FACTORS INFLUENCING ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND COSTS IN BROILER PROCESSING PLANTS IN THE SOUTH

Livestock Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

AVIRIS ground data-processing system

The Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) has been under development at JPL for the past four years. During this time, a dedicated ground data-processing system has been designed and implemented to store and process the large amounts of data expected. This paper reviews the objectives of this ground data-processing system and describes the hardware. An outline of the data flow through the system is given, and the software and incorporated algorithms developed specifically for the systematic processing of AVIRIS data are described

Centrifugal adsorption system

A gas-liquid separator uses a helical passageway to impart a spiral motion to a fluid passing therethrough. The centrifugal force generated by the spiraling motion urges the liquid component of the fluid radially outward which forces the gas component radially inward. The gas component is then separated through a gas-permeable, liquid-impervious membrane and discharged through a central passageway. A filter material captures target substances contained in the fluid

Microcanonical Origin of the Maximum Entropy Principle for Open Systems

The canonical ensemble describes an open system in equilibrium with a heat bath of fixed temperature. The probability distribution of such a system, the Boltzmann distribution, is derived from the uniform probability distribution of the closed universe consisting of the open system and the heat bath, by taking the limit where the heat bath is much larger than the system of interest. Alternatively, the Boltzmann distribution can be derived from the Maximum Entropy Principle, where the Gibbs-Shannon entropy is maximized under the constraint that the mean energy of the open system is fixed. To make the connection between these two apparently distinct methods for deriving the Boltzmann distribution, it is first shown that the uniform distribution for a microcanonical distribution is obtained from the Maximum Entropy Principle applied to a closed system. Then I show that the target function in the Maximum Entropy Principle for the open system, is obtained by partial maximization of Gibbs-Shannon entropy of the closed universe over the microstate probability distributions of the heat bath. Thus, microcanonical origin of the Entropy Maximization procedure for an open system, is established in a rigorous manner, showing the equivalence between apparently two distinct approaches for deriving the Boltzmann distribution. By extending the mathematical formalism to dynamical paths, the result may also provide an alternative justification for the principle of path entropy maximization as well.Comment: 12 pages, no figur

Fluid bubble eliminator

A gas-liquid separator uses a helical passageway to impart a spiral motion to a fluid passing therethrough. The centrifugal fore generated by the spiraling motion urges the liquid component of the fluid radially outward which forces the gas component radially inward. The gas component is then filtered through a gas-permeable, liquid-impervious membrane and discharged through a central passageway

Centrifugal Adsorption Cartridge System

The centrifugal adsorption cartridge system (CACS) is an apparatus that recovers one or more bioproduct(s) from a dilute aqueous solution or suspension flowing from a bioreactor. The CACS can be used both on Earth in unit gravity and in space in low gravity. The CACS can be connected downstream from the bioreactor; alternatively, it can be connected into a flow loop that includes the bioreactor so that the liquid can be recycled. A centrifugal adsorption cartridge in the CACS (see figure) includes two concentric cylinders with a spiral ramp between them. The volume between the inner and outer cylinders, and between the turns of the spiral ramp is packed with an adsorbent material. The inner cylinder is a sieve tube covered with a gas-permeable, hydrophobic membrane. During operation, the liquid effluent from the bioreactor is introduced at one end of the spiral ramp, which then constrains the liquid to flow along the spiral path through the adsorbent material. The spiral ramp also makes the flow more nearly uniform than it would otherwise be, and it minimizes any channeling other than that of the spiral flow itself. The adsorbent material is formulated to selectively capture the bioproduct(s) of interest. The bioproduct(s) can then be stored in bound form in the cartridge or else eluted from the cartridge. The centrifugal effect of the spiral flow is utilized to remove gas bubbles from the liquid. The centrifugal effect forces the bubbles radially inward, toward and through the membrane of the inner cylinder. The gas-permeable, hydrophobic membrane allows the bubbles to enter the inner cylinder while keeping the liquid out. The bubbles that thus enter the cylinder are vented to the atmosphere. The spacing between the ramps determines rate of flow along the spiral, and thereby affects the air-bubble-removal efficiency. The spacing between the ramps also determines the length of the fluid path through the cartridge adsorbent, and thus affects the bioproduct-capture efficiency of the cartridge. Depending on the application, several cartridges could be connected in a serial or parallel flow arrangement. A parallel arrangement can be used to increase product-capturing and flow capacities while maintaining a low pressure drop. A serial arrangement can be used to obtain high product-capturing capacity; alternatively, series-connected cartridges can be packed with different adsorbents to capture different bioproducts simultaneously

Bacterial and archaeal specific-predation in the North Atlantic Basin

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Seyler, L. M., Tuorto, S., McGuinness, L. R., Gong, D., & Kerkhof, L. J. Bacterial and archaeal specific-predation in the North Atlantic Basin. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, (2019): 555, doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00555.Stable isotope probing (SIP) was used to track prokaryotic and eukaryotic carbon uptake along a meridional transect (Long. 52°W) in the North Atlantic to assess if 13C-resource partitioning between bacteria and archaea and 13C-labeled eukaryotic predators could be detected. One-liter SIP microcosms were amended with 13C-acetate or 13C-urea and incubated for 48 h. Our data indicated archaea often outcompeted bacteria for 13C-urea while both archaea and bacteria could incorporate 13C-acetate. This 13C label could also be tracked into eukaryotic microbes. The largest number of 13C-labeled eukaryotic OTUs, and the greatest percentage of eukaryotic 13C signal, were observed in conjunction with both archaeal and bacterial 13C incorporation, suggesting that most eukaryotic predators do not distinguish between archaeal and bacterial prey. However, other 13C-eukaryotic OTUs were exclusively associated with either 13C-archaeal or 13C-bacterial OTUs. These archaeal-specific and bacterial-specific 13C-eukaryotic OTUs were related to known bactivorous predators including Ancyromonas, Amastigomonas, Cafeteria, and Caecitellus. Our SIP findings suggest both resource partitioning between bacteria and TACK (Thaumarchaeota, Aigarchaeota, Crenarchaeota, and Korarchaeota) archaea and selective predation by eukaryotic predators. Determining the equalizing mechanisms for co-existence in the marine environment can help map predator/prey interactions to better estimate carbon flow in the deep ocean.This research was made possible through the support of the U.S Global Ocean Carbon and Repeat Hydrography Program and NSF Ocean Technology and Interdisciplinary Program grant (#1131022) to LK

Player migration and opportunity: examining the efficacy of the UEFA home-grown rule in six European football leagues.

The introduction of UEFAs home-grown rule occurred for the start of the 2006–2007 season with the full quota in place from the 2008–2009 season, which imposed quotas on European clubs. From 2008, clubs are required to have at least 8 players classified as home-grown in the 25-player squad, up from 4 in 2006–2007 and 6 in 2007–2008. This study examines the efficacy of this rule across the six major European leagues (England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy and Spain) in relation to playing opportunities (minutes played and appearances) between 1999 and 2015. This was also examined in relation to age. Since the home-grown rule was introduced for the six nations hosting the major leagues, the rule had different impacts by nationality. Only Germany saw significant increases in the proportion of minutes played by their players when comparing the periods before and after the home-grown rules were imposed. Holland, albeit seeing a slight decrease overall, saw significant increases for playing time for under 21s and 22- to 25-year olds. England and Italy were the two nations where statistically significant decreases in indigenous playing opportunities were recorded since the home-grown rules were introduced

Tailoring the surface charge of dextran-based polymer coated SPIONs for modulated stem cell uptake and MRI contrast

Tracking stem cells in vivo using non-invasive techniques is critical to evaluate the efficacy and safety of stem cell therapies. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) enable cells to be tracked using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but to obtain detectable signal cells need to be labelled with a sufficient amount of iron oxide. For the majority of SPIONs, this can only be obtained with the use of transfection agents, which can adversely affect cell health. Here, we have synthesised a library of dextran-based polymer coated SPIONs with varying surface charge from −1.5 mV to +18.2 mV via a co-precipitation approach and investigated their ability to be directly internalised by stem cells without the need for transfection agents. The SPIONs were colloidally stable in physiological solutions. The crystalline phase of the particles was confirmed with powder X-ray diffraction and their magnetic properties were characterised using SQUID magnetometry and magnetic resonance. Increased surface charge led to six-fold increase in uptake of particles into stem cells and higher MRI contrast, with negligible change in cell viability. Cell tracking velocimetry was shown to be a more accurate method for predicting MRI contrast of stem cells compared to measuring iron oxide uptake through conventional bulk iron quantification

Alterations to the Gastrointestinal Microbiome Associated with Methamphetamine Use among Young Men who have Sex with Men.

Methamphetamine (MA) use is a major public health problem in the United States, especially among people living with HIV (PLWH). Many MA-induced neurotoxic effects are mediated by inflammation and gut microbiota may play a role in this process, yet the effects of MA on the microbiome have not been adequately explored. Therefore, we performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing on rectal swab samples from 381 men who have sex with men, 48% of whom were PLWH and 41% of whom used MA. We compared microbiome composition between MA users and non-users while testing for potential interactions with HIV and controlling for numerous confounders using inverse probability of treatment weighting. We found that MA use explained significant variation in overall composition (R2 = 0.005, p = 0.008) and was associated with elevated Finegoldia, Parvimonas, Peptoniphilus, and Porphyromonas and reduced Butyricicoccus and Faecalibacterium, among others. Genera including Actinomyces and Streptobacillus interacted with HIV status, such that they were increased in HIV+ MA users. Finegoldia and Peptoniphilus increased with increasing frequency of MA use, among others. In summary, MA use was associated with a microbial imbalance favoring pro-inflammatory bacteria, including some with neuroactive potential and others that have previously been associated with poor HIV outcomes