SNPs were getting localized on Vigna mungo. This suggested that the moth bean is most closely related to V. mungo. Conclusion Our study shows that the north-western regions of India represent the center of diversity of the moth bean. Further, the study revealed flowering-related genomic regions/candidate genes which can be potentially exploited in breeding programs to develop early-maturity moth bean varieties

The cluster-core model for halo-structure of light nuclei at the drip lines

Nuclei at both the neutron- and proton-drip lines are studied. In the cluster-core model, the halo-structure of all the observed and proposed cases of neutron- or proton-halos is investigated in terms of simple potential energy surfaces calculated as the sum of binding energies, Coulomb repulsion, nuclear proximity attraction and the centrifugal potential for all the possible cluster+core configurations of a nucleus. The clusters of neutrons and protons are taken to be unbound, with additional Coulomb energy added for proton-clusters. The model predictions agree with the available experimental studies but show some differences with the nucleon separation energy hypothesis, particularly for proton-halo nuclei. Of particular interest are the halo-structures of $^{11}N$ and $^{20}Mg$. The calculated potential energy surfaces are also useful to identify the new magic numbers and molecular structures in exotic nuclei. In particular, N=6 is a possible new magic number for very neutron-deficient nuclei, but Z=N=2 and Z=8 seem to remain magic even for such nuclei, near the drip line

Meeting Future Energy Needs in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

As mentioned in earlier chapters, the HKH regions form the entirety of some countries, a major part of other countries, and a small percentage of yet others. Because of this, when we speak about meeting the energy needs of the HKH region we need to be clear that we are not necessarily talking about the countries that host the HKH, but the clearly delineated mountainous regions that form the HKH within these countries. It then immediately becomes clear that energy provisioning has to be done in a mountain context characterized by low densities of population, low incomes, dispersed populations, grossly underdeveloped markets, low capabilities, and poor economies of scale. In other words, the energy policies and strategies for the HKH region have to be specific to these mountain contexts

Measurement of liquid holdup and axial dispersion in trickle bed reactors using radiotracer technique

The holdup and axial dispersion of aqueous phase has been measured in trickle bed reactors as a function of liquid and gas flow rates using radioisotope tracer technique. Experiments were carried out in a glass column of inner diameter 15.2´10-2 m column for air-water system using three different types of packings i.e. non-porous glass beads, porous catalysts of tablet and extrudate shape. The range of liquid and gas flow rates used were 8.3´10-5-3.3´10-4 m3/s and 0-6.67´10-4 m3/s, respectively. Residence time distributions of liquid phase were measured and mean residence times were determined. The values of liquid holdup were calculated from the measured mean residence times. It was observed that liquid holdup increased with increase in liquid flow rates and was independent of increase in gas flow rates used in the study. Two-parameter axial dispersion model was used to simulate measured residence time distribution data and values of mean residence time and Peclet number were obtained. It was observed that values of Peclet number increases with increase in liquid flow rate for glass beads and tablets and remains almost constant for extrudates. The values of mean residence time obtained from model simulation were found to be in good agreement with the values measured experimentally