Osmotic water transport in aquaporins

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zeuthen, Thomas; Alsterfjord, Magnus; Beitz, Eric

2013-01-01

Abstract  We test a novel, stochastic model of osmotic water transport in aquaporins. A solute molecule present at the pore mouth can either be reflected or permeate the pore. We assume that only reflected solute molecules induce osmotic transport of water through the pore, while permeating solute...... molecules give rise to no water transport. Accordingly, the rate of water transport is proportional to the reflection coefficient σ, while the solute permeability, P(S), is proportional to 1 - σ. The model was tested in aquaporins heterologously expressed in Xenopus oocytes. A variety of aquaporin channel...... sizes and geometries were obtained with the two aquaporins AQP1 and AQP9 and mutant versions of these. Osmotic water transport was generated by adding 20 mM of a range of different-sized osmolytes to the outer solution. The osmotic water permeability and the reflection coefficient were measured...

Isopiestic determination of the osmotic coefficient and vapour pressure of N-R-4-(N,N-dimethylamino)pyridinium tetrafluoroborate (R = C4H9, C5H11, C6H13) in the ethanol solution at T = 298.15 K

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sardroodi, Jaber Jahanbin; Atabay, Maryam; Azamat, Jafar

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► The osmotic coefficients of the solutions of ionic liquid in ethanol have been measured. ► Measured osmotic coefficients were correlated using Pitzer, e-NRTL and NRF models and polynomial equation. ► Vapour pressures were evaluated from the correlated osmotic coefficients. - Abstract: Osmotic coefficients of the solutions of room temperature ionic liquid N-R-4-(N,N-dimethylamino)pyridinium tetrafluoroborate (R = C 4 H 9 , C 5 H 11 , C 6 H 13 ) in ethanol have been measured at T = 298.15 K by the isopiestic method. The experimental osmotic coefficients have been correlated using the ion interaction model of Pitzer, electrolyte non-random two liquid (e-NRTL) model of Chen, non-random factor (NRF) and a fourth-order polynomial in terms of molality. The vapour pressures of the solutions studied have been evaluated from the osmotic coefficients.

Isopiestic determination of the osmotic coefficients and Pitzer model representation for Li{sub 2}B{sub 4}O{sub 7}(aq) at T=298.15 K

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang Aiyun [Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008 (China); Hei Long Jiang Science and Technology College, Ha' erbin (China); Yao Yan [Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008 (China)]. E-mail: yanyao@pub.xaonline.com; Li Lijuan [Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008 (China); Song Pengsheng [Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008 (China)

2005-02-01

Isopiestic molalities and water activities have been measured for aqueous Li{sub 2}B{sub 4}O{sub 7} solutions from (0.0275 to 2.9397) mol.kg{sup -1} at T=298.15 K by isopiestic method, using an improved apparatus. These measurements have extended into the very dilute and the supersaturated molality region. Two types of osmotic coefficients of {phi}{sub S} and {phi}{sub E} were determined. {phi}{sub S} is based on the stoichiometric molalities of the solute Li{sub 2}B{sub 4}O{sub 7}(aq), and {phi}{sub E} is based on equilibrium molalities based on consideration of the equilibrium speciation of H3BO3,B(OH)4-,B3O3(OH)4-,andB4O5(OH)42- in the Li{sub 2}B{sub 4}O{sub 7}(aq) solutions. The stoichiometric equilibrium constants K{sub mi} for the aqueous speciation reactions were estimated. Three types of representations of the osmotic coefficients for the (Li{sub 2}B{sub 4}O{sub 7}+H{sub 2}O) system with the ion-interaction models based on Pitzer's equations of osmotic coefficients with minor modifications were presented: the model (I) for representation of the data of {phi}{sub S} with four parameters based on considering the ion-interactions between two ionic species of Li+andB4O72-, the model (II) for representation of the data of {phi}{sub E} based on considering the equilibrium speciation with 18 parameters, and the model (III) simplified from model (II) with six ion-interaction parameters estimated. The reasonable agreements between the experimental osmotic coefficient data and those calculated using the models above were obtained with the standard deviations of 0.0215, 0.0055, and 0.0150 for the three models, respectively. The thermodynamic osmotic coefficient properties for the complex system containing polymetric boron anions and lithium may be explained by use of the Pitzer ion-interaction model with minor modifications in combination with speciation reaction equilibria.

Rational reflection coefficient and inverse scattering on the line

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sabatier, P.C.

1983-01-01

Inverse scattering for the Schroedinger equation on the line is studied for reflection and transmission coefficients that satisfy the usual regularity conditions and are rational functions of k. The origin is still a particular point, but the potentials do not need to be cut at this point like in previous studies. Giving up this restriction corresponds to the existence of poles for both reflection coefficients in both upper and lower half k-planes. It is shown that the problem reduces to solving a linear algebraic system. A different algorithm, made of a sequence of Darboux-Backlund transforms, gives also the solution in closed form and enables to study separately modifications of both sides of the potential due to the introduction of poles. Thus it paves the way for approximation studies. Generalizations and particular problems will be studied in forthcoming papers

Determination of the osmotic second virial coefficient and the demerization of beta-lactoglobulin in aqueous solutions with added salt at the isoelectric point

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaink, H.M.; Smit, J.A.M.

2000-01-01

Aqueous solutions of β-lactoglobulin (at the isoelectric point pH=5.18) have been studied by membrane osmometry. The osmotic second virial coefficient as well as the monomer–dimer equilibrium of β-lactoglobulin have been found to depend significantly on the salt concentration. At low salt

Solving the Rational Polynomial Coefficients Based on L Curve

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, G.; Li, X.; Yue, T.; Huang, W.; He, C.; Huang, Y.

2018-05-01

The rational polynomial coefficients (RPC) model is a generalized sensor model, which can achieve high approximation accuracy. And it is widely used in the field of photogrammetry and remote sensing. Least square method is usually used to determine the optimal parameter solution of the rational function model. However the distribution of control points is not uniform or the model is over-parameterized, which leads to the singularity of the coefficient matrix of the normal equation. So the normal equation becomes ill conditioned equation. The obtained solutions are extremely unstable and even wrong. The Tikhonov regularization can effectively improve and solve the ill conditioned equation. In this paper, we calculate pathological equations by regularization method, and determine the regularization parameters by L curve. The results of the experiments on aerial format photos show that the accuracy of the first-order RPC with the equal denominators has the highest accuracy. The high order RPC model is not necessary in the processing of dealing with frame images, as the RPC model and the projective model are almost the same. The result shows that the first-order RPC model is basically consistent with the strict sensor model of photogrammetry. Orthorectification results both the firstorder RPC model and Camera Model (ERDAS9.2 platform) are similar to each other, and the maximum residuals of X and Y are 0.8174 feet and 0.9272 feet respectively. This result shows that RPC model can be used in the aerial photographic compensation replacement sensor model.

Osmotic and activity coefficients of {y Na2SO4 + (1 - y) ZnSO4}(aq) at T = 298.15 K

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marjanovic, V.; Ninkovic, R.; Miladinovic, J.; Todorovic, M.; Pavicevic, V.

2005-01-01

The osmotic coefficients of the mixed electrolyte solution {y Na 2 SO 4 + (1 - y) ZnSO 4 }(aq) have been measured by the isopiestic method, at T = 298.5 K. The experimental results were treated by Scatchard's, Pitzer-Kim's and Clegg-Pitzer-Brimblecombe's methods for mixed-electrolyte solutions. By these methods, the activity coefficients for Na 2 SO 4 and ZnSO 4 were calculated and compared. The Scatchard interaction parameters are used for calculation of the excess Gibbs free energy as a function of ionic strength and ionic-strength fraction of Na 2 SO 4 . Also, the Zdanovskii's rule of linearity is tested

Determination and modelling of osmotic coefficients and vapour pressures of binary systems 1- and 2-propanol with CnMimNTf2 ionic liquids (n = 2, 3, and 4) at T = 323.15 K

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calvar, Noelia; Gomez, Elena; Dominguez, Angeles; Macedo, Eugenia A.

2011-01-01

Highlights: → Osmotic coefficients of 1- and 2-propanol with C n MimNTf 2 (n = 2, 3, and 4) are determined. → Experimental data were correlated with extended Pitzer model of Archer and MNRTL. → Mean molal activity coefficients and excess Gibbs free energies were calculated. → Effect of the anion is studied comparing these results with literature. - Abstract: The osmotic and activity coefficients and vapour pressures of binary mixtures containing 1-propanol, or 2-propanol and imidazolium-based ionic liquids with bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide as anion (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, C 2 MimNTf 2 , 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, C 3 MimNTf 2 , and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, C 4 MimNTf 2 ) were determined at T = 323.15 K using the vapour pressure osmometry technique. The experimental osmotic coefficients were correlated using the extended Pitzer model modified by Archer and the MNRTL model, obtaining standard deviations lower than 0.033 and 0.064, respectively. The mean molal activity coefficients and the excess Gibbs free energy for the mixtures studied were calculated from the parameters of the extended Pitzer model modified by Archer. Besides the effect of the alkyl-chain of the cation, the effect of the anion can be assessed comparing the experimental results with those previously obtained for imidazolium ionic liquids with sulphate anions.

Isopiestic Investigation of the Osmotic and Activity Coefficients of {yMgCl2 + (1 - y)MgSO4}(aq) and the Osmotic Coefficients of Na2SO4.MgSO4(aq) at 298.15 K

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miladinovic, J; Ninkovic, R; Todorovic, M; Rard, J A

2007-06-06

Isopiestic vapor pressure measurements were made for {l_brace}yMgCl{sub 2} + (1-y)MgSO{sub 4}{r_brace}(aq) solutions with MgCl{sub 2} ionic strength fractions of y = 0, 0.1997, 0.3989, 0.5992, 0.8008, and (1) at the temperature 298.15 K, using KCl(aq) as the reference standard. These measurements for the mixtures cover the ionic strength range I = 0.9794 to 9.4318 mol {center_dot} kg{sup -1}. In addition, isopiestic measurements were made with NaCl(aq) as reference standard for mixtures of {l_brace}xNa{sub 2}SO{sub 4} + (1-x)MgSO{sub 4}{r_brace}(aq) with the molality fraction x = 0.50000 that correspond to solutions of the evaporite mineral bloedite (astrakanite), Na{sub 2}Mg(SO{sub 4}){sub 2} {center_dot} 4H{sub 2}O(cr). The total molalities, m{sub T} = m(Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4}) + m(MgSO{sub 4}), range from m{sub T} = 1.4479 to 4.4312 mol {center_dot} kg{sup -1} (I = 5.0677 to 15.509 mol {center_dot} kg{sup -1}), where the uppermost concentration is the highest oversaturation molality that could be achieved by isothermal evaporation of the solvent at 298.15 K. The parameters of an extended ion-interaction (Pitzer) model for MgCl2(aq) at 298.15 K, which were required for an analysis of the {l_brace}yMgCl{sub 2} + (1-y)MgSO{sub 4}{r_brace}(aq) mixture results, were evaluated up to I = 12.025 mol {center_dot} kg{sup -1} from published isopiestic data together with the six new osmotic coefficients obtained in this study. Osmotic coefficients of {l_brace}yMgCl{sub 2} + (1-y)MgSO{sub 4}{r_brace}(aq) solutions from the present study, along with critically-assessed values from previous studies, were used to evaluate the mixing parameters of the extended ion-interaction model.

Swelling, mechanical and friction properties of PVA/PVP hydrogels after swelling in osmotic pressure solution.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Yan; Xiong, Dangsheng; Liu, Yuntong; Wang, Nan; Zhao, Xiaoduo

2016-08-01

The potential of polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVA/PVP) hydrogels as articular cartilage replacements was in vitro evaluated by using a macromolecule-based solution to mimic the osmotic environment of cartilage tissue. The effects of osmotic pressure solution on the morphology, crystallinity, swelling, mechanical and friction properties of PVA/PVP hydrogels were investigated by swelling them in non-osmotic and osmotic pressure solutions. The results demonstrated that swelling ratio and equilibrium water content were greatly reduced by swelling in osmotic solution, and the swelling process was found to present pseudo-Fickian diffusion character. The crystallization degree of hydrogels after swelling in osmotic solution increased more significantly when it compared with that in non-osmotic solution. After swelling in osmotic solution for 28days, the compressive tangent modulus and storage modulus of hydrogels were significantly increased, and the low friction coefficient was reduced. However, after swelling in the non-osmotic solution, the compressive tangent modulus and friction coefficient of hydrogels were comparable with those of as-prepared hydrogels. The better material properties of hydrogels in vivo than in vitro evaluation demonstrated their potential application in cartilage replacement. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Osmotic stress alters chromatin condensation and nucleocytoplasmic transport

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Finan, John D.; Leddy, Holly A. [Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC (United States); Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC (United States); Guilak, Farshid, E-mail: guilak@duke.edu [Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC (United States); Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC (United States)

2011-05-06

Highlights: {yields} The rate of nucleocytoplasmic transport increases under hyper-osmotic stress. {yields} The mechanism is a change in nuclear geometry, not a change in permeability of the nuclear envelope. {yields} Intracytoplasmic but not intranuclear diffusion is sensitive to osmotic stress. {yields} Pores in the chromatin of the nucleus enlarge under hyper-osmotic stress. -- Abstract: Osmotic stress is a potent regulator of biological function in many cell types, but its mechanism of action is only partially understood. In this study, we examined whether changes in extracellular osmolality can alter chromatin condensation and the rate of nucleocytoplasmic transport, as potential mechanisms by which osmotic stress can act. Transport of 10 kDa dextran was measured both within and between the nucleus and the cytoplasm using two different photobleaching methods. A mathematical model was developed to describe fluorescence recovery via nucleocytoplasmic transport. As osmolality increased, the diffusion coefficient of dextran decreased in the cytoplasm, but not the nucleus. Hyper-osmotic stress decreased nuclear size and increased nuclear lacunarity, indicating that while the nucleus was getting smaller, the pores and channels interdigitating the chromatin had expanded. The rate of nucleocytoplasmic transport was increased under hyper-osmotic stress but was insensitive to hypo-osmotic stress, consistent with the nonlinear osmotic properties of the nucleus. The mechanism of this osmotic sensitivity appears to be a change in the size and geometry of the nucleus, resulting in a shorter effective diffusion distance for the nucleus. These results may explain physical mechanisms by which osmotic stress can influence intracellular signaling pathways that rely on nucleocytoplasmic transport.

Osmotic and apparent molar properties of binary mixtures alcohol + 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ionic liquid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

González, Emilio J.; Calvar, Noelia; Domínguez, Ángeles; Macedo, Eugénia A.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Osmotic and physical properties of binary mixtures {alcohol + [BMim][TfO]} were measured. ► From experimental data, apparent molar properties and osmotic coefficients were calculated. ► The apparent properties were fitted using a Redlich–Meyer type equation. ► The osmotic coefficients were correlated using the Extended Pitzer model. -- Abstract: In this work, physical properties (densities and speeds of sound) for the binary systems {1-propanol, or 2-propanol, or 1-butanol, or 2-butanol, or 1-pentanol + 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate} were experimentally measured from T = (293.15 to 323.15) K and at atmospheric pressure. These data were used to calculate the apparent molar volume and apparent molar isentropic compression which were fitted to a Redlich–Meyer type equation. This fit was used to obtain the corresponding apparent molar properties at infinite dilution. On the other hand, the osmotic and activity coefficients and vapor pressures of these binary mixtures were also determined at T = 323.15 K using the vapor pressure osmometry technique. The Extended Pitzer model of Archer was employed to correlate the experimental osmotic coefficients. From the parameters obtained in the correlation, the mean molal activity coefficients and the excess Gibbs free energy for the studied mixtures were calculated

Isopiestic determination of the osmotic and activity coefficients of the {yKCl + (1 - y)K2HPO4}(aq) system at T = 298.15 K

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Popovic, Daniela Z.; Miladinovic, Jelena; Todorovic, Milica D.; Zrilic, Milorad M.; Rard, Joseph A.

2011-01-01

Highlights: → Isopiestic measurements were made for {yKCl + (1 - y)K 2 HPO 4 }(aq) at T = 298.15 K. → The resulting osmotic coefficients were represented by three thermodynamic models. → Activity coefficients from Pitzer model with Scatchard mixing terms are recommended. - Abstract: The osmotic coefficients of aqueous mixtures of KCl and K 2 HPO 4 have been measured at T = (298.15 ± 0.01) K by the isopiestic vapor pressure method over the range of ionic strengths from (2.3700 to 11.250) mol . kg -1 using CaCl 2 (aq) as the reference solution. Our new experimental results were modeled with an extended form of Pitzer's ion-interaction model equations, both with the usual mixing terms and with Scatchard's neutral-electrolyte mixing terms, and with the Clegg-Pitzer-Brimblecombe equations based on the mole-fraction-composition scale. There is a dearth of previously published isopiestic data for mixtures containing salts of HPO 4 2- (aq) and, consequently, no previous measurements are available for comparison with the present results. The present study yields Cl - HPO 4 2- mixing parameters for these three models that are needed for modeling the thermodynamic activities of solute components of natural waters and other complex aqueous electrolyte mixtures.

Studies of Protein Solution Properties Using Osmotic Pressure Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Agena, S.; Bogle, David; Pusey, Marc; Agena, S.

1998-01-01

Examination of the protein crystallization process involves investigation of the liquid and solid state and a protein's properties in these states. Liquid state studies such as protein self association in solution by light scattering methods or other methods have been used to examine a protein Is properties and therefore its crystallization process and conditions. Likewise can osmotic pressure data be used to examine protein properties and various published osmotic pressure studies were examined by us to correlate osmotic pressure to protein solution properties. The solution behavior of serum albumin, alpha - chymotrypsin, beta - lactoglobulin and ovalbumin was examined over a range of temperatures, pH values and different salt types and concentrations. Using virial expansion and a local composition model the non ideal solution behavior in form of the activity coefficients (thermodynamic) was described for the systems. This protein activity coefficient data was related to a protein's solubility behavior and this process and the results will be presented.

Osmotic properties of binary mixtures 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium dicyanamide and 1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium chloride with water: Effect of aggregation of ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmed, Sayeed Ashique; Chatterjee, Aninda; Maity, Banibrata; Seth, Debabrata

2015-01-01

Graphical abstract: Osmotic properties of binary mixture of two ionic liquids (ILs): 1-butyl-1-methyl pyrrolidinium dicyanamide and 1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium chloride with water was reported by using vapour pressure osmometry (VPO) method. - Highlights: • Osmotic properties of binary mixture of ionic liquids (ILs) with water by using vapour pressure osmometry (VPO) method. • The experimental osmotic coefficients were well correlated by Archer extension of Pitzer model. • From the experimental osmotic coefficient data the critical micellar concentration (cmc) of the ILs in water was estimated. • Mean molar activity coefficient and the excess Gibbs free energy was determine for the (ILs + water) binary mixture. - Abstract: In this work, the osmotic properties of the binary mixture of ionic liquids (ILs) and water were studied by using vapour pressure osmometry (VPO) method. We have used two ILs: 1-butyl-1-methyl pyrrolidinium dicyanamide and 1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium chloride. The aqueous solution of NaCl was used as the reference solution to precisely measure the osmotic coefficients of the above systems. We have calculated the activity of water in the above systems and the change of vapour pressure of water due to the addition of ILs in water. The experimental osmotic coefficients were correlated by the Archer extension of Pitzer model. The parameters of this Archer extension of Pitzer model were found from this data fitting. From the experimental osmotic coefficient value we have estimated the critical micellar concentration (cmc) of ILs in water. The experimental values of osmotic coefficient in the above systems were compared with the literature and the reason of variation was explained, in terms of the aggregation of ILs in water

Salt Effect on Osmotic Pressure of Polyelectrolyte Solutions: Simulation Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan-Michael Y. Carrillo

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract: We present results of the hybrid Monte Carlo/molecular dynamics simulations of the osmotic pressure of salt solutions of polyelectrolytes. In our simulations, we used a coarse-grained representation of polyelectrolyte chains, counterions and salt ions. During simulation runs, we alternate Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulation steps. Monte Carlo steps were used to perform small ion exchange between simulation box containing salt ions (salt reservoir and simulation box with polyelectrolyte chains, counterions and salt ions (polyelectrolyte solution. This allowed us to model Donnan equilibrium and partitioning of salt and counterions across membrane impermeable to polyelectrolyte chains. Our simulations have shown that the main contribution to the system osmotic pressure is due to salt ions and osmotically active counterions. The fraction of the condensed (osmotically inactive counterions first increases with decreases in the solution ionic strength then it saturates. The reduced value of the system osmotic coefficient is a universal function of the ratio of the concentration of osmotically active counterions and salt concentration in salt reservoir. Simulation results are in a very good agreement with osmotic pressure measurements in sodium polystyrene sulfonate, DNA, polyacrylic acid, sodium polyanetholesulfonic acid, polyvinylbenzoic acid, and polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride solutions.

A Semiparametric Time Trend Varying Coefficients Model: With An Application to Evaluate Credit Rationing in U.S. Credit Market

OpenAIRE

Jingping Gu; Paula Hernandez-Verme

2009-01-01

In this paper, we propose a new semiparametric varying coefficient model which extends the existing semi-parametric varying coefficient models to allow for a time trend regressor with smooth coefficient function. We propose to use the local linear method to estimate the coefficient functions and we provide the asymptotic theory to describe the asymptotic distribution of the local linear estimator. We present an application to evaluate credit rationing in the U.S. credit market. Using U.S. mon...

A Semiparametric Time Trend Varying Coefficients Model: With An Application to Evaluate Credit Rationing in U.S. Credit Market

OpenAIRE

Qi Gao; Jingping Gu; Paula Hernandez-Verme

2012-01-01

In this paper, we propose a new semiparametric varying coefficient model which extends the existing semi-parametric varying coefficient models to allow for a time trend regressor with smooth coefficient function. We propose to use the local linear method to estimate the coefficient functions and we provide the asymptotic theory to describe the asymptotic distribution of the local linear estimator. We present an application to evaluate credit rationing in the U.S. credit market. Using U.S. mon...

Vapour pressures and osmotic coefficients of binary mixtures of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethylsulfate and 1-ethyl-3-methylpyridinium ethylsulfate with alcohols at T = 323.15 K

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calvar, Noelia; Gonzalez, Begona; Dominguez, Angeles; Macedo, Eugenia A.

2009-01-01

Osmotic coefficients of binary mixtures containing alcohols (ethanol, 1-propanol, and 2-propanol) and the ionic liquids 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethylsulfate and 1-ethyl-3-methylpyridinium ethylsulfate were determined at T = 323.15 K. Vapour pressure and activity coefficients of the studied systems were calculated from experimental data. The extended Pitzer model modified by Archer, and the modified NRTL model (MNRTL) were used to correlate the experimental data, obtaining standard deviations lower than 0.012 and 0.031, respectively. The mean molal activity coefficients and the excess Gibbs free energy of the studied binary mixtures were calculated from the parameters obtained with the extended Pitzer model of Archer.

Traceable mean activity coefficients and osmotic coefficients in aqueous magnesium chloride solutions at T = 298.15 K up to a molality of 3.0 mol · kg−1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Partanen, Jaakko I.

2013-01-01

Highlights: • This work reports new equations for thermodynamic activity quantities in aqueous MgCl 2 solutions. • The new equations are functionally the same as those obtained previously solutions of CaCl 2 and uni-univalent electrolytes. • The new activity and osmotic coefficients are fully traceable and transparent. • These new values were tested thoroughly with existing literature data. -- Abstract: The Hückel equation used in this study for the thermodynamic activity quantities in dilute MgCl 2 solutions up to an ionic strength (=I m ) of 1.5 mol · kg −1 contains two parameters being dependent on the electrolyte, i.e., those of B and b 1 . The former is linearly related to the ion-size parameter in the Debye–Hückel equation and the latter is the coefficient of the linear correction term with respect to the molality. For more concentrated solutions up to I m of 9.0 mol · kg −1 , an extended Hückel equation was used. For it, the Hückel equation was extended with a quadratic term in molality, and the coefficient of this term is the third parameter b 2 . Parameters B and b 1 for dilute MgCl 2 solutions were obtained from the isopiestic data of Robinson and Stokes for solutions of this salt and KCl [Trans. Faraday Soc. 36 (1940) 733] by using the previous Hückel parameters for dilute KCl solutions [J. Chem. Eng. Data 54 (2009) 208]. The resulting parameters for MgCl 2 solutions were successfully tested with all isopiestic data available in the literature for dilute solutions of this salt. For less dilute solutions, new values for parameters b 1 and b 2 were determined for the extended version of the Hückel equation of MgCl 2 solutions from the isopiestic data of Rard and Miller [J. Chem. Eng. Data 26 (1981) 38] for NaCl and MgCl 2 solutions but the dilute-solution value for parameter B was used. The previous extended Hückel equation for concentrated NaCl solutions was used in this estimation (see the KCl citation above). In the tests of the

Acoustic, volumetric and osmotic properties of binary mixtures containing the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide mixed with primary and secondary alcohols

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calvar, Noelia; González, Emilio J.; Domínguez, Ángeles; Macedo, Eugénia A.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Physical and osmotic properties of binary mixtures {alcohol + [BMim][dca]} were measured. ► From experimental data, apparent molar properties and osmotic coefficients were calculated. ► The apparent properties were fitted using a Redlich–Meyer type equation. ► The osmotic coefficients were correlated using the Extended Pitzer and the MNRTL models. - Abstract: In this paper, densities and speeds of sound for five binary systems {alcohol + 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide} were measured from T = (293.15 to 323.15) K and atmospheric pressure. From these experimental data, apparent molar volume and apparent molar isentropic compression have been calculated and fitted to a Redlich–Meyer type equation. This fit was also used to calculate the apparent molar volume and apparent molar isentropic compression at infinite dilution for the studied binary mixtures. Moreover, the osmotic and activity coefficients and vapor pressures of these binary mixtures were also determined at T = 323.15 K using the vapor pressure osmometry technique. The experimental osmotic coefficients were correlated using the Extended Pitzer model of Archer. The mean molal activity coefficients and the excess Gibbs free energy for the studied mixtures were calculated from the parameters obtained in the correlation.

Osmotic Pressure Simulations of Amino Acids and Peptides Highlight Potential Routes to Protein Force Field Parameterization

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Mark S.; Lay, Wesley K.

2016-01-01

Recent molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of proteins have suggested that common force fields overestimate the strength of amino acid interactions in aqueous solution. In an attempt to determine the causes of these effects, we have measured the osmotic coefficients of a number of amino acids using the AMBER ff99SB-ILDN force field with two popular water models, and compared the results with available experimental data. With TIP4P-Ew water, interactions between aliphatic residues agree well with experiment, but interactions of the polar residues serine and threonine are found to be excessively attractive. For all tested amino acids, the osmotic coefficients are lower when the TIP3P water model is used. Additional simulations performed on charged amino acids indicate that the osmotic coefficients are strongly dependent on the parameters assigned to the salt ions, with a reparameterization of the sodium:carboxylate interaction reported by the Aksimentiev group significantly improving description of the osmotic coefficient for glutamate. For five neutral amino acids, we also demonstrate a decrease in solute-solute attractions using the recently reported TIP4P-D water model and using the KBFF force field. Finally, we show that for four two-residue peptides improved agreement with experiment can be achieved by re-deriving the partial charges for each peptide. PMID:27052117

Simultaneous Description of Activity Coefficients and Solubility with eCPA

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schlaikjer, Anders; Thomsen, Kaj; Kontogeorgis, Georgios

2017-01-01

with salt specific parameters. The focus is on accurate description of the salt solubility, and low deviation correlations are obtained for all salts investigated. The inclusion of the solubility data in the parametrization has, compared to parameters only parametrized to osmotic coefficients and activity...... coefficients, not significantly affected the deviations of the osmotic coefficients and activity coefficients. The average deviations of the activity coefficient does increase slightly and it was found that the increase in deviations was almost entirely due to reduced accuracy at high temperature and high...... molality. The model is, furthermore, compared to the activity coefficient model, Extended UNIQUAC. It is shown that the eCPA provides more accurate solubility description at higher temperatures than Extended UNIQUAC but also that Extended UNIQUAC is slightly better at describing the activity coefficients...

Saltstone Osmotic Pressure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nichols, Ralph L.; Dixon, Kenneth L.

2013-01-01

Recent research into the moisture retention properties of saltstone suggest that osmotic pressure may play a potentially significant role in contaminant transport (Dixon et al., 2009 and Dixon, 2011). The Savannah River Remediation Closure and Disposal Assessments Group requested the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to conduct a literature search on osmotic potential as it relates to contaminant transport and to develop a conceptual model of saltstone that incorporates osmotic potential. This report presents the findings of the literature review and presents a conceptual model for saltstone that incorporates osmotic potential. The task was requested through Task Technical Request HLW-SSF-TTR-2013-0004. Simulated saltstone typically has very low permeability (Dixon et al. 2008) and pore water that contains a large concentration of dissolved salts (Flach and Smith 2013). Pore water in simulated saltstone has a high salt concentration relative to pore water in concrete and groundwater. This contrast in salt concentration can generate high osmotic pressures if simulated saltstone has the properties of a semipermeable membrane. Estimates of osmotic pressure using results from the analysis of pore water collected from simulated saltstone show that an osmotic pressure up to 2790 psig could be generated within the saltstone. Most semi-permeable materials are non-ideal and have an osmotic efficiency 3 , KNO 3 , Na 3 PO 4 x12H 2 O, and K 3 PO 4 when exposed to a dilute solution. Typically hydraulic head is considered the only driving force for groundwater in groundwater models. If a low permeability material containing a concentrated salt solution is present in the hydrogeologic sequence large osmotic pressures may develop and lead to misinterpretation of groundwater flow and solute transport. The osmotic pressure in the semi-permeable material can significantly impact groundwater flow in the vicinity of the semi-permeable material. One possible outcome is that

Osmotic dehydration of Braeburn variety apples in the production of sustainable food products

Science.gov (United States)

Ciurzyńska, Agnieszka; Cichowska, Joanna; Kowalska, Hanna; Czajkowska, Kinga; Lenart, Andrzej

2018-01-01

The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of osmotic dehydration conditions on the properties of osmotically pre-treated dried apples. The scope of research included analysing the most important mass exchange coefficients, i.e. water loss, solid gain, reduced water content and water activity, as well as colour changes of the obtained dried product. In the study, apples were osmotically dehydrated in one of two 60% solutions: sucrose or sucrose with an addition of chokeberry juice concentrate, for 30 and 120 min, in temperatures of 40 and 60°C. Ultrasound was also used during the first 30 min of the dehydration process. After osmotic pre-treatment, apples were subjected to innovative convective drying with the puffing effect, and to freeze-drying. Temperature and dehydration time increased the effectiveness of mass exchange during osmotic dehydration. The addition of chokeberry juice concentrate to standard sucrose solution and the use of ultrasound did not change the value of solid gain and reduced water content. Water activity of the dried apple tissue was not significantly changed after osmotic dehydration, while changes in colour were significant.

Isopiestic determination of the osmotic and activity coefficients of the {l_brace}yKCl + (1 - y)K{sub 2}HPO{sub 4}{r_brace}(aq) system at T = 298.15 K

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Popovic, Daniela Z. [Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Karnegijeva 4, 11 001 Belgrade (Serbia); Miladinovic, Jelena, E-mail: duma@tmf.bg.ac.rs [Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Karnegijeva 4, 11 001 Belgrade (Serbia); Todorovic, Milica D.; Zrilic, Milorad M. [Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Karnegijeva 4, 11 001 Belgrade (Serbia); Rard, Joseph A., E-mail: solution_chemistry2@comcast.net [4363 Claremont Way, Livermore, CA 94550 (United States)

2011-12-15

Highlights: > Isopiestic measurements were made for {l_brace}yKCl + (1 - y)K{sub 2}HPO{sub 4}{r_brace}(aq) at T = 298.15 K. > The resulting osmotic coefficients were represented by three thermodynamic models. > Activity coefficients from Pitzer model with Scatchard mixing terms are recommended. - Abstract: The osmotic coefficients of aqueous mixtures of KCl and K{sub 2}HPO{sub 4} have been measured at T = (298.15 {+-} 0.01) K by the isopiestic vapor pressure method over the range of ionic strengths from (2.3700 to 11.250) mol . kg{sup -1} using CaCl{sub 2}(aq) as the reference solution. Our new experimental results were modeled with an extended form of Pitzer's ion-interaction model equations, both with the usual mixing terms and with Scatchard's neutral-electrolyte mixing terms, and with the Clegg-Pitzer-Brimblecombe equations based on the mole-fraction-composition scale. There is a dearth of previously published isopiestic data for mixtures containing salts of HPO{sub 4}{sup 2-}(aq) and, consequently, no previous measurements are available for comparison with the present results. The present study yields Cl{sup -}HPO{sub 4}{sup 2-} mixing parameters for these three models that are needed for modeling the thermodynamic activities of solute components of natural waters and other complex aqueous electrolyte mixtures.

THERMODYNAMICS OF ELECTROLYTES. X. ENTHALPY AND THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE ACTIVITY COEFFICIENTS.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silvester, Leonard F.; Pitzer, Kenneth S.

1977-11-01

Heat of dilution and of solution data are fitted to the form of equation corresponding to that used successfully for activity and osmotic coefficients over a wide range of concentration. The resulting parameters give the change with temperature of the activity and osmotic coefficients. Results are reported for 84 electrolytes of 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, and 2-2 valence types.

A novel inverse numerical modeling method for the estimation of water and salt mass transfer coefficients during ultrasonic assisted-osmotic dehydration of cucumber cubes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiani, Hosein; Karimi, Farzaneh; Labbafi, Mohsen; Fathi, Morteza

2018-06-01

The objective of this paper was to study the moisture and salt diffusivity during ultrasonic assisted-osmotic dehydration of cucumbers. Experimental measurements of moisture and salt concentration versus time were carried out and an inverse numerical method was performed by coupling a CFD package (OpenFOAM) with a parameter estimation software (DAKOTA) to determine mass transfer coefficients. A good agreement between experimental and numerical results was observed. Mass transfer coefficients were from 3.5 × 10 -9 to 7 × 10 -9  m/s for water and from 4.8 × 10 -9  m/s to 7.4 × 10 -9  m/s for salt at different conditions (diffusion coefficients of around 3.5 × 10 -12 -11.5 × 10 -12  m 2 /s for water and 5 × 10 -12  m/s-12 × 10 -12  m 2 /s for salt). Ultrasound irradiation could increase the mass transfer coefficient. The values obtained by this method were closer to the actual data. The inverse simulation method can be an accurate technique to study the mass transfer phenomena during food processing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Saltstone Osmotic Pressure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nichols, Ralph L. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL); Dixon, Kenneth L. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRN

2013-09-23

Recent research into the moisture retention properties of saltstone suggest that osmotic pressure may play a potentially significant role in contaminant transport (Dixon et al., 2009 and Dixon, 2011). The Savannah River Remediation Closure and Disposal Assessments Group requested the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to conduct a literature search on osmotic potential as it relates to contaminant transport and to develop a conceptual model of saltstone that incorporates osmotic potential. This report presents the findings of the literature review and presents a conceptual model for saltstone that incorporates osmotic potential. The task was requested through Task Technical Request HLW-SSF-TTR- 2013-0004.

The Influence of the Osmotic Dehydration Process on Physicochemical Properties of Osmotic Solution.

Science.gov (United States)

Lech, Krzysztof; Michalska, Anna; Wojdyło, Aneta; Nowicka, Paulina; Figiel, Adam

2017-12-16

The osmotic dehydration (OD) process consists of the removal of water from a material during which the solids from the osmotic solution are transported to the material by osmosis. This process is commonly performed in sucrose and salt solutions. Taking into account that a relatively high consumption of those substances might have a negative effect on human health, attempts have been made to search for alternatives that can be used for osmotic dehydration. One of these is an application of chokeberry juice with proven beneficial properties to human health. This study aimed to evaluate the physicochemical properties of the OD solution (chokeberry juice concentrate) before and after the osmotic dehydration of carrot and zucchini. The total polyphenolics content, antioxidant capacity (ABTS, FRAP), dynamic viscosity, density, and water activity were examined in relation to the juice concentration used for the osmotic solution before and after the OD process. During the osmotic dehydration process, the concentration of the chokeberry juice decreased. Compounds with lower molecular weight and lower antioxidant capacity present in concentrated chokeberry juice had a stronger influence on the exchange of compounds during the OD process in carrot and zucchini. The water activity of the osmotic solution increased after the osmotic dehydration process. It was concluded that the osmotic solution after the OD process might be successfully re-used as a product with high quality for i.e. juice production.

Mathematical modelling of the osmotic dehydration of cherry tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum var. cerasiforme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

AZOUBEL Patricia Moreira

2000-01-01

Full Text Available Osmotic dehydration of cherry tomato as influenced by osmotic agent (sodium chloride and a mixed sodium chloride and sucrose solutions and solution concentration (10 and 25% w/w at room temperature (25°C was studied. Kinetics of water loss and solids uptake were determined by a two parameter model, based on Fick's second law and applied to spherical geometry. The water apparent diffusivity coefficients obtained ranged from 2.17x10-10 to 11.69x10-10 m²/s.

Osmotic and activity coefficients of {l_brace}y Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4} + (1 - y) ZnSO{sub 4}{r_brace}(aq) at T = 298.15 K

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marjanovic, V. [High Technical School, Trg Svetog Save 34, 31 000 Uzice (Serbia and Montenegro); Ninkovic, R. [Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Karnegijeva 4, 11 000 Belgrade (Serbia and Montenegro); Miladinovic, J. [Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Karnegijeva 4, 11 000 Belgrade (Serbia and Montenegro)]. E-mail: duma@elab.tmf.bg.ac.yu; Todorovic, M. [Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Karnegijeva 4, 11 000 Belgrade (Serbia and Montenegro); Pavicevic, V. [Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Karnegijeva 4, 11 000 Belgrade (Serbia and Montenegro)

2005-02-01

The osmotic coefficients of the mixed electrolyte solution {l_brace}y Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4} + (1 - y) ZnSO{sub 4}{r_brace}(aq) have been measured by the isopiestic method, at T = 298.5 K. The experimental results were treated by Scatchard's, Pitzer-Kim's and Clegg-Pitzer-Brimblecombe's methods for mixed-electrolyte solutions. By these methods, the activity coefficients for Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4} and ZnSO{sub 4} were calculated and compared. The Scatchard interaction parameters are used for calculation of the excess Gibbs free energy as a function of ionic strength and ionic-strength fraction of Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4}. Also, the Zdanovskii's rule of linearity is tested.

Development and Optimization of Osmotically Controlled Asymmetric Membrane Capsules for Delivery of Solid Dispersion of Lycopene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nitin Jain

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present investigation is to develop and statistically optimize the osmotically controlled asymmetric membrane capsules of solid dispersion of lycopene. Solid dispersions of lycopene with β-cyclodextrin in different ratios were prepared using solvent evaporation method. Solubility studies showed that the solid dispersion with 1 : 5 (lycopene : β-cyclodextrin exhibited optimum solubility (56.25 mg/mL for osmotic controlled delivery. Asymmetric membrane capsules (AMCs were prepared on glass mold pins via dip coating method. Membrane characterization by scanning electron microscopy showed inner porous region and outer dense region. Central composite design response surface methodology was applied for the optimization of AMCs. The independent variables were ethyl cellulose (X1, glycerol (X2, and NaCl (X3 which were varied at different levels to analyze the effect on dependent variables (percentage of cumulative drug release (Y1 and correlation coefficient of drug release (Y2. The effect of independent variables on the response was significantly influential. The F18 was selected as optimized formulation based on percentage of CDR (cumulative drug release of 85.63% and correlation coefficient of 0.9994. The optimized formulation was subjected to analyze the effect of osmotic pressure and agitational intensity on percentage of CDR. The drug release was independent of agitational intensity but was dependent on osmotic pressure of dissolution medium.

Role of Osmotic Adjustment in Plant Productivity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gebre, G.M.

2001-01-11

Successful implementation of short rotation woody crops requires that the selected species and clones be productive, drought tolerant, and pest resistant. Since water is one of the major limiting factors in poplar (Populus sp.) growth, there is little debate for the need of drought tolerant clones, except on the wettest of sites (e.g., lower Columbia River delta). Whether drought tolerance is compatible with productivity remains a debatable issue. Among the many mechanisms of drought tolerance, dehydration postponement involves the maintenance of high leaf water potential due to, for example, an adequate root system. This trait is compatible with productivity, but requires available soil moisture. When the plant leaf water potential and soil water content decline, the plant must be able to survive drought through dehydration tolerance mechanisms, such as low osmotic potential or osmotic adjustment. Osmotic adjustment and low osmotic potential are considered compatible with growth and yield because they aid in the maintenance of leaf turgor. However, it has been shown that turgor alone does not regulate cell expansion or stomatal conductance and, therefore, the role of osmotic adjustment is debated. Despite this finding, osmotic adjustment has been correlated with grain yield in agronomic crop species, and gene markers responsible for osmotic adjustment are being investigated to improve drought tolerance in productive progenies. Although osmotic adjustment and low osmotic potentials have been investigated in several forest tree species, few studies have investigated the relationship between osmotic adjustment and growth. Most of these studies have been limited to greenhouse or container-grown plants. Osmotic adjustment and rapid growth have been specifically associated in Populus and black spruce (Picea mariuna (Mill.) B.S.P.) progenies. We tested whether these relationships held under field conditions using several poplar clones. In a study of two hybrid poplar

Sedimentation equilibria of ferrofluids: II. Experimental osmotic equations of state of magnetite colloids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luigjes, Bob; Thies-Weesie, Dominique M E; Erné, Ben H; Philipse, Albert P

2012-01-01

The first experimental osmotic equation of state is reported for well-defined magnetic colloids that interact via a dipolar hard-sphere potential. The osmotic pressures are determined from the sedimentation equilibrium concentration profiles in ultrathin capillaries using a low-velocity analytical centrifuge, which is the subject of the accompanying paper I. The pressures of the magnetic colloids, measured accurately to values as low as a few pascals, obey Van ’t Hoff’s law at low concentrations, whereas at increasing colloid densities non-ideality appears in the form of a negative second virial coefficient. This virial coefficient corresponds to a dipolar coupling constant that agrees with the coupling constant obtained via independent magnetization measurements. The coupling constant manifests an attractive potential of mean force that is significant but yet not quite strong enough to induce dipolar chain formation. Our results disprove van der Waals-like phase behavior of dipolar particles for reasons that are explained. (paper)

Modelling the coupled chemico-osmotic and advective-diffusive transport of nitrate salts in the Callovo-Oxfordian clay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baechler, S.; Croise, J.; Altmann, S.

2010-01-01

cylindrical radioactive waste disposal drift surrounded by a saturated Callovo-Oxfordian host rock at its undisturbed hydraulic state. Evolution of saturation of the disposal drift, pressure, osmotic efficiency and concentration were investigated through the analyses of 9 simulation runs with ranges of physical parameters and different release scenarios. The following conclusions could be drawn: - The impact of the variation of the activity coefficient (high concentrated solutions) showed to be negligible in comparison to the impact of Bresler's relationship (= dependency of the efficiency coefficient on the concentration). - Simulated pressure and overpressure are mainly influenced by Bresler's relationship. The assumption of an osmotic efficiency coefficient following Bresler's relationship induces a strong limitation of the over-pressures and limits the impact of salt concentrations above 1 M. - The maximal overpressure expected in the disposal drift is of 98 m (0.96 MPa). Therefore no fracturing of the rock should be feared due to osmotic flow. - Mass limitation of the source is also a factor strongly limiting the osmotic overpressure. The release scenario has therefore a strong impact on the results. - Further experimental studies are needed to assess Bresler's relationship in the Callovo-Oxfordian clay. (authors)

Predicting the activity coefficients of free-solvent for concentrated globular protein solutions using independently determined physical parameters.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Devin W McBride

Full Text Available The activity coefficient is largely considered an empirical parameter that was traditionally introduced to correct the non-ideality observed in thermodynamic systems such as osmotic pressure. Here, the activity coefficient of free-solvent is related to physically realistic parameters and a mathematical expression is developed to directly predict the activity coefficients of free-solvent, for aqueous protein solutions up to near-saturation concentrations. The model is based on the free-solvent model, which has previously been shown to provide excellent prediction of the osmotic pressure of concentrated and crowded globular proteins in aqueous solutions up to near-saturation concentrations. Thus, this model uses only the independently determined, physically realizable quantities: mole fraction, solvent accessible surface area, and ion binding, in its prediction. Predictions are presented for the activity coefficients of free-solvent for near-saturated protein solutions containing either bovine serum albumin or hemoglobin. As a verification step, the predictability of the model for the activity coefficient of sucrose solutions was evaluated. The predicted activity coefficients of free-solvent are compared to the calculated activity coefficients of free-solvent based on osmotic pressure data. It is observed that the predicted activity coefficients are increasingly dependent on the solute-solvent parameters as the protein concentration increases to near-saturation concentrations.

Partition Coefficients of Amino Acids, Peptides, and Enzymes in Dextran + Poly(Ethylene Glycol) + Water Aqueous Two-Phase Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kakisaka, Keijiro.; Shindo, Takashi.; Iwai, Yoshio.; Arai, Yasuhiko. [Kyushu University, Fukuoka (Japan). Department of Chemical Systems and Engineering

1998-12-01

Partition coefficients are measured for five amino acids(aspartic acid, asparagine, methionine, cysteine and histidine) and tow peptides(glycyl-glycine and hexa-glycine) in dextran + poly(ethylene glycol) + water aqueous two-phase system. The partition coefficients of the amino acids and peptides are aorrelated using the osmotic virial equation. The interaction coefficients contained in the equation can be calculated by hydrophilic group parameters. The partition coefficients of {alpha}-amylase calculated by the osmotic virial equation with the hydrophilic group parameters are in fairly good agreement with the experimental data, though a relatively large discrepancy is shown for {beta}-amylase. (author)

Partition Coefficients of Amino Acids, Peptides, and Enzymes in Dextran + Poly(Ethylene Glycol) + Water Aqueous Two-Phase Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kakisaka, Keijiro.; Shindo, Takashi.; Iwai, Yoshio.; Arai, Yasuhiko. (Kyushu University, Fukuoka (Japan). Department of Chemical Systems and Engineering)

1998-12-01

Partition coefficients are measured for five amino acids(aspartic acid, asparagine, methionine, cysteine and histidine) and tow peptides(glycyl-glycine and hexa-glycine) in dextran + poly(ethylene glycol) + water aqueous two-phase system. The partition coefficients of the amino acids and peptides are aorrelated using the osmotic virial equation. The interaction coefficients contained in the equation can be calculated by hydrophilic group parameters. The partition coefficients of [alpha]-amylase calculated by the osmotic virial equation with the hydrophilic group parameters are in fairly good agreement with the experimental data, though a relatively large discrepancy is shown for [beta]-amylase. (author)

Hydrothermal Carbonization of Spent Osmotic Solution (SOS Generated from Osmotic Dehydration of Blueberries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaushlendra Singh

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Hydrothermal carbonization of spent osmotic solution (SOS, a waste generated from osmotic dehydration of fruits, has the potential of transformation into hydrochars, a value-added product, while reducing cost and overall greenhouse gas emissions associated with waste disposal. Osmotic solution (OS and spent osmotic solution (SOS generated from the osmotic dehydration of blueberries were compared for their thermo-chemical decomposition behavior and hydrothermal carbonization. OS and SOS samples were characterized for total solids, elemental composition, and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA. In addition, hydrothermal carbonization was performed at 250 °C and for 30 min to produce hydrochars. The hydrochars were characterized for elemental composition, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET surface area, particle shape and surface morphology. TGA results show that the SOS sample loses more weight in the lower temperature range than the OS sample. Both samples produced, approximately, 40%–42% (wet-feed basis hydrochar during hydrothermal carbonization but with different properties. The OS sample produced hydrochar, which had spherical particles of 1.79 ± 1.30 μm diameter with a very smooth surface. In contrast, the SOS sample produced hydrochar with no definite particle shape but with a raspberry-like surface.

Optimizing Solute-Solute Interactions in the GLYCAM06 and CHARMM36 Carbohydrate Force Fields Using Osmotic Pressure Measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Lay, Wesley K; Miller, Mark S; Elcock, Adrian H

2016-04-12

GLYCAM06 and CHARMM36 are successful force fields for modeling carbohydrates. To correct recently identified deficiencies with both force fields, we adjusted intersolute nonbonded parameters to reproduce the experimental osmotic coefficient of glucose at 1 M. The modified parameters improve behavior of glucose and sucrose up to 4 M and improve modeling of a dextran 55-mer. While the modified parameters may not be applicable to all carbohydrates, they highlight the use of osmotic simulations to optimize force fields.

Approximate Mathematical Modeling of Osmotic Dehydration of Cone-Shaped Fruits and Vegetables in Hypertonic Solutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Sirousazar

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Water loss kinetics in osmotic dehydration of cone-shaped fruits and vegetables was modeled on the basis of diffusion mechanism, using the Fick’s second law. The model was developed by taking into account the influences of the fruit geometrical characteristics, initial water content of fruit, water diffusion coefficient in fruit, and the water concentration in hypertonic solution. Based on the obtained model, it was shown that the water diffusion coefficient and the initial water concentration of fruit have direct effects on the dehydration rate and also inverse influence on the dehydration duration. The geometrical parameters of fruit and water concentration in hypertonic solution showed direct effect on the dehydration duration as well as inverse effect on the dehydration rate. The presented model seems to be useful tool to predict the dehydration kinetics of cone-shaped fruit during osmotic dehydration process and to optimize the process prior to perform the experiments.

Approximate Mathematical Modeling of Osmotic Dehydration of Cone-Shaped Fruits and Vegetables in Hypertonic Solutions

OpenAIRE

Mohammad Sirousazar

2017-01-01

Water loss kinetics in osmotic dehydration of cone-shaped fruits and vegetables was modeled on the basis of diffusion mechanism, using the Fick’s second law. The model was developed by taking into account the influences of the fruit geometrical characteristics, initial water content of fruit, water diffusion coefficient in fruit, and the water concentration in hypertonic solution. Based on the obtained model, it was shown that the water diffusion coefficient and the initial water concentratio...

The plant cuticle is required for osmotic stress regulation of abscisic acid biosynthesis and osmotic stress tolerance in Arabidopsis

KAUST Repository

Wang, Zhenyu

2011-05-01

Osmotic stress activates the biosynthesis of abscisic acid (ABA). One major step in ABA biosynthesis is the carotenoid cleavage catalyzed by a 9-cis epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED). To understand the mechanism for osmotic stress activation of ABA biosynthesis, we screened for Arabidopsis thaliana mutants that failed to induce the NCED3 genee xpression in response to osmotic stress treatments. The ced1 (for 9-cis epoxycarotenoid dioxy genase defective 1) mutant isolated in this study showed markedly reduced expression of NCED3 in response to osmotic stress (polyethylene glycol)treatments compared with the wild type. Other ABA biosynthesis genes are also greatly reduced in ced1 under osmotic stress. ced1 mutant plants are very sensitive to even mild osmotic stress. Map-based cloning revealed unexpectedly thatCED1 encodes a putative a/b hydrolase domain-containing protein and is allelic to the BODYGUARD gene that was recently shown to be essential for cuticle biogenesis. Further studies discovered that other cut in biosynthesis mutants are also impaired in osmotic stress induction of ABA biosynthesis genes and are sensitive to osmotic stress. Our work demonstrates that the cuticle functions not merely as a physical barrier to minimize water loss but also mediates osmotic stress signaling and tolerance by regulating ABA biosynthesis and signaling. © 2011 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved.

Studies on osmotic concentration of radioactive effluents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, K.C.; Ramachandhran, V.; Misra, B.M.

1986-01-01

The potential of direct osmosis for concentrating radioactive effluents is examined on the laboratory scale. Studies were carried out using asymmetric cellulose acetate membranes of a range of porosities under varying salinity gradients. A suitable bench scale osmotic concentrator employing tubular membrane systems has been fabricated and tested. An attempt to understand the mechanism of water permeation under osmotic and hydrostatic gradients has been made based on the irreversible thermodynamic approach. The solute separation of sodium chloride and radionuclides under osmosis is in the range of 85 to 95% for various osmotic sink solutions. The osmotic water flux is observed to be lower than the hydraulic water flux under reverse osmosis conditions. While the solute separation increases with an increase in annealing temperature, water flux decreases for both osmosis and reverse osmosis systems for various feed salinities. The effect of concentration polarization is analysed, and the effect of feed and osmotic sink velocity on the performance of the osmotic concentrator has also been studied. (orig.)

Osmotic stress on nitrification in an airlift bioreactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin Rencun; Zheng Ping; Mahmood, Qaisar; Hu Baolan

2007-01-01

The effect of osmotic pressure on nitrification was studied in a lab-scale internal-loop airlift-nitrifying reactor. The reactor slowly adapted to the escalating osmotic pressure during 270 days operation. The conditions were reversed to the initial stage upon full inhibition of the process. Keeping influent ammonium concentration constant at 420 mg N L -1 and hydraulic retention time at 20.7 h, with gradual increase in osmotic pressure from 4.3 to 18.8 x 10 5 Pa by adding sodium sulphate, the ammonium removal efficiencies of the nitrifying bioreactor were maintained at 93-100%. Further increase in osmotic pressure up to 19.2 x 10 5 Pa resulted in drop of the ammonium conversion to 69.2%. The osmotic pressure caused abrupt inhibition of nitrification without any alarm and the critical osmotic pressure value causing inhibition remained between 18.8 and 19.2 x 10 5 Pa. Nitrite oxidizers were found more sensitive to osmotic stress as compared with ammonia oxidizers, leading to nitrite accumulation up to 61.7% in the reactor. The performance of bioreactor recovered gradually upon lowering the osmotic pressure. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy indicated that osmotic stress resulted in simplification of the nitrifying bacterial populations in the activated sludge as the cellular size reduced; the inner membrane became thinner and some unknown inclusions appeared within the cells. The microbial morphology and cellular structure restored upon relieving the osmotic pressure. Addition of potassium relieved the effect of osmotic pressure upon nitrification. Results demonstrate that the nitrifying reactor possesses the potential to treat ammonium-rich brines after acclimatization

Measuring principles of frictional coefficients in cartilaginous tissues and its substitutes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huyghe, J.M.R.J.; Janssen, C.F.; Donkelaar, van C.C.; Lanir, Y.

2002-01-01

The frictional properties of cartilaginous tissues, such as the hydraulic permeability, the electro-osmotic permeability, the diffusion coefficients of various ions and solutes, and the electrical conductance, are vital data to characterise the extracellular environment in which chondrocytes reside.

OSMOTIC COEFFICIENTS, SOLUBILITIES, AND DELIQUESCENCE RELATIONS IN MIXED AQUEOUS SALT SOLUTIONS AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

M.S. Gruszkiewicz; D.A. Palmer

2006-01-01

While thermodynamic properties of pure aqueous electrolytes are relatively well known at ambient temperature, there are far fewer data for binary systems extending to elevated temperatures and high concentrations. There is no general theoretically sound basis for prediction of the temperature dependence of ionic activities, and consequently temperature extrapolations based on ambient temperature data and empirical equations are uncertain and require empirical verification. Thermodynamic properties of mixed brines in a wide range of concentrations would enhance the understanding and precise modeling of the effects of deliquescence of initially dry solids in humid air in geological environments and in modeling the composition of waters during heating, cooling, evaporation or condensation processes. These conditions are of interest in the analysis of waters on metal surfaces at the proposed radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The results obtained in this project will be useful for modeling the long-term evolution of the chemical environment, and this in turn is useful for the analysis of the corrosion of waste packages. In particular, there are few reliable experimental data available on the relationship between relative humidity and composition that reveals the eutonic points of the mixtures and the mixture deliquescence RH. The deliquescence RH for multicomponent mixtures is lower than that of pure component or binary solutions, but is not easy to predict quantitatively since the solutions are highly nonideal. In this work we used the ORNL low-temperature and high-temperature isopiestic facilities, capable of precise measurements of vapor pressure between ambient temperature and 250 C for determination of not only osmotic coefficients, but also solubilities and deliquescence points of aqueous mixed solutions in a range of temperatures. In addition to standard solutions of CaCl 2 , LiCl, and NaCl used as references, precise direct

Isopiestic determination of the activity coefficients of some aqueous rare earth electrolyte solutions at 250C. I. The rare earth chlorides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spedding, F.H.; Weber, H.O.; Saeger, V.W.; Petheram, H.H.; Rard, J.A.; Habenschuss, A.

1976-01-01

The osmotic coefficients of the aqueous trichlorides of La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, and Y were determined from 0.1 M to saturation at 25 0 C. Semiempirical least-squares equations were obtained for the osmotic coefficients as a function of molality and these equations were used to calculate water activities and mean molal activity coefficients. The water activities of the light rare earth chlorides at constant molalities are higher than for the heavy rare earths, while the mean molal activity coefficients are larger for the heavy rare earths than for the light ones. The above effects are discussed in terms of changes in the cationic radii and hydration of the rare earth ions

Osmocapsules for direct measurement of osmotic strength.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Shin-Hyun; Lee, Tae Yong; Lee, Sang Seok

2014-03-26

Monodisperse microcapsules with ultra-thin membranes are microfluidically designed to be highly sensitive to osmotic pressure, thereby providing a tool for the direct measurement of the osmotic strength. To make such osmocapsules, water-in-oil-in-water double-emulsion drops with ultra-thin shells are prepared as templates through emulsification of core-sheath biphasic flow in a capillary microfluidic device. When photocurable monomers are used as the oil phase, the osmocapsules are prepared by in-situ photopolymerization of the monomers, resulting in semipermeable membranes with a relatively large ratio of membrane thickness to capsule radius, approximately 0.02. These osmocapsules are buckled by the outward flux of water when they are subjected to a positive osmotic pressure difference above 125 kPa. By contrast, evaporation-induced consolidation of middle-phase containing polymers enables the production of osmocapsules with a small ratio of membrane thickness to capsule radius of approximately 0.002. Such an ultra-thin membrane with semi-permeability makes the osmocapsules highly sensitive to osmotic pressure; a positive pressure as small as 12.5 kPa induces buckling of the capsules. By employing a set of distinct osmocapsules confining aqueous solutions with different osmotic strengths, the osmotic strength of unknown solutions can be estimated through observation of the capsules that are selectively buckled. This approach provides the efficient measurement of the osmotic strength using only a very small volume of liquid, thereby providing a useful alternative to other measurement methods which use complex setups. In addition, in-vivo measurement of the osmotic strength can be potentially accomplished by implanting these biocompatible osmocapsules into tissue, which is difficult to achieve using conventional methods. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Recycling of osmotic solutions in microwave-osmotic dehydration: product quality and potential for creation of a novel product.

Science.gov (United States)

Wray, Derek; Ramaswamy, Hosahalli S

2016-08-01

Despite osmotic dehydration being a cost effective process for moisture removal, the cost implications of making, regenerating, and properly disposing of the spent osmotic solutions contributes greatly to the economic feasibility of the drying operation. The potential for recycling of osmotic solutions and their use for creation of a novel product was explored using microwave-osmotic dehydration under continuous flow spray (MWODS) conditions. Identical runs were repeated 10 times to determine the progressive physical and compositional effects of the thermal treatment and leaching from the cranberry samples. The microbiological stability and constant drying performance indicated that MWODS would be well suited for employing recycled solutions. While the anthocyanin content of the solution never approached that of cranberry juice concentrate, it is demonstrated that the spent syrup can infuse these health positive components into another product (apple). This study found that re-using osmotic solutions is a viable option to reduce cost in future MWODS applications, with no detriment to product quality and potential to use the spent solution for novel products. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Self-assembly of silk fibroin under osmotic stress

Science.gov (United States)

Sohn, Sungkyun

The supramolecular self-assembly behavior of silk fibroin was investigated using osmotic stress technique. In Chapter 2, a ternary phase diagram of water-silk-LiBr was constructed based on X-ray results on the osmotically stressed regenerated silk fibroin of Bombyx mori silkworm. Microscopic data indicated that silk I is a hydrated structure and a rough estimate of the number of water molecules lost by the structure upon converting from silk I to silk II has been made, and found to be about 2.2 per [GAGAGS] hexapeptide. In Chapter 3, wet-spinning of osmotically stressed, regenerated silk fibroin was performed, based on the prediction that the enhanced control over structure and phase behavior using osmotic stress method helps improve the physical properties of wet-spun regenerated silk fibroin fibers. The osmotic stress was applied in order to pre-structure the regenerated silk fibroin molecule from its original random coil state to more oriented state, manipulating the phase of the silk solution in the phase diagram before the start of spinning. Monofilament fiber with a diameter of 20 microm was produced. In Chapter 4, we investigated if there is a noticeable synergistic osmotic pressure increase between co-existing polymeric osmolyte and salt when extremely highly concentrated salt molecules are present both at sample subphase and stressing subphase, as is the case of silk fibroin self-assembly. The equilibration method that measures osmotic pressure relative to a reference with known osmotic pressure was introduced. Osmotic pressure of aqueous LiBr solution up to 2.75M was measured and it was found that the synergistic effect was insignificant up to this salt concentration. Solution parameters of stressing solutions and Arrhenius kinetics based on time-temperature relationship for the equilibration process were derived as well. In Chapter 5, self-assembly behavior of natural silk fibroin within the gland of Bombyx mori silkworm was investigated using osmotic

Influence of osmotic processes on the excess-hydraulic head measured in the Toarcian/Domerian argillaceous formation of Tournemire

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tremosa, J.

2010-01-01

geochemical model developed to reproduce the thermodynamic equilibrium reactions with miner al phases and cation exchange between the clay-rock and the pore solution. Added to the requirement of the temperature and concentration profiles across the Tournemire argillaceous formation as force gradients to reproduce the osmotic flows through the formation, the pore water composition is also needed as it is an essential input parameter to predict the chemo-osmotic efficiency coefficient. At last, the characterization of the osmotic processes and the different force gradient profiles allowed estimating the contribution of the osmotic and hydraulic processes to the measured excess hydraulic head profile measured in the argillaceous formation of Tournemire. Considerations on the hydro-mechanical behaviour of the argillaceous formation allowed rule out the other possible causes of excess-head and lead to the conclusion that only the hydraulic processes, related to the intrinsic permeability variation across the formation, and osmotic processes can explain the pressure field in the Toarcian/Domerian formation. The results particularly highlight the importance of the spatial variations of the hydraulic and osmotic permeability coefficients in the generation of an excess-hydraulic head. (author)

Casein Micelle Dispersions under Osmotic Stress

Science.gov (United States)

Bouchoux, Antoine; Cayemitte, Pierre-Emerson; Jardin, Julien; Gésan-Guiziou, Geneviève; Cabane, Bernard

2009-01-01

Abstract Casein micelles dispersions have been concentrated and equilibrated at different osmotic pressures using equilibrium dialysis. This technique measured an equation of state of the dispersions over a wide range of pressures and concentrations and at different ionic strengths. Three regimes were found. i), A dilute regime in which the osmotic pressure is proportional to the casein concentration. In this regime, the casein micelles are well separated and rarely interact, whereas the osmotic pressure is dominated by the contribution from small residual peptides that are dissolved in the aqueous phase. ii), A transition range that starts when the casein micelles begin to interact through their κ-casein brushes and ends when the micelles are forced to get into contact with each other. At the end of this regime, the dispersions behave as coherent solids that do not fully redisperse when osmotic stress is released. iii), A concentrated regime in which compression removes water from within the micelles, and increases the fraction of micelles that are irreversibly linked to each other. In this regime the osmotic pressure profile is a power law of the residual free volume. It is well described by a simple model that considers the micelle to be made of dense regions separated by a continuous phase. The amount of water in the dense regions matches the usual hydration of proteins. PMID:19167314

Osmotic dehydration of fruits and vegetables: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Yadav, Ashok Kumar; Singh, Satya Vir

2014-09-01

The main cause of perishability of fruits and vegetables are their high water content. To increase the shelf life of these fruits and vegetables many methods or combination of methods had been tried. Osmotic dehydration is one of the best and suitable method to increase the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. This process is preferred over others due to their vitamin and minerals, color, flavor and taste retention property. In this review different methods, treatments, optimization and effects of osmotic dehydration have been reviewed. Studied showed that combination of different osmotic agents were more effective than sucrose alone due to combination of properties of solutes. During the experiments it was found that optimum osmosis was found at approximately 40 °C, 40 °B of osmotic agent and in near about 132 min. Pretreatments also leads to increase the osmotic process in fruits and vegetables. Mass transfer kinetics study is an important parameter to study osmosis. Solids diffusivity were found in wide range (5.09-32.77 kl/mol) studied by Fick's laws of diffusion. These values vary depending upon types of fruits and vegetables and osmotic agents.

Osmotic dehydration and convective drying of coconut slices: Experimental determination and description using one-dimensional diffusion model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wilton Pereira da Silva

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Mass migrations in coconut slices during osmotic dehydration and drying are described using a diffusion model with boundary condition of the third kind. The osmotic dehydration experiment was performed at 35°Brix (water and sucrose and 40 °C. The convective drying experiments were performed at 50, 60 and 70 °C. The one-dimensional solution of the diffusion equation for an infinite slab was coupled with an optimizer to determine the effective mass diffusivities D and convective mass transfer coefficients h of the five processes studied. The analyses of the obtained results indicate that there is a good agreement between each experimental dataset and the corresponding simulation using D and h determined by optimization.

The plant cuticle is required for osmotic stress regulation of abscisic acid biosynthesis and osmotic stress tolerance in Arabidopsis

KAUST Repository

Wang, Zhenyu; Xiong, Liming; Li, Wenbo; Zhu, Jian-Kang; Zhu, Jianhua

2011-01-01

Osmotic stress activates the biosynthesis of abscisic acid (ABA). One major step in ABA biosynthesis is the carotenoid cleavage catalyzed by a 9-cis epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED). To understand the mechanism for osmotic stress activation of ABA

Measurement of water filtration in skeletal muscle in man by an osmotic transient method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Palm, T; Nielsen, S L; Lassen, N A

1983-01-01

Water filtration in the human forearm was determined with a new method using a hyperoncotic transient of albumin solution infused into the brachial artery. Baseline dilution of labelled albumin in deep forearm vein plasma in excess of the contribution from arterial blood and from infusate...... was assumed to originate from extravascular water filtered into the blood by the transient. The filtration coefficient (Fc) was determined as the ratio between filtered water and increase in colloid osmotic pressure in the blood samples, and gives the filtrative water permeability in the exchange areas...... muscles, but it is of the same order of magnitude as the capillary filtration coefficient (CFC) determined plethysmographically for the entire forearm by the venous stasis technique....

Rational approximation of vertical segments

Science.gov (United States)

Salazar Celis, Oliver; Cuyt, Annie; Verdonk, Brigitte

2007-08-01

In many applications, observations are prone to imprecise measurements. When constructing a model based on such data, an approximation rather than an interpolation approach is needed. Very often a least squares approximation is used. Here we follow a different approach. A natural way for dealing with uncertainty in the data is by means of an uncertainty interval. We assume that the uncertainty in the independent variables is negligible and that for each observation an uncertainty interval can be given which contains the (unknown) exact value. To approximate such data we look for functions which intersect all uncertainty intervals. In the past this problem has been studied for polynomials, or more generally for functions which are linear in the unknown coefficients. Here we study the problem for a particular class of functions which are nonlinear in the unknown coefficients, namely rational functions. We show how to reduce the problem to a quadratic programming problem with a strictly convex objective function, yielding a unique rational function which intersects all uncertainty intervals and satisfies some additional properties. Compared to rational least squares approximation which reduces to a nonlinear optimization problem where the objective function may have many local minima, this makes the new approach attractive.

Artificial neural network and response surface methodology modeling in mass transfer parameters predictions during osmotic dehydration of Carica papaya L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Prakash Maran

2013-09-01

Full Text Available In this study, a comparative approach was made between artificial neural network (ANN and response surface methodology (RSM to predict the mass transfer parameters of osmotic dehydration of papaya. The effects of process variables such as temperature, osmotic solution concentration and agitation speed on water loss, weight reduction, and solid gain during osmotic dehydration were investigated using a three-level three-factor Box-Behnken experimental design. Same design was utilized to train a feed-forward multilayered perceptron (MLP ANN with back-propagation algorithm. The predictive capabilities of the two methodologies were compared in terms of root mean square error (RMSE, mean absolute error (MAE, standard error of prediction (SEP, model predictive error (MPE, chi square statistic (χ2, and coefficient of determination (R2 based on the validation data set. The results showed that properly trained ANN model is found to be more accurate in prediction as compared to RSM model.

Analysis of unsaturated clayey materials hydration incorporating the effect of thermo-osmotic flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanchez, M.; Arson, C.

2012-01-01

Document available in extended abstract form only. The hydraulic gradient is the main physical phenomenon influencing the movement of water in permeable porous media. It is, however, not the only one. Figure 1 presents the main kinds of flow that can occur in a porous media alongside with the corresponding gradient responsible for the movements. The word 'law' is generally used for the diagonal terms associated with the direct flow phenomena, and the name 'effect' is reserved to the non-diagonal ones, called also 'coupled processes'. Lippmann (1907) discovered and named the phenomenon of thermo-osmosis. He discovered it experimentally by separating a volume of water into two parts by means of a membrane. Different temperatures were held in the two regions of the system. The thermal gradient caused a flow of water through the membrane from the cold to the hot side. In permeable reservoirs, the non-diagonal coefficients are relatively small and negligible compared to the diagonal terms. That is the reason why the coupled processes are generally ignored when analyzing problems in aquifers. However, in non-isothermal problems involving low permeability media and/or low hydraulic gradients thermo-osmosis may play a more influential role. Srivastava and Avasthi (1975) and Horseman and McEwen (1996) showed that water flux due to thermo-osmosis can easily exceed Darcy flux in low permeability clays. The 'phenomenological coefficient' that links each flow with the corresponding driving gradient must be measured experimentally. Accounting for thermo-osmosis is assuming that the transport of heat may modify the transport of fluids. The counterpart phenomenon of thermo-osmosis is thermo-filtration, which reflects the influence of a pressure gradient on heat flow. Thermo-osmosis and thermo-filtration are generally formulated as reciprocal relations, so that the coupled conductivity terms related to each phenomenon are set equal. Thermo-osmotic effects have been studied in the

21 CFR 864.6600 - Osmotic fragility test.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Osmotic fragility test. 864.6600 Section 864.6600 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES HEMATOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY DEVICES Manual Hematology Devices § 864.6600 Osmotic fragility...

Osmotic effects of polyethylene glycol.

Science.gov (United States)

Schiller, L R; Emmett, M; Santa Ana, C A; Fordtran, J S

1988-04-01

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been used to increase the osmotic pressure of fluids used to cleanse the gastrointestinal tract. However, little is known about its osmotic activity. To investigate this activity systematically, solutions of PEG of differing molecular weights were made and subjected to measurement of osmolality by both freezing point depression and vapor pressure osmometry. Measured osmolality was increasingly greater than predicted from average molecular weight as PEG concentration increased. Measurement of sodium activity in NaCl/PEG solutions by means of an ion-selective electrode suggested that the higher than expected osmolality could be due in part to interactions that, in effect, sequestered water from the solution. Osmolality was consistently greater by freezing point osmometry than by vapor pressure osmometry. To determine which osmometry method reflected biologically relevant osmolality, normal subjects underwent steady-state total gut perfusion with an electrolyte solution containing 105 g/L of PEG 3350. This produced rectal effluent that was hypertonic by freezing point osmometry but isotonic by vapor pressure osmometry. Assuming that luminal fluid reaches osmotic equilibrium with plasma during total gut perfusion, this result suggests that the vapor pressure osmometer accurately reflects the biologically relevant osmolality of intestinal contents. We conclude that PEG exerts more of an osmotic effect than would be predicted from its molecular weight. This phenomenon may reflect interactions between PEG and water molecules that alter the physical chemistry of the solution and sequester water from the solution.

Osmotic homeostasis and NKLy lymphoma cells radiosensitivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tishchenko, V.V.; Magda, I.N.

1992-01-01

In experiments with cells of ascites NKLy lymphoma differing in ploidy and position in the cell cycle, a study was made of the radiosensitivity, osmotic homeostasis peculiarities and thermoradiation changes in potassium content. It was shown that the resistance of osmotic homeostasis of NKLy cells to thermoradiation correlated with their radioresistance

Increased Resistance to osmotic lysis of sickled erythrocytes ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

treated with CNw had significantly reduced osmotic lysis when compared with the untreated set (P<0.05, respectively) at various hypotonic NaCl concentrations. Various Hb genotypes exhibited a graded increase in osmotic pressure lysis in ...

Structure and osmotic pressure of ionic microgel dispersions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hedrick, Mary M. [Department of Physics, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota 58108-6050 (United States); Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota 58108-6050 (United States); Chung, Jun Kyung; Denton, Alan R., E-mail: alan.denton@ndsu.edu [Department of Physics, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota 58108-6050 (United States)

2015-01-21

We investigate structural and thermodynamic properties of aqueous dispersions of ionic microgels—soft colloidal gel particles that exhibit unusual phase behavior. Starting from a coarse-grained model of microgel macroions as charged spheres that are permeable to microions, we perform simulations and theoretical calculations using two complementary implementations of Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) theory. Within a one-component model, based on a linear-screening approximation for effective electrostatic pair interactions, we perform molecular dynamics simulations to compute macroion-macroion radial distribution functions, static structure factors, and macroion contributions to the osmotic pressure. For the same model, using a variational approximation for the free energy, we compute both macroion and microion contributions to the osmotic pressure. Within a spherical cell model, which neglects macroion correlations, we solve the nonlinear PB equation to compute microion distributions and osmotic pressures. By comparing the one-component and cell model implementations of PB theory, we demonstrate that the linear-screening approximation is valid for moderately charged microgels. By further comparing cell model predictions with simulation data for osmotic pressure, we chart the cell model’s limits in predicting osmotic pressures of salty dispersions.

Structure and osmotic pressure of ionic microgel dispersions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hedrick, Mary M.; Chung, Jun Kyung; Denton, Alan R.

2015-01-01

We investigate structural and thermodynamic properties of aqueous dispersions of ionic microgels—soft colloidal gel particles that exhibit unusual phase behavior. Starting from a coarse-grained model of microgel macroions as charged spheres that are permeable to microions, we perform simulations and theoretical calculations using two complementary implementations of Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) theory. Within a one-component model, based on a linear-screening approximation for effective electrostatic pair interactions, we perform molecular dynamics simulations to compute macroion-macroion radial distribution functions, static structure factors, and macroion contributions to the osmotic pressure. For the same model, using a variational approximation for the free energy, we compute both macroion and microion contributions to the osmotic pressure. Within a spherical cell model, which neglects macroion correlations, we solve the nonlinear PB equation to compute microion distributions and osmotic pressures. By comparing the one-component and cell model implementations of PB theory, we demonstrate that the linear-screening approximation is valid for moderately charged microgels. By further comparing cell model predictions with simulation data for osmotic pressure, we chart the cell model’s limits in predicting osmotic pressures of salty dispersions

Mechanism of actuation in conducting polymers: Osmotic expansion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bay, Lasse; Jacobsen, Torben; West, Keld

2001-01-01

Conducting polymers expand or contract when their redox state is changed. This expansion/contraction effect can be separated in an intrinsic part because of changes of the polymer backbone on reduction/oxidation and a part depending on the surrounding electrolyte phase, because of osmotic expansion...... is compared with measurements on PPy(DBS) films. The experiments show that the expansion decreases as the electrolyte concentration is increased. This means that a considerable part of the total expansion is due to the osmotic effect. The osmotic effect should be taken into account when interpreting...

Osmotic dehydration of some agro-food tissue pre-treated by pulsed electric field: Impact of impeller’s Reynolds number on mass transfer and color

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Amami

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Tissues of apple, carrot and banana were pre-treated by pulsed electric field (PEF and subsequently osmotically dehydrated in an agitated flask at ambient temperature using a 65% sucrose solution as osmotic medium. The effect of stirring intensity was investigated through water loss (WL and solid gain (SG. Changes in product color were also considered to analyze the impact of the treatment. The impeller’s Reynolds number was used to quantify the agitation. The Reynolds number remained inferior to 300 thus displaying laminar flow regime. Water loss (WL and solid gain (SG increase with the increase of Reynolds number. Mass transfer in osmotic dehydration of all three test particles has been studied on the basis of a two-exponential kinetic model. Then, mass transfer coefficients were related to the agitation intensity. This paper shows that the proposed empirical model is able to describe mass transfer phenomena in osmotic dehydration of these tissues. It is also shown that a higher agitation intensity improves both the kinetics of water loss and solid gain.

Drying and osmotic conditioning in Hancornia speciosa Gomes seeds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tathiana Elisa Masetto

Full Text Available Hancornia speciosa is a native tree species of the Brazilian Cerrado whose seeds are desiccation sensitive. In this study, we aimed to evaluate drying and osmotic conditioning in H. speciosa seeds. We used fresh seeds with 48% moisture content, which were slowly dried until they attained contents of 20%, 15%, 10% and 5%. To evaluate osmotic conditioning, the seeds were imbibed in 12 mL osmotic solutions at 0.0; -0.2; -0.4 and -0.6 MPa for two days. After that, they were dehydrated until their original moisture content. The experiments were carried out in a completely randomized design with four repetitions with 50 seeds each. Reduction in moisture content from 20% to 5% decreased the physiological potential of seeds. H. speciosa seeds do not require osmotic priming with PEG solutions, because imbibition of seeds in osmotic solutions of up to -0.6 MPa results in reduction of germination rate and seedling length.

Correcting bias in the rational polynomial coefficients of satellite imagery using thin-plate smoothing splines

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Xiang; Liu, Bin; Li, Qing-Quan

2017-03-01

The Rational Function Model (RFM) has proven to be a viable alternative to the rigorous sensor models used for geo-processing of high-resolution satellite imagery. Because of various errors in the satellite ephemeris and instrument calibration, the Rational Polynomial Coefficients (RPCs) supplied by image vendors are often not sufficiently accurate, and there is therefore a clear need to correct the systematic biases in order to meet the requirements of high-precision topographic mapping. In this paper, we propose a new RPC bias-correction method using the thin-plate spline modeling technique. Benefiting from its excellent performance and high flexibility in data fitting, the thin-plate spline model has the potential to remove complex distortions in vendor-provided RPCs, such as the errors caused by short-period orbital perturbations. The performance of the new method was evaluated by using Ziyuan-3 satellite images and was compared against the recently developed least-squares collocation approach, as well as the classical affine-transformation and quadratic-polynomial based methods. The results show that the accuracies of the thin-plate spline and the least-squares collocation approaches were better than the other two methods, which indicates that strong non-rigid deformations exist in the test data because they cannot be adequately modeled by simple polynomial-based methods. The performance of the thin-plate spline method was close to that of the least-squares collocation approach when only a few Ground Control Points (GCPs) were used, and it improved more rapidly with an increase in the number of redundant observations. In the test scenario using 21 GCPs (some of them located at the four corners of the scene), the correction residuals of the thin-plate spline method were about 36%, 37%, and 19% smaller than those of the affine transformation method, the quadratic polynomial method, and the least-squares collocation algorithm, respectively, which demonstrates

Enhanced monoclonal antibody production by gradual increase of osmotic pressure

OpenAIRE

Lin, Jianqiang; Takagi, Mutsumi; Qu, Yinbo; Gao, Peiji; Yoshida, Toshiomi

1999-01-01

The time length required for the adaptation of AFP-27 hybridoma cells to high osmotic pressure and the effect of a gradual increase of osmotic pressure on monoclonal antibody production were investigated. When the cells were subjected to an increase of osmotic pressure from 300 mOsmol kg-1 to 366 mOsmol kg- 1, the intracellular content of osmoprotective free amino acids reached a maximum level 6 h after the osmotic pressure was increased to 366 mOsmol kg-1. The same time period of 6 h incubat...

Plant response to sunflower seeds to osmotic conditioning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Camila Santos Barros de Morais

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of seeds osmotic conditioning in seedlings emergence and plants performance of sunflower. Three lots of seeds sunflower (Catissol, was submited to osmotic conditioning with polyethylene glycol solution, –2,0 MPa in aerated system, under 15 ºC for 8 hour and then was evaluated for germination tests and vigour. Under filed conditions was conducted emergency evaluations of seedling, plants development as well as the productivity and seeds quality, and the accumulation of nutrients in the seeds. The osmotic conditioning improve the survival of seedling, the dry matter mass to aerial part of plants from 60 days after sowing and oil content, in lots with low seeds physiological quality. The osmotic conditioning not increase the seeds yield but promotes the vigour of seeds produced, regardless of the lot used for sowing seeds.

Modelling the Thin-Layer Drying Kinetics of Untreated and Blanch-Osmotic Pre-treated Tomato Slices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samuel Enahoro Agarry

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of pre-treatment and drying temperature on the drying kinetics and nutritional quality of tomato (Lycopersicon esculantum L. under hot air drying. Tomato samples were blanched at 80oC and osmotically dehydrated using 20% w/w sodium chloride solutions at 30oC for 20 min. The blanch-osmotic pre-treated and untreated tomato slices were dried at temperature of 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80oC, respectively in a hot air-dryer. The results showed that blanch-osmotic pre-treatment offered a higher drying rate and lower or faster drying time than untreated condition. The tomato drying regime was characteristically in the constant and falling rate period. The tomato drying rate curve showed characteristics of porous hygroscopic solids. The optimum drying temperature for tomato was found to be 60oC. Four semi-empirical drying models of Newton, Page, Henderson and Pabis, and Logarithmic were fitted to the drying data using non-linear regression analysis. The most appropriate model was selected using the coefficient of determination (R2 and root mean square error (RMSE. The Page model has shown a better fit to the drying kinetics data of tomato in comparison with other tested models. Transport of moisture during drying was described by Fick’s diffusion model application and the effective moisture diffusivity (Deff thus estimated. The Deff at 60oC was 4.43 × 10-11m2/s and 6.33 × 10-11m2/s for blanch-osmotic pre-treated and untreated tomato slices, respectively.

Solute activity coefficients in dilute aqueous electrolyte mixutes. III. The ternary system HCLO4 + UO2(CLO4)2 + H2O at 250C

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyd, G.E.

1977-01-01

Isopiestic vapor pressure comparison measurements were conducted with the three-component system HClO 4 + UO 2 (ClO 4 ) 2 + H 2 O in the concentration range between I = 0.05 and 1.9 m. Analysis of the mixture composition and concentration dependence of the osmotic coefficients with the Scatchard neutral-electrolyte and ion-component methods and with the Pitzer ion-component methods gave equally satisfactory results. Prediction of the observed osmotic coefficients by two-component approximations was satisfactory, and the data agreed well with values estimated with a model based on the osmolal fraction. A fair concordance was also found between predicted solute activity coefficients from simple models and values derived from complete treatments which included interaction terms

Improved Erythrocyte Osmotic Fragility and Packed Cell Volume ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Improved Erythrocyte Osmotic Fragility and Packed Cell Volume following administration of Aloe barbadensis Juice Extract in Rats. ... Abstract. Aloe barbadensis is a popular house plant that has a long history of a multipurpose folk remedy. ... Keywords: osmotic fragility, packed cell volume, haemoglobin, Aloe vera ...

Testing exact rational expectations in cointegrated vector autoregressive models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Søren; Swensen, Anders Rygh

1999-01-01

This paper considers the testing of restrictions implied by rational expectations hypotheses in a cointegrated vector autoregressive model for I(1) variables. If the rational expectations involve one-step-ahead observations only and the coefficients are known, an explicit parameterization...... of the restrictions is found, and the maximum-likelihood estimator is derived by regression and reduced rank regression. An application is given to a present value model....

New Osmosis Law and Theory: the New Formula that Replaces van't Hoff Osmotic Pressure Equation

OpenAIRE

Huang, Hung-Chung; Xie, Rongqing

2012-01-01

This article derived a new abstract concept from the osmotic process and concluded it via "osmotic force" with a new law -- "osmotic law". The "osmotic law" describes that, in an osmotic system, osmolyte moves osmotically from the side with higher "osmotic force" to the side with lower "osmotic force". In addition, it was proved mathematically that the osmotic process could be explained perfectly via "osmotic force" and "osmotic laws", which can prevent the difficulties in using current "osmo...

Activity coefficients from molecular simulations using the OPAS method

Science.gov (United States)

Kohns, Maximilian; Horsch, Martin; Hasse, Hans

2017-10-01

A method for determining activity coefficients by molecular dynamics simulations is presented. It is an extension of the OPAS (osmotic pressure for the activity of the solvent) method in previous work for studying the solvent activity in electrolyte solutions. That method is extended here to study activities of all components in mixtures of molecular species. As an example, activity coefficients in liquid mixtures of water and methanol are calculated for 298.15 K and 323.15 K at 1 bar using molecular models from the literature. These dense and strongly interacting mixtures pose a significant challenge to existing methods for determining activity coefficients by molecular simulation. It is shown that the new method yields accurate results for the activity coefficients which are in agreement with results obtained with a thermodynamic integration technique. As the partial molar volumes are needed in the proposed method, the molar excess volume of the system water + methanol is also investigated.

Mass transfer kinetics during osmotic dehydration of pomegranate arils.

Science.gov (United States)

Mundada, Manoj; Hathan, Bahadur Singh; Maske, Swati

2011-01-01

The mass transfer kinetics during osmotic dehydration of pomegranate arils in osmotic solution of sucrose was studied to increase palatability and shelf life of arils. The freezing of the whole pomegranate at -18 °C was carried out prior to osmotic dehydration to increase the permeability of the outer cellular layer of the arils. The osmotic solution concentrations used were 40, 50, 60°Bx, osmotic solution temperatures were 35, 45, 55 °C. The fruit to solution ratio was kept 1:4 (w/w) during all the experiments and the process duration varied from 0 to 240 min. Azuara model and Peleg model were the best fitted as compared to other models for water loss and solute gain of pomegranate arils, respectively. Generalized Exponential Model had an excellent fit for water loss ratio and solute gain ratio of pomegranate arils. Effective moisture diffusivity of water as well as solute was estimated using the analytical solution of Fick's law of diffusion. For above conditions of osmotic dehydration, average effective diffusivity of water loss and solute gain varied from 2.718 × 10(-10) to 5.124 × 10(-10) m(2)/s and 1.471 × 10(-10) to 5.147 × 10(-10) m(2)/s, respectively. The final product was successfully utilized in some nutritional formulations such as ice cream and bakery products.

Optimization of osmotic dehydration of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill. slices using Response Surface Methodology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Delgado

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Osmotic dehydration of chestnut slices in sucrose was optimized for the first time by Response Surface Methodology (RSM. Experiments were planned according to a three-factor central composite design (α=1.68, studying the influence of sucrose concentration, temperature and time, on the following parameters: volume ratio, water activity, color variation, weight reduction, solids gain, water loss and normalized moisture content, as well as total moisture, ash and fat contents. The experimental data was adequately fitted into second-order polynomial models with coefficients of determination (R2 from 0.716 to 0.976, adjusted-R2 values from 0.460 to 0.954, and non-significant lacks of fit. The optimal osmotic dehydration process conditions for maximum water loss and minimum solids gain and color variation were determined by the “Response Optimizer” option: 83% sucrose concentration, 20 °C and 9.2 hours. Thus, the best operational conditions corresponded to high sugar concentration and low temperature, improving energy saving and decreasing the process costs.

Efficiency of Osmotic Dehydration of Apples in Polyols Solutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Cichowska, Joanna; Żubernik, Joanna; Czyżewski, Jakub; Kowalska, Hanna; Witrowa-Rajchert, Dorota

2018-02-17

The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of selected compounds from the polyol group, as well as other saccharides, on the osmotic dehydration process of apples. The following alternative solutions were examined: erythritol, xylitol, maltitol, inulin and oligofructose. Efficiency of the osmotic dehydration process was evaluated based on the kinetics of the process, and through comparison of the results obtained during the application of a sucrose solution. This innovative research utilizes alternative solutions in osmotic pretreatment, which until now, have not been commonly used in fruit processing by researchers worldwide. Results indicate that erythritol and xylitol show stronger or similar efficiency to sucrose; however, the use of inulin, as well as oligofructose, was not satisfactory due to the insufficient, small osmotic driving forces of the process, and the low values of mass transfer parameters.

Osmotic virial coefficients for model protein and colloidal solutions: Importance of ensemble constraints in the analysis of light scattering data

Science.gov (United States)

Siderius, Daniel W.; Krekelberg, William P.; Roberts, Christopher J.; Shen, Vincent K.

2012-05-01

Protein-protein interactions in solution may be quantified by the osmotic second virial coefficient (OSVC), which can be measured by various experimental techniques including light scattering. Analysis of Rayleigh light scattering measurements from such experiments requires identification of a scattering volume and the thermodynamic constraints imposed on that volume, i.e., the statistical mechanical ensemble in which light scattering occurs. Depending on the set of constraints imposed on the scattering volume, one can obtain either an apparent OSVC, A2,app, or the true thermodynamic OSVC, {B_{22}^{osm}}, that is rigorously defined in solution theory [M. A. Blanco, E. Sahin, Y. Li, and C. J. Roberts, J. Chem. Phys. 134, 225103 (2011), 10.1063/1.3596726]. However, it is unclear to what extent A2,app and {B_{22}^{osm}} differ, which may have implications on the physical interpretation of OSVC measurements from light scattering experiments. In this paper, we use the multicomponent hard-sphere model and a well-known equation of state to directly compare A2,app and {B_{22}^{osm}}. Our results from the hard-sphere equation of state indicate that A2,app underestimates {B_{22}^{osm}}, but in a systematic manner that may be explained using fundamental thermodynamic expressions for the two OSVCs. The difference between A2,app and {B_{22}^{osm}} may be quantitatively significant, but may also be obscured in experimental application by statistical uncertainty or non-steric interactions. Consequently, the two OSVCs that arise in the analysis of light scattering measurements do formally differ, but in a manner that may not be detectable in actual application.

Inverse osmotic process for radioactive laundry waste

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ebara, K; Takahashi, S; Sugimoto, Y; Yusa, H; Hyakutake, H

1977-01-07

Purpose: To effectively recover the processing amount reduced in a continuous treatment. Method: Laundry waste containing radioactive substances discharged from a nuclear power plant is processed in an inverse osmotic process while adding starch digesting enzymes such as amylase and takadiastase, as well as soft spherical bodies such as sponge balls of a particle diameter capable of flowing in the flow of the liquid wastes along the inverse osmotic membrane pipe and having such a softness and roundness as not to damage the inverse osmotic membrane. This process can remove the floating materials such as thread dusts or hairs deposited on the membrane surface by the action of the soft elastic balls and remove paste or the like through decomposition by the digesting enzymes. Consequently, effective recovery can be attained for the reduced processing amount.

Osmotic stress tolerance in semi-terrestrial tardigrades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heidemann, Nanna W T; Smith, Daniel K.; Hygum, Thomas L.

2016-01-01

Little is known about ionic and osmotic stress tolerance in tardigrades. Here, we examine salt stress tolerance in Ramazzottius oberhaeuseri and Echiniscus testudo from Nivå (Denmark) and address whether limno-terrestrial tardigrades can enter a state of quiescence (osmobiosis) in the face of high......-ionic osmolytes as compared to NaCl. Ramazzottius oberhaeuseri furthermore readily regained activity following gradual increases in non-ionic osmolytes and NaCl of up to 2434 ± 28 and 1905 ± 3 mOsm kg−1, respectively, showing that short-term acclimation promoted salt stress tolerance. Our results suggest...... that the limno-terrestrial R. oberhaeuseri enters a state of quiescence in the face of high external osmotic pressure and that it, in this state, is highly tolerant of ionic and osmotic stress....

Modeling Ballasted Tracks for Runoff Coefficient C

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-01

In this study, the Regional Transportation District (RTD)s light rail tracks were modeled to determine the Rational Method : runoff coefficient, C, values corresponding to ballasted tracks. To accomplish this, a laboratory study utilizing a : rain...

Electro-osmotic and pressure-driven flow of viscoelastic fluids in microchannels: Analytical and semi-analytical solutions

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrás, L. L.; Afonso, A. M.; Alves, M. A.; Nóbrega, J. M.; Pinho, F. T.

2016-09-01

In this work, we present a series of solutions for combined electro-osmotic and pressure-driven flows of viscoelastic fluids in microchannels. The solutions are semi-analytical, a feature made possible by the use of the Debye-Hückel approximation for the electrokinetic fields, thus restricted to cases with small electric double-layers, in which the distance between the microfluidic device walls is at least one order of magnitude larger than the electric double-layer thickness. To describe the complex fluid rheology, several viscoelastic differential constitutive models were used, namely, the simplified Phan-Thien-Tanner model with linear, quadratic or exponential kernel for the stress coefficient function, the Johnson-Segalman model, and the Giesekus model. The results obtained illustrate the effects of the Weissenberg number, the Johnson-Segalman slip parameter, the Giesekus mobility parameter, and the relative strengths of the electro-osmotic and pressure gradient-driven forcings on the dynamics of these viscoelastic flows.

Rational points on elliptic curves

CERN Document Server

Silverman, Joseph H

2015-01-01

The theory of elliptic curves involves a pleasing blend of algebra, geometry, analysis, and number theory. This book stresses this interplay as it develops the basic theory, thereby providing an opportunity for advanced undergraduates to appreciate the unity of modern mathematics. At the same time, every effort has been made to use only methods and results commonly included in the undergraduate curriculum. This accessibility, the informal writing style, and a wealth of exercises make Rational Points on Elliptic Curves an ideal introduction for students at all levels who are interested in learning about Diophantine equations and arithmetic geometry. Most concretely, an elliptic curve is the set of zeroes of a cubic polynomial in two variables. If the polynomial has rational coefficients, then one can ask for a description of those zeroes whose coordinates are either integers or rational numbers. It is this number theoretic question that is the main subject of this book. Topics covered include the geometry and ...

Fecal osmotic gap and pH in experimental diarrhea of various causes.

Science.gov (United States)

Eherer, A J; Fordtran, J S

1992-08-01

Although the osmotic gap of fecal fluid is often used to distinguish osmotic diarrhea from secretory diarrhea, there has never been a scientific evaluation of the validity of this concept. Similarly, although a low fecal fluid pH value is used to indicate that diarrhea is mediated by carbohydrate malabsorption, the validity of this method is unproven. Therefore, in the present study, diarrhea was induced in normal subjects by different mechanisms and fecal fluid osmotic gap (using an assumed fecal fluid osmolality of 290 mOsm/kg) and pH were measured. In secretory diarrhea caused by phenolphthalein, the osmotic gap was always less than 50 mOsm/kg, whereas in osmotic diarrhea caused by polyethylene glycol, magnesium hydroxide, lactulose, and sorbitol, the osmotic gap always exceeded 50 mOsm/kg. In osmotic diarrhea caused by sodium sulfate, the fecal fluid osmotic gap was less than 50 mOsm/kg, but phenolphthalein-induced secretory diarrhea could be distinguished from sodium sulfate-induced osmotic diarrhea by the fecal chloride concentration. When diarrhea was caused by carbohydrate malabsorption (lactulose or sorbitol), the fecal fluid pH was always less than 5.6 and usually less than 5.3; by contrast, other causes of diarrhea rarely caused a fecal pH as low as 5.6 and never caused a pH less than 5.3. It is concluded that measurement of fecal fluid osmotic gap and pH can distinguish various mechanisms of experimental diarrhea in normal subjects. The concepts on which these tests are based are therefore verified experimentally.

Osmotic dehydration of fruit and berry raw materials in the food industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. A. Gribova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Osmotic dehydration has recently received more attention as an effective method of preserving fruits and berries. Osmosis is a simple process that facilitates the processing of fruits and berries in order to preserve the original characteristics, namely nutritional value and organoleptic properties: color, aroma and texture. Osmotic dehydration has found wide application in the preservation of food products, as the activity of water in fruits and berries decreases, in some of them up to 90% of water is contained. The process of osmotic dehydration with the help of various agents is less energy-intensive than the process of drying or freezing, since it can be processed at ambient temperature. Osmotic dehydration has potential advantages in preserving the quality of food and in maintaining healthy food for the food industry. Treatment includes dehydration of fruits and berries by an osmotic agent followed by dehydration in dry or frozen apparatus where the moisture content decreases and the product becomes more stable. This process is a partial dewatering process to provide improved product quality compared to conventional drying processes or freezing. The purpose of studying osmotic dehydration is to identify the advantages and disadvantages in the treatment of osmotic agents. Various aspects of osmotic dehydration technology are considered, namely the solutions used, the characteristics of solutions, the effect of variable processes and the qualitative characteristics of osmo-dehydrated products. Factors of osmotic dehydration that depend on the osmotic agent, concentration of solute, temperature, time, size, shape and compactness of the material, mixing and the ratio of the solution to the samples.

The effects of ultrasonic pretreatment and structural changes during the osmotic dehydration of the 'Starking' apple (Malus domestica Borkh)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosa-Mendoza, M. E.; Fernandez-Munoz, J. L.; Arjona-Roman, J. L.

2012-11-01

During the osmotic dehydration (OD) of fruit, the cell membrane displays a high resistance to mass transfer, thereby reducing the dehydration rate. To reduce thermal damage to cell membranes, alternative methods have recently been introduced to reduce the initial moisture content and/or modify the structure of fruit tissue. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of an ultrasound (US) pretreatment for OD on the effective diffusion coefficients and to observe the changes in the molecular structure of 'Starking' apple cubes by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) during a 3 h process using a 45 dregee Bx sucrose solution at 60 degree centigrade. In the pretreatment step, apple samples were immersed in an ultrasonic bath at 45 kHz for 20 min. The effective diffusion coefficients for water (Dew) and solids (Des) were calculated from the observed osmotic kinetics according to Fick's second law for the transient state. The solids coefficients were higher than the water coefficients in both processes due to the concentration difference (De = 7.7 × 10{sup -}9 and 9.7 × 10{sup -}9 m{sup 2} s{sup -}1 for ODUS). The structural changes were determined by FTIR by measuring the molecular vibration frequency for sucrose. The 1,500-900 cm{sup -}1 region of the infrared spectra was used to monitor the effect of sucrose concentration on fruit structure. We observed that the first bonds formed were C-H and C-O-C stretching (at 920 and 1,129 cm{sup -}1, respectively) in the sucrose skeleton and glycoside bonds among sucrose molecules. The water concentration affected the diffusion coefficient significantly due to its dependence on the physical structure of the food. (Author) 27 refs.

A Simple Membrane Osmometer System & Experiments that Quantitatively Measure Osmotic Pressure

Science.gov (United States)

Marvel, Stephen C.; Kepler, Megan V.

2009-01-01

It is important for students to be exposed to the concept of osmotic pressure. Understanding this concept lays the foundation for deeper discussions that lead to more theoretical aspects of water movement associated with the concepts of free energy, water potential, osmotic potential, pressure potential, and osmotic adjustment. The concept of…

Efficiency of Osmotic Dehydration of Apples in Polyols Solutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joanna Cichowska

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of selected compounds from the polyol group, as well as other saccharides, on the osmotic dehydration process of apples. The following alternative solutions were examined: erythritol, xylitol, maltitol, inulin and oligofructose. Efficiency of the osmotic dehydration process was evaluated based on the kinetics of the process, and through comparison of the results obtained during the application of a sucrose solution. This innovative research utilizes alternative solutions in osmotic pretreatment, which until now, have not been commonly used in fruit processing by researchers worldwide. Results indicate that erythritol and xylitol show stronger or similar efficiency to sucrose; however, the use of inulin, as well as oligofructose, was not satisfactory due to the insufficient, small osmotic driving forces of the process, and the low values of mass transfer parameters.

Inverse osmotic process for radioactive laundry waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ebara, Katsuya; Takahashi, Sankichi; Sugimoto, Yoshikazu; Yusa, Hideo; Hyakutake, Hiroshi.

1977-01-01

Purpose: To effectively recover the processing amount reduced in a continuous treatment. Method: Laundry waste containing radioactive substances discharged from a nuclear power plant is processed in an inverse osmotic process while adding starch digesting enzymes such as amylase and takadiastase, as well as soft spherical bodies such as sponge balls of a particle diameter capable of flowing in the flow of the liquid wastes along the inverse osmotic membrane pipe and having such a softness and roundness as not to damage the inverse osmotic membrane. This process can remove the floating materials such as thread dusts or hairs deposited on the membrane surface by the action of the soft elastic balls and remove paste or the like through decomposition by the digesting enzymes. Consequently, effective recovery can be attained for the reduced processing amount. (Furukawa, Y.)

Transcriptome Profiling of Watermelon Root in Response to Short-Term Osmotic Stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yongchao; Mo, Yanling; Yang, Xiaozheng; Zhang, Haifei; Wang, Yongqi; Li, Hao; Wei, Chunhua; Zhang, Xian

2016-01-01

Osmotic stress adversely affects the growth, fruit quality and yield of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai). Increasing the tolerance of watermelon to osmotic stress caused by factors such as high salt and water deficit is an effective way to improve crop survival in osmotic stress environments. Roots are important organs in water absorption and are involved in the initial response to osmosis stress; however, few studies have examined the underlying mechanism of tolerance to osmotic stress in watermelon roots. For better understanding of this mechanism, the inbred watermelon accession M08, which exhibits relatively high tolerance to water deficits, was treated with 20% polyethylene glycol (PEG) 6000. The root samples were harvested at 6 h after PEG treatment and untreated samples were used as controls. Transcriptome analyses were carried out by Illumina RNA sequencing. A total of 5246 differentially expressed genes were identified. Gene ontology enrichment and biochemical pathway analyses of these 5246 genes showed that short-term osmotic stress affected osmotic adjustment, signal transduction, hormone responses, cell division, cell cycle and ribosome, and M08 may repress root growth to adapt osmotic stress. The results of this study describe the watermelon root transcriptome under osmotic stress and propose new insight into watermelon root responses to osmotic stress at the transcriptome level. Accordingly, these results allow us to better understand the molecular mechanisms of watermelon in response to drought stress and will facilitate watermelon breeding projects to improve drought tolerance.

Electro-osmotic flows inside triangular microchannels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vocale, P; Spiga, M; Geri, M; Morini, G L

2014-01-01

This work presents a numerical investigation of both pure electro-osmotic and combined electro-osmotic/pressure-driven flows inside triangular microchannels. A finite element analysis has been adopted to solve the governing equations for the electric potential and the velocity field, accounting for a finite thickness of the electric double layer. The influence of non-dimensional parameters such as the aspect ratio of the cross-section, the electrokinetic diameter and the ratio of the pressure force to the electric force on the flow behavior has been investigated. Numerical results point out that the velocity field is significantly influenced by the aspect ratio of the cross section and the electrokinetic diameter. More specifically, the aspect ratio plays an important role in determining the maximum volumetric flow rate, while the electrokinetic diameter is crucial to establishing the range of pressures that may be sustained by the electro-osmotic flow. Numerical results are also compared with two correlations available in the literature which enable to assess the volumetric flow rate and the pressure head for microchannels featuring a rectangular, a trapezoidal or an elliptical cross-section.

Method of osmotic energy harvesting using responsive compounds and molecules

KAUST Repository

Hu, Xiao

2017-07-27

The present invention discloses and claims a more efficient and economical method and system for osmotic energy production and capture using responsive compounds and molecules. The present invention is an energy harvest system enabled by stimuli responsive draw solutions that are competent in terms of energy production, geographic location flexibility, and the affordable, efficient and economical production and delivery of osmotic power. Specifically, the present invention is a novel osmotic power system that uses stimuli responsive draw solutions, economically feasible larger permeable membranes, and low grade heat sources to deliver osmotic power more efficiently and economically with less negative environmental impact, greater power output, and located in more geographically diverse areas of the world than previously thought possible for supporting such a power source.

Quantified Effects of Late Pregnancy and Lactation on the Osmotic ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Quantified Effects of Late Pregnancy and Lactation on the Osmotic Stability of ... in the composition of erythrocyte membranes associated with the physiologic states. Keywords: Erythrocyteosmotic stability, osmotic fragility, late pregnancy, ...

Drying characteristics of osmotically pretreated cranberries : Energy and quality aspects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grabowski, S.; Marcotte, M. [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, St. Hyacinthe, PQ (Canada). Food Research and Development Centre; Poirier, M.; Kudra, T. [Natural Resources Canada, Varennes, PQ (Canada). CANMET Energy Technology Centre

2002-06-01

This paper presents the results of a study in which osmotically pretreated cranberries were dried. The osmotic treatment included dehydration and sugar infusion. The process involved pretreating halved cranberries in a standard osmotic solution followed by freeze-drying, vacuum-drying and air-drying in various dryers, such as cabinet-air-through, fluid bed, pulsed fluid bed, and vibrated fluid bed dryers. The intent was to identify the best drying technology. The comparison criteria selected were energy consumption and product quality. Product quality for freeze-dried berries was quantified based on anthocyanins content, rehydration ratio, color, and taste. Unit heat consumption could be used for selecting the drying method, as all other drying methods yielded similar but slightly lower quality products. The highest energy efficiency was obtained with the vibrated fluid bed and the pulsed fluid bed. It was noted that drying rates were reduced during the second drying period when sugar was infused into the cranberries during osmotic pretreatment, but the total energy consumption was reduced by osmotic dehydration. 22 refs., 1 tab., 5 figs.

Detection of osmotic damages in GRP boat hulls

Science.gov (United States)

Krstulović-Opara, L.; Domazet, Ž.; Garafulić, E.

2013-09-01

Infrared thermography as a tool of non-destructive testing is method enabling visualization and estimation of structural anomalies and differences in structure's topography. In presented paper problem of osmotic damage in submerged glass reinforced polymer structures is addressed. The osmotic damage can be detected by a simple humidity gauging, but for proper evaluation and estimation testing methods are restricted and hardly applicable. In this paper it is demonstrated that infrared thermography, based on estimation of heat wave propagation, can be used. Three methods are addressed; Pulsed thermography, Fast Fourier Transform and Continuous Morlet Wavelet. An additional image processing based on gradient approach is applied on all addressed methods. It is shown that the Continuous Morlet Wavelet is the most appropriate method for detection of osmotic damage.

Modeling osmotic salinity effects on yield characteristics of substrate-grown greenhouse crops

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sonneveld, C.; Bos, van den A.L.; Voogt, W.

2004-01-01

In a series of experiments with different osmotic potentials in the root environment, various vegetables, and ornamentals were grown in a substrate system. The osmotic potential was varied by addition of nutrients. Yield characteristics of the crop were related to the osmotic potential of the

PHOTOMETRIC EVIDENCE FOR THE OSMOTIC BEHAVIOR OF RAT LIVER MICROSOMES

Science.gov (United States)

Tedeschi, Henry; James, Joseph M.; Anthony, William

1963-01-01

Electron microscope observations are consistent with the interpretation that the elements of the endoplasmic reticulum are osmotically active in situ as well as after isolation. More recently, it has been reported that microsomal suspensions equilibrate almost completely with added C14-sucrose and that no osmotic behavior is evident from photometric data. These findings were considered at variance with the electron microscope data. However, equilibration with added label simply attests to a relatively high permeability, and, in addition, the photometric data need not be critical. Osmotic volume changes, measured photometrically, may be masked by concomitant events (e.g., changes in the refractive index of the test solutions at varying osmotic pressures, breakdown of the particles, and agglutination). For these reasons the photometric experiments were repeated. In this work, the reciprocal of optical density of microsomal suspensions was found to vary linearly with the reciprocal of concentration of the medium at constant refractive index. These changes probably correspond to osmotic volume changes, since the effect was found to be (a) independent of substance used and (b) osmotically reversible. The transmission of the suspension was found to vary with the refractive index of the medium, the concentration of particles, and the wavelength of incident light, according to relationships that are similar to or identical with those obtained for mitochondrial suspensions. PMID:14064105

Rational Homological Stability for Automorphisms of Manifolds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grey, Matthias

In this thesis we prove rational homological stability for the classifying spaces of the homotopy automorphisms and block di↵eomorphisms of iterated connected sums of products of spheres of a certain connectivity.The results in particular apply to the manifolds       Npg,q  = (#g(Sp x Sq)) - int...... with coefficients in the homology of the universal covering, which is studied using rational homology theory. The result for the block di↵eomorphisms is deduced from the homological stability for the homotopy automorphisms upon using Surgery theory. Themain theorems of this thesis extend the homological stability...

Use of osmotic dehydration to improve fruits and vegetables quality during processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Maftoonazad, Neda

2010-11-01

Osmotic treatment describes a preparation step to further processing of foods involving simultaneous transient moisture loss and solids gain when immersing in osmotic solutions, resulting in partial drying and improving the overall quality of food products. The different aspects of the osmotic dehydration (OD) technology namely the solutes employed, solutions characteristics used, process variables influence, as well as, the quality characteristics of the osmodehydrated products will be discussed in this review. As the process is carried out at mild temperatures and the moisture is removed by a liquid diffusion process, phase change that would be present in the other drying processes will be avoided, resulting in high quality products and may also lead to substantial energy savings. To optimize this process, modeling of the mass transfer phenomenon can improve high product quality. Several techniques such as microwave heating, vacuum, high pressure, pulsed electric field, etc. may be employed during or after osmotic treatment to enhance performance of the osmotic dehydration. Moreover new technologies used in osmotic dehydration will be discussed. Patents on osmotic dehydration of fruits and vegetables are also discussed in this article.

Physicochemical characteristics of guava “Paluma” submitted to osmotic dehydration

OpenAIRE

Roselene Ferreira Oliveira; Lia Mara Moterlle; Edmar Clemente

2014-01-01

The aim of this work was to evaluate the conservation post process osmotic of guava stored temperature at 5oC. Guava (Psidium guajava L.), red variety “Paluma” minimally processed by mild osmotic dehydration, were packaged in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and stored temperature at 5ºC. Non-treated guava, packed in PET trays, was used as control. The treatment used was osmotic dehydration in sucrose syrup at 60ºBrix and physicochemical determinations were pH, total soluble solids (TSS), tot...

Optimum condition of producing crisp osmotic banana using superheated steam puffing.

Science.gov (United States)

Tabtiang, Surapit; Prachayawarakorn, Somkiat; Soponronnarit, Somchart

2017-03-01

Puffing can improve textural property of snacks. Nevertheless, high temperature puffing accelerates non-enzymatic browning reactions. The osmotic treatment using sucrose solution potentially retards the browning, but the high amount of sucrose gain causes hard texture. The objective of this work was therefore to study the effects of osmotic time, puffing time and puffing temperature on banana qualities such as colour, shrinkage and textural property. The experimental results showed that puffing temperature, puffing time and osmotic time significantly affected colour, shrinkage and textual properties. The optimisation using response surface methodology was used for a trade-off between colour and textural properties. To obtain a good quality product, the puffed osmotic banana should be operated at the osmotic time of 43 min and puffing temperature of 220 °C and puffing time of 2 min. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Rational Choice Theory and Addiction Behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miloš Krstić

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to explore the construct of student satisfaction and analyze its relationship with student loyalty in the context of state and private universities. The rational choice theory assumes that, when deciding whether to consume some goods or not, consumers use analysis in order to estimate the values of individual preference indicators. From this point of view, there are risk and time preferences. The former show aversion to a risk and are expressed through the risk aversion coefficient, while the latter measure the degree of preference for present satisfaction in relation to the same satisfaction in the future. The degree of preference for present satisfaction regarding the same satisfaction in the future is expressed by the time preference rate. Smokers with a low time preference rate and high risk aversion coefficient level can be expected to be successful in cessation. The aim of this paper is to study smokers from the perspective of rational choice theory, in order to detect factors influencing their behavior. The study (investigation found that the significant factors for smokers’ behavior are: gender, age, education, risk aversion coefficient, and the time preference rate. Analysis of smokers’ behavior, with appropriate limits and qualifications, is a well-developed and highly effective tool for exploring and interpreting reality.

Asymptotic behaviour of a non-commutative rational series with a nonnegative linear representation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philippe Dumas

2007-01-01

Full Text Available We analyse the asymptotic behaviour in the mean of a non-commutative rational series, which originates from differential cryptanalysis, using tools from probability theory, and from analytic number theory. We derive a Fourier representation of a first-order summation function obtained by interpreting this rational series as a non-classical rational sequence via the octal numeration system. The method is applicable to a wide class of sequences rational with respect to a numeration system essentially under the condition that they admit a linear representation with nonnegative coefficients.

Osmotic stress upregulates the transcription of thiamine (vitamin B1 ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Osmotic stress upregulates the transcription of thiamine (vitamin B1) ... Oil palm's responses in terms of the expression profiles of these two thiamine biosynthesis genes to an osmotic stress inducer, polyethylene glycol ... from 32 Countries:.

Development of hyper osmotic resistant CHO host cells for enhanced antibody production.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamachi, Yasuharu; Omasa, Takeshi

2018-04-01

Cell culture platform processes are generally employed to shorten the duration of new product development. A fed-batch process with continuous feeding is a conventional platform process for monoclonal antibody production using Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. To establish a simplified platform process, the feeding method can be changed from continuous feed to bolus feed. However, this change induces a rapid increase of osmolality by the bolus addition of nutrients. The increased osmolality suppresses cell culture growth, and the final product concentration is decreased. In this study, osmotic resistant CHO host cells were developed to attain a high product concentration. To establish hyper osmotic resistant CHO host cells, CHO-S host cells were passaged long-term in a hyper osmotic basal medium. There were marked differences in cell growth of the original and established host cells under iso- (328 mOsm/kg) or hyper-osmolality (over 450 mOsm/kg) conditions. Cell growth of the original CHO host cells was markedly decreased by the induction of osmotic stress, whereas cell growth of the hyper osmotic resistant CHO host cells was not affected. The maximum viable cell concentration of hyper osmotic resistant CHO host cells was 132% of CHO-S host cells after the induction of osmotic stress. Moreover, the hyper osmotic resistant characteristic of established CHO host cells was maintained even after seven passages in iso-osmolality basal medium. The use of hyper osmotic resistance CHO host cells to create a monoclonal antibody production cell line might be a new approach to increase final antibody concentrations with a fed-batch process. Copyright © 2017 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Osmotic Compounds Enhance Antibiotic Efficacy against Acinetobacter baumannii Biofilm Communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Falghoush, Azeza; Beyenal, Haluk; Besser, Thomas E; Omsland, Anders; Call, Douglas R

2017-10-01

Biofilm-associated infections are a clinical challenge, in part because a hydrated matrix protects the bacterial community from antibiotics. Herein, we evaluated how different osmotic compounds (maltodextrin, sucrose, and polyethylene glycol [PEG]) enhance antibiotic efficacy against Acinetobacter baumannii biofilm communities. Established (24-h) test tube biofilms (strain ATCC 17978) were treated with osmotic compounds in the presence or absence of 10× the MIC of different antibiotics (50 μg/ml tobramycin, 20 μg/ml ciprofloxacin, 300 μg/ml chloramphenicol, 30 μg/ml nalidixic acid, or 100 μg/ml erythromycin). Combining antibiotics with hypertonic concentrations of the osmotic compounds for 24 h reduced the number of biofilm bacteria by 5 to 7 log ( P baumannii strains were similarly treated with 400-Da PEG and tobramycin, resulting in a mean 2.7-log reduction in recoverable bacteria compared with tobramycin treatment alone. Multivariate regression models with data from different osmotic compounds and nine antibiotics demonstrated that the benefit from combining hypertonic treatments with antibiotics is a function of antibiotic mass and lipophilicity ( r 2 > 0.82; P baumannii and Escherichia coli K-12. Augmenting topical antibiotic therapies with a low-mass hypertonic treatment may enhance the efficacy of antibiotics against wound biofilms, particularly when using low-mass hydrophilic antibiotics. IMPORTANCE Biofilms form a barrier that protects bacteria from environmental insults, including exposure to antibiotics. We demonstrated that multiple osmotic compounds can enhance antibiotic efficacy against Acinetobacter baumannii biofilm communities, but viscosity is a limiting factor, and the most effective compounds have lower molecular mass. The synergism between osmotic compounds and antibiotics is also dependent on the hydrophobicity and mass of the antibiotics. The statistical models presented herein provide a basis for predicting the optimal combination of

Effect of plasma colloid osmotic pressure on intraocular pressure during haemodialysis

OpenAIRE

Tokuyama, T.; Ikeda, T.; Sato, K.

1998-01-01

BACKGROUND—In a previous case report, it was shown that an increase in plasma colloid osmotic pressure induced by the removal of fluid during haemodialysis was instrumental in decreasing intraocular pressure. The relation between changes in intraocular pressure, plasma osmolarity, plasma colloid osmotic pressure, and body weight before and after haemodialysis is evaluated.
METHODS—Intraocular pressure, plasma osmolarity, plasma colloid osmotic pressure, and body weight were evaluated before a...

Osmotic Power: A Fresh Look at an Old Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Dugdale, Pam

2014-01-01

Electricity from osmotic pressure might seem a far-fetched idea but this article describes a prototype in Norway where the osmotic pressure generated between salt and fresh water drives a turbine. This idea was applied in a student investigation, where they were tasked with researching which alternative materials could be used for the…

An analysis of electro-osmotic and magnetohydrodynamic heat pipes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harrison, M.A.

1988-01-01

Mechanically simple methods of improving heat transport in heat pipes are investigated. These methods are electro-osmotic and magnetohydrodynamic augmentation. For the electro-osmotic case, a detailed electrokinetic model is used. The electrokinetic model used includes the effects of pore surface curvature and multiple ion diffusivities. The electrokinetic model is extended to approximate the effects of elevated temperature. When the electro-osmotic model is combined with a suitable heat-pipe model, it is found that the electro-osmotic pump should be a thin membrane. Arguments are provided that support the use of a volatile electrolyte. For the magnetohydrodynamic case, a brief investigation is provided. A quasi-one-dimensional hydromagnetic duct flow model is used. This hydromagnetic model is extended to approximate flow effects unique to heat pipes. When combined with a suitable heat pipe model, it is found that there is no performance gain for the case considered. In fact, there are serious pressure-distribution problems that have not been previously recognized. Potential solutions to these pressure-distribution problems are suggested

Fouling in Membrane Distillation, Osmotic Distillation and Osmotic Membrane Distillation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mourad Laqbaqbi

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Various membrane separation processes are being used for seawater desalination and treatment of wastewaters in order to deal with the worldwide water shortage problem. Different types of membranes of distinct morphologies, structures and physico-chemical characteristics are employed. Among the considered membrane technologies, membrane distillation (MD, osmotic distillation (OD and osmotic membrane distillation (OMD use porous and hydrophobic membranes for production of distilled water and/or concentration of wastewaters for recovery and recycling of valuable compounds. However, the efficiency of these technologies is hampered by fouling phenomena. This refers to the accumulation of organic/inorganic deposits including biological matter on the membrane surface and/or in the membrane pores. Fouling in MD, OD and OMD differs from that observed in electric and pressure-driven membrane processes such electrodialysis (ED, membrane capacitive deionization (MCD, reverse osmosis (RO, nanofiltration (NF, ultrafiltration (UF, microfiltration (MF, etc. Other than pore blockage, fouling in MD, OD and OMD increases the risk of membrane pores wetting and reduces therefore the quantity and quality of the produced water or the concentration efficiency of the process. This review deals with the observed fouling phenomena in MD, OD and OMD. It highlights different detected fouling types (organic fouling, inorganic fouling and biofouling, fouling characterization techniques as well as various methods of fouling reduction including pretreatment, membrane modification, membrane cleaning and antiscalants application.

USING COUPLING WEIGHTS AND RATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF BRAKE FORCES BETWEEN THE AXLES OF WHEELED VEHICLES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Kholodov

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The dependence of the coefficient of coupling weight-axle vehicles under braking and a ra-tional distribution coefficient of braking force to the front axle on the condition of maximum coupling weight.

The lateral intercellular space as osmotic coupling compartment in isotonic transport

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, E.H.; Willumsen, N.J.; Mobjerg, N.

2009-01-01

coupling of water absorption to ion flow is energized by lateral Na+/K+ pumps. We show that the theory accounts quantitatively for steady- and time dependent states of solute-coupled fluid uptake by toad skin epithelium. Our experimental results exclude definitively three alternative theories of epithelial......Solute-coupled water transport and isotonic transport are basic functions of low- and high-resistance epithelia. These functions are studied with the epithelium bathed on the two sides with physiological saline of similar composition. Hence, at transepithelial equilibrium water enters...... the epithelial cells from both sides, and with the reflection coefficient of tight junction being larger than that of the interspace basement membrane, all of the water leaves the epithelium through the interspace basement membrane. The common design of transporting epithelia leads to the theory that an osmotic...

Physicochemical characteristics of guava “Paluma” submitted to osmotic dehydration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roselene Ferreira Oliveira

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work was to evaluate the conservation post process osmotic of guava stored temperature at 5oC. Guava (Psidium guajava L., red variety “Paluma” minimally processed by mild osmotic dehydration, were packaged in polyethylene terephthalate (PET and stored temperature at 5ºC. Non-treated guava, packed in PET trays, was used as control. The treatment used was osmotic dehydration in sucrose syrup at 60ºBrix and physicochemical determinations were pH, total soluble solids (TSS, total titratable acidity (TTA, reducing sugars (RS, total sugars (TS and parameters related to colour read (a*, chroma (c*, yellow (b*, luminosity (L* of the fresh and osmotically dehydrated guava slices. The dehydrated fruits lost about 34.45% of water, concentrating contents of soluble solids, total and reducing sugars, when compared to control samples. The pH value remained around 3.76 for the OD fruits and 3.87 for the fresh fruits. The colour of the dehydrated fruits was more intense than the control samples’. The guava slices osmotic dehydration had 21 days of shelf life, showed physicochemical characteristics significantly superior to the control samples’, having a stable and high quality product as a result.

The effects of exogenous proline and osmotic stress on morpho ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

USER

2010-06-21

Jun 21, 2010 ... For evaluation of growth parameters of strawberry callus under osmotic stress and exogenous proline, embryonic calli were transferred to Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing four sucrose. (osmotic stress) treatments including 3, 6, 9 and 12% and various concentrations of exogenous L- proline ...

Osmotic actuation for microfluidic components in point-of-care applications

KAUST Repository

Chen, Yu-Chih

2013-01-01

We present a novel design of micropumps and valves driven by osmotic force for point-of-care applications. Although there have been significant progresses in microfluidic components and control devices such as fluidic diodes, switches, resonators and digital-to-analog converters, the ultimate power source still depends on bulky off-chip components, which are expensive and cannot be easily miniaturized. For point-of-care applications, it is critical to integrate all the components in a compact size at low cost. In this work, we report two key active components actuated by osmotic mechanism for total integrated microfluidic system. For the proof of concept, we have demonstrated valve actuation, which can maintain stable ON/OFF switching operations under 125 kPa back pressure. We have also implemented an osmotic pump, which can pump a high flow rate over 30 μL/min for longer than 30 minutes. The experimental data demonstrates the possibility and potential of applying osmotic actuation in point-of-care disposable microfluidics. © 2013 IEEE.

Osmotic dehydration of fish: principal component analysis

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Lončar Biljana Lj.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Osmotic treatment of the fish Carassius gibelio was studied in two osmotic solutions: ternary aqueous solution - S1, and sugar beet molasses - S2, at three solution temperatures of 10, 20 and 30oC, at atmospheric pressure. The aim was to examine the influence of type and concentration of the used hypertonic agent, temperature and immersion time on the water loss, solid gain, dry mater content, aw and content of minerals (Na, K, Ca and Mg. S2 solution has proven to be the best option according to all output variables.[ Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR 31055

The effects of exogenous proline and osmotic stress on morpho ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

For evaluation of growth parameters of strawberry callus under osmotic stress and exogenous proline, embryonic calli were transferred to Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing four sucrose (osmotic stress) treatments including 3, 6, 9 and 12% and various concentrations of exogenous Lproline (0, 2.5, 5 and 10 ...

Osmotic consolidation of suspensions and gels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, K.T.; Zukoski, C.F.

1994-01-01

An osmotic method for the consolidation of suspensions of ceramic particles is demonstrated. Concentrated solutions of poly(ethylene oxide) are separated from a suspension of ceramic particles by a semipermeable membrane, creating a gradient in solvent chemical potential. Solvent passes from the suspension into the polymer solution, lowering its free energy and consolidating the suspension. Dispersions of stable 8-nm hydrous zirconia particles were consolidated to over 47% by volume. Suspensions of α-alumina in three states of aggregation (dispersed, weakly flocculated, and strongly flocculated) were consolidated to densities greater than or equal to those produced in conventional pressure filtration. Moreover, the as-consolidated alumina bodies were partially drained of fluid during the osmotic consolidation process, producing cohesive partially dried bodies with improved handling characteristics

Recent experimental data may point to a greater role for osmotic pressures in the subsurface

Science.gov (United States)

Neuzil, C.E.; Provost, A.M.

2009-01-01

Uncertainty about the origin of anomalous fluid pressures in certain geologic settings has caused researchers to take a second look at osmosis, or flow driven by chemical potential differences, as a pressure‐generating process in the subsurface. Interest in geological osmosis has also increased because of an in situ experiment by Neuzil (2000) suggesting that Pierre Shale could generate large osmotic pressures when highly compacted. In the last few years, additional laboratory and in situ experiments have greatly increased the number of data on osmotic properties of argillaceous formations, but they have not been systematically examined. In this paper we compile these data and explore their implications for osmotic pressure generation in subsurface systems. Rather than base our analysis on osmotic efficiencies, which depend strongly on concentration, we calculated values of a quantity we term osmotic specific surface area (Aso) that, in principle, is a property of the porous medium only. The Aso values are consistent with a surprisingly broad spectrum of osmotic behavior in argillaceous formations, and all the formations tested exhibited at least a modest ability to generate osmotic pressure. It appears possible that under appropriate conditions some formations can be highly effective osmotic membranes able to generate osmotic pressures exceeding 30 MPa (3 km of head) at porosities as high as ∼0.1 and pressures exceeding 10 MPa at porosities as high as ∼0.2. These findings are difficult to reconcile with the lack of compelling field evidence for osmotic pressures, and we propose three explanations for the disparity: (1) Our analysis is flawed and argillaceous formations are less effective osmotic membranes than it suggests; (2) the necessary subsurface conditions, significant salinity differences within intact argillaceous formations, are rare; or (3) osmotic pressures are unlikely to be detected and are not recognized when encountered. The last possibility

Gene expression analysis in response to osmotic stimuli in the intervertebral disc with DNA microarray.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wenzhi; Li, Xu; Shang, Xifu; Zhao, Qichun; Hu, Yefeng; Xu, Xiang; He, Rui; Duan, Liqun; Zhang, Feng

2013-12-27

Intervertebral disc (IVD) cells experience a broad range of physicochemical stimuli under physiologic conditions, including alterations in their osmotic environment. At present, the molecular mechanisms underlying osmotic regulation in IVD cells are poorly understood. This study aims to screen genes affected by changes in osmotic pressure in cells of subjects aged 29 to 63 years old, with top-scoring pair (TSP) method. Gene expression data set GSE1648 was downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus database, including four hyper-osmotic stimuli samples, four iso-osmotic stimuli samples, and three hypo-osmotic stimuli samples. A novel, simple method, referred to as the TSP, was used in this study. Through this method, there was no need to perform data normalization and transformation before data analysis. A total of five pairs of genes ((CYP2A6, FNTB), (PRPF8, TARDBP), (RPS5, OAZ1), (SLC25A3, NPM1) and (CBX3, SRSF9)) were selected based on the TSP method. We inferred that all these genes might play important roles in response to osmotic stimuli and age in IVD cells. Additionally, hyper-osmotic and iso-osmotic stimuli conditions were adverse factors for IVD cells. We anticipate that our results will provide new thoughts and methods for the study of IVD disease.

Quantification of osmotic water transport in vivo using fluorescent albumin.

Science.gov (United States)

Morelle, Johann; Sow, Amadou; Vertommen, Didier; Jamar, François; Rippe, Bengt; Devuyst, Olivier

2014-10-15

Osmotic water transport across the peritoneal membrane is applied during peritoneal dialysis to remove the excess water accumulated in patients with end-stage renal disease. The discovery of aquaporin water channels and the generation of transgenic animals have stressed the need for novel and accurate methods to unravel molecular mechanisms of water permeability in vivo. Here, we describe the use of fluorescently labeled albumin as a reliable indicator of osmotic water transport across the peritoneal membrane in a well-established mouse model of peritoneal dialysis. After detailed evaluation of intraperitoneal tracer mass kinetics, the technique was validated against direct volumetry, considered as the gold standard. The pH-insensitive dye Alexa Fluor 555-albumin was applied to quantify osmotic water transport across the mouse peritoneal membrane resulting from modulating dialysate osmolality and genetic silencing of the water channel aquaporin-1 (AQP1). Quantification of osmotic water transport using Alexa Fluor 555-albumin closely correlated with direct volumetry and with estimations based on radioiodinated ((125)I) serum albumin (RISA). The low intraperitoneal pressure probably accounts for the negligible disappearance of the tracer from the peritoneal cavity in this model. Taken together, these data demonstrate the appropriateness of pH-insensitive Alexa Fluor 555-albumin as a practical and reliable intraperitoneal volume tracer to quantify osmotic water transport in vivo. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

Osmotic and Heat Stress Effects on Segmentation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julian Weiss

Full Text Available During vertebrate embryonic development, early skin, muscle, and bone progenitor populations organize into segments known as somites. Defects in this conserved process of segmentation lead to skeletal and muscular deformities, such as congenital scoliosis, a curvature of the spine caused by vertebral defects. Environmental stresses such as hypoxia or heat shock produce segmentation defects, and significantly increase the penetrance and severity of vertebral defects in genetically susceptible individuals. Here we show that a brief exposure to a high osmolarity solution causes reproducible segmentation defects in developing zebrafish (Danio rerio embryos. Both osmotic shock and heat shock produce border defects in a dose-dependent manner, with an increase in both frequency and severity of defects. We also show that osmotic treatment has a delayed effect on somite development, similar to that observed in heat shocked embryos. Our results establish osmotic shock as an alternate experimental model for stress, affecting segmentation in a manner comparable to other known environmental stressors. The similar effects of these two distinct environmental stressors support a model in which a variety of cellular stresses act through a related response pathway that leads to disturbances in the segmentation process.

Dependence of osmotic pressure on solution properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fritz, S.J.

1978-01-01

Hydrostatic pressure, temperature, salt concentration, and the chemical composition of the salt are parameters affecting solution properties. Pressure and temperature have little effect on osmosis, but osmotic pressure variations due to type of dissolved salt may be significant, especially at high concentrations. For a given salt solution, concentration variations cause large differences in osmotic pressure. A representative difference in concentration across a clay layer in a relatively shallow groundwater system might be 100 to 1,000 ppm. When expressed as ppm NaCl, this difference could cause a head difference of 0.8 to 8 meters of water if one of the rock bodies were closed to fluid escape

The Role of Superoxide Dismutase in Inducing of Wheat Seedlings Tolerance to Osmotic Shock

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oboznyi A.I.

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Influence of short-term hardening osmotic exposure (immersion in 1 M sucrose solution with subsequent transferring to distilled water for 20 min on the hydrogen peroxide generation and superoxide dismutase activity in wheat (Triticum aestivum L., cv. Elegiya seedlings and their tolerance to osmotic shock were investigated. During the initial 30 min after osmotic exposure, the increasing of hydrogen peroxide amount in roots and shoots (to a lesser extent was observed, but the resistance of the seedlings and superoxide dismutase (SOD activity decreased. Sometime later the decrease in hydrogen peroxide amount and the increase of seedlings tolerance to osmotic shock took place. SOD activity increased in 10 min after hardening osmotic exposure. Transient accumulation of hydrogen peroxide induced in this way was suppressed by the treatment of seedlings with sodium diethyldithiocarbamate (DDC, SOD inhibitor. DDC and hydrogen peroxide scavenger dimethylthiourea decreased positive hardening effect of osmotic exposure on the development of seedlings tolerance. It was concluded that SOD providing the generation of signal hydrogen peroxide pool took part in the induction of seedlings tolerance to osmotic shock development caused by preliminary hardening effect.

Osmotic generation of 'anomalous' fluid pressures in geological environments

Science.gov (United States)

Neuzii, C.E.

2000-01-01

Osmotic pressures are generated by differences in chemical potential of a solution across a membrane. But whether osmosis can have a significant effect on the pressure of fluids in geological environments has been controversial, because the membrane properties of geological media are poorly understood. 'Anomalous' pressures - large departures from hydrostatic pressure that are not explicable in terms of topographic or fluid-density effects are widely found in geological settings, and are commonly considered to result from processes that alter the pore or fluid volume, which in turn implies crustal changes happening at a rate too slow to observe directly. Yet if osmosis can explain some anomalies, there is no need to invoke such dynamic geological processes in those cases. Here I report results of a nine- year in situ measurement of fluid pressures and solute concentrations in shale that are consistent with the generation of large (up to 20 MPa) osmotic-pressure anomalies which could persist for tens of millions of years. Osmotic pressures of this magnitude and duration can explain many of the pressure anomalies observed in geological settings. The require, however, small shale porosity and large contrasts in the amount of dissolved solids in the pore waters - criteria that may help to distinguish between osmotic and crystal-dynamic origins of anomalous pressures.

The influence of ration size on energetics and nitrogen retention in tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skov, Peter Vilhelm; Duodu, Collins Prah; Adjei-Boateng, Daniel

2017-01-01

with ration size, feed conversion and protein retention were most efficient at ration sizes of 3%. Although the magnitude of the SDA response following feeding also increased with ration size, this was not proportionate to meal size. Therefore the metabolic cost of meal processing (SDA coefficient) was found......Proper nutrient management is essential for the environmental sustainability of aquaculture. While increasing daily rations generally may lead to improved growth rates, this does not necessarily mean that nutrients are utilized more efficiently. To investigate how ration size affects partitioning...... of dietary nutrient intake, the effects of meal size on growth and metabolism were examined in triplicate groups of adult Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) receiving daily rations corresponding to 1, 2, 3, or 4% of their biomass. While biomass gain and specific growth rates were positively correlated...

OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION KINETICS OF GUAVAS IN MALTOSE SOLUTIONS WITH CALCIUM SALT*

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S. DI S. MASTRANTONIO

2009-03-01

Full Text Available

The osmotic dehydration kinetics of guavas in maltose solutions at 40 and 60ºBrix, with addition of 0, 0.6 and 1.2% of calcium lactate was studied in this paper and the final product quality was evaluated. The experiments were carried out up to 60 hours and samples were taken for analysis at different times to evaluate guavas weight reduction, water loss and sugar gain and to characterize the product according to its texture and color. After 24 hours of process the mass transfer of water and sugar between the osmotic solution and the fruit was negligible, showing that process equilibrium was reached. The increase of sugar concentration in the osmotic solution showed strong influence on the dehydration process, increasing the water loss and reducing sugar gain. The presence of calcium ions in the osmotic solution also influenced the kinetics of mass transfer and showed a strong influence on fruit texture. Higher values of stress and strain at failure were obtained when calcium lactate was employed. The effect of the different osmotic treatments on the color parameters was also investigated and significant changes were observed in the values of chroma C* and hue H* due to sugar concentration and calcium addition.

Discrete-continuous bispectral operators and rational Darboux transformations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyallian, Carina; Portillo, Sofia

2010-01-01

In this Letter we construct examples of discrete-continuous bispectral operators obtained by rational Darboux transformations applied to a regular pseudo-difference operator with constant coefficients. Moreover, we give an explicit procedure to write down the differential operators involved in the bispectral situation corresponding to the pseudo-difference operator obtained by the Darboux process.

Neutral lipid production in Dunaliella salina during osmotic stress and adaptation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yao, Shuo; Lu, Jingquan; Sárossy, Zsuzsa

2016-01-01

The salt-tolerant green microalga Dunaliella salina can survive both hyper- and hypo-osmotic shock. Upon osmotic shock, the cells transiently and rapidly decreased or increased in size within minutes and slowly over hours acquired their original cell size and volume. Cell size distribution differs...... significantly in the cultures grown in the salinity range from 1.5 to 15 % NaCl. By using Nile Red fluorescence to detect neutral lipids, it became clear that only hyper-osmotic shock on cells induced transient neutral lipid appearance in D. salina, while those transferred from 9 to 15 % NaCl stimulated...

Standby Gasoline Rationing Plan. Contingency gasoline rationing regulations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1979-02-01

The Economic Regulatory Administration issues final rules with respect to standby gasoline rationing. The plan is designed for and would be used only in the event of a severe gasoline shortage. The plan provides that eligibility for ration allotments will be primarily on the basis of motor vehicle registrations. DOE will mail government ration checks to the parties named in a national vehicle registration file to be maintained by DOE. Ration recipients may cash these checks for ration coupons at various designated coupon issuance points. Retail outlets and other suppliers will be required to redeem the ration coupons received in exchange for gasoline sold. Supplemental gas will be given to high-priority activities. A ration banking system will be established with two separate and distinct of ration accounts: retail outlets and other suppliers will open redemption accounts for the deposit of redeemed ration rights; and individuals or firms may open ration rights accounts, which will operate in much the same manner as monetary checking accounts. A white market will be permitted for the sale of transfer of ration rights. A percentage of the total ration rights to be issued will be reserved for distribution to the states as a State Ration Reserve, to be used by the states primarily for the relief of hardship. A National Ration Reserave will also be established. All sections of the Standby Gasoline Rationing Regulations are analyzed. (MCW)

A review on controlled porosity osmotic pump tablets and its evaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chinmaya Keshari Sahoo

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Conventional drug delivery system provides an immediate release of drug which does not control the release of the drug and does not maintain effective concentration at target site for a longer period of time. Hence to avoid the shortcomings there is development of various controlled drug delivery systems. Among these osmotic drug delivery system (ODDS utilizes the principle of osmotic pressure and delivers drug dose in an optimized manner to maintain drug concentration within the therapeutic window and minimizes toxic effects. ODDS releases drug at a controlled rate that is independent of the pH and thermodynamics of dissolution medium. The release of drug from ODDS follows zero order kinetics. The release of drug from osmotic system depends upon various formulation factors such as solubility, osmotic pressure of the core components, size of the delivery orifice and nature of the rate controlling membrane. Controlled porosity osmotic pump (CPOP contains drug, osmogens, excipients in core and a coating of semipermeable membrane with water soluble additives. In CPOP water soluble additives dissolve after coming in contact with water, resulting in an in situ formation of a microporous membrane. The present study gives an idea about osmosis, CPOP, components of CPOP and its evaluation.

Cystic fibrosis airway secretions exhibit mucin hyperconcentration and increased osmotic pressure

Science.gov (United States)

Henderson, Ashley G.; Ehre, Camille; Button, Brian; Abdullah, Lubna H.; Cai, Li-Heng; Leigh, Margaret W.; DeMaria, Genevieve C.; Matsui, Hiro; Donaldson, Scott H.; Davis, C. William; Sheehan, John K.; Boucher, Richard C.; Kesimer, Mehmet

2014-01-01

The pathogenesis of mucoinfective lung disease in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients likely involves poor mucus clearance. A recent model of mucus clearance predicts that mucus flow depends on the relative mucin concentration of the mucus layer compared with that of the periciliary layer; however, mucin concentrations have been difficult to measure in CF secretions. Here, we have shown that the concentration of mucin in CF sputum is low when measured by immunologically based techniques, and mass spectrometric analyses of CF mucins revealed mucin cleavage at antibody recognition sites. Using physical size exclusion chromatography/differential refractometry (SEC/dRI) techniques, we determined that mucin concentrations in CF secretions were higher than those in normal secretions. Measurements of partial osmotic pressures revealed that the partial osmotic pressure of CF sputum and the retained mucus in excised CF lungs were substantially greater than the partial osmotic pressure of normal secretions. Our data reveal that mucin concentration cannot be accurately measured immunologically in proteolytically active CF secretions; mucins are hyperconcentrated in CF secretions; and CF secretion osmotic pressures predict mucus layer–dependent osmotic compression of the periciliary liquid layer in CF lungs. Consequently, mucin hypersecretion likely produces mucus stasis, which contributes to key infectious and inflammatory components of CF lung disease. PMID:24892808

Osmotic Effects in Sludge Dewatering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Keiding, Kristian; Rasmussen, Michael R.

2003-01-01

A model of filtration dewatering is presented. The model is based on the d’Arcy flow equation in which the resistance to filtration is described by the Corzeny–Carman equation and the driving force is the difference between the external pressure and the osmotic pressure of the filter cake. It has...

Recent development in osmotic dehydration of fruit and vegetables: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Chandra, Suresh; Kumari, Durvesh

2015-01-01

Osmotic dehydration of fruits and vegetables is achieved by placing the solid/semi solid, whole or in pieces, in a hypertonic solution (sugar and/or salt) with a simultaneous counter diffusion of solutes from the osmotic solution into the tissues. Osmotic dehydration is recommended as a processing method to obtain better quality of food products. Partial dehydration allows structural, nutritional, sensory, and other functional properties of the raw material to be modified. However, the food industry uptake of osmotic dehydration of foods has not been extensive as expected due to the poor understanding of the counter current flow phenomena associated with it. However, these flows are in a dynamic equilibrium with each other and significantly influence the final product in terms of preservation, nutrition, and organoleptic properties. The demand of healthy, natural, nutritious, and tasty processed food products continuously increases, not only for finished products, but also for ingredient to be included in complex foods such as ice cream, cereals, dairy, confectionaries, and bakery products.

A cellulose synthase-like protein is required for osmotic stress tolerance in Arabidopsis

KAUST Repository

Zhu, Jianhua

2010-04-16

Osmotic stress imposed by soil salinity and drought stress significantly affects plant growth and development, but osmotic stress sensing and tolerance mechanisms are not well understood. Forward genetic screens using a root-bending assay have previously identified salt overly sensitive (sos) mutants of Arabidopsis that fall into five loci, SOS1 to SOS5. These loci are required for the regulation of ion homeostasis or cell expansion under salt stress, but do not play a major role in plant tolerance to the osmotic stress component of soil salinity or drought. Here we report an additional sos mutant, sos6-1, which defines a locus essential for osmotic stress tolerance. sos6-1 plants are hypersensitive to salt stress and osmotic stress imposed by mannitol or polyethylene glycol in culture media or by water deficit in the soil. SOS6 encodes a cellulose synthase-like protein, AtCSLD5. Only modest differences in cell wall chemical composition could be detected, but we found that sos6-1 mutant plants accumulate high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) under osmotic stress and are hypersensitive to the oxidative stress reagent methyl viologen. The results suggest that SOS6/AtCSLD5 is not required for normal plant growth and development but has a critical role in osmotic stress tolerance and this function likely involves its regulation of ROS under stress. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The rate of hypo-osmotic challenge influences regulatory volume decrease (RVD) and mechanical properties of articular chondrocytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Z; Irianto, J; Kazun, S; Wang, W; Knight, M M

2015-02-01

Osteoarthritis (OA) is associated with a gradual reduction in the interstitial osmotic pressure within articular cartilage. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of sudden and gradual hypo-osmotic challenge on chondrocyte morphology and biomechanics. Bovine articular chondrocytes were exposed to a reduction in extracellular osmolality from 327 to 153 mOsmol/kg applied either suddenly (osmotic stress, 66% of chondrocytes exhibited an increase in diameter followed by RVD, whilst 25% showed no RVD. By contrast, cells exposed to gradual hypo-osmotic stress exhibited reduced cell swelling without subsequent RVD. There was an increase in the equilibrium modulus for cells exposed to sudden hypo-osmotic stress. However, gradual hypo-osmotic challenge had no effect on cell mechanical properties. This cell stiffening response to sudden hypo-osmotic challenge was abolished when actin organization was disrupted with cytochalasin D or RVD inhibited with REV5901. Both sudden and gradual hypo-osmotic challenge reduced cortical F-actin distribution and caused chromatin decondensation. Sudden hypo-osmotic challenge increases chondrocyte mechanics by activation of RVD and interaction with the actin cytoskeleton. Moreover, the rate of hypo-osmotic challenge is shown to have a profound effect on chondrocyte morphology and biomechanics. This important phenomenon needs to be considered when studying the response of chondrocytes to pathological hypo-osmotic stress. Copyright © 2014 Osteoarthritis Research Society International. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Plasma osmotic changes during major abdominal surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Malone, R A; McLeavey, C A; Arens, J F

1977-12-01

Fluid balance across the capillary membrane is maintained normally by a balance of hydrostatic and colloid osmotic pressures (COP). In 12 patients having major intra-abdominal procedures, the COP was followed during the operative and immediate postoperative periods. The patients' intraoperative fluid management consisted of replacing shed blood with blood and following Shires' concept of crystalloid replacement. Significant decreases in COP to approximately two thirds of the initial value occurred in patients having intra-abdominal procedures versus only a 10 percent decrease in those having peripheral procedures (greater than .001). As a result of this decrease in COP, the balance between hydrostatic and colloid osmotic pressures is lost and risk of pulmonary intersitial edema is increased.

Rationality of limited rationality : some aggregate implications

OpenAIRE

Uri M. Possen; Mikko Puhakka

1994-01-01

In this paper we let economic agents choose whether to become fully rational or stay boundedly rational. Boundedly rational agents are less sophisticated in their information processing abilities. It is costly to acquire information needed to become fully rational, and thus not all agents are willing to incur those costs. We then explore the aggregate effects of endogenizing the decision whether the agent should or should not become fully rational in handling information. Since fully and boun...

The quantum symmetry of rational conformal field theories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

César Gómez

1991-04-01

Full Text Available The quantum group symmetry of the c ˇ1 Rational Conformal Field Theory, in its Coulomb gas version, is formulated in terms of a new type of screened vertex operators, which define the representation spaces of a quantum group Q. The conformal properties of these operators show a deep interplay between the quantum group Q and the Virasoro algebra.The R-matrix, the comultiplication rules and the quantum Clebsch-Gordan coefficients of Q are obtained using contour deformation techniques. Finally, the relation between the chiral vertex operators and the quantum Clebsch-Gordan coefficients is shown.

Controlled porosity solubility modulated osmotic pump tablets of gliclazide.

Science.gov (United States)

Banerjee, Arti; Verma, P R P; Gore, Subhash

2015-06-01

A system that can deliver drug at a controlled rate is very important for the treatment of various chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, and heart disease. Poorly water-soluble drug with pH-dependent solubility such as gliclazide (GLZ) offers challenges in the controlled-release formulation because of low dissolution rate and poor bioavailability. Solid dispersion (SD) of GLZ consisted of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC-SSL) as a polymeric solubilizer was manufactured by hot melt extrusion (HME) technology. Then, controlled porosity osmotic pump (CPOP) tablet of gliclazide was designed to deliver drug in a controlled manner up to 16 h. The developed formulation was optimized for type and level of pore former and coating weight gain. The optimized formulation was found to exhibit zero order kinetics independent of pH and agitation speed but depends on osmotic pressure of dissolution media indicated that mechanism of drug release was osmotic pressure. The in vivo performance prediction of developed formulation using convolution approach revealed that the developed formulation was superior to the existing marketed extended-release formulation in terms of attaining steady state plasma levels and indicated adequate exposure in translating hypoglycemic response. The prototype solubilization method combined with controlled porosity osmotic pump based technique could provide a unique way to increase dissolution rate and bioavailability of many poorly water-soluble, narrow therapeutic index drugs used in diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc.

The osmotic stress response of split influenza vaccine particles in an acidic environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Hyo-Jick; Kim, Min-Chul; Kang, Sang-Moo; Montemagno, Carlo D

2014-12-01

Oral influenza vaccine provides an efficient means of preventing seasonal and pandemic disease. In this work, the stability of envelope-type split influenza vaccine particles in acidic environments has been investigated. Owing to the fact that hyper-osmotic stress can significantly affect lipid assembly of vaccine, osmotic stress-induced morphological change of split vaccine particles, in conjunction with structural change of antigenic proteins, was investigated by the use of stopped-flow light scattering (SFLS), intrinsic fluorescence, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and hemagglutination assay. Split vaccine particles were found to exhibit a step-wise morphological change in response to osmotic stress due to double-layered wall structure. The presence of hyper-osmotic stress in acidic medium (0.3 osmolarity, pH 2.0) induced a significant level of membrane perturbation as measured by SFLS and TEM, imposing more damage to antigenic proteins on vaccine envelope than can be caused by pH-induced conformational change at acidic iso-osmotic condition. Further supports were provided by the intrinsic fluorescence and hemagglutinin activity measurements. Thus, hyper-osmotic stress becomes an important factor for determining stability of split vaccine particles in acidic medium. These results are useful in better understanding the destabilizing mechanism of split influenza vaccine particles in gastric environment and in designing oral influenza vaccine formulations.

The effects of osmotic stress on the structure and function of the cell nucleus.

Science.gov (United States)

Finan, John D; Guilak, Farshid

2010-02-15

Osmotic stress is a potent regulator of the normal function of cells that are exposed to osmotically active environments under physiologic or pathologic conditions. The ability of cells to alter gene expression and metabolic activity in response to changes in the osmotic environment provides an additional regulatory mechanism for a diverse array of tissues and organs in the human body. In addition to the activation of various osmotically- or volume-activated ion channels, osmotic stress may also act on the genome via a direct biophysical pathway. Changes in extracellular osmolality alter cell volume, and therefore, the concentration of intracellular macromolecules. In turn, intracellular macromolecule concentration is a key physical parameter affecting the spatial organization and pressurization of the nucleus. Hyper-osmotic stress shrinks the nucleus and causes it to assume a convoluted shape, whereas hypo-osmotic stress swells the nucleus to a size that is limited by stretch of the nuclear lamina and induces a smooth, round shape of the nucleus. These behaviors are consistent with a model of the nucleus as a charged core/shell structure pressurized by uneven partition of macromolecules between the nucleoplasm and the cytoplasm. These osmotically-induced alterations in the internal structure and arrangement of chromatin, as well as potential changes in the nuclear membrane and pores are hypothesized to influence gene transcription and/or nucleocytoplasmic transport. A further understanding of the biophysical and biochemical mechanisms involved in these processes would have important ramifications for a range of fields including differentiation, migration, mechanotransduction, DNA repair, and tumorigenesis. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

On equations for the total suction and its matric and osmotic components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dao, Vinh N.T.; Morris, Peter H.; Dux, Peter F.

2008-01-01

A clear fundamental understanding of suctions is crucial for the study of the behaviour of plastic cement mortar and concrete, including plastic shrinkage cracking. In this paper, the expression relating the change in free energy of the pore water with an isothermal change in pressure is first derived. Based upon definitions of suctions, it is then shown that total, matric, and osmotic suctions can all be expressed in the same thermodynamic form. The widely accepted, but not yet satisfactorily validated, assumption that the total suction comprises matric and osmotic components is then confirmed theoretically. The well-known Kelvin equation for matric suction, and Morse and van't Hoff equations for osmotic suction are subsequently derived from the corresponding thermodynamic equations. The applicability of latter two equations in evaluating the osmotic suctions of cement mortar and concrete is highlighted

Expression profiling on soybean leaves reveals integration of ER- and osmotic-stress pathways

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dewey Ralph E

2007-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Despite the potential of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER stress response to accommodate adaptive pathways, its integration with other environmental-induced responses is poorly understood in plants. We have previously demonstrated that the ER-stress sensor binding protein (BiP from soybean exhibits an unusual response to drought. The members of the soybean BiP gene family are differentially regulated by osmotic stress and soybean BiP confers tolerance to drought. While these results may reflect crosstalk between the osmotic and ER-stress signaling pathways, the lack of mutants, transcriptional response profiles to stresses and genome sequence information of this relevant crop has limited our attempts to identify integrated networks between osmotic and ER stress-induced adaptive responses. As a fundamental step towards this goal, we performed global expression profiling on soybean leaves exposed to polyethylene glycol treatment (osmotic stress or to ER stress inducers. Results The up-regulated stress-specific changes unmasked the major branches of the ER-stress response, which include enhancing protein folding and degradation in the ER, as well as specific osmotically regulated changes linked to cellular responses induced by dehydration. However, a small proportion (5.5% of total up-regulated genes represented a shared response that seemed to integrate the two signaling pathways. These co-regulated genes were considered downstream targets based on similar induction kinetics and a synergistic response to the combination of osmotic- and ER-stress-inducing treatments. Genes in this integrated pathway with the strongest synergistic induction encoded proteins with diverse roles, such as plant-specific development and cell death (DCD domain-containing proteins, an ubiquitin-associated (UBA protein homolog and NAC domain-containing proteins. This integrated pathway diverged further from characterized specific branches of ER-stress as

Folding propensity of intrinsically disordered proteins by osmotic stress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mansouri, Amanda L.; Grese, Laura N.; Rowe, Erica L.

2016-01-01

Proteins imparted with intrinsic disorder conduct a range of essential cellular functions. To better understand the folding and hydration properties of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), we used osmotic stress to induce conformational changes in nuclear co-activator binding domain (NCBD) and activator for thyroid hormone and retinoid receptor (ACTR). Osmotic stress was applied by the addition of small and polymeric osmolytes, where we discovered that water contributions to NCBD folding always exceeded those for ACTR. Both NCBD and ACTR were found to gain a-helical structure with increasing osmotic stress, consistent with their folding upon NCBD/ACTR complex formation. Using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), we further characterized NCBD structural changes with the osmolyte ethylene glycol. Here a large reduction in overall size initially occurred before substantial secondary structural change. In conclusion, by focusing on folding propensity, and linked hydration changes, we uncover new insights that may be important for how IDP folding contributes to binding.

The error analysis of the determination of the activity coefficients via the isopiestic method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Jun; Chen Qiyuan; Fang Zheng; Liang Yizeng; Liu Shijun; Zhou Yong

2005-01-01

Error analysis is very important to experimental designs. The error analysis of the determination of activity coefficients for a binary system via the isopiestic method shows that the error sources include not only the experimental errors of the analyzed molalities and the measured osmotic coefficients, but also the deviation of the regressed values from the experimental data when the regression function is used. It also shows that the accurate chemical analysis of the molality of the test solution is important, and it is preferable to keep the error of the measured osmotic coefficients changeless in all isopiestic experiments including those experiments on the very dilute solutions. The isopiestic experiments on the dilute solutions are very important, and the lowest molality should be low enough so that a theoretical method can be used below the lowest molality. And it is necessary that the isopiestic experiment should be done on the test solutions of lower than 0.1 mol . kg -1 . For most electrolytes solutions, it is usually preferable to require the lowest molality to be less than 0.05 mol . kg -1 . Moreover, the experimental molalities of the test solutions should be firstly arranged by keeping the interval of the logarithms of the molalities nearly constant, and secondly more number of high molalities should be arranged, and we propose to arrange the experimental molalities greater than 1 mol . kg -1 according to some kind of the arithmetical progression of the intervals of the molalities. After experiments, the error of the calculated activity coefficients of the solutes could be calculated from the actually values of the errors of the measured isopiestic molalities and the deviations of the regressed values from the experimental values with our obtained equations

Experimental Support for a Predictive Osmotic Model of Clay Membranes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fritz, S.J.

2001-01-01

Osmosis has been cited as a mechanism for explaining anomalously high fluid pressures in the subsurface. Clays and shales act as membranes, and osmotic flux across these units may result in pressures sufficiently high to explain these anomalies. The theoretical osmotic pressures as calculated solely from solution properties can be quite large; however, it is not yet resolved whether these geologic membranes are sufficiently ideal to generate such pressures

SAXS investigations on lipid membranes under osmotic stress

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rubim, R.L.; Vieira, V.; Gerbelli, B.B.; Teixeira da Silva, E.R.; Oliveira, C.L.P.; Oliveira, E.A. [Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil)

2012-07-01

Full text: In this work we, experimentally, investigate the interactions between lipid bilayers. A structural characterization is performed by small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) on multilamellar systems under known osmotic pressure. Changes in the composition of membranes can modify their mechanical properties and structural parameters, like the flexibility of these membranes, which plays a key role on the determination of the tridimensional organization of bilayers. The membranes are composed of soya lecithin, where the major component is DPPC (Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine), and fatty acids are incorporated to the membrane in different concentrations, in order to turn the membrane more fluid. The membranes are inserted in a solution of PVP [poly(vinyl-pyrrolidone) - 40000] and the polymer will apply an osmotic pressure on them. The osmotic pressure is controlled by preparing PVP solutions of desired composition and, as we know the concentration of polymer in solution, we can obtain the intensity of the osmotic pressure. SAXS experiments were done in order to determine the distance between the bilayer. From the position of the Bragg peaks, the lamellar periodicity (the thickness of the membranes plus their distance of separation) was determined. Using theoretical model for the form and structure factors we fitted those experimental data and determined the thickness of the membranes. The distance between the membranes was controlled by the osmotic pressure (P) applied to the membranes and, for a given pressure, we determine the distance between the bilayers (a) on equilibrium. The experimental curve P(a) is theoretically described by the different contributions from van der Waals, hydration and fluctuation forces. From the fitting of experimental curves, relevant parameters characterizing the strength of the different interactions are obtained, such as Hamaker and rigidity constant [2, 3]. We observe that the separation between the bilayers on equilibrium is

A micropuncture study of proximal tubular transport of lithium during osmotic diuresis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leyssac, P P; Holstein-Rathlou, N H; Skøtt, P

1990-01-01

Lithium and sodium are normally reabsorbed in parallel with water by the renal proximal tubule whereby their tubular fluid-to-plasma concentration ratios (TF/P) remain close to unity throughout the proximal convoluted segment. During osmotic diuresis, the late proximal (TF/P)Na is known to decrease....... The present experiments were undertaken to study whether the late proximal TF/P for Li decreases like that of Na during osmotic diuresis. Data were obtained in a control period (C) and in two successive periods during mannitol diuresis (P1, P2). Glomerular filtration rate decreased gradually during osmotic...

Recommendation to use iso-osmotic contrast medium in interventional treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Bing; Cheng Yongde

2012-01-01

With the rapid development of imaging diagnostic and interventional therapeutic techniques, the contrast medium (CM) has been used more and more common in clinical practice, and meanwhile more and more attention has been paid to the CM-related adverse events. Contrast induced nephropathy (CN) is the most common CM-related adverse event, and CM-related neurotoxicity has already attracted the physicians' attention. The osmotic pressure of the iso-osmotic contrast medium (IOCM) is quite the same as that of the plasma, and therefore its safety is higher than that of low-osmotic contrast medium (LOCM), the patient's tolerance to IOCM is better than that to LOCM. For this reason, the use of IOCM should be strongly recommended in interventional procedures, which is of great significance to the reduction of the occurrence of CM-related adverse events. (authors)

The Arabidopsis Vacuolar Sorting Receptor1 Is Required for Osmotic Stress-Induced Abscisic Acid Biosynthesis

KAUST Repository

Wang, Zhen-Yu; Gehring, Christoph A; Zhu, Jianhua; Li, Feng-Min; Zhu, Jian-Kang; Xiong, Liming

2014-01-01

Osmotic stress activates the biosynthesis of the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) through a pathway that is rate limited by the carotenoid cleavage enzyme 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED). To understand the signal transduction mechanism underlying the activation of ABA biosynthesis, we performed a forward genetic screen to isolate mutants defective in osmotic stress regulation of the NCED3 gene. Here, we identified the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) Vacuolar Sorting Receptor1 (VSR1) as a unique regulator of ABA biosynthesis. The vsr1 mutant not only shows increased sensitivity to osmotic stress, but also is defective in the feedback regulation of ABA biosynthesis by ABA. Further analysis revealed that vacuolar trafficking mediated by VSR1 is required for osmotic stress-responsive ABA biosynthesis and osmotic stress tolerance. Moreover, under osmotic stress conditions, the membrane potential, calcium flux, and vacuolar pH changes in the vsr1 mutant differ from those in the wild type. Given that manipulation of the intracellular pH is sufficient to modulate the expression of ABA biosynthesis genes, including NCED3, and ABA accumulation, we propose that intracellular pH changes caused by osmotic stress may play a signaling role in regulating ABA biosynthesis and that this regulation is dependent on functional VSR1.

The Arabidopsis Vacuolar Sorting Receptor1 Is Required for Osmotic Stress-Induced Abscisic Acid Biosynthesis

KAUST Repository

Wang, Zhen-Yu

2014-11-21

Osmotic stress activates the biosynthesis of the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) through a pathway that is rate limited by the carotenoid cleavage enzyme 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED). To understand the signal transduction mechanism underlying the activation of ABA biosynthesis, we performed a forward genetic screen to isolate mutants defective in osmotic stress regulation of the NCED3 gene. Here, we identified the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) Vacuolar Sorting Receptor1 (VSR1) as a unique regulator of ABA biosynthesis. The vsr1 mutant not only shows increased sensitivity to osmotic stress, but also is defective in the feedback regulation of ABA biosynthesis by ABA. Further analysis revealed that vacuolar trafficking mediated by VSR1 is required for osmotic stress-responsive ABA biosynthesis and osmotic stress tolerance. Moreover, under osmotic stress conditions, the membrane potential, calcium flux, and vacuolar pH changes in the vsr1 mutant differ from those in the wild type. Given that manipulation of the intracellular pH is sufficient to modulate the expression of ABA biosynthesis genes, including NCED3, and ABA accumulation, we propose that intracellular pH changes caused by osmotic stress may play a signaling role in regulating ABA biosynthesis and that this regulation is dependent on functional VSR1.

The safety of osmotically acting cathartics in colonic cleansing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nyberg, Caroline; Hendel, J.; Nielsen, O.H.

2010-01-01

Efficient cleansing of the colon before a colonoscopy or a radiological examination is essential. The osmotically acting cathartics (those given the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical code A06AD) currently used for this purpose comprise products based on three main substances: sodium phosphate...... hyperphosphatemia and irreversible kidney damage owing to acute phosphate nephropathy, have been reported after use of sodium-phosphate-based products. The aim of this Review is to provide an update on the potential safety issues related to the use of osmotically acting cathartics, especially disturbances of renal...

A cellulose synthase-like protein is required for osmotic stress tolerance in Arabidopsis

KAUST Repository

Zhu, Jianhua; Lee, Byeongha; Dellinger, Michael T.; Cui, Xinping; Zhang, Changqing; Wu, Shang; Nothnagel, Eugene A.; Zhu, Jian-Kang

2010-01-01

Osmotic stress imposed by soil salinity and drought stress significantly affects plant growth and development, but osmotic stress sensing and tolerance mechanisms are not well understood. Forward genetic screens using a root-bending assay have

Understanding Fast and Robust Thermo-osmotic Flows through Carbon Nanotube Membranes: Thermodynamics Meets Hydrodynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Li; Merabia, Samy; Joly, Laurent

2018-04-19

Following our recent theoretical prediction of the giant thermo-osmotic response of the water-graphene interface, we explore the practical implementation of waste heat harvesting with carbon-based membranes, focusing on model membranes of carbon nanotubes (CNT). To that aim, we combine molecular dynamics simulations and an analytical model considering the details of hydrodynamics in the membrane and at the tube entrances. The analytical model and the simulation results match quantitatively, highlighting the need to take into account both thermodynamics and hydrodynamics to predict thermo-osmotic flows through membranes. We show that, despite viscous entrance effects and a thermal short-circuit mechanism, CNT membranes can generate very fast thermo-osmotic flows, which can overcome the osmotic pressure of seawater. We then show that in small tubes confinement has a complex effect on the flow and can even reverse the flow direction. Beyond CNT membranes, our analytical model can guide the search for other membranes to generate fast and robust thermo-osmotic flows.

Direct measurement of osmotic pressure of glycosaminoglycan solutions by membrane osmometry at room temperature.

Science.gov (United States)

Chahine, Nadeen O; Chen, Faye H; Hung, Clark T; Ateshian, Gerard A

2005-09-01

Articular cartilage is a hydrated soft tissue composed of negatively charged proteoglycans fixed within a collagen matrix. This charge gradient causes the tissue to imbibe water and swell, creating a net osmotic pressure that enhances the tissue's ability to bear load. In this study we designed and utilized an apparatus for directly measuring the osmotic pressure of chondroitin sulfate, the primary glycosaminoglycan found in articular cartilage, in solution with varying bathing ionic strength (0.015 M, 0.15 M, 0.5 M, 1 M, and 2 M NaCl) at room temperature. The osmotic pressure (pi) was found to increase nonlinearly with increasing chondroitin sulfate concentration and decreasing NaCl ionic bath environment. Above 1 M NaCl, pi changes negligibly with further increases in salt concentration, suggesting that Donnan osmotic pressure is negligible above this threshold, and the resulting pressure is attributed to configurational entropy. Results of the current study were also used to estimate the contribution of osmotic pressure to the stiffness of cartilage based on theoretical and experimental considerations. Our findings indicate that the osmotic pressure resulting from configurational entropy is much smaller in cartilage (based on an earlier study on bovine articular cartilage) than in free solution. The rate of change of osmotic pressure with compressive strain is found to contribute approximately one-third of the compressive modulus (H(A)(eff)) of cartilage (Pi approximately H(A)(eff)/3), with the balance contributed by the intrinsic structural modulus of the solid matrix (i.e., H(A) approximately 2H(A)(eff)/3). A strong dependence of this intrinsic modulus on salt concentration was found; therefore, it appears that proteoglycans contribute structurally to the magnitude of H(A), in a manner independent of osmotic pressure.

Effect of osmotic stress on in vitro propagation of Musa sp. (Malbhog ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study demonstrates up to 36% reduced microbial contamination in aseptic culture establishment and subsequent micropropagation due to osmotic stress induction in the banana suckers. Osmotic stress was induced by keeping the freshly collected suckers in shade and measuring fresh weight at 0, 7, 14, 21, and 28 ...

Study on enhanced lymphatic tracing of isosulfan blue injection by influence of osmotic pressure on lymphatic exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Tiantian; He, Rui; Wu, Yue; Shang, Lei; Wang, Shujun

2018-04-01

Isosulfan blue (IB) is being used as a lymphatic tracer has been approved by the FDA in 1981. This study aimed at improving lymphatic exposure of IB injection by osmotic pressure regulation to achieve step-by step lymphatic tracing. First, IB injection with appropriate osmotic pressure, stability, and suitable pH was prepared. Next, the lymphatic tracing ability of different osmotic pressure was studied to determine the blue-stained state of IB in three-level lymph nodes after subcutaneous administration. Furthermore, pharmacokinetics of lymphatic drainage, lymph node uptake, and plasma concentration was investigate to explore the improving law of the lymphatic tracing by osmotic pressure, and combined with tissue irritation to determine the optimal osmotic pressure. At last, the tissue distribution in mice of IB injection which had the property of optimal osmotic pressure was investigated. The results showed that increasing osmotic pressure could significantly reduce injection site retention and increase IB concentration of lymph node. The lymph nodes could be obviously blue-stained by IB injection which had 938 mmol/kg osmotic pressure and would not cause inflammatory reaction and blood exposure. The tissue distribution study suggested that IB injection which had 938 mmol/kg osmotic pressure was mainly distributed into gallbladder and duodenum that verified the reports that 90% IB was excreted through the feces through biliary excretion. In conclusion, this study provides the basic study to improve lymphatic exposure of IB injection by regulate the osmotic pressure and have the potential to be the helpful guidance for the elective lymph node dissection.

Osmotic and stimulant laxatives for the management of childhood constipation

OpenAIRE

Gordon, Morris; Macdonald, John; Parker, Claire; Akobeng, Anthony; Thomas, Adrian

2016-01-01

Background\\ud \\ud Constipation within childhood is an extremely common problem. Despite the widespread use of osmotic and stimulant laxatives by health professionals to manage constipation in children, there has been a long standing paucity of high quality evidence to support this practice.\\ud \\ud \\ud Objectives\\ud \\ud We set out to evaluate the efficacy and safety of osmotic and stimulant laxatives used to treat functional childhood constipation.\\ud \\ud \\ud Search methods\\ud \\ud We searched ...

Solute Transfer in Osmotic Dehydration of Vegetable Foods: A Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Muñiz-Becerá, Sahylin; Méndez-Lagunas, Lilia L; Rodríguez-Ramírez, Juan

2017-10-01

While various mechanisms have been proposed for the water transfer during osmotic dehydration (OD), little progress has been made to understand the mechanisms of solute transfer during osmotic dehydration. The transfer of solutes has been often described only by the diffusion mechanism; however, numerous evidences suggest the participation of a variety of mechanisms. This review deals with the main issues of solute transfer in the OD of vegetables. In this context, several studies suggest that during OD of fruits and vegetables, the migration of solutes is not influenced by diffusion. Thus, new theories that may explain the solute transport are analyzed, considering the influence of the plant microstructure and its interaction with the physicochemical properties of osmotic liquid media. In particular, the surface adhesion phenomenon is analyzed and discussed, as a possible mechanism present during the transfer of solutes in OD. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

Osmotic stress response in the wine yeast Dekkera bruxellensis.

Science.gov (United States)

Galafassi, Silvia; Toscano, Marco; Vigentini, Ileana; Piškur, Jure; Compagno, Concetta

2013-12-01

Dekkera bruxellensis is mainly associated with lambic beer fermentation and wine production and may contribute in a positive or negative manner to the flavor development. This yeast is able to produce phenolic compounds, such as 4-ethylguaiacol and 4-ethylphenol which could spoil the wine, depending on their concentration. In this work we have investigated how this yeast responds when exposed to conditions causing osmotic stress, as high sorbitol or salt concentrations. We observed that osmotic stress determined the production and accumulation of intracellular glycerol, and the expression of NADH-dependent glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) activity was elevated. The involvement of the HOG MAPK pathway in response to this stress condition was also investigated. We show that in D. bruxellensis Hog1 protein is activated by phosphorylation under hyperosmotic conditions, highlighting the conserved role of HOG MAP kinase signaling pathway in the osmotic stress response. Gene Accession numbers in GenBank: DbHOG1: JX65361, DbSTL1: JX965362. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thermodynamics of electrolytes. III. Activity and osmotic coefficients for 2-2 electrolytes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pitzer, K.S.; Mayorga, G.

1974-01-01

The peculiar behavior of 2-2 and higher valence type electrolytes is discussed in terms of various theories some of which assume, while others do not, an equilibrium between separated ions and ion pairs as distinct chemical species. It is recognized that in some cases a distinct species of inner-shell ion pairs is indicated by spectroscopic or ultrasonic data. Nevertheless, there are many advantages in representing, if possible, the properties of these electrolytes by appropriate virial coefficients and without chemical association equilibria. It is shown that this is possible and is conveniently accomplished by the addition of these equations are given for nine solutes. It is also noted that these equations have been successfully applied to mixed electrolytes involving one component of the 2-2 type. 2 figures, 1 table.

Osmotically driven membrane process for the management of urban runoff in coastal regions

KAUST Repository

Li, Zhenyu; Valladares Linares, Rodrigo; Abu-Ghdaib, Muhannad; Zhan, Tong; Yangali-Quintanilla, Victor; Amy, Gary L.

2014-01-01

An osmotic detention pond was proposed for the management of urban runoff in coastal regions. Forward osmosis was employed as a bridge to utilize natural osmotic energy from seawater for concentrating and reusing urban runoff water, and as a barrier

The dependence of molecular transmembrane electrotransfer efficiency on medium conductivity and osmotic pressure

OpenAIRE

Jakutavičiūtė, Milda; Ruzgys, Paulius; Šatkauskas, Saulius

2014-01-01

The electrotransfer efficiency was evaluated for different external medium conductivities, osmotic pressures and electric pulse voltages. It was found that increase in conductivity or decrease in electric pulse strength decreases electrotransfer efficiency. Decrease in osmotic pressure tends to decrease electrotransfer efficiency.

Effects of rational surface density on resistive g turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beklemishev, A.D.; Sugama, H.; Horton, W.

1993-01-01

The Beklemishev-Horton theory states that the anomalous transport coefficient is proportional to the density of rational surfaces provided that the interaction between the modes localized around different rational surfaces is weak compared with modes of the same helicity. The authors examine the effects of the density of states ρ using resistive g turbulence in 2D (single-helicity) and 3D (multi-helicity) simulations. They find that the modes with different helicities do not equipartition the available energy, but rather the coalescence or inverse cascade effect is strong so that a few low order mode rational surfaces receive most of the energy. The quasilinear flattening at the surfaces is a strong effect and they use bifurcation theory to derive that the effective diffusivity increases as χ eff = χ 0 ρ/(1 - Cρ) where C is a constant determined by interaction integrals. For a sufficiently high density of states Cρ ≤ 1, the higher order nonlinear interaction must be taken into account

Design of 2-D rational digital filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harris, D.B

1981-01-01

A novel 2-D rational filter design technique is presented which makes use of a reflection coefficient function (RCF) representation for the filter transfer function. The design problem is formulated in the frequency domain. A least-square error criterion is used though the usual error measure is augmented with barrier functions. These act to restrict the domain of approximation to the set of stable filters. Construction of suitable barrier functions is facilitated by the RCF characterization

Suppressive effect of cellulose on osmotic diarrhea caused by maltitol in healthy female subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Oku, Tsuneyuki; Hongo, Ryoko; Nakamura, Sadako

2008-08-01

Using a single-group time-series design, we determined that osmotic diarrhea caused by maltitol ingestion was suppressed by the addition of not only soluble but also insoluble dietary fiber in healthy humans. We then clarified that cellulose delayed gastric emptying in rats. Twenty-seven healthy volunteers ingested maltitol step-wise at doses of 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 g from small to large amounts. Within that range of ingested amounts, 22 out of 27 subjects experienced osmotic diarrhea from maltitol ingestion, and the minimal dose level of maltitol that induced osmotic diarrhea (MMD) was established for each subject. When 5 g of cellulose was added to the MMD, osmotic diarrhea was suppressed in 13 out of 19 subjects (68.4%), while partially hydrolyzed alginate-Na (PHA-Na), a soluble dietary fiber, suppressed osmotic diarrhea in 10 out of 20 subjects (50.0%). When a mixed solution of cellulose and maltitol was administered to rats, the gastric emptying of maltitol was significantly delayed at 30 and 60 min after administration (p=0.019, p=0.013), respectively. PHA-Na also significantly delayed gastric emptying at 30 min (p=0.013). In conclusion, cellulose can suppress the osmotic diarrhea caused by maltitol ingestion in humans and delay the gastric emptying of maltitol in rats. A new physiological property of cellulose was clarified in this study.

Lower critical solution temperature (LCST) phase separation of glycol ethers for forward osmotic control.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakayama, Daichi; Mok, Yeongbong; Noh, Minwoo; Park, Jeongseon; Kang, Sunyoung; Lee, Yan

2014-03-21

Lower critical solution temperature (LCST) phase transition of glycol ether (GE)-water mixtures induces an abrupt change in osmotic pressure driven by a mild temperature change. The temperature-controlled osmotic change was applied for the forward osmosis (FO) desalination. Among three GEs evaluated, di(ethylene glycol) n-hexyl ether (DEH) was selected as a potential FO draw solute. A DEH-water mixture with a high osmotic pressure could draw fresh water from a high-salt feed solution such as seawater through a semipermeable membrane at around 10 °C. The water-drawn DEH-water mixture was phase-separated into a water-rich phase and a DEH-rich phase at around 30 °C. The water-rich phase with a much reduced osmotic pressure released water into a low-salt solution, and the DEH-rich phase was recovered into the initial DEH-water mixture. The phase separation behaviour, the residual GE concentration in the water-rich phase, the osmotic pressure of the DEH-water mixture, and the osmotic flux between the DEH-water mixture and salt solutions were carefully analysed for FO desalination. The liquid-liquid phase separation of the GE-water mixture driven by the mild temperature change between 10 °C and 30 °C is very attractive for the development of an ideal draw solute for future practical FO desalination.

Shelf-life extension of gilthead seabream fillets by osmotic treatment and antimicrobial agents.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsironi, T N; Taoukis, P S

2012-02-01

The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effect of selected antimicrobial agents on the shelf life of osmotically pretreated gilthead seabream and to establish reliable kinetic equations for shelf-life determination validated in dynamic conditions. Fresh gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) fillets were osmotically treated with 50% high dextrose equivalent maltodextrin (HDM, DE 47) plus 5% NaCl and 0·5% carvacrol, 0·5% glucono-δ-lactone or 1% Citrox (commercial antimicrobial mix). Untreated and treated slices were aerobically packed and stored isothermally (0-15°C). Microbial growth and quality-related chemical indices were modelled as functions of temperature. Models were validated at dynamic storage conditions. Osmotic pretreatment with the use of antimicrobials led to significant shelf-life extension of fillets, in terms of microbial growth and organoleptic deterioration. The shelf life was 7 days for control samples at 5°C. The osmotic pretreatment with carvacrol, glucono-δ-lactone and Citrox allowed for shelf-life extension by 8, 10 and 5 days at 5°C, respectively. The results of the study show the potential of adding carvacrol, glucono-δ-lactone or Citrox in the osmotic solution to extend the shelf life and improve commercial value of chilled osmotically pretreated fish products. The developed models can be a reliable tool for predicting the shelf life of fresh or minimally processed gilthead seabream fillets in the real chill chain. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Applied Microbiology © 2012 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Artificial neural network model of pork meat cubes osmotic dehydratation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pezo Lato L.

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Mass transfer of pork meat cubes (M. triceps brachii, shaped as 1x1x1 cm, during osmotic dehydration (OD and under atmospheric pressure was investigated in this paper. The effects of different parameters, such as concentration of sugar beet molasses (60-80%, w/w, temperature (20-50ºC, and immersion time (1-5 h in terms of water loss (WL, solid gain (SG, final dry matter content (DM, and water activity (aw, were investigated using experimental results. Five artificial neural network (ANN models were developed for the prediction of WL, SG, DM, and aw in OD of pork meat cubes. These models were able to predict process outputs with coefficient of determination, r2, of 0.990 for SG, 0.985 for WL, 0.986 for aw, and 0.992 for DM compared to experimental measurements. The wide range of processing variables considered for the formulation of these models, and their easy implementation in a spreadsheet calculus make it very useful and practical for process design and control.

Screening for Osmotic Stress Responses in Rice Varieties under Drought Condition

OpenAIRE

Simon Swapna; Korukkanvilakath Samban Shylaraj

2017-01-01

Drought is the major abiotic stress factor that limits rice production worldwide. To evaluate the osmotic stress responses in rice varieties under drought condition, a total of 42 high-yielding rice varieties were collected from various research stations of Kerala Agricultural University in India. The experimental setup comprises of initial hydroponic treatments at different osmotic potentials, artificially induced by desired strengths of polyethylene glycol (PEG6000), and followed by the pot...

Extracellular-matrix-mediated osmotic pressure drives Vibrio cholerae biofilm expansion and cheater exclusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Jing; Nadell, Carey D; Stone, Howard A; Wingreen, Ned S; Bassler, Bonnie L

2017-08-23

Biofilms, surface-attached communities of bacteria encased in an extracellular matrix, are a major mode of bacterial life. How the material properties of the matrix contribute to biofilm growth and robustness is largely unexplored, in particular in response to environmental perturbations such as changes in osmotic pressure. Here, using Vibrio cholerae as our model organism, we show that during active cell growth, matrix production enables biofilm-dwelling bacterial cells to establish an osmotic pressure difference between the biofilm and the external environment. This pressure difference promotes biofilm expansion on nutritious surfaces by physically swelling the colony, which enhances nutrient uptake, and enables matrix-producing cells to outcompete non-matrix-producing cheaters via physical exclusion. Osmotic pressure together with crosslinking of the matrix also controls the growth of submerged biofilms and their susceptibility to invasion by planktonic cells. As the basic physicochemical principles of matrix crosslinking and osmotic swelling are universal, our findings may have implications for other biofilm-forming bacterial species.Most bacteria live in biofilms, surface-attached communities encased in an extracellular matrix. Here, Yan et al. show that matrix production in Vibrio cholerae increases the osmotic pressure within the biofilm, promoting biofilm expansion and physical exclusion of non-matrix producing cheaters.

Low temperature hot air drying of potato cubes subjected to osmotic dehydration and intermittent microwave: drying kinetics, energy consumption and product quality indexes

Science.gov (United States)

Dehghannya, Jalal; Bozorghi, Somayyeh; Heshmati, Maryam Khakbaz

2018-04-01

Hot-air drying is a slow energy-extensive process. Use of intermittent microwave (IM) in hot-air (HA) drying of food products is characterized with advantages including reduced process time, energy saving, and improved final quality. In this study, the effect of IM-HA drying following an osmotic dehydration (OD) pretreatment was analyzed on qualitative and quantitative properties of the output (i.e. effective moisture diffusion coefficient (Deff), shrinkage, bulk density, rehydration and energy consumption). Temperature and airflow velocity were fixed at 40°C and 1 m/s, respectively. The process variables included sucrose solution concentration at five levels (0 or control, 10, 30, 50 and 70 w/w%), microwave output power at four levels (0 or control, 360, 600 and 900 W), and pulse ratio at four levels (1, 2, 3 and 4). Use of osmotic dehydration in combination with IM-HA drying reduced the drying time by up to about 54%. Increasing the osmotic solution concentration to 30% and using higher pulse ratios increased the Deff. The lowest shrinkage and bulk density as well as the highest rehydration belonged to the 900 W microwave power and pulse ratio of 4. The lowest energy consumption was observed when using the 900 W power level, showing 63.27% less consumption than the HA drying method.

Relation between lowered colloid osmotic pressure, respiratory failure, and death.

Science.gov (United States)

Tonnesen, A S; Gabel, J C; McLeavey, C A

1977-01-01

Plasma colloid osmotic pressure was measured each day in 84 intensive care unit patients. Probit analysis demonstrated a direct relationship between colloid osmotic pressure (COP) and survival. The COP associated with a 50% survival rate was 15.0 torr. COP was higher in survivors than in nonsurvivors without respiratory failure and in patients who recovered from respiratory failure. We conclude that lowered COP is associated with an elevated mortality rate. However, the relationship to death is not explained by the relationship to respiratory failure.

Rationalization: A Bibliography.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedrini, D. T.; Pedrini, Bonnie C.

Rationalization was studied by Sigmund Freud and was specifically labeled by Ernest Jones. Rationalization ought to be differentiated from rational, rationality, logical analysis, etc. On the one hand, rationalization is considered a defense mechanism, on the other hand, rationality is not. Haan has done much work with self-report inventories and…

Osmotic stress adaptation of Paracoccidioides lutzii, Pb01, monitored by proteomics.

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Rodrigues, Leandro Nascimento da Silva; Brito, Wesley de Almeida; Parente, Ana Flávia Alves; Weber, Simone Schneider; Bailão, Alexandre Melo; Casaletti, Luciana; Borges, Clayton Luiz; Soares, Célia Maria de Almeida

2016-10-01

The ability to respond to stressful conditions is essential for most living organisms. In pathogenic organisms, this response is required for effective transition from a saprophytic lifestyle to the establishment of pathogenic interactions within a susceptible host. Hyperosmotic stress has been used as a model to study signal transduction and seems to cause many cellular adaptations, including the alteration of protein expression and cellular volume as well as size regulation. In this work, we evaluated the proteomic profile of Paracoccidioides lutzii Pb01 yeast cells during osmotic stress induced by potassium chloride. We performed a high accuracy proteomic technique (NanoUPLC-MS(E)) to identify differentially expressed proteins during osmotic shock. The data describe an osmoadaptative response of this fungus when subjected to this treatment. Proteins involved in the synthesis of cell wall components were modulated, which suggested cell wall remodeling. In addition, alterations in the energy metabolism were observed. Furthermore, proteins involved in amino acid metabolism and hydrogen peroxide detoxification were modulated during osmotic stress. Our study suggests that P. lutzii Pb01. presents a vast osmoadaptative response that is composed of different proteins that act together to minimize the effects caused by osmotic stress. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Arabidopsis decuple mutant reveals the importance of SnRK2 kinases in osmotic stress responses in vivo

KAUST Repository

Fujii, Hiroaki

2011-01-10

Osmotic stress associated with drought or salinity is a major factor that limits plant productivity. Protein kinases in the SNF1-related protein kinase 2 (SnRK2) family are activated by osmotic stress, suggesting that the kinases are involved in osmotic stress signaling. However, due to functional redundancy, their contribution to osmotic stress responses remained unclear. In this report, we constructed an Arabidopsis line carrying mutations in all 10 members of the SnRK2 family. The decuple mutant snrk2.1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10 grew poorly under hyperosmotic stress conditions but was similar to the wild type in culture media in the absence of osmotic stress. The mutant was also defective in gene regulation and the accumulation of abscisic acid (ABA), proline, and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate under osmotic stress. In addition, analysis of mutants defective in the ABA-activated SnRK2s (snrk2.2/3/6) and mutants defective in the rest of the SnRK2s (snrk2.1/4/5/7/8/9/10) revealed that SnRK2s are a merging point of ABA-dependent and -independent pathways for osmotic stress responses. These results demonstrate critical functions of the SnRK2s in mediating osmotic stress signaling and tolerance.

Temperature and pressure dependent osmotic pressure in liquid sodium-cesium alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rashid, R.I.M.A.

1987-01-01

The evaluation of the osmotic pressure in terms of the concentration fluctuations of mixtures and the equations of state of the pure liquids is considered. The temperature and pressure dependent experimentally measured concentration-concentration correlations in the long wavelength limit of liquid sodium-cesium alloys are used to demonstrate the appreciable dependence of the temperature and pressure on the osmotic pressure as a function of concentration. Introducing interchange energies as functions of temperature and pressure, our analysis is consistent with the Flory model. Thus, a formalism for evaluating the state dependent osmotic pressure is developed and our numerical work is considered to be an extension of the calculations of Rashid and March in the sense that a temperature and pressure dependent interchange energy parameter that more closely parameterizes the state dependent concentration fluctuations in the liquid alloys, is used. (author)

In vitro screening of potato genotypes for osmotic stress tolerance

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Gelmesa Dandena

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Potato (Solanum tuberosum L. is a cool season crop which is susceptible to both drought and heat stresses. Lack of suitable varieties of the crop adapted to drought-prone areas of the lowland tropics deprives farmers living in such areas the opportunity to produce and use the crop as a source of food and income. As a step towards developing such varieties, the present research was conducted to evaluate different potato genotypes for osmotic stress tolerance under in vitro conditions and identify drought tolerant genotypes for future field evaluation. The experiment was carried out at the Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany, by inducing osmotic stress using sorbitol at two concentrations (0.1 and 0.2 M in the culture medium. A total of 43 genotypes collected from different sources (27 advanced clones from CIP, nine improved varieties, and seven farmers’ cultivars were used in a completely randomized design with four replications in two rounds. Data were collected on root and shoot growth. The results revealed that the main effects of genotype, sorbitol treatment, and their interactions significantly (P < 0.01 influenced root and shoot growthrelated traits. Under osmotic stress, all the measured root and shoot growth traits were significantly correlated. The dendrogram obtained from the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean allowed grouping of the genotypes into tolerant, moderately tolerant, and susceptible ones to a sorbitol concentration of 0.2 M in the culture medium. Five advanced clones (CIP304350.100, CIP304405.47, CIP392745.7, CIP388676.1, and CIP388615.22 produced shoots and rooted earlier than all other genotypes, with higher root numbers, root length, shoot and root mass under osmotic stress conditions induced by sorbitol. Some of these genotypes had been previously identified as drought-tolerant under field conditions, suggesting the capacity of the in vitro evaluation method to predict drought stress tolerant

Alterations in the colonic microbiota in response to osmotic diarrhea.

Science.gov (United States)

Gorkiewicz, Gregor; Thallinger, Gerhard G; Trajanoski, Slave; Lackner, Stefan; Stocker, Gernot; Hinterleitner, Thomas; Gülly, Christian; Högenauer, Christoph

2013-01-01

Diseases of the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract are often accompanied by diarrhea with profound alterations in the GI microbiota termed dysbiosis. Whether dysbiosis is due to the disease itself or to the accompanying diarrhea remains elusive. With this study we characterized the net effects of osmotic diarrhea on the composition of the GI microbiota in the absence of disease. We induced osmotic diarrhea in four healthy adults by oral administration of polyethylene glycol 4000 (PEG). Stool as well as mucosa specimens were collected before, during and after diarrhea and 16S rDNA-based microbial community profiling was used to assess the microbial community structure. Stool and mucosal microbiotas were strikingly different, with Firmicutes dominating the mucosa and Bacteroidetes the stools. Osmotic diarrhea decreased phylotype richness and showed a strong tendency to equalize the otherwise individualized microbiotas on the mucosa. Moreover, diarrhea led to significant relative shifts in the phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes and to a relative increase in the abundance of Proteobacteria on the mucosa, a phenomenon also noted in several inflammatory and diarrheal GI diseases. Changes in microbial community structure induced by osmotic diarrhea are profound and show similarities to changes observed in other GI diseases including IBD. These effects so must be considered when specimens from diarrheal diseases (i.e. obtained by stratification of samples according to diarrheal status) or conditions wherein bowel preparations like PEG (i.e. specimens obtained during endoscopy) are used.

Alterations in the colonic microbiota in response to osmotic diarrhea.

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Gregor Gorkiewicz

Full Text Available BACKGROUND & AIMS: Diseases of the human gastrointestinal (GI tract are often accompanied by diarrhea with profound alterations in the GI microbiota termed dysbiosis. Whether dysbiosis is due to the disease itself or to the accompanying diarrhea remains elusive. With this study we characterized the net effects of osmotic diarrhea on the composition of the GI microbiota in the absence of disease. METHODS: We induced osmotic diarrhea in four healthy adults by oral administration of polyethylene glycol 4000 (PEG. Stool as well as mucosa specimens were collected before, during and after diarrhea and 16S rDNA-based microbial community profiling was used to assess the microbial community structure. RESULTS: Stool and mucosal microbiotas were strikingly different, with Firmicutes dominating the mucosa and Bacteroidetes the stools. Osmotic diarrhea decreased phylotype richness and showed a strong tendency to equalize the otherwise individualized microbiotas on the mucosa. Moreover, diarrhea led to significant relative shifts in the phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes and to a relative increase in the abundance of Proteobacteria on the mucosa, a phenomenon also noted in several inflammatory and diarrheal GI diseases. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in microbial community structure induced by osmotic diarrhea are profound and show similarities to changes observed in other GI diseases including IBD. These effects so must be considered when specimens from diarrheal diseases (i.e. obtained by stratification of samples according to diarrheal status or conditions wherein bowel preparations like PEG (i.e. specimens obtained during endoscopy are used.

Derivation of the formula for the filtration coefficient by application of Poiseuille's law in membrane transport

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Maria Jarzyńska

2011-01-01

Full Text Available On the basis of Kedem-Katchalsky equations a mathematical analysis of volume flow (Jv of a binary solution through a membrane (M is presented. Two cases of transport generators have been considered: hydrostatic (Δp as well as osmotic (Δπ pressure difference. Based on the Poiseuille's law we derive the formula for the membrane filtration coefficient (Lp which takes into account the membrane properties, kinetic viscosity and density of a solution flowing across the membrane. With use of this formula we have made model calculations of the filtration coefficient Lp and volume flow Jv for a polymer membrane in the case when the solutions on both sides of the membrane are mixed.

Controlled release of glaucocalyxin - a self-nanoemulsifying system from osmotic pump tablets with enhanced bioavailability.

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Yanfei, Miao; Guoguang, Chen; Lili, Ren; Pingkai, Ouyang

2017-03-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a new formulation to enhance the bioavailability simultaneously with controlled release of glaucocalyxin A (GLA). In this study, controlled release of GLA was achieved by the osmotic release strategy taking advantage of the bioavailability enhancing capacity of self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery systems (SNEDDS). The formulation of GLA-SNEDDS was selected by the solubility and pseudoternary-phase diagrams studies. The prepared GLA-SNEDDS formulations were characterized for self-emulsification time, effect of pH and robustness to dilution, droplet size analysis and zeta potential. The optimized GLA-SNEDDS were used to prepare GLA-SNEDDS osmotic pump tablet via direct powder compression method. The effect of formulation variables on the release characteristic was investigated. GLA-SNEDDS osmotic pump tablets were administered to beagle dogs and their pharmacokinetics were compared to GLA and GLA-SNEDDS as a control. In vitro drug release studies indicated that the GLA-SNEDDS osmotic pump tablet showed sustained release profiles with 90% released within 12 h. Pharmacokinetic study showed steady blood GLA with prolonged T max and mean residence time (MRT), and enhanced bioavailability for GLA-SNEDDS osmotic pump tablet. It was concluded that simultaneous controlling on GLA release and enhanced bioavailability had been achieved by a combination of osmotic pump tablet and SNEDDS.

Rational Decision Making as Performative Praxis: Explaining Rationality's Éternel Retour

OpenAIRE

Cabantous, L.; Gond, J-P.

2011-01-01

Organizational theorists built their knowledge of decision making through a progressive critique of rational choice theory. Their positioning towards rationality, however, is at odds with the observation of rationality persistence in organizational life. This paper addresses this paradox. It proposes a new perspective on rationality that allows the theorizing of the production of rational decisions by organizations. To account for rationality's éternel retour, we approach rational decision ma...

Osmotic heat engine using thermally responsive ionic liquids

KAUST Repository

Zhong, Yujiang

2017-07-11

The osmotic heat engine (OHE) is a promising technology for converting low grade heat to electricity. Most of the existing studies have focused on thermolytic salt systems. Herein, for the first time, we proposed to use thermally responsive ionic liquids (TRIL) that have either an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) or lower critical solution temperature (LCST) type of phase behavior as novel thermolytic osmotic agents. Closed-loop TRIL-OHEs were designed based on these unique phase behaviors to convert low grade heat to work or electricity. Experimental studies using two UCST-type TRILs, protonated betaine bis(trifluoromethyl sulfonyl)imide ([Hbet][Tf2N]) and choline bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([Choline][Tf2N]) showed that (1) the specific energy of the TRIL-OHE system could reach as high as 4.0 times that of the seawater and river water system, (2) the power density measured from a commercial FO membrane reached up to 2.3 W/m2, and (3) the overall energy efficiency reached up to 2.6% or 18% of the Carnot efficiency at no heat recovery and up to 10.5% or 71% of the Carnet efficiency at 70% heat recovery. All of these results clearly demonstrated the great potential of using TRILs as novel osmotic agents to design high efficient OHEs for recovery of low grade thermal energy to work or electricity.

Application of Artificial Neural Network to Predict Colour Change, Shrinkage and Texture of Osmotically Dehydrated Pumpkin

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, S. Y.; Lee, J. S.; Loh, S. P.; Tham, H. J.

2017-06-01

The objectives of this study were to use Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to predict colour change, shrinkage and texture of osmotically dehydrated pumpkin slices. The effects of process variables such as concentration of osmotic solution, immersion temperature and immersion time on the above mentioned physical properties were studied. The colour of the samples was measured using a colorimeter and the net colour difference changes, ΔE were determined. The texture was measured in terms of hardness by using a Texture Analyzer. As for the shrinkage, displacement of volume method was applied and percentage of shrinkage was obtained in terms of volume changes. A feed-forward backpropagation network with sigmoidal function was developed and best network configuration was chosen based on the highest correlation coefficients between the experimental values versus predicted values. As a comparison, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) statistical analysis was also employed. The performances of both RSM and ANN modelling were evaluated based on absolute average deviation (AAD), correlation of determination (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE). The results showed that ANN has higher prediction capability as compared to RSM. The relative importance of the variables on the physical properties were also determined by using connection weight approach in ANN. It was found that solution concentration showed the highest influence on all three physical properties.

Chondroitin sulfate reduces the friction coefficient of articular cartilage.

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Basalo, Ines M; Chahine, Nadeen O; Kaplun, Michael; Chen, Faye H; Hung, Clark T; Ateshian, Gerard A

2007-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of chondroitin sulfate (CS)-C on the frictional response of bovine articular cartilage. The main hypothesis is that CS decreases the friction coefficient of articular cartilage. Corollary hypotheses are that viscosity and osmotic pressure are not the mechanisms that mediate the reduction in the friction coefficient by CS. In Experiment 1, bovine articular cartilage samples (n=29) were tested in either phosphate buffered saline (PBS) or in PBS containing 100mg/ml of CS following 48h incubation in PBS or in PBS+100mg/ml CS (control specimens were not subjected to any incubation). In Experiment 2, samples (n=23) were tested in four different solutions: PBS, PBS+100mg/ml CS, and PBS+polyethylene glycol (PEG) (133 or 170mg/ml). In Experiment 3, samples (n=18) were tested in three solutions of CS (0, 10 and 100mg/ml). Frictional tests (cartilage-on-glass) were performed under constant stress (0.5MPa) for 3600s and the time-dependent friction coefficient was measured. Samples incubated or tested in a 100mg/ml CS solution exhibited a significantly lower equilibrium friction coefficient than the respective PBS control. PEG solutions delayed the rise in the friction coefficient relative to the PBS control, but did not reduce the equilibrium value. Testing in PBS+10mg/ml of CS did not cause any significant decrease in the friction coefficient. In conclusion, CS at a concentration of 100mg/ml significantly reduces the friction coefficient of bovine articular cartilage and this mechanism is neither mediated by viscosity nor osmolarity. These results suggest that direct injection of CS into the joint may provide beneficial tribological effects.

Release and Decay Kinetics of Copeptin vs AVP in Response to Osmotic Alterations in Healthy Volunteers.

Science.gov (United States)

Fenske, Wiebke K; Schnyder, Ingeborg; Koch, Gilbert; Walti, Carla; Pfister, Marc; Kopp, Peter; Fassnacht, Martin; Strauss, Konrad; Christ-Crain, Mirjam

2018-02-01

Copeptin is the C-terminal fragment of the arginine vasopressin (AVP) prohormone whose measurement is more robust than that of AVP. Similar release and clearance characteristics have been suggested promoting copeptin as a surrogate marker. To characterize the physiology of osmotically regulated copeptin release and its half-life in direct comparison with plasma AVP. Ninety-one healthy volunteers underwent a standardized three-phase test protocol including (1) osmotic stimulation into the hypertonic range by hypertonic-saline infusion followed by osmotic suppression via (2) oral water load and (3) subsequent glucose infusion. Plasma copeptin, AVP, serum sodium, and osmolality levels were measured in regular intervals. In phase 1, an increase in median osmotic pressure [289 (286; 291) to 311 (309; 314) mOsm/kg H2O] caused similar release kinetics of plasma copeptin [4 (3.1; 6) to 29.3 (18.6; 48.2) pmol/L] and AVP [1 (0.7; 1.6) to 10.3 (6.8; 18.8) pg/mL]. Subsequent osmotic suppression to 298 (295; 301) mOsm/kg at the end of phase 3 revealed markedly different decay kinetics between both peptides-an estimated initial half-life of copeptin being approximately 2 times longer than that of AVP (26 vs 12 minutes). Copeptin is released in equimolar amounts with AVP in response to osmotic stimulation, suggesting its high potential as an AVP surrogate for differentiation of osmotic disorders. Furthermore, we here describe the decay kinetics of copeptin in response to osmotic depression enabling to identify a half-life for copeptin in direct comparison with AVP. Copyright © 2017 Endocrine Society

Interaction of prechilling, temperature, osmotic stress, and light in Picea abies seed germination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leinonen, K.; Rita, H.

1995-01-01

A multi-factor experimental approach and proportional odds model was used to study interactions between five environmental factors significant to Norway spruce seed germination: prechilling (at +4.5 °C), suboptimal temperatures (+12 and +16 °C), osmotically induced water stress (–0.3 Mpa and 0 Mpa), prolonged white light, and short-period far-red light. Temperature and osmotic stress interacted with one another in the germination of seeds: the effect of osmotic stress being stronger at +16 °C than at +12 °C. In natural conditions, this interaction may prevent germination early in the summer when soil dries and temperature increases. Prolonged white light prevented germination at low temperature and low osmotic potential. Inhibitory effect was less at higher temperatures and higher osmotic potential, as well as after prechilling. Short-period far-red light did not prevent germination of unchilled seeds in darkness. Prechilling tended to make seeds sensitive to short pulses of far-red light, an effect which depended on temperature: at +12 °C the effect on germination was promotive, but at +16 °C, inhibitory and partly reversible by white light. It seems that Norway spruce seeds may have adapted to germinate in canopy shade light rich in far-red. The seeds may also have evolved mechanisms to inhibit germination in prolonged light

Sorbitol treatment extends lifespan and induces the osmotic stress response in Caenorhabditis elegans

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Devon eChandler-Brown

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The response to osmotic stress is a highly conserved process for adapting to changing environmental conditions. Prior studies have shown that hyperosmolarity by addition of sorbitol to the growth medium is sufficient to increase both chronological and replicative lifespan in the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here we report a similar phenomenon in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Addition of sorbitol to the nematode growth medium induces an adaptive osmotic response and increases C. elegans lifespan by about 35%. Lifespan extension from 5% sorbitol behaves similarly to dietary restriction in a variety of genetic backgrounds, increasing lifespan additively with mutation of daf-2(e1370 and independently of daf-16(mu86, sir-2.1(ok434, aak-2(ok524, and hif-1(ia04. Dietary restriction by bacterial deprivation or mutation of eat-2(ad1113 fails to further extend lifespan in the presence of 5% sorbitol. Two mutants with constitutive activation of the osmotic response, osm-5(p813 and osm-7(n1515, were found to be long-lived, and lifespan extension from sorbitol required the glycerol biosynthetic enzymes GPDH-1 and GPDH-2. Taken together, these observations demonstrate that exposure to sorbitol at levels sufficient to induce an adaptive osmotic response extends lifespan in worms and define the osmotic stress response pathway as a longevity pathway conserved between yeast and nematodes.

Salinity- and population-dependent genome regulatory response during osmotic acclimation in the killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) gill.

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Whitehead, Andrew; Roach, Jennifer L; Zhang, Shujun; Galvez, Fernando

2012-04-15

The killifish Fundulus heteroclitus is abundant in osmotically dynamic estuaries and it can quickly adjust to extremes in environmental salinity. We performed a comparative osmotic challenge experiment to track the transcriptomic and physiological responses to two salinities throughout a time course of acclimation, and to explore the genome regulatory mechanisms that enable extreme osmotic acclimation. One southern and one northern coastal population, known to differ in their tolerance to hypo-osmotic exposure, were used as our comparative model. Both populations could maintain osmotic homeostasis when transferred from 32 to 0.4 p.p.t., but diverged in their compensatory abilities when challenged down to 0.1 p.p.t., in parallel with divergent transformation of gill morphology. Genes involved in cell volume regulation, nucleosome maintenance, ion transport, energetics, mitochondrion function, transcriptional regulation and apoptosis showed population- and salinity-dependent patterns of expression during acclimation. Network analysis confirmed the role of cytokine and kinase signaling pathways in coordinating the genome regulatory response to osmotic challenge, and also posited the importance of signaling coordinated through the transcription factor HNF-4α. These genome responses support hypotheses of which regulatory mechanisms are particularly relevant for enabling extreme physiological flexibility.

Osmotic phenomena in application for hyperbaric oxygen treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Babchin, A; Levich, E; Melamed M D, Y; Sivashinsky, G

2011-03-01

Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatment defines the medical procedure when the patient inhales pure oxygen at elevated pressure conditions. Many diseases and all injuries are associated with a lack of oxygen in tissues, known as hypoxia. HBO provides an effective method for fast oxygen delivery in medical practice. The exact mechanism of the oxygen transport under HBO conditions is not fully identified. The objective of this article is to extend the colloid and surface science basis for the oxygen transport in HBO conditions beyond the molecular diffusion transport mechanism. At a pressure in the hyperbaric chamber of two atmospheres, the partial pressure of oxygen in the blood plasma increases 10 times. The sharp increase of oxygen concentration in the blood plasma creates a considerable concentration gradient between the oxygen dissolved in the plasma and in the tissue. The concentration gradient of oxygen as a non-electrolyte solute causes an osmotic flow of blood plasma with dissolved oxygen. In other words, the molecular diffusion transport of oxygen is supplemented by the convective diffusion raised due to the osmotic flow, accelerating the oxygen delivery from blood to tissue. A non steady state equation for non-electrolyte osmosis is solved asymptotically. The solution clearly demonstrates two modes of osmotic flow: normal osmosis, directed from lower to higher solute concentrations, and anomalous osmosis, directed from higher to lower solute concentrations. The fast delivery of oxygen from blood to tissue is explained on the basis of the strong molecular interaction between the oxygen and the tissue, causing an influx of oxygen into the tissue by convective diffusion in the anomalous osmosis process. The transport of the second gas, nitrogen, dissolved in the blood plasma, is also taken into the consideration. As the patient does not inhale nitrogen during HBO treatment, but exhales it along with oxygen and carbon dioxide, the concentration of nitrogen in blood

Rational fraction representations of the energy: a generalised Rayleigh-Schroedinger perturbation theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cohen, M.; Feldmann, T.

1981-01-01

The energy function of a perturbed quantum system is derived directly as a quotient of the form N(lambda)/D(lambda). The Taylor series coefficients of N(lambda) and D(lambda) are found to satisfy certain relations, but there remain many unspecified degrees of freedom which may be freely exploited. Certain choices of coefficients lead to well known Pade and lesser known Levin approximants, but the general formalism includes many other rational function forms. In particular, the present procedure allows information other than the Taylor series coefficients to be included naturally, and is shown to lead to low-order approximants of high accuracy. (author)

Novel regulation of aquaporins during osmotic stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Vera-Estrella, Rosario; Barkla, Bronwyn J; Bohnert, Hans J; Pantoja, Omar

2004-08-01

Aquaporin protein regulation and redistribution in response to osmotic stress was investigated. Ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum) McTIP1;2 (McMIPF) mediated water flux when expressed in Xenopus leavis oocytes. Mannitol-induced water imbalance resulted in increased protein amounts in tonoplast fractions and a shift in protein distribution to other membrane fractions, suggesting aquaporin relocalization. Indirect immunofluorescence labeling also supports a change in membrane distribution for McTIP1;2 and the appearance of a unique compartment where McTIP1;2 is expressed. Mannitol-induced redistribution of McTIP1;2 was arrested by pretreatment with brefeldin A, wortmannin, and cytochalasin D, inhibitors of vesicle trafficking-related processes. Evidence suggests a role for glycosylation and involvement of a cAMP-dependent signaling pathway in McTIP1;2 redistribution. McTIP1;2 redistribution to endosomal compartments may be part of a homeostatic process to restore and maintain cellular osmolarity under osmotic-stress conditions.

Osmotic Gradients Induce Bio-reminiscent Morphological Transformations in Giant Unilamellar Vesicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kamila eOglecka

2012-05-01

Full Text Available We report observations of large-scale, in-plane and out-of-plane membrane deformations in giant uni- and multilamellar vesicles composed of binary and ternary lipid mixtures in the presence of net transvesicular osmotic gradients. The lipid mixtures we examined consisted of binary mixtures of DOPC and DPPC lipids and ternary mixtures comprising POPC, sphingomyelin, and cholesterol over a range of compositions – both of which produce co-existing phases for selected ranges of compositions at room temperature under thermodynamic equilibrium. In the presence of net osmotic gradient, we find that the in-plane phase separation potential of these mixtures is non-trivially altered and a variety of out-of-plane morphological remodeling occurs. The repertoire of membrane deformations we observe display striking resemblance to their biological counterparts in live cells encompassing vesiculation, membrane fission and fusion, tubulation and pearling, as well as expulsion of entrapped vesicles from multicompartmental GUV architectures through large, self-healing transient pores. These observations suggest that the forces introduced by simple osmotic gradients across membrane boundaries could act as a trigger for shape-dependent membrane and vesicle trafficking activities. We speculate that such coupling of osmotic gradients with membrane properties might have provided lipid-mediated mechanisms during the early evolution of membrane compartmentalization in the absence of osmoregulatory protein machinery.

Osmotic therapies added to antibiotics for acute bacterial meningitis

Science.gov (United States)

Wall, Emma Cb; Ajdukiewicz, Katherine Mb; Bergman, Hanna; Heyderman, Robert S; Garner, Paul

2018-01-01

Background Every day children and adults die from acute community-acquired bacterial meningitis, particularly in low-income countries, and survivors risk deafness, epilepsy and neurological disabilities. Osmotic therapies may attract extra-vascular fluid and reduce cerebral oedema, and thus reduce death and improve neurological outcomes. This is an update of a Cochrane Review first published in 2013. Objectives To evaluate the effects of osmotic therapies added to antibiotics for acute bacterial meningitis in children and adults on mortality, deafness and neurological disability. Search methods We searched CENTRAL (2017, Issue 1), MEDLINE (1950 to 17 February 2017), Embase (1974 to 17 February 2017), CINAHL (1981 to 17 February 2017), LILACS (1982 to 17 February 2017) and registers of ongoing clinical trials (ClinicalTrials.com, WHO ICTRP) (21 February 2017). We also searched conference abstracts and contacted researchers in the field (up to 12 December 2015). Selection criteria Randomised controlled trials testing any osmotic therapy in adults or children with acute bacterial meningitis. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently screened the search results and selected trials for inclusion. Results are presented using risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) and grouped according to whether the participants received steroids or not. We used the GRADE approach to assess the certainty of the evidence. Main results We included five trials with 1451 participants. Four trials evaluated glycerol against placebo, and one evaluated glycerol against 50% dextrose; in addition three trials evaluated dexamethasone and one trial evaluated acetaminophen (paracetamol) in a factorial design. Stratified analysis shows no effect modification with steroids; we present aggregate effect estimates. Compared to placebo, glycerol probably has little or no effect on death in people with bacterial meningitis (RR 1.08, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.30; 5 studies, 1272

Optimization of Vacuum Frying Parameters in Combination with Osmotic Dehydration of Kiwi Slices to Produce Healthy Product

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatemeh Aghabozorg Afjeh Aghabozorg Afjeh

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Osmotic dehydration under discontinuous reduced pressure is one of the new methods of preparation fruits and vegetable processing with in view of good health. Processing of foods at high temperatures used to cook them can cause the formation of carcinogenic substances like acrylamide, and this risk remains even if the trans-fat is removed. The low temperatures employed in this method resulted in the products with the desired texture, nutritional, and colour. The purpose of this research was evaluation of the variable effects of osmotic dehydration process (ambient pressure, contact time of product and solution, concentration and temperature of osmotic solution on the quality factors of product (colour changes, texture, moisture, oil uptake, and water loss to solid gain ratio and achieving the optimum process conditions. Studying the quality parameters of the product, the temperature range of osmotic solution, pressure, concentration of the osmotic solution and contact time of product and solution were assumed as 30 to 50°C, 500 to 700 mbar, 30 to 50% and 60 to 180 min, respectively. The test plans involving 31 tests were obtained by using response surface statistical models and central composite design. They were fried at the condition of 108ºC, 8 min and 320 mbar by using statistical correlations, 48.71ºC for the osmotic solution temperature, 592.07 mbar for the pressure, 62.92 min for the time and 34.87% for the osmotic solution. Concentrations were obtained as optimum conditions of osmotic dehydration of kiwi slices under reduced pressure. In summary combination of osmotic dehydration and vacuum frying improved the quality of the final fried kiwi, so this method is recommended for production of healthy products.

A numerical method for osmotic water flow and solute diffusion with deformable membrane boundaries in two spatial dimension

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Lingxing; Mori, Yoichiro

2017-12-01

Osmotic forces and solute diffusion are increasingly seen as playing a fundamental role in cell movement. Here, we present a numerical method that allows for studying the interplay between diffusive, osmotic and mechanical effects. An osmotically active solute obeys a advection-diffusion equation in a region demarcated by a deformable membrane. The interfacial membrane allows transmembrane water flow which is determined by osmotic and mechanical pressure differences across the membrane. The numerical method is based on an immersed boundary method for fluid-structure interaction and a Cartesian grid embedded boundary method for the solute. We demonstrate our numerical algorithm with the test case of an osmotic engine, a recently proposed mechanism for cell propulsion.

The osmotic pressure of 3He-4He mixtures along the phase separation curve

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van de Klundert, L.J.M.; Bos, M.R.E.; van der Meij, J.A.M.; Steffens, H.A.

1977-01-01

The osmotic pressure of 3He-4He mixtures was measured along the phase separation curve at temperatures up to 500 mK by balancing it with the fountain pressure of pure 4He. The usefullness of the secondary osmotic pressure thermometer was reinvestigated.

The osmotic pressure of 3He-4He mixtures along the phase separation curve

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klundert, L.J.M. van de; Bos, M.R.E.; Meij, J.A.M. van der; Steffens, H.A.

1977-01-01

The osmotic pressure of 3 He- 4 He mixtures was measured along the phase separation curve at temperatures up to 500 mK by balancing it with the fountain pressure of pure 4 He. The usefullness of the secondary osmotic pressure thermometer was reinvestigated. (Auth.)

Does Osmotic Stress Affect Natural Product Expression in Fungi?

Science.gov (United States)

Overy, David; Correa, Hebelin; Roullier, Catherine; Chi, Wei-Chiung; Pang, Ka-Lai; Rateb, Mostafa; Ebel, Rainer; Shang, Zhuo; Capon, Rob; Bills, Gerald; Kerr, Russell

2017-08-13

The discovery of new natural products from fungi isolated from the marine environment has increased dramatically over the last few decades, leading to the identification of over 1000 new metabolites. However, most of the reported marine-derived species appear to be terrestrial in origin yet at the same time, facultatively halo- or osmotolerant. An unanswered question regarding the apparent chemical productivity of marine-derived fungi is whether the common practice of fermenting strains in seawater contributes to enhanced secondary metabolism? To answer this question, a terrestrial isolate of Aspergillus aculeatus was fermented in osmotic and saline stress conditions in parallel across multiple sites. The ex-type strain of A. aculeatus was obtained from three different culture collections. Site-to-site variations in metabolite expression were observed, suggesting that subculturing of the same strain and subtle variations in experimental protocols can have pronounced effects upon metabolite expression. Replicated experiments at individual sites indicated that secondary metabolite production was divergent between osmotic and saline treatments. Titers of some metabolites increased or decreased in response to increasing osmolite (salt or glycerol) concentrations. Furthermore, in some cases, the expression of some secondary metabolites in relation to osmotic and saline stress was attributed to specific sources of the ex-type strains.

Osmotically-driven membrane processes for water reuse and energy recovery

Science.gov (United States)

Achilli, Andrea

Osmotically-driven membrane processes are an emerging class of membrane separation processes that utilize concentrated brines to separate liquid streams. Their versatility of application make them an attractive alternative for water reuse and energy production/recovery. This work focused on innovative applications of osmotically-driven membrane processes. The novel osmotic membrane bioreactor (OMBR) system for water reuse was presented. Experimental results demonstrated high sustainable flux and relatively low reverse diffusion of solutes from the draw solution into the mixed liquor. Membrane fouling was minimal and controlled with osmotic backwashing. The OMBR system was found to remove greater than 99% of organic carbon and ammonium-nitrogen. Forward osmosis (FO) can employ different draw solution in its process. More than 500 inorganic compounds were screened as draw solution candidates, the desktop screening process resulted in 14 draw solutions suitable for FO applications. The 14 draw solutions were then tested in the laboratory to evaluate water flux and reverse salt diffusion through the membrane. Results indicated a wide range of water flux and reverse salt diffusion depending on the draw solution utilized. Internal concentration polarization was found to lower both water flux and reverse salt diffusion by reducing the draw solution concentration at the interface between the support and dense layer of the membrane. A small group of draw solutions was found to be most suitable for FO processes with currently available FO membranes. Another application of osmotically-driven membrane processes is pressure retarded osmosis (PRO). PRO was investigated as a viable source of renewable energy. A PRO model was developed to predict water flux and power density under specific experimental conditions. The predictive model was tested using experimental results from a bench-scale PRO system. Previous investigations of PRO were unable to verify model predictions due to

Sugar beet molasses: Properties and applications in osmotic dehydration of fruits and vegetables

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Šarić Ljubiša Ć.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Molasses is an important by-product of sugar beet or sugar cane refining industry and it was one of the first sweeteners used in human nutrition. Sugar cane molasses has unique characteristics that can make it suitable for application in food industry, especially in confectionery and bakery products. On the other hand, sugar beet molasses has not had greater application in the human diet, primarily because of its strong smell and taste of the beet, which makes it unattractive for consumption. Since recent investigations showed that sugar beet molasses can be used as a hypertonic solution in osmotic dehydration of different materials of plant and animal origin, the objective of this work was to review recently studied sugar beet molasses in terms of its applications in osmotic dehydrations of fruits and vegetables. Previous studies showed that sugar beet molasses is an excellent medium for osmotic dehydration of fruits and vegetables (apple, carrot, plum, etc. primarily due to a high content of dry matter (80%, w/w and specific nutrient content. An important advantage of using sugar beet molasses as a hypertonic solution is an enrichment of the dehydrated material in minerals and vitamins, which penetrate from molasses into the plant tissue. Concentration of sugar beet molasses solution and immersion time had the biggest influence on the process of osmotic dehydration of fruit and vegetables, while the temperature of the solution was the least influential parameter. The effect of immersion time on the kinetics of osmotic dehydration in sugar beet molasses increases with an increase in concentration of hypertonic solution. Fruit and vegetables dehydrated in sugar beet molasses had a higher dry matter content compared to samples treated in sucrose solutions. Besides, application of sugar beet molasses in osmotic dehydration of fruits and vegetables had some other advantages such as lower cost of molasses compared to sugar and its liquid aggregate

Development of an electro-osmotic heat pump

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stoel, J.P. van der; Oostendorp, P.A.

1999-01-01

The majority of heat pumps and refrigerators is driven by a mechanical compressor. Although they usually function very well, the search for new and in some cases better heat pumping concepts continues. One of the topics in this field is the development of an electro-osmotic heat pump. As each

Quercitol and osmotic adaptation of field-grown Eucalyptus under seasonal drought stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Arndt, Stefan K; Livesley, Stephen J; Merchant, Andrew; Bleby, Timothy M; Grierson, Pauline F

2008-07-01

This study investigated the role of quercitol in osmotic adjustment in field-grown Eucalyptus astringens Maiden subject to seasonal drought stress over the course of 1 year. The trees grew in a native woodland and a farm plantation in the semi-arid wheatbelt region of south Western Australia. Plantation trees allocated relatively more biomass to leaves than woodland trees, but they suffered greater drought stress over summer, as indicated by lower water potentials, CO(2)assimilation rates and stomatal conductances. In contrast, woodland trees had relatively fewer leaves and suffered less drought stress. Plantation trees under drought stress engaged in osmotic adjustment, but woodland trees did not. Quercitol made a significant contribution to osmotic adjustment in drought-stressed trees (25% of total solutes), and substantially more quercitol was measured in the leaves of plantation trees (5% dry matter) than in the leaves of woodland trees (2% dry matter). We found no evidence that quercitol was used as a carbon storage compound while starch reserves were depleted under drought stress. Differences in stomatal conductance, biomass allocation and quercitol production clearly indicate that E. astringens is both morphologically and physiologically 'plastic' in response to growth environment, and that osmotic adjustment is only one part of a complex strategy employed by this species to tolerate drought.

Effect of process variables on the osmotic dehydration of star-fruit slices

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Camila Dalben Madeira Campos

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this work was to study the effect of blanching and the influence of temperature, solution concentration, and the initial fruit:solution ratio on the osmotic dehydration of star-fruit slices. For blanching, different concentrations of citric and ascorbic acids were studied. The samples immersed in 0.75% citric acid presented little variation in color in relation to the fresh star-fruit. Osmotic dehydration was carried out in an incubator with orbital shaking, controlled temperature, and constant shaking at 120 rpm. The influence of process variables was studied in trials defined by a complete 23 central composite design. In general, water loss and solids gain were positively influenced by temperature and by solution concentration. Nevertheless, lower temperatures reduced water loss throughout the osmotic dehydration process. An increase in the amount of dehydrating solution (initial fruit:solution ratio slightly influenced the evaluated responses. The process carried out at 50 ºC with a solution concentration of 50% resulted in a product with lower solids gain and greater water loss. Under these conditions, blanching minimized the effect of the osmotic treatment on star-fruit browning, and therefore the blanched fruits showed little variation in color in relation to the fresh fruit.

F4 quantum integrable, rational and trigonometric models: space-of-orbits view

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turbiner, A V; Vieyra, J C Lopez

2014-01-01

Algebraic-rational nature of the four-dimensional, F 4 -invariant integrable quantum Hamiltonians, both rational and trigonometric, is revealed and reviewed. It was shown that being written in F 4 Weyl invariants, polynomial and exponential, respectively, both similarity-transformed Hamiltonians are in algebraic form, they are quite similar the second order differential operators with polynomial coefficients; the flat metric in the Laplace-Beltrami operator has polynomial (in invariants) matrix elements. Their potentials are calculated for the first time: they are meromorphic (rational) functions with singularities at the boundaries of the configuration space. Ground state eigenfunctions are algebraic functions in a form of polynomials in some degrees. Both Hamiltonians preserve the same infinite flag of polynomial spaces with characteristic vector (1, 2, 2, 3), it manifests exact solvability. A particular integral common for both models is derived. The first polynomial eigenfunctions are presented explicitly.

Flow cytometric determination of osmotic behaviour of animal erythrocytes toward their engineering for drug delivery

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Kostić Ivana T.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Despite the fact that the methods based on the osmotic properties of the cells are the most widely used for loading of drugs in human and animal erythrocytes, data related to the osmotic properties of erythrocytes derived from animal blood are scarce. This work was performed with an aim to investigate the possibility of use the flow cytometry as a tool for determination the osmotic behaviour of porcine and bovine erythrocytes, and thus facilitate the engineering of erythrocytes from animal blood to be drug carriers. The method of flow cytometry successfully provided the information about bovine and porcine erythrocyte osmotic fragility, and made the initial steps in assessment of erythrocyte shape in a large number of erythrocytes. Although this method is not able to confirm the swelling of pig erythrocytes, it indicated to the differences in pig erythrocytes that had basic hematological parameters inside and outside the reference values. In order to apply/use the porcine and bovine erythrocytes as drug carriers, the method of flow cytometry, confirming the presence of osmotically different fractions of red blood cells, indicated that various amounts of the encapsulated drug in porcine and bovine erythrocytes can be expected.

Rationality in Society

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Flache, Andreas; Dijkstra, Jacob; Wright, James D.

2015-01-01

Contemporary theories of rational behavior in human society augment the orthodox model of rationality both by adding various forms of bounded rationality and relaxing the assumptions of self-interest and materialistic preferences. This entry discusses how these extensions of the theory of rational

NP-Hardness of optimizing the sum of Rational Linear Functions over an Asymptotic-Linear-Program

OpenAIRE

Chermakani, Deepak Ponvel

2012-01-01

We convert, within polynomial-time and sequential processing, an NP-Complete Problem into a real-variable problem of minimizing a sum of Rational Linear Functions constrained by an Asymptotic-Linear-Program. The coefficients and constants in the real-variable problem are 0, 1, -1, K, or -K, where K is the time parameter that tends to positive infinity. The number of variables, constraints, and rational linear functions in the objective, of the real-variable problem is bounded by a polynomial ...

Drying of carrots in slices with osmotic dehydration

African Journals Online (AJOL)

SAM

2014-07-23

Jul 23, 2014 ... extend the shelf-life by a few weeks, one year or more. The methods .... drated carrots, this work studied the drying of carrot with pre-osmotic ... e) Weight Loss - obtained directly using balance semi-analytical model BEL ...

Kinetic coefficients for the biological treatment of tannery wastewater

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haydar, S.

2008-01-01

Determination of kinetic coefficients for a particular wastewater is imperative for the rational design of biological treatment-facilities. The present study was undertaken with the objective of finding out kinetic coefficients for tannery wastewater. A bench-scale model of aerated lagoon, consisting of an aeration tank and final clarifier, was use to conduct the studies. The model was operated continuously for 96 days, by varying the detention times from 3 to 9 days. Influent for the aerated lagoon was settled tannery wastewater. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of the influent and effluent and the mixed-liquor suspended solids (MLSS) of aeration tank were determined at various detention-times so as to generate data for kinetic coefficients. The kinetic coefficients k, Ks, Y and Ed were found to be 3.125 day/sup -1/, 488 mg/L, 0.64 and 0.035 day/sup -1/ respectively. Overall rate-constant of BOD, removal 'K' was also determined and was found to be 1.43 day/sup -1/. Kinetic coefficients were determined, at mean reactor-temperature of 30.2 degree C. These coefficients may be utilized for the design of biological-treatment facilities for tannery wastewater. (author)

A novel osmotic pump-based controlled delivery system consisting of pH-modulated solid dispersion for poorly soluble drug flurbiprofen: in vitro and in vivo evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shujuan; Wang, Xiaoyu; Wang, Yingying; Zhao, Qianqian; Zhang, Lina; Yang, Xinggang; Liu, Dandan; Pan, Weisan

2015-01-01

In this study, a novel controlled release osmotic pump capsule consisting of pH-modulated solid dispersion for poorly soluble drug flurbiprofen (FP) was developed to improve the solubility and oral bioavailability of FP and to minimize the fluctuation of plasma concentration. The pH-modulated solid dispersion containing FP, Kollidon® 12 PF and Na2CO3 at a weight ratio of 1/4.5/0.02 was prepared using the solvent evaporation method. The osmotic pump capsule was assembled by semi-permeable capsule shell of cellulose acetate (CA) prepared by the perfusion method. Then, the solid dispersion, penetration enhancer, and suspending agents were tableted and filled into the capsule. Central composite design-response surface methodology was used to evaluate the influence of factors on the responses. A second-order polynomial model and a multiple linear model were fitted to correlation coefficient of drug release profile and ultimate cumulative release in 12 h, respectively. The actual response values were in good accordance with the predicted ones. The optimized formulation showed a complete drug delivery and zero-order release rate. Beagle dogs were used to be conducted in the pharmacokinetic study. The in vivo study indicated that the relative bioavailability of the novel osmotic pump system was 133.99% compared with the commercial preparation. The novel controlled delivery system with combination of pH-modulated solid dispersion and osmotic pump system is not only a promising strategy to improve the solubility and oral bioavailability of poorly soluble ionizable drugs but also an effective way to reduce dosing frequency and minimize the plasma fluctuation.

Comparative Erythrocytes Osmotic Fragility Test and some ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Erythrocytes osmotic fragility and haematological parameters of subjects with HbAS (sickle cell trait) and HbSS (sickle cell anaemia) were determined and compared with subjects with HbAA (normal adult haemoglobin), which acted as control. They were divided into three groups of 40 subjects for HbAA, 35 subjects for ...

A novel zinc-finger-like gene from Tamarix hispida is involved in salt and osmotic tolerance.

Science.gov (United States)

An, Yan; Wang, Yucheng; Lou, Lingling; Zheng, Tangchun; Qu, Guan-Zheng

2011-11-01

In the present study, a zinc-finger-like cDNA (ThZFL) was cloned from the Tamarix hispida. Northern blot analysis showed that the expression of ThZFL can be induced by salt, osmotic stress and ABA treatment. Overexpression of the ThZFL confers salt and osmotic stress tolerance in both yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and tobacco. Furthermore, MDA levels in ThZFL transformed tobacco were significantly decreased compared with control plants under salt and osmotic stress, suggesting ThZFL may confer stress tolerance by decreasing membrane lipid peroxidation. Subcellular localization analysis showed the ThZFL protein is localized in the cell wall. Our results indicated the ThZFL gene is an excellent candidate for genetic engineering to improve salt and osmotic tolerance in agricultural plants.

Rational use of water in trickle irrigation design.

Science.gov (United States)

Saad, J. C. C.; da Silva Junior, H. M.

2012-04-01

In trickle irrigation systems, the design is based on the pre-established emission uniformity (EU) which is the combined result of the equipment characteristics and its hydraulic configuration. However, this desired value of the EU may not be confirmed by the final project (in field conditions) and neither by the yield uniformity. However, the most important is to assure yield uniformity with rational use of water. The hypotheses of this research were: a) the EU of a trickle irrigation system at field conditions is equal to the emission uniformity pre-established in the design; b) EU has always the lowest value when compared with other indicators of uniformity; c) the discharge variation coefficient is not equal to production variation coefficient in the operational unit; d) the productivity variation coefficient is more dependent on water depth applied than the EU. This study aimed to evaluate the relationships among EU used in the irrigation system design, water depth applied and the final yield uniformity. The uniformity indicators evaluated were: EU, distribution uniformity (UD) and the index proposed by Barragan & Wu (2005). They were compared estimating the performance of a trickle irrigation system applied in a citrus orchard with dimensions of 400m x 600m. The design of the irrigation system was optimized by a Linear Programming model. The tree rows were leveled in the larger direction and the spacing adopted in the orchard was 7m x 4m. The manifold line was always operating on a slope condition. The sensitivity analysis involved different slopes, 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12%, and different values of emission uniformity, 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90 and 94%. The citrus yield uniformity was evaluated by the variation coefficient. The emission uniformity (EU) after design differed from the EU pre-established, more sharply in the initial values lower than 90%. Comparing the uniformity indexes, the EU always generated lower values when compared with the UD and with the index

A Rational Approach to Rational Suicide.

Science.gov (United States)

Richman, Joseph

1992-01-01

Describes suicide as reaction to internal and external sources of stress and the impact of life events. Notes that, in the elderly, these situations are prevalent in many who are not suicidal. Contends that much more is written about rational suicide than its alternative (rational nonsuicide). Reviews reasons for this and suggests rational…

The osmotic fragility of human erythrocytes is inhibited by laser irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Habodaszova, D.; Sikurova, L.; Waczulikova, I.

2004-01-01

In this study we investigated the influence of green laser irradiation (532 nm, 30 mW, 31,7 J/cm 2 ) on the membrane integrity of human erythrocytes and compared the results with the effect of infrared laser irradiation (810 nm, 50 mW, 31,3 J/cm 2 ). To evaluate the membrane integrity of erythrocytes, one clinical parameter, the osmotic fragility, was investigated. We observed a decrease in osmotic fragility of the erythrocytes after irradiation by the green laser light as well as by the infrared laser compared to non-irradiated controls (Authors)

Effect of Osmotic Stress on Seed Germination Indices of Nigella sativa and Silybum marianum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H Balouchi

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Evaluation of medicinal plants to drought and salt stress tolerance, in an attempt to plant them under drought and saline regions, is of utmost importance. Environmental stresses, especially drought and salt, reduce the global crop yields more than other factors. Selection of drought tolerant crops at germination stage, usually is, the fast and low cost method. In order to study the effect of osmotic stress on germination indices of black cumin and milk thistle, an experiment carried out in a completely randomized design with four replications at the Seed Technology Laboratoary of Yasouj University in 2008. Treatments were 0 (as control, -2.4, -4.8, -7.2 and -9.4 bar osmotic potentials created by using PEG 6000. Results showed that, decreasing of osmotic potential reduced speed of germination and its percentage, root and shoot lengths and dry matter in these two plants. Black cumin showed higher tolerance, to -4.8 bar osmotic potential, as compared to milk thistle. However, milk thistle showed higher tolerance to drought stress, up to this osmotic potential (-4.8 bar, compared to black cumin. Milk thistle had lower germination speed and percentage at higher drought stress as compared to black cumin. Generally, milk thistle showed better growth and survival than black cumin due to its higher root and shoot length and dry matter.

OSMOTIC PRESSURE INFLUENCE ON THE VEGETABLE CHIPS DEHYDRATION PROCESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LILIANA I. MIHALCEA

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The low fruit and vegetable consumption identified by the World Health Organization is a significant factor for adverse health consequences, like obesity and noncommunicable diseases. In the worldwide effort of boosting fruit and vegetable consumption to at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day (5-A-Day, healthy, mildly sweet and salty dried crunchy vegetable snacks can add up increasing attractiveness of vegetables among youngsters. The objectives of this research were to obtain sweet and salty dried parsnip snacks, pretreated with concentrated whey (CW and concentrated hydrolyzed whey (HW, to study the influence of osmotic pressure and temperature (45, 55 and 65 °C on the convective drying process and to estimate the kinetic parameters (diffusion coefficients, activation energy of parsnip drying. Nonlinear regression models were applied to estimate the drying parameters based on Henderson - Pabis equations. Results have shown that the activation energy required during drying by the chips treated with HW (23.89 kJ·mol-1 and CW (20.06 kJ·mol-1 is lower than in the reference sample (31.02 kJ·mol-1. Moreover, these represents a smart valorization of a by product from dairy industry rich in valuable minerals, proteins and sugars in the veggie industry.

Osmotic concentration in three races of honey bee, Apis mellifera L. under environmental conditions of arid zone.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Hussain; Alqarni, Abdulaziz S; Owayss, Ayman A; Hassan, Awad M; Smith, Brian H

2017-07-01

Hemolymph osmolarity has great effect on honey bee health, especially in arid and semi-arid zones. It regulates water and nutrients in stressed tissues. Osmotic concentration in three races ( Apis mellifera ligustica , A. m. carnica and A. m. jemenitica ) of Apis mellifera was tested in central Saudi Arabia during spring and summer seasons in 2015. Newly emerged bee workers were first marked and later their hemolymph was extracted after intervals of 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 days. A significant positive correlation between age and osmolarity was found in all three races during spring and summer seasons. The lowest combined osmotic concentration for all three races was found after 1 day interval, while the highest osmotic concentration was recorded after 25 days. Among all races, A. m. ligustica showed significantly high osmotic concentration after 25 days in spring and summer seasons as compared to the other two races. Only A. m. jemenitica showed similar osmotic concentration after 10 and 15 days in both spring and summer seasons compared to other two races. Mean osmotic concentration of all three races was significantly different after 20 and 25 days in spring and summer seasons. Overall mean recorded during summer was significantly higher than the mean of spring season. Combined osmotic concentration in young drones of all races was significantly lower than that of old drones during spring and summer seasons.

Osmotic dehydration of fruit and berry raw materials in the food industry

OpenAIRE

N. A. Gribova; L. G. Eliseeva

2017-01-01

Osmotic dehydration has recently received more attention as an effective method of preserving fruits and berries. Osmosis is a simple process that facilitates the processing of fruits and berries in order to preserve the original characteristics, namely nutritional value and organoleptic properties: color, aroma and texture. Osmotic dehydration has found wide application in the preservation of food products, as the activity of water in fruits and berries decreases, in some of them up to 90% o...

Analytical Expressions for Thermo-Osmotic Permeability of Clays

Science.gov (United States)

Gonçalvès, J.; Ji Yu, C.; Matray, J.-M.; Tremosa, J.

2018-01-01

In this study, a new formulation for the thermo-osmotic permeability of natural pore solutions containing monovalent and divalent cations is proposed. The mathematical formulation proposed here is based on the theoretical framework supporting thermo-osmosis which relies on water structure alteration in the pore space of surface-charged materials caused by solid-fluid electrochemical interactions. The ionic content balancing the surface charge of clay minerals causes a disruption in the hydrogen bond network when more structured water is present at the clay surface. Analytical expressions based on our heuristic model are proposed and compared to the available data for NaCl solutions. It is shown that the introduction of divalent cations reduces the thermo-osmotic permeability by one third compared to the monovalent case. The analytical expressions provided here can be used to advantage for safety calculations in deep underground nuclear waste repositories.

A new insight into membrane fouling mechanism in submerged membrane bioreactor: osmotic pressure during cake layer filtration.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Meijia; Peng, Wei; Chen, Jianrong; He, Yiming; Ding, Linxian; Wang, Aijun; Lin, Hongjun; Hong, Huachang; Zhang, Ye; Yu, Haiying

2013-05-15

Big gap between experimental filtration resistance of cake layer formed on membrane surface and the hydraulic resistance calculated through the Carman-Kozeny equation, suggested the existence of a new membrane fouling mechanism: osmotic pressure during cake layer filtration in SMBR system. An osmotic pressure model based on chemical potential difference was then proposed. Simulation of the model showed that osmotic pressure accounted for the major fraction of total operation pressure, and pH, applied pressure and ionic strength were the key determining factors for osmosis effect. It was found that, variations of osmotic pressure with pH, applied pressure and added ionic strength were well coincident with perditions of model's simulation, providing the first direct evidences of the real occurrence of osmosis mechanism and the feasibility of the proposed model. These findings illustrate the essential role of osmotic pressure in filtration resistance, and improve fundamental understanding on membrane fouling in SMBR systems. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tirilazad mesylate protects stored erythrocytes against osmotic fragility.

Science.gov (United States)

Epps, D E; Knechtel, T J; Bacznskyj, O; Decker, D; Guido, D M; Buxser, S E; Mathews, W R; Buffenbarger, S L; Lutzke, B S; McCall, J M

1994-12-01

The hypoosmotic lysis curve of freshly collected human erythrocytes is consistent with a single Gaussian error function with a mean of 46.5 +/- 0.25 mM NaCl and a standard deviation of 5.0 +/- 0.4 mM NaCl. After extended storage of RBCs under standard blood bank conditions the lysis curve conforms to the sum of two error functions instead of a possible shift in the mean and a broadening of a single error function. Thus, two distinct sub-populations with different fragilities are present instead of a single, broadly distributed population. One population is identical to the freshly collected erythrocytes, whereas the other population consists of osmotically fragile cells. The rate of generation of the new, osmotically fragile, population of cells was used to probe the hypothesis that lipid peroxidation is responsible for the induction of membrane fragility. If it is so, then the antioxidant, tirilazad mesylate (U-74,006f), should protect against this degradation of stored erythrocytes. We found that tirilazad mesylate, at 17 microM (1.5 mol% with respect to membrane lecithin), retards significantly the formation of the osmotically fragile RBCs. Concomitantly, the concentration of free hemoglobin which accumulates during storage is markedly reduced by the drug. Since the presence of the drug also decreases the amount of F2-isoprostanes formed during the storage period, an antioxidant mechanism must be operative. These results demonstrate that tirilazad mesylate significantly decreases the number of fragile erythrocytes formed during storage in the blood bank.

A physiological evaluation of the enhanced osmotic stress tolerance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ELO

2012-01-05

Jan 5, 2012 ... SR3 and Jinan 177 were hydroponically subjected to osmotic stress, the accumulation of proline .... hydroponically in half strength Hoagland's solution for three weeks ..... ascrobate specific peroxidase in spinach chloroplasts.

Methods to increase the rate of mass transfer during osmotic dehydration of foods.

Science.gov (United States)

Chwastek, Anna

2014-01-01

Traditional methods of food preservation such as freezing, freeze drying (lyophilization), vacuum drying, convection drying are often supplemented by new technologies that enable obtaining of high quality products. Osmotic dehydration is more and more often used during processing of fruits and vegetables. This method allows maintaining good organoleptic and functional properties in the finished product. Obtaining the desired degree of dehydration or saturation of the material with an osmoactive substance often requires  elongation of time or use of high temperatures. In recent years much attention was devoted to techniques aimed at increasing the mass transfer between the dehydrated material and the hypertonic solution. The work reviews the literature focused on methods of streamlining the process of osmotic dehydration which include the use of: ultrasound, high hydrostatic pressure, vacuum osmotic dehydration and pulsed electric field.

Molecular sieving action of the cell membrane during gradual osmotic hemolysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

MacGregor, R.D. II

1977-05-01

Rat erythrocytes were hemolyzed by controlled gradual osmotic hemolysis to study cell morphology and hemoglobin loss from individual cells. Results suggest that each increase in the rate of loss of a protein from the cells during the initial phases of controlled gradual osmotic hemolysis is caused by the passage of a previously impermeable species across the stressed membrane. Similarly, during the final stages of controlled gradual osmotic hemolysis, each sharp decrease in the rate of loss of a protein corresponds to the termination of a molecular flow. A theoretical model is described that predicts the molecular sieving of soluble globular proteins across the stressed red cell membrane. Hydrophobic interactions occur between the soluble proteins and the lipid bilayer portion of the cell membrane. A spectrin network subdivides the bilayer into domains that restrict the insertion of large molecules into the membrane. Other membrane proteins affect soluble protein access to the membrane. Changes in the loss curves caused by incubation of red cells are discussed in terms of the model.

Controlling Release of Integral Lipid Nanoparticles Based on Osmotic Pump Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Zhiqiang; Yu, Qin; Xie, Yunchang; Li, Fengqian; Lu, Yi; Dong, Xiaochun; Zhao, Weili; Qi, Jianping; Wu, Wei

2016-08-01

To achieve controlled release of integral nanoparticles by the osmotic pump strategy using nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) as model nanoparticles. NLCs was prepared by a hot-homogenization method, transformed into powder by lyophilization, and formulated into osmotic pump tablets (OPTs). Release of integral NLCs was visualized by live imaging after labeling with a water-quenching fluorescent probe. Effects of formulation variables on in vitro release characteristics were evaluated by measuring the model drug fenofibrate. Pharmacokinetics were studied in beagle dogs using the core tablet and a micronized fenofibrate formulation as references. NLCs are released through the release orifices of the OPTs as integral nanoparticles. Near zero-order kinetics can be achieved by optimizing the influencing variables. After oral administration, decreased C max and steady drug levels for as long as over 24 h are observed. NLC-OPTs show an oral bioavailability of the model drug fenofibrate similar to that of the core tablets, which is about 1.75 folds that of a fast-release formulation. Controlled release of integral NLCs is achieved by the osmotic pump strategy.

Self-consistent unstirred layers in osmotically driven flows

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Kåre Hartvig; Bohr, Tomas; Bruus, Henrik

2010-01-01

It has long been recognized that the osmotic transport characteristics of membranes may be strongly influenced by the presence of unstirred concentration boundary layers adjacent to the membrane. Previous experimental as well as theoretical works have mainly focused on the case where the solutions...

Osmotic stress, endogenous abscisic acid and the control of leaf morphology in Hippuris vulgaris L

Science.gov (United States)

Goliber, T. E.; Feldman, L. J.

1989-01-01

Previous reports indicate that heterophyllous aquatic plants can be induced to form aerial-type leaves on submerged shoots when they are grown in exogenous abscisic acid (ABA). This study reports on the relationship between osmotic stress (e.g. the situation encountered by a shoot tip when it grows above the water surface), endogenous ABA (as measured by gas chromatography-electron capture detector) and leaf morphology in the heterophyllous aquatic plant, Hippuris vulgaris. Free ABA could not be detected in submerged shoots of H. vulgaris but in aerial shoots ABA occurred at ca. 40 ng (g fr wt)-1. When submerged shoots were osmotically stressed ABA appeared at levels of 26 to 40 ng (g fr wt)-1. These and other data support two main conclusions: (1) Osmotically stressing a submerged shoot causes the appearance of detectable levels of ABA. (2) The rise of ABA in osmotically stressed submerged shoots in turn induces a change in leaf morphology from the submerged to the aerial form. This corroborates the hypothesis that, in the natural environment, ABA levels rise in response to the osmotic stress encountered when a submerged shoot grows up through the water/air interface and that the increased ABA leads to the production of aerial-type leaves.

Hybrid Pressure Retarded Osmosis−Membrane Distillation (PRO−MD) Process for Osmotic Power and Clean Water Generation

KAUST Repository

Han, Gang; Zuo, Jian; Wan, Chunfeng; Chung, Neal Tai-Shung

2015-01-01

unique advantages of high water recovery rate, huge osmotic power generation, well controlled membrane fouling, and minimal environmental impacts. Experimental results show that the PRO−MD hybrid process is promising that not only can harvest osmotic

The application of rational approximation in the calculation of a temperature field with a non-linear surface heat-transfer coefficient during quenching for 42CrMo steel cylinder

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Heming; Huang, Xieqing; Fan, Jiang; Wang, Honggang

1999-10-01

The calculation of a temperature field has a great influence upon the analysis of thermal stresses and stains during quenching. In this paper, a 42CrMo steel cylinder was used an example for investigation. From the TTT diagram of the 42CrMo steel, the CCT diagram was simulated by mathematical transformation, and the volume fraction of phase constituents was calculated. The thermal physical properties were treated as functions of temperature and the volume fraction of phase constituents. The rational approximation was applied to the finite element method. The temperature field with phase transformation and non-linear surface heat-transfer coefficients was calculated using this technique, which can effectively avoid oscillationin the numerical solution for a small time step. The experimental results of the temperature field calculation coincide with the numerical solutions.

Ebselen exhibits glycation-inhibiting properties and protects against osmotic fragility of human erythrocytes in vitro.

Science.gov (United States)

Soares, Julio C M; Folmer, Vanderlei; Da Rocha, João B T; Nogueira, Cristina W

2014-05-01

Diabetic status is associated with an increase on oxidative stress markers in humans and animal models. We have investigated the in vitro effects of high concentrations of glucose on the profile of oxidative stress and osmotic fragility of blood from control and diabetic patients; we considered whether its antioxidant properties could afford some protection against glucose-induced osmotic fragility, and whether ebselen could act as an inhibitor of hemoglobin glycation. Raising blood glucose to 5-100 mmol/L resulted in a concentration-dependent increase of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c; P Ebselen significantly reduced the glucose-induced increase in osmotic fragility and inhibited HbA1c formation (P < 0.0001). These results indicate that blood from patients with uncontrolled diabetes are more sensitive to osmotic shock than from patients with controlled diabetes and control subjects in relation to increased production of free radicals in vivo. © 2014 International Federation for Cell Biology.

Rational function systems and electrical networks with multiparameters

CERN Document Server

Lu, KaiSheng

2012-01-01

To overcome the problems of system theory and network theory over real field, this book uses matrices over the field F(z) of rational functions in multiparameters describing coefficient matrices of systems and networks and makes systems and network description over F(z) and researches their structural properties: reducible condition of a class of matrices over F(z) and their characteristic polynomial; type1 matrix and two basic properties; variable replacement conditions for independent parameters; structural controllability and observability of linear systems over F(z); separability, reducibi

Effect of Osmotic Pressure on the Stability of Whole Inactivated Influenza Vaccine for Coating on Microneedles.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyo-Jick Choi

Full Text Available Enveloped virus vaccines can be damaged by high osmotic strength solutions, such as those used to protect the vaccine antigen during drying, which contain high concentrations of sugars. We therefore studied shrinkage and activity loss of whole inactivated influenza virus in hyperosmotic solutions and used those findings to improve vaccine coating of microneedle patches for influenza vaccination. Using stopped-flow light scattering analysis, we found that the virus underwent an initial shrinkage on the order of 10% by volume within 5 s upon exposure to a hyperosmotic stress difference of 217 milliosmolarity. During this shrinkage, the virus envelope had very low osmotic water permeability (1 - 6×10-4 cm s-1 and high Arrhenius activation energy (Ea = 15.0 kcal mol-1, indicating that the water molecules diffused through the viral lipid membranes. After a quasi-stable state of approximately 20 s to 2 min, depending on the species and hypertonic osmotic strength difference of disaccharides, there was a second phase of viral shrinkage. At the highest osmotic strengths, this led to an undulating light scattering profile that appeared to be related to perturbation of the viral envelope resulting in loss of virus activity, as determined by in vitro hemagglutination measurements and in vivo immunogenicity studies in mice. Addition of carboxymethyl cellulose effectively prevented vaccine activity loss in vitro and in vivo, believed to be due to increasing the viscosity of concentrated sugar solution and thereby reducing osmotic stress during coating of microneedles. These results suggest that hyperosmotic solutions can cause biphasic shrinkage of whole inactivated influenza virus which can damage vaccine activity at high osmotic strength and that addition of a viscosity enhancer to the vaccine coating solution can prevent osmotically driven damage and thereby enable preparation of stable microneedle coating formulations for vaccination.

On rationally supported surfaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gravesen, Jens; Juttler, B.; Sir, Z.

2008-01-01

We analyze the class of surfaces which are equipped with rational support functions. Any rational support function can be decomposed into a symmetric (even) and an antisymmetric (odd) part. We analyze certain geometric properties of surfaces with odd and even rational support functions....... In particular it is shown that odd rational support functions correspond to those rational surfaces which can be equipped with a linear field of normal vectors, which were discussed by Sampoli et al. (Sampoli, M.L., Peternell, M., Juttler, B., 2006. Rational surfaces with linear normals and their convolutions...... with rational surfaces. Comput. Aided Geom. Design 23, 179-192). As shown recently, this class of surfaces includes non-developable quadratic triangular Bezier surface patches (Lavicka, M., Bastl, B., 2007. Rational hypersurfaces with rational convolutions. Comput. Aided Geom. Design 24, 410426; Peternell, M...

The predictive power of dividend yields for future inflation: Money illusion or rational causes?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Engsted, Tom; Pedersen, Thomas Quistgaard

slope coefficients that increase numerically with the horizon in regressions of future inflation onto the dividend yield, in accordance with the data. A purely rational version of the model with no money illusion, but with a link from expected inflation to real consumption growth, also generates...

Novel Regulation of Aquaporins during Osmotic Stress1

Science.gov (United States)

Vera-Estrella, Rosario; Barkla, Bronwyn J.; Bohnert, Hans J.; Pantoja, Omar

2004-01-01

Aquaporin protein regulation and redistribution in response to osmotic stress was investigated. Ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum) McTIP1;2 (McMIPF) mediated water flux when expressed in Xenopus leavis oocytes. Mannitol-induced water imbalance resulted in increased protein amounts in tonoplast fractions and a shift in protein distribution to other membrane fractions, suggesting aquaporin relocalization. Indirect immunofluorescence labeling also supports a change in membrane distribution for McTIP1;2 and the appearance of a unique compartment where McTIP1;2 is expressed. Mannitol-induced redistribution of McTIP1;2 was arrested by pretreatment with brefeldin A, wortmannin, and cytochalasin D, inhibitors of vesicle trafficking-related processes. Evidence suggests a role for glycosylation and involvement of a cAMP-dependent signaling pathway in McTIP1;2 redistribution. McTIP1;2 redistribution to endosomal compartments may be part of a homeostatic process to restore and maintain cellular osmolarity under osmotic-stress conditions. PMID:15299122

Glucose Monitoring System Based on Osmotic Pressure Measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandra LEAL

2011-02-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the design and development of a prototype sensor unit for implementation in a long-term glucose monitoring system suitable for estimating glucose levels in people suffering from diabetes mellitus. The system utilizes osmotic pressure as the sensing mechanism and consists of a sensor prototype that is integrated together with a pre-amplifier and data acquisition unit for both data recording and processing. The sensor prototype is based on an embedded silicon absolute pressure transducer and a semipermeable nanoporous membrane that is enclosed in the sensor housing. The glucose monitoring system facilitates the integration of a low power microcontroller that is combined with a wireless inductive powered communication link. Experimental verification have proven that the system is capable of tracking osmotic pressure changes using albumin as a model compound, and thereby show a proof of concept for novel long term tracking of blood glucose from remote sensor nodes.

Extracellular-matrix-mediated osmotic pressure drives Vibrio cholerae biofilm expansion and cheater exclusion

OpenAIRE

Yan, Jing; Nadell, Carey D.; Stone, Howard A.; Wingreen, Ned S.; Bassler, Bonnie L.

2017-01-01

Biofilms, surface-attached communities of bacteria encased in an extracellular matrix, are a major mode of bacterial life. How the material properties of the matrix contribute to biofilm growth and robustness is largely unexplored, in particular in response to environmental perturbations such as changes in osmotic pressure. Here, using Vibrio cholerae as our model organism, we show that during active cell growth, matrix production enables biofilm-dwelling bacterial cells to establish an osmot...

Osmotic potential calculations of inorganic and organic aqueous solutions over wide solute concentration levels and temperatures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cochrane, T. T., E-mail: agteca@hotmail.com [AGTECA S.A., 230 Oceanbeach Road, Mount Maunganui, Tauranga 3116 (New Zealand); Cochrane, T. A., E-mail: tom.cochrane@canterbury.ac.nz [Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140 (New Zealand)

2016-01-15

Purpose: To demonstrate that the authors’ new “aqueous solution vs pure water” equation to calculate osmotic potential may be used to calculate the osmotic potentials of inorganic and organic aqueous solutions over wide ranges of solute concentrations and temperatures. Currently, the osmotic potentials of solutions used for medical purposes are calculated from equations based on the thermodynamics of the gas laws which are only accurate at low temperature and solute concentration levels. Some solutions used in medicine may need their osmotic potentials calculated more accurately to take into account solute concentrations and temperatures. Methods: The authors experimented with their new equation for calculating the osmotic potentials of inorganic and organic aqueous solutions up to and beyond body temperatures by adjusting three of its factors; (a) the volume property of pure water, (b) the number of “free” water molecules per unit volume of solution, “N{sub f},” and (c) the “t” factor expressing the cooperative structural relaxation time of pure water at given temperatures. Adequate information on the volume property of pure water at different temperatures is available in the literature. However, as little information on the relative densities of inorganic and organic solutions, respectively, at varying temperatures needed to calculate N{sub f} was available, provisional equations were formulated to approximate values. Those values together with tentative t values for different temperatures chosen from values calculated by different workers were substituted into the authors’ equation to demonstrate how osmotic potentials could be estimated over temperatures up to and beyond bodily temperatures. Results: The provisional equations formulated to calculate N{sub f}, the number of free water molecules per unit volume of inorganic and organic solute solutions, respectively, over wide concentration ranges compared well with the calculations of N{sub f

Osmotic potential calculations of inorganic and organic aqueous solutions over wide solute concentration levels and temperatures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cochrane, T. T.; Cochrane, T. A.

2016-01-01

Purpose: To demonstrate that the authors’ new “aqueous solution vs pure water” equation to calculate osmotic potential may be used to calculate the osmotic potentials of inorganic and organic aqueous solutions over wide ranges of solute concentrations and temperatures. Currently, the osmotic potentials of solutions used for medical purposes are calculated from equations based on the thermodynamics of the gas laws which are only accurate at low temperature and solute concentration levels. Some solutions used in medicine may need their osmotic potentials calculated more accurately to take into account solute concentrations and temperatures. Methods: The authors experimented with their new equation for calculating the osmotic potentials of inorganic and organic aqueous solutions up to and beyond body temperatures by adjusting three of its factors; (a) the volume property of pure water, (b) the number of “free” water molecules per unit volume of solution, “N f ,” and (c) the “t” factor expressing the cooperative structural relaxation time of pure water at given temperatures. Adequate information on the volume property of pure water at different temperatures is available in the literature. However, as little information on the relative densities of inorganic and organic solutions, respectively, at varying temperatures needed to calculate N f was available, provisional equations were formulated to approximate values. Those values together with tentative t values for different temperatures chosen from values calculated by different workers were substituted into the authors’ equation to demonstrate how osmotic potentials could be estimated over temperatures up to and beyond bodily temperatures. Results: The provisional equations formulated to calculate N f , the number of free water molecules per unit volume of inorganic and organic solute solutions, respectively, over wide concentration ranges compared well with the calculations of N f using recorded

Pragmatics & rationality.

OpenAIRE

Allott, N. E.

2007-01-01

This thesis is about the reconciliation of realistic views of rationality with inferential-intentional theories of communication. Grice (1957 1975) argued that working out what a speaker meant by an utterance is a matter of inferring the speaker's intentions on the presumption that she is acting rationally. This is abductive inference: inference to the best explanation for the utterance. Thus an utterance both rationalises and causes the interpretation the hearer constructs. Human rationality...

The roles of different salts and a novel osmotic pressure control strategy for improvement of DHA production by Schizochytrium sp.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Xue-Chao; Ren, Lu-Jing; Chen, Sheng-Lan; Zhang, Li; Ji, Xiao-Jun; Huang, He

2015-11-01

The effects of different osmotic pressure, changed by six salts (NaCl, Na2SO4, (NH4)2SO4, KH2PO4 and MSG), on cell growth and DHA synthesis by Schizochytrium sp. were investigated. Six optimal mediums were obtained to study different osmotic pressure combinations at cell growth stage and DHA synthesis stage. Results showed that cultivated cell in higher osmotic pressure condition and fermented in lower osmotic pressure condition was benefit to enhance DHA synthesis. Combination 17-6 could get the maximum cell dry weight of 56.95 g/L and the highest DHA percentage in total fatty acids of 55.21%, while combination 17-B could get the highest lipid yield of 33.47 g/L with 42.10% DHA in total fatty acids. This was the first report about the enhancement of DHA production by osmotic regulation and this work provided two novel osmotic control processes for high lipid yield and high DHA percentage in total fatty acids.

Calcium and Calmodulin Are Involved in Nitric Oxide-Induced Adventitious Rooting of Cucumber under Simulated Osmotic Stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Niu, Lijuan; Yu, Jian; Liao, Weibiao; Yu, Jihua; Zhang, Meiling; Dawuda, Mohammed M

2017-01-01

Osmotic stress is a major form of abiotic stress that adversely affects growth and development of plants and subsequently reduces yield and quality of crops. In this study, the effect of nitric oxide (NO) and calcium (Ca 2+ ) on the process of adventitious rooting in cucumber ( Cucumis sativus L.) under simulated osmotic stress was investigated. The results revealed that the effect of exogenous NO and Ca 2+ in promoting the development of adventitious roots in cucumber seedlings under simulated osmotic stress was dose-dependent, with a maximal biological response at 10 μM NO donor nitroprusside (SNP) or 200 μM Ca 2+ . The application of Ca 2+ chelators or channel inhibitors and calmodulin (CaM) antagonists significantly reversed NO-induced adventitious rooting, implying that endogenous Ca 2+ /CaM might be involved in NO-induced adventitious rooting under osmotic stress. Moreover, intracellular Ca amount was also increased by NO in cucumber hypocotyls during the development of adventitious roots under osmotic stress. This increase of endogenous Ca 2+ was inhibited by NO specific scavenger 2-(4-carboxyphenyl) -4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide potassium salt (cPTIO), nitrate reductase inhibitors tungstate (Na 2 WO 4 ) and sodium azide (NaN 3 ) . This gives an indication that Ca 2+ might be a downstream signaling molecule in the adventitious root development by NO under osmotic condition. The results also show that NO or Ca 2+ play a positive role in improving plant water status and photosynthetic system by increasing chlorophyll content and photochemical activity in leaves. Furthermore, NO and Ca 2+ treatment might alleviate the negative effects of osmotic stress by decreasing membrane damage and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by enhancing the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX). Therefore, Ca 2+ /CaM may act as a downstream signaling molecule in NO-induced development of adventitious root

Rationality of the anomalous dimensions in N=4 SYM theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Genovese, Luigi; Stanev, Yassen S.

2005-01-01

We reconsider the general constraints on the perturbative anomalous dimensions in conformal invariant QFT and in particular in N=4 SYM with gauge group SU(N). We show that all the perturbative corrections to the anomalous dimension of a renormalized gauge invariant local operator can be written as polynomials in its one loop anomalous dimension. In the N=4 SYM theory the coefficients of these polynomials are rational functions of the number of colours N

Stress responses of the industrial workhorse Bacillus licheniformis to osmotic challenges.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca Schroeter

Full Text Available The Gram-positive endospore-forming bacterium Bacillus licheniformis can be found widely in nature and it is exploited in industrial processes for the manufacturing of antibiotics, specialty chemicals, and enzymes. Both in its varied natural habitats and in industrial settings, B. licheniformis cells will be exposed to increases in the external osmolarity, conditions that trigger water efflux, impair turgor, cause the cessation of growth, and negatively affect the productivity of cell factories in biotechnological processes. We have taken here both systems-wide and targeted physiological approaches to unravel the core of the osmostress responses of B. licheniformis. Cells were suddenly subjected to an osmotic upshift of considerable magnitude (with 1 M NaCl, and their transcriptional profile was then recorded in a time-resolved fashion on a genome-wide scale. A bioinformatics cluster analysis was used to group the osmotically up-regulated genes into categories that are functionally associated with the synthesis and import of osmostress-relieving compounds (compatible solutes, the SigB-controlled general stress response, and genes whose functional annotation suggests that salt stress triggers secondary oxidative stress responses in B. licheniformis. The data set focusing on the transcriptional profile of B. licheniformis was enriched by proteomics aimed at identifying those proteins that were accumulated by the cells through increased biosynthesis in response to osmotic stress. Furthermore, these global approaches were augmented by a set of experiments that addressed the synthesis of the compatible solutes proline and glycine betaine and assessed the growth-enhancing effects of various osmoprotectants. Combined, our data provide a blueprint of the cellular adjustment processes of B. licheniformis to both sudden and sustained osmotic stress.

Stress responses of the industrial workhorse Bacillus licheniformis to osmotic challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeter, Rebecca; Hoffmann, Tamara; Voigt, Birgit; Meyer, Hanna; Bleisteiner, Monika; Muntel, Jan; Jürgen, Britta; Albrecht, Dirk; Becher, Dörte; Lalk, Michael; Evers, Stefan; Bongaerts, Johannes; Maurer, Karl-Heinz; Putzer, Harald; Hecker, Michael; Schweder, Thomas; Bremer, Erhard

2013-01-01

The Gram-positive endospore-forming bacterium Bacillus licheniformis can be found widely in nature and it is exploited in industrial processes for the manufacturing of antibiotics, specialty chemicals, and enzymes. Both in its varied natural habitats and in industrial settings, B. licheniformis cells will be exposed to increases in the external osmolarity, conditions that trigger water efflux, impair turgor, cause the cessation of growth, and negatively affect the productivity of cell factories in biotechnological processes. We have taken here both systems-wide and targeted physiological approaches to unravel the core of the osmostress responses of B. licheniformis. Cells were suddenly subjected to an osmotic upshift of considerable magnitude (with 1 M NaCl), and their transcriptional profile was then recorded in a time-resolved fashion on a genome-wide scale. A bioinformatics cluster analysis was used to group the osmotically up-regulated genes into categories that are functionally associated with the synthesis and import of osmostress-relieving compounds (compatible solutes), the SigB-controlled general stress response, and genes whose functional annotation suggests that salt stress triggers secondary oxidative stress responses in B. licheniformis. The data set focusing on the transcriptional profile of B. licheniformis was enriched by proteomics aimed at identifying those proteins that were accumulated by the cells through increased biosynthesis in response to osmotic stress. Furthermore, these global approaches were augmented by a set of experiments that addressed the synthesis of the compatible solutes proline and glycine betaine and assessed the growth-enhancing effects of various osmoprotectants. Combined, our data provide a blueprint of the cellular adjustment processes of B. licheniformis to both sudden and sustained osmotic stress.

Generating function rationality for anisotropic vicious walk configurations on the directed square lattice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bhatti, F M [Department of Mathematics, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Sector U, DHA, Lahore (Pakistan); Essam, J W [Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Royal Holloway College, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX (United Kingdom)

2006-06-15

Guttmann and Voege introduced a model of f-friendly walkers and argued that a generating function for the number of n-walker configurations making a total of k left steps is a rational function with denominator (1 - x{sup n}){sup k+1}. They also found that for f = 0, 1 and 2 the sums of the numerator coefficients for watermelon configurations in which each of 3 walkers made w left steps were 3-dimensional Catalan numbers. Here it is shown that for n vicious walker (f = 0) watermelon configurations the m{sup th} coefficient of the numerator is the generalised Naryana number N(w, n, m) of Sulanke which is symmetric under interchange of w and n. The sums, C{sub w,n}, of these coefficients as a sequence indexed by w are n-dimensional Catalan numbers or w-dimensional Catalan numbers if indexed by n. The unexpected symmetry in n and w is seen to follow from duality. Inui and Katori introduced Fermi walk configurations which are non-crossing subsets of the directed random walks between opposite corners of a rectangular l x w grid. They related these to Bose configurations which biject to vicious walker watermelon configurations. Bose configurations include multisets. Here we consider generating functions for the numbers of configurations in which l and w are fixed. It is found that the maximum number of walks in a Fermi configuration is lw + 1 and the number of configurations corresponding to this number of walks is C{sub l,w}. This limit on the number of walks in a Fermi configuration leads to the rationality of the Bose generating function and by duality to the rationality of the generating function of Guttmann and Voege.

Generating function rationality for anisotropic vicious walk configurations on the directed square lattice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhatti, F M; Essam, J W

2006-01-01

Guttmann and Voege introduced a model of f-friendly walkers and argued that a generating function for the number of n-walker configurations making a total of k left steps is a rational function with denominator (1 - x n ) k+1 . They also found that for f = 0, 1 and 2 the sums of the numerator coefficients for watermelon configurations in which each of 3 walkers made w left steps were 3-dimensional Catalan numbers. Here it is shown that for n vicious walker (f = 0) watermelon configurations the m th coefficient of the numerator is the generalised Naryana number N(w, n, m) of Sulanke which is symmetric under interchange of w and n. The sums, C w,n , of these coefficients as a sequence indexed by w are n-dimensional Catalan numbers or w-dimensional Catalan numbers if indexed by n. The unexpected symmetry in n and w is seen to follow from duality. Inui and Katori introduced Fermi walk configurations which are non-crossing subsets of the directed random walks between opposite corners of a rectangular l x w grid. They related these to Bose configurations which biject to vicious walker watermelon configurations. Bose configurations include multisets. Here we consider generating functions for the numbers of configurations in which l and w are fixed. It is found that the maximum number of walks in a Fermi configuration is lw + 1 and the number of configurations corresponding to this number of walks is C l,w . This limit on the number of walks in a Fermi configuration leads to the rationality of the Bose generating function and by duality to the rationality of the generating function of Guttmann and Voege

Baseline rationing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hougaard, Jens Leth; Moreno-Ternero, Juan D.; Østerdal, Lars Peter Raahave

The standard problem of adjudicating conflicting claims describes a situation in which a given amount of a divisible good has to be allocated among agents who hold claims against it exceeding the available amount. This paper considers more general rationing problems in which, in addition to claims...... to international protocols for the reduction of greenhouse emissions, or water distribution in drought periods. We define a family of allocation methods for such general rationing problems - called baseline rationing rules - and provide an axiomatic characterization for it. Any baseline rationing rule within...... the family is associated with a standard rule and we show that if the latter obeys some properties reflecting principles of impartiality, priority and solidarity, the former obeys them too....

An analysis of the effects of osmotic backwashing on the seawater reverse osmosis process.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, JunYoung; Jeong, WooWon; Nam, JongWoo; Kim, JaeHun; Kim, JiHoon; Chon, Kangmin; Lee, Euijong; Kim, HyungSoo; Jang, Am

2014-01-01

Fouling control is an important consideration in the design and operation of membrane-based water treatment processes. It has been generally known that chemical cleaning is still the most common method to remove foultants and maintain the performance of reverse osmosis (RO) desalination. Regardless of the chemical membrane cleaning methods applied effectively, however, frequent chemical cleaning can shorten the membrane life. In addition, it also increases operating and maintenance costs due to the waste chemical disposal. As an alternative, osmotic backwashing can be applied to RO membranes by diluting the concentration polarization (CP) layer. In this study, the effects of osmotic backwashing were analysed under different total dissolved salts (TDSs) and backwashing conditions, and the parameters of the osmotic backwashing were evaluated. The results of the analysis based on the properties of the organic matters found in raw water showed that the cleaning efficiency in respect to the fouling by hydrophilic organic matters was the greatest. Osmotic backwashing was carried out by changing the TDS of the permeate. As a result, the backwashing volume decreased with time due to the CP of the permeate and the backwashing volume. The difference in the osmotic pressure between the raw water and the permeate (Delta pi) also decreased as time passed. It was confirmed that when the temperature of the effluent was high, both the cleaning efficiency and the backwashing volume, which inpours at the same time, increased. When the circulation flow of the effluent was high, both the cleaning efficiency and the backwashing volume increased.

Estimating contribution of anthocyanin pigments to osmotic adjustment during winter leaf reddening.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Nicole M; Carpenter, Kaylyn L; Cannon, Jonathan G

2013-01-15

The association between plant water stress and synthesis of red, anthocyanin pigments in leaves has led some plant biologists to propose an osmotic function of leaf reddening. According to this hypothesis, anthocyanins function as a solute in osmotic adjustment (OA), contributing to depression of osmotic potential (Ψ(π)) and maintenance of turgor pressure during drought-stressed conditions. Here we calculate the percent contribution of anthocyanin to leaf Ψ(π) during OA in two angiosperm evergreen species, Galax urceolata and Gaultheria procumbens. Both species exhibit dramatic leaf reddening under high light during winter, concomitant with declines in leaf water potential and accumulation of solutes. Data previously published by the authors on osmotic potential at full turgor (Ψ(π,100)) of G. urceolata and G. procumbens leaves before and after leaf reddening were used to estimate OA. In vivo molar concentrations of anthocyanin, glucose, fructose, and sucrose measured from the same individuals were converted to pressure equivalents using the Ideal Gas Law, and percent contribution to OA was estimated. Estimated mean OA during winter was -0.7MPa for G. urceolata and -0.8MPa for G. procumbens. In vivo concentrations of anthocyanin (3-10mM) were estimated to account for ∼2% of OA during winter, and comprised <0.7% of Ψ(π,100) in both species. Glucose, fructose, and sucrose combined accounted for roughly 50 and 80% of OA for G. urceolata and G. procumbens, respectively, and comprised ∼20% of Ψ(π,100). We observed that a co-occurring, acyanic species (Vinca minor) achieved similar OA without synthesizing anthocyanin. We conclude that anthocyanins represent a measurable, albeit meager, component of OA in red-leafed evergreen species during winter. However, due to their low concentrations, metabolic costliness relative to other osmolytes, and striking red color (unnecessary for an osmotic function), it is unlikely that they are synthesized solely for an

Rationing with baselines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hougaard, Jens Leth; Moreno-Ternero, Juan D.; Østerdal, Lars Peter Raahave

2013-01-01

We introduce a new operator for general rationing problems in which, besides conflicting claims, individual baselines play an important role in the rationing process. The operator builds onto ideas of composition, which are not only frequent in rationing, but also in related problems...... such as bargaining, choice, and queuing. We characterize the operator and show how it preserves some standard axioms in the literature on rationing. We also relate it to recent contributions in such literature....

Efficiency of osmotic pipe flows

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haaning, Louise Sejling; Jensen, Kaare Hartvig; Helix Nielsen, Claus

2013-01-01

efficiency of these flows is limited by the presence of “unstirred” concentration boundary layers near the tube walls, and our primary aim is to understand and quantify these layers and their effect on the flow. We measure the outlet flow rate Qout while varying the inlet flow rate Q*, concentration c......We present experiments and theory for flows of sugar or salt solutions in cylindrical tubes with semipermeable walls (hollow fiber membranes) immersed in water, quantifying the strength of the osmotic driving force in relation to the dimensionless parameters that specify the system. The pumping...

Influence of osmotic pressure changes on the opening of existing cracks in 2 intervertebral disc models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wognum, Silvia; Huyghe, Jacques M.; Baaijens, Frank P. T.

2006-01-01

An experimental hydrogel model and a numerical mixture model were used to investigate why the disc herniates while osmotic pressure is decreasing. To investigate the influence of decreasing osmotic pressure on the opening of cracks in the disc. In the degeneration process, the disc changes structure

[Extrapontine osmotic myelinolysis].

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Federico A; Rueda-Clausen, Christian F; Ramírez, Fabián

2005-06-01

Extrapontine osmotic myelinolysis is a rare nervous system complication. Symptoms of this malady were presented during the clinical examination of a 49-year-old alcoholic male, who arrived at the hospital emergency room in a state of cardiorespiratory arrest. After resuscitation methods were applied, the patient was found in metabolic acidosis (pH 7.014) and was treated with sodium bicarbonate. Forty-eight hours later, sodium levels in the patient had risen from 142 to 174 mEq/l. During the period of clinical observation, the patient showed signs of cognitive impairment, disartria, bilateral amaurosis, hyporeflexia and right-half body hemiparesias. After 72 hours, computer tomography was applied; this showed a bilateral lenticular hypodensity with internal and external capsule compromise. One month later, when the patient was referred to another institution for rehabilitation, the patient showed cognitive impairment, bilateral optic atrophy, residual disartria, bradikynesia and double hemiparesia.

A generalized fractional sub-equation method for fractional differential equations with variable coefficients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang, Bo; He, Yinnian; Wei, Leilei; Zhang, Xindong

2012-01-01

In this Letter, a generalized fractional sub-equation method is proposed for solving fractional differential equations with variable coefficients. Being concise and straightforward, this method is applied to the space–time fractional Gardner equation with variable coefficients. As a result, many exact solutions are obtained including hyperbolic function solutions, trigonometric function solutions and rational solutions. It is shown that the considered method provides a very effective, convenient and powerful mathematical tool for solving many other fractional differential equations in mathematical physics. -- Highlights: ► Study of fractional differential equations with variable coefficients plays a role in applied physical sciences. ► It is shown that the proposed algorithm is effective for solving fractional differential equations with variable coefficients. ► The obtained solutions may give insight into many considerable physical processes.

Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic and Absorption Modeling for Osmotic Pump Products.

Science.gov (United States)

Ni, Zhanglin; Talattof, Arjang; Fan, Jianghong; Tsakalozou, Eleftheria; Sharan, Satish; Sun, Dajun; Wen, Hong; Zhao, Liang; Zhang, Xinyuan

2017-07-01

Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) and absorption modeling approaches were employed for oral extended-release (ER) drug products based on an osmotic drug delivery system (osmotic pumps). The purpose was to systemically evaluate the in vivo relevance of in vitro dissolution for this type of formulation. As expected, in vitro dissolution appeared to be generally predictive of in vivo PK profiles, because of the unique feature of this delivery system that the in vitro and in vivo release of osmotic pump drug products is less susceptible to surrounding environment in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract such as pH, hydrodynamic, and food effects. The present study considered BCS (Biopharmaceutics Classification System) class 1, 2, and 3 drug products with half-lives ranging from 2 to greater than 24 h. In some cases, the colonic absorption models needed to be adjusted to account for absorption in the colon. C max (maximum plasma concentration) and AUCt (area under the concentration curve) of the studied drug products were sensitive to changes in colon permeability and segmental GI transit times in a drug product-dependent manner. While improvement of the methodology is still warranted for more precise prediction (e.g., colonic absorption and dynamic movement in the GI tract), the results from the present study further emphasized the advantage of using PBPK modeling in addressing product-specific questions arising from regulatory review and drug development.

Using miniature osmotic infusion pumps to maintain tritiated thymidine exposure to cells in culture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neely, J.E.; Hake, D.A.

1982-01-01

To provide a constant level of tracer doses of tritiated thymidine to cultured cells during continuous infusion, miniature osmotic infusion pumps were used to provide replacement thymidine. By determining the loss of isotope from the media during nonreplacement, the rate of constant infusion replacement to maintain thymidine levels was calculated. The replacement rates were similar for the three cell lines examined and allowed a standard osmotic pump infusion

Mechanical properties of the collagen network in human articular cartilage as measured by osmotic stress technique

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Basser, P.J.; Schneiderman, R.; Bank, R.A.; Wachtel, E.; Maroudas, A.

1998-01-01

We have used an isotropic osmotic stress technique to assess the swelling pressures of human articular cartilage over a wide range of hydrations in order to determine from these measurements, for the first time, the tensile stress in the collagen network, P(c), as a function of hydration. Osmotic

An osmotic model of the growing pollen tube.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrian E Hill

Full Text Available Pollen tube growth is central to the sexual reproduction of plants and is a longstanding model for cellular tip growth. For rapid tip growth, cell wall deposition and hardening must balance the rate of osmotic water uptake, and this involves the control of turgor pressure. Pressure contributes directly to both the driving force for water entry and tip expansion causing thinning of wall material. Understanding tip growth requires an analysis of the coordination of these processes and their regulation. Here we develop a quantitative physiological model which includes water entry by osmosis, the incorporation of cell wall material and the spreading of that material as a film at the tip. Parameters of the model have been determined from the literature and from measurements, by light, confocal and electron microscopy, together with results from experiments made on dye entry and plasmolysis in Lilium longiflorum. The model yields values of variables such as osmotic and turgor pressure, growth rates and wall thickness. The model and its predictive capacity were tested by comparing programmed simulations with experimental observations following perturbations of the growth medium. The model explains the role of turgor pressure and its observed constancy during oscillations; the stability of wall thickness under different conditions, without which the cell would burst; and some surprising properties such as the need for restricting osmotic permeability to a constant area near the tip, which was experimentally confirmed. To achieve both constancy of pressure and wall thickness under the range of conditions observed in steady-state growth the model reveals the need for a sensor that detects the driving potential for water entry and controls the deposition rate of wall material at the tip.

An Osmotic Model of the Growing Pollen Tube

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Adrian E.; Shachar-Hill, Bruria; Skepper, Jeremy N.; Powell, Janet; Shachar-Hill, Yair

2012-01-01

Pollen tube growth is central to the sexual reproduction of plants and is a longstanding model for cellular tip growth. For rapid tip growth, cell wall deposition and hardening must balance the rate of osmotic water uptake, and this involves the control of turgor pressure. Pressure contributes directly to both the driving force for water entry and tip expansion causing thinning of wall material. Understanding tip growth requires an analysis of the coordination of these processes and their regulation. Here we develop a quantitative physiological model which includes water entry by osmosis, the incorporation of cell wall material and the spreading of that material as a film at the tip. Parameters of the model have been determined from the literature and from measurements, by light, confocal and electron microscopy, together with results from experiments made on dye entry and plasmolysis in Lilium longiflorum. The model yields values of variables such as osmotic and turgor pressure, growth rates and wall thickness. The model and its predictive capacity were tested by comparing programmed simulations with experimental observations following perturbations of the growth medium. The model explains the role of turgor pressure and its observed constancy during oscillations; the stability of wall thickness under different conditions, without which the cell would burst; and some surprising properties such as the need for restricting osmotic permeability to a constant area near the tip, which was experimentally confirmed. To achieve both constancy of pressure and wall thickness under the range of conditions observed in steady-state growth the model reveals the need for a sensor that detects the driving potential for water entry and controls the deposition rate of wall material at the tip. PMID:22615784

Vocal Fold Epithelial Response to Luminal Osmotic Perturbation

Science.gov (United States)

Sivasankar, Mahalakshmi; Fisher, Kimberly V.

2007-01-01

Purpose: Dry-air challenges increase the osmolarity of fluid lining the luminal surface of the proximal airway. The homeostasis of surface fluid is thought to be essential for voice production and laryngeal defense. Therefore, the authors hypothesized that viable vocal fold epithelium would generate a water flux to reduce an osmotic challenge (150…

Inaugurating Rationalization: Three Field Studies Find Increased Rationalization When Anticipated Realities Become Current.

Science.gov (United States)

Laurin, Kristin

2018-04-01

People will often rationalize the status quo, reconstruing it in an exaggeratedly positive light. They will even rationalize the status quo they anticipate, emphasizing the upsides and minimizing the downsides of sociopolitical realities they expect to take effect. Drawing on recent findings on the psychological triggers of rationalization, I present results from three field studies, one of which was preregistered, testing the hypothesis that an anticipated reality becoming current triggers an observable boost in people's rationalizations. San Franciscans rationalized a ban on plastic water bottles, Ontarians rationalized a targeted smoking ban, and Americans rationalized the presidency of Donald Trump, more in the days immediately after these realities became current compared with the days immediately before. Additional findings show evidence for a mechanism underlying these behaviors and rule out alternative accounts. These findings carry implications for scholarship on rationalization, for understanding protest behavior, and for policymakers.

Arabidopsis decuple mutant reveals the importance of SnRK2 kinases in osmotic stress responses in vivo

KAUST Repository

Fujii, Hiroaki; Verslues, Paul E.; Zhu, Jian-Kang

2011-01-01

Osmotic stress associated with drought or salinity is a major factor that limits plant productivity. Protein kinases in the SNF1-related protein kinase 2 (SnRK2) family are activated by osmotic stress, suggesting that the kinases are involved

Isopiestic studies of aqueous solutions at elevated temperatures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holmes, H.F.; Mesmer, R.E.

1981-01-01

Isopiestic measurements have been made for LiCl(aq) and CsCl(aq) over the temperature range 382.96 to 473.61 K. NcCl(aq) served as the reference electrolyte for the calculation of osmotic coefficients and the molalities ranged from about 0.6 to 6 mol kg -1 , for NaCl(aq). An ion-interaction model gave an excellent fit to the experimental osmotic coefficients with a standard error of fit ranging from 0.0004 to 0.0016 in the osmotic coefficient. Parameters obtained from the fit were used to calculate the activity coefficients. The osmotic and activity coefficients both decreased with increasing temperature over this temperature range. LiCl(aq) is somewhat unusual among the alkali-metal chlorides in that the osmotic (and activity) coefficient is much more dependent on molality at the higher molalities and there is no maximum between 273.15 and 373.15 K in the osmotic coefficient as a function of temperature. For both LiCl(aq) and CsCl(aq) there is an excellent correlation between the isopiestic results and the vapor pressures of Lindsay and Liu. Existing electrochemical results between 283.15 and 343.15 K are consistent with the calculated activity coefficients for CsCl(aq). (author)

Realization theory for rational systems: Minimal rational realizations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Nemcová (Jana); J.H. van Schuppen (Jan)

2010-01-01

htmlabstractThe study of realizations of response maps is a topic of control and system theory. Realization theory is used in system identification and control synthesis. A minimal rational realization of a given response map p is a rational realization of p such that the dimension of its state

Characterization of Macrophomina phaseolina isolates by their response to different osmotic potentials and AFLP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bárbara J. Gutiérrez Cedeño

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Charcoal rot of Phaseolus vulgaris is caused by the fungus Macrophomina phaseolina, the disease is associated with high temperature and water stress. The objective of this study was to characterize isolates of M. phaseolina by their response to different osmotic potentials and AFLP. The growth of 11 isolates was determined on potato dextrose agar at 48 and 72 h in a gradient of osmotic potential induced using NaCl as well as their effects on germination of sclerotia. Three water groups were statistically different indicating differential response to osmotic potential and all sclerotia grown under these conditions, germinated between 24 and 48h. There were groups of isolates that were tolerant to water stress induced. The AFLP genotyping allowed the formation of five genetic groups, showing a wide genetic variability. Of the nine starters CTA-AT showed a high degree of confidence in the identification of genotypes of M. phaseolina and CAA-AC had the lowest discriminatory power. These results show that M. phaseolina isolates responded differently to osmotic potential and are genetically different between them. Although there was a clear correspondence of genetic groups to water groups; these responses are important features in the search for alternative management in black bean pathosystem. Keywords: molecular marker, M. phaseolina, water deficit

Topology and shape optimization of induced-charge electro-osmotic micropumps

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gregersen, Misha Marie; Okkels, Fridolin; Bazant, M. Z.

2009-01-01

For a dielectric solid surrounded by an electrolyte and positioned inside an externally biased parallel-plate capacitor, we study numerically how the resulting induced-charge electro-osmotic (ICEO) flow depends on the topology and shape of the dielectric solid. In particular, we extend existing...... conventional electrokinetic models with an artificial design field to describe the transition from the liquid electrolyte to the solid dielectric. Using this design field, we have succeeded in applying the method of topology optimization to find system geometries with non-trivial topologies that maximize...... the net induced electro-osmotic flow rate through the electrolytic capacitor in the direction parallel to the capacitor plates. Once found, the performance of the topology-optimized geometries has been validated by transferring them to conventional electrokinetic models not relying on the artificial...

Fitness decline under osmotic stress in Caenorhabditis elegans populations subjected to spontaneous mutation accumulation at varying population sizes.

Science.gov (United States)

Katju, Vaishali; Packard, Lucille B; Keightley, Peter D

2018-04-01

The consequences of mutations for population fitness depends on their individual selection coefficients and the effective population size. An earlier study of Caenorhabditis elegans spontaneous mutation accumulation lines evolved for 409 generations at three population sizes found that N e   = 1 populations declined significantly in fitness whereas the fitness of larger populations (N e   = 5, 50) was indistinguishable from the ancestral control under benign conditions. To test if larger MA populations harbor a load of cryptic deleterious mutations that are obscured under benign laboratory conditions, we measured fitness under osmotic stress via exposure to hypersaline conditions. The fitness of N e   = 1 lines exhibited a further decline under osmotic stress compared to benign conditions. However, the fitness of larger populations remained indistinguishable from that of the ancestral control. The average effects of deleterious mutations in N e   = 1 lines were estimated to be 22% for productivity and 14% for survivorship, exceeding values previously detected under benign conditions. Our results suggest that fitness decline is due to large effect mutations that are rapidly removed via selection even in small populations, with implications for conservation practices. Genetic stochasticity may not be as potent and immediate a threat to the persistence of small populations as other demographic and environmental stochastic factors. © 2018 The Author(s). Evolution © 2018 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Benchtop-magnetic resonance imaging (BT-MRI) characterization of push-pull osmotic controlled release systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Malaterre, Vincent; Metz, Hendrik; Ogorka, Joerg; Gurny, Robert; Loggia, Nicoletta; Mäder, Karsten

2009-01-05

The mechanism of drug release from push-pull osmotic systems (PPOS) has been investigated by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) using a new benchtop apparatus. The signal intensity profiles of both PPOS layers were monitored non-invasively over time to characterize the hydration and swelling kinetics. The drug release performance was well-correlated to the hydration kinetics. The results show that (i) hydration and swelling critically depend on the tablet core composition, (ii) high osmotic pressure developed by the push layer may lead to bypassing the drug layer and incomplete drug release and (iii) the hydration of both the drug and the push layers needs to be properly balanced to efficiently deliver the drug. MRI is therefore a powerful tool to get insights on the drug delivery mechanism of push-pull osmotic systems, which enable a more efficient optimization of such formulations.

Biochemical degradation and physical migration of polyphenolic compounds in osmotic dehydrated blueberries with pulsed electric field and thermal pretreatments.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Yuanshan; Jin, Tony Z; Fan, Xuetong; Wu, Jijun

2018-01-15

Fresh blueberries were pretreated by pulsed electric fields (PEF) or thermal pretreatment and then were subject to osmotic dehydration. The changes in contents of anthocyanins, predominantly phenolic acids and flavonols, total phenolics, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity and antioxidant activity in the blueberry samples during pretreatment and osmotic dehydration were investigated. Biochemical degradation and physical migration of these nutritive compounds from fruits to osmotic solutions were observed during the pretreatments and osmotic dehydration. PEF pretreated samples had the least degradation loss but the most migration loss of these compounds compared to thermally pretreated and control samples. Higher rates of water loss and solid gain during osmotic dehydration were also obtained by PEF pretreatment, reducing the dehydration time from 130 to 48h. PEF pretreated and dehydrated fruits showed superior appearance to thermally pretreated and control samples. Therefore, PEF pretreatment is a preferred technology that balances nutritive quality, appearance, and dehydration rate. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Many faces of rationality: Implications of the great rationality debate for clinical decision‐making

Science.gov (United States)

Elqayam, Shira

2017-01-01

Abstract Given that more than 30% of healthcare costs are wasted on inappropriate care, suboptimal care is increasingly connected to the quality of medical decisions. It has been argued that personal decisions are the leading cause of death, and 80% of healthcare expenditures result from physicians' decisions. Therefore, improving healthcare necessitates improving medical decisions, ie, making decisions (more) rational. Drawing on writings from The Great Rationality Debate from the fields of philosophy, economics, and psychology, we identify core ingredients of rationality commonly encountered across various theoretical models. Rationality is typically classified under umbrella of normative (addressing the question how people “should” or “ought to” make their decisions) and descriptive theories of decision‐making (which portray how people actually make their decisions). Normative theories of rational thought of relevance to medicine include epistemic theories that direct practice of evidence‐based medicine and expected utility theory, which provides the basis for widely used clinical decision analyses. Descriptive theories of rationality of direct relevance to medical decision‐making include bounded rationality, argumentative theory of reasoning, adaptive rationality, dual processing model of rationality, regret‐based rationality, pragmatic/substantive rationality, and meta‐rationality. For the first time, we provide a review of wide range of theories and models of rationality. We showed that what is “rational” behaviour under one rationality theory may be irrational under the other theory. We also showed that context is of paramount importance to rationality and that no one model of rationality can possibly fit all contexts. We suggest that in context‐poor situations, such as policy decision‐making, normative theories based on expected utility informed by best research evidence may provide the optimal approach to medical decision�

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ERYTHROCYTES OSMOTIC FRAGILITY TEST PERFORMED IN CHILDREN WITH INDIRECT HYPERBILIRUB1NEMIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivana Stojanović

2005-07-01

Full Text Available The osmotic fragility test of erythrocytes is useful in the diagnosis of different types of hereditary hemolytic anemias followed with hyperbilirubinemia. Hemolytic anemias, characterized by accelerated destruction of red blood cells, are usually the consequence of many metabolic abnormalities like cellular membrane defect, erythrocyte enzymes defect or hemoglobin abnormalities – hemoglobinopathies. The object of our study was to assess the relationship between osmotic fragility test of erythrocytes and severity of indirect hyperbilirubinemia in some inherited erythrocytes’ disorders. We did the osmotic fragility test of erythrocytes by using Dacie, s method with normal values of erythrocytes hemolysis between 0,48 to 0,34% NaCl (minimal to maximal hemolysis. In hereditary spherocytosis, fragility of erythrocytes was increased (min. at 0,50 % NaCl to max. 0,44 % NaCl . In the child with β- thalassemia and cycle cell anemia erythrocytes fragility was decreased (min . at 0,42 to max. 0,32 % NaCl, that is 0,40% min. of hemolysis and 0,34% max. hemolysis in the second case. In newborn infants with high levels of indirect bilirubin in serum as a cause of physiological jaundice, the osmotic fragility test was within a normal range. Our findings point out the diagnostic value of osmotic fragility test in assessing patients with the indirect hyperbilirubinemia. This simple and important diagnostic test can be performed in small laboratories.

Isopiestic Determination of the Osmotic and Activity Coefficients of Li₂SO₄(aq) at T=298.15 and 323.15 K, and Representation with an Extended Ion-Interaction (Pitzer) Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rard, Joseph A. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL); Clegg, Simon L. [University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom; Palmer, Donald [ORNL

2007-01-01

Isopiestic vapor-pressure measurements were made for Li{sub 2}SO{sub 4}(aq) from 0.1069 to 2.8190 mol{center_dot}kg{sup -1} at 298.15 K, and from 0.1148 to 2.7969 mol{center_dot}kg{sup -1} at 323.15 K, with NaCl(aq) as the reference standard. Published thermodynamic data for this system were reviewed, recalculated for consistency, and critically assessed. The present results and the more reliable published results were used to evaluate the parameters of an extended version of Pitzer's ion-interaction model with an ionic-strength dependent third-virial coefficient, as well as those of the standard Pitzer model, for the osmotic and activity coefficients at both temperatures. Published enthalpies of dilution at 298.15 K were also analyzed to yield the parameters of the ion-interaction models for the relative apparent molar enthalpies of dilution. The resulting models at 298.15 K are valid to the saturated solution molality of the thermodynamically stable phase Li{sub 2}SO{sub 4}{center_dot}H{sub 2}O(cr). Solubilities of Li{sub 2}SO{sub 4}{center_dot}H{sub 2}O(cr) at 298.15 K were assessed and the selected value of m(sat.)=3.13{+-}0.04 mol{center_dot}kg{sup -1} was used to evaluate the thermodynamic solubility product K {sub s}(Li{sub 2}SO{sub 4}{center_dot}H{sub 2}O, cr, 298.15 K) = (2.62{+-}0.19) and a CODATA-compatible standard molar Gibbs energy of formation {Delta}{sub f} G m{sup 0}(Li{sub 2}SO{sub 4}{center_dot}H{sub 2}O, cr, 298.15 K) = -(1564.6{+-}0.5) kJ{center_dot}mol{sup -1}.

Many faces of rationality: Implications of the great rationality debate for clinical decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Djulbegovic, Benjamin; Elqayam, Shira

2017-10-01

Given that more than 30% of healthcare costs are wasted on inappropriate care, suboptimal care is increasingly connected to the quality of medical decisions. It has been argued that personal decisions are the leading cause of death, and 80% of healthcare expenditures result from physicians' decisions. Therefore, improving healthcare necessitates improving medical decisions, ie, making decisions (more) rational. Drawing on writings from The Great Rationality Debate from the fields of philosophy, economics, and psychology, we identify core ingredients of rationality commonly encountered across various theoretical models. Rationality is typically classified under umbrella of normative (addressing the question how people "should" or "ought to" make their decisions) and descriptive theories of decision-making (which portray how people actually make their decisions). Normative theories of rational thought of relevance to medicine include epistemic theories that direct practice of evidence-based medicine and expected utility theory, which provides the basis for widely used clinical decision analyses. Descriptive theories of rationality of direct relevance to medical decision-making include bounded rationality, argumentative theory of reasoning, adaptive rationality, dual processing model of rationality, regret-based rationality, pragmatic/substantive rationality, and meta-rationality. For the first time, we provide a review of wide range of theories and models of rationality. We showed that what is "rational" behaviour under one rationality theory may be irrational under the other theory. We also showed that context is of paramount importance to rationality and that no one model of rationality can possibly fit all contexts. We suggest that in context-poor situations, such as policy decision-making, normative theories based on expected utility informed by best research evidence may provide the optimal approach to medical decision-making, whereas in the context

Regulation of Aquaporin Z osmotic permeability in ABA tri-block copolymer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenyuan Xie

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Aquaporins are transmembrane water channel proteins present in biological plasma membranes that aid in biological water filtration processes by transporting water molecules through at high speeds, while selectively blocking out other kinds of solutes. Aquaporin Z incorporated biomimetic membranes are envisaged to overcome the problem of high pressure needed, and holds great potential for use in water purification processes, giving high flux while keeping energy consumption low. The functionality of aquaporin Z in terms of osmotic permeability might be regulated by factors such as pH, temperature, crosslinking and hydrophobic thickness of the reconstituted bilayers. Hence, we reconstituted aquaporin Z into vesicles that are made from a series of amphiphilic block copolymers PMOXA-PDMS-PMOXAs with various hydrophobic molecular weights. The osmotic permeability of aquaporin Z in these vesicles was determined through a stopped-flow spectroscopy. In addition, the temperature and pH value of the vesicle solutions were adjusted within wide ranges to investigate the regulation of osmotic permeability of aquaporin Z through external conditions. Our results show that aquaporin Z permeability was enhanced by hydrophobic mismatch. In addition, the water filtration mechanism of aquaporin Z is significantly affected by the concentration of H+ and OH- ions.

Design and development of controlled porosity osmotic tablet of diltiazem hydrochloride

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sadhana R Shahi

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The present work aims towards the design and development of extended release formulation of freely water-soluble drug diltiazem hydrochloride (DLTZ based on osmotic technology by using controlled porosity approach. DLTZ is an ideal candidate for a zero-order drug delivery system because it is freely water-soluble and has a short half-life (2-3 h. Sodium chloride (Osmogen was added to the core tablet to alter the solubility of DLTZ in an aqueous medium. Cellulose acetate (CA and sorbitol were used as semipermeable membrane and pore former, respectively. The effect of different formulation variables namely concentration of osmogen in the core tablet, % pore former, % weight gain, pH of the dissolution medium and agitation intensity on the in vitro release was studied. DLTZ release was directly proportional to % pore former and inversely proportional to % weight gain. The optimized formulation (F8 delivered DLTZ independent of pH and agitation intensity for 12 h at the upper level concentration of % pore former (25% w/w and middle level concentration of % weight gain (6% w/w. The comparative study of elementary osmotic pump (EOP and controlled porosity osmotic pump revealed that it superior than conventional EOP and also easier and cost effective to formulate.

Method of osmotic energy harvesting using responsive compounds and molecules

KAUST Repository

Hu, Xiao; Cai, Yufeng; Lai, Zhiping; Zhong, Yujiang

2017-01-01

The present invention discloses and claims a more efficient and economical method and system for osmotic energy production and capture using responsive compounds and molecules. The present invention is an energy harvest system enabled by stimuli

Abscisic acid regulates root growth under osmotic stress conditions via an interacting hormonal network with cytokinin, ethylene and auxin.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowe, James H; Topping, Jennifer F; Liu, Junli; Lindsey, Keith

2016-07-01

Understanding the mechanisms regulating root development under drought conditions is an important question for plant biology and world agriculture. We examine the effect of osmotic stress on abscisic acid (ABA), cytokinin and ethylene responses and how they mediate auxin transport, distribution and root growth through effects on PIN proteins. We integrate experimental data to construct hormonal crosstalk networks to formulate a systems view of root growth regulation by multiple hormones. Experimental analysis shows: that ABA-dependent and ABA-independent stress responses increase under osmotic stress, but cytokinin responses are only slightly reduced; inhibition of root growth under osmotic stress does not require ethylene signalling, but auxin can rescue root growth and meristem size; osmotic stress modulates auxin transporter levels and localization, reducing root auxin concentrations; PIN1 levels are reduced under stress in an ABA-dependent manner, overriding ethylene effects; and the interplay among ABA, ethylene, cytokinin and auxin is tissue-specific, as evidenced by differential responses of PIN1 and PIN2 to osmotic stress. Combining experimental analysis with network construction reveals that ABA regulates root growth under osmotic stress conditions via an interacting hormonal network with cytokinin, ethylene and auxin. © 2016 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2016 New Phytologist Trust.

Standby Gasoline Rationing Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1980-06-01

The final rules adopted by the President for a Standby Gasoline Rationing Plan are presented. The plan provides that eligibility for ration allotments will be determined primarily on the basis of motor vehicle registrations, taking into account historical differences in the use of gasoline among states. The regulations also provide authority for supplemental allotments to firms so that their allotment will equal a specified percentage of gasoline use during a base period. Priority classifications, i.e., agriculture, defense, etc., are established to assure adequate gasoline supplies for designated essential services. Ration rights must be provided by end-users to their suppliers for each gallon sold. DOE will regulate the distribution of gasoline at the wholesale level according to the transfer by suppliers of redeemed ration rights and the gasoline allocation regulations. Ration rights are transferable. A ration banking system is created to facilitate transfers of ration rights. Each state will be provided with a reserve of ration rights to provide for hardship needs and to alleviate inequities. (DC)

Modeling and computational simulation of the osmotic evaporation process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Freddy Forero Longas

2016-09-01

Conclusions: It was found that for the conditions studied the Knudsen diffusion model is most suitable to describe the transfer of water vapor through the hydrophobic membrane. Simulations developed adequately describe the process of osmotic evaporation, becoming a tool for faster economic development of this technology.

Optimization of the Energy Output of Osmotic Power Plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florian Dinger

2013-01-01

Full Text Available On the way to a completely renewable energy supply, additional alternatives to hydroelectric, wind, and solar power have to be investigated. Osmotic power is such an alternative with a theoretical global annual potential of up to 14400 TWh (70% of the global electricity consumption of 2008 per year. It utilizes the phenomenon that upon the mixing of fresh water and oceanic salt water (e.g., at a river mouth, around 2.88 MJ of energy per 1 m3 of fresh water is released. Here, we describe a new approach to derive operational parameter settings for osmotic power plants using a pressure exchanger for optimal performance, either with respect to maximum generated power or maximum extracted energy. Up to now, only power optimization is discussed in the literature, but when considering the fresh water supply as a limiting factor, the energy optimization appears as the challenging task.

The physics of osmotic pressure

Science.gov (United States)

Bowler, M. G.

2017-09-01

Osmosis drives the development of a pressure difference of many atmospheres between a dilute solution and pure solvent with which it is in contact through a semi-permeable membrane. The educational importance of this paper is that it presents a novel treatment in terms of fluid mechanics that is quantitative and exact. It is also simple and intuitive, showing vividly how osmotic pressures are generated and maintained in equilibrium, driven by differential solvent pressures. The present rigorous analysis using the virial theorem seems unknown and can be easily understood—and taught—at various different levels. It should be valuable to undergraduates, graduate students and indeed to the general physicist.

MORPHOMETRIC PARAMETERS AND MICRORELIEF OF THE LUMBRICUS CELOMOCYTES IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE OSMOTIC PRESSURE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrey Andreevich Prisnyi

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Study the morphometric parameters and microrelief of the coelomocytes membrane of the Lumbricus representatives in normal and under osmotic pressure. Materials and methods: In the experiments, representatives of three species belonging to the genus Lumbricus were used. To conduct each series of experiments a coelomic liquid of 15 representatives of each species was used. From the circulation system of each individual examined, at least 250 cells were processed. The study of morphometric parameters of coelomocytes was carried out in isotonic conditions, and also with the use of osmotic tests in vitro. The features of the surface topography of coelomocytes were study using the “Integra Vita Probe Nanaboratorium” (NT-MDT, Russia. The analysis of amplitude and functional average statistical parameters of membrane roughness is carried out. The results of the research were processed using statistics methods using the Microsoft Excel 7.0 analysis package. Results: The Lumbricus representatives of revealed differences in the responses of amoebocytes and eleocytes to the effect of osmotic stress. Under the conditions of osmotic pressure, several morphologically different forms were found among the cells of each type. This indicates the potential ability of coelomocytes to spread out on the substrate for any type of osmotic pressure. The change in the topography of the cell membrane of coelomocytes under the hypoosmotic pressure is characterized by a smoothing of the microrelief structures with a decrease in the size of the microvysings and microinvaginations. Conclusion: The microrelief of the coelomocytes membrane reflects the features of their functional status changing under the influence of environmental factors.

Long-term morphine delivery via slow release morphine pellets or osmotic pumps: Plasma concentration, analgesia, and naloxone-precipitated withdrawal.

Science.gov (United States)

McLane, Virginia D; Bergquist, Ivy; Cormier, James; Barlow, Deborah J; Houseknecht, Karen L; Bilsky, Edward J; Cao, Ling

2017-09-15

Slow-release morphine sulfate pellets and osmotic pumps are common routes of chronic morphine delivery in mouse models, but direct comparisons of these drug delivery systems are lacking. In this study, we assessed the efficacy of slow-release pellets versus osmotic pumps in delivering morphine to adult mice. Male C57BL/6NCr mice (8weeksold) were implanted subcutaneously with slow-release pellets (25mg morphine sulfate) or osmotic pumps (64mg/mL, 1.0μL/h). Plasma morphine concentrations were quantified via LC-MS/MS, analgesic efficacy was determined by tail flick assay, and dependence was assessed with naloxone-precipitated withdrawal behaviors (jumping) and physiological effects (excretion, weight loss). Morphine pellets delivered significantly higher plasma drug concentrations compared to osmotic pumps, which were limited by the solubility of the morphine sulfate and pump volume/flow rate. Within 96h post-implantation, plasma morphine concentrations were indistinguishable in pellet vs. pump-treated samples. While osmotic pump did not have an antinociceptive effect in the tail flick assay, pumps and pellets induced comparable dependence symptoms (naloxone-precipitated jumping behavior) from 24-72h post-implantation. In this study, we compared slow-release morphine pellets to osmotic minipumps for morphine delivery in mice. We found that osmotic pumps and subcutaneous morphine sulfate pellets yielded significantly different pharmacokinetics over a 7-day period, and as a result significantly different antinociceptive efficacy. Nonetheless, both delivery methods induced dependence as measured by naloxone-precipitated withdrawal. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ionic and osmotic relations in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) plants grown at various salinity levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Hariadi, Yuda; Marandon, Karl; Tian, Yu; Jacobsen, Sven-Erik; Shabala, Sergey

2011-01-01

Ionic and osmotic relations in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) were studied by exposing plants to six salinity levels (0-500 mM NaCl range) for 70 d. Salt stress was administered either by pre-mixing of the calculated amount of NaCl with the potting mix before seeds were planted or by the gradual increase of NaCl levels in the irrigation water. For both methods, the optimal plant growth and biomass was achieved between 100 mM and 200 mM NaCl, suggesting that quinoa possess a very efficient system to adjust osmotically for abrupt increases in NaCl stress. Up to 95% of osmotic adjustment in old leaves and between 80% and 85% of osmotic adjustment in young leaves was achieved by means of accumulation of inorganic ions (Na(+), K(+), and Cl(-)) at these NaCl levels, whilst the contribution of organic osmolytes was very limited. Consistently higher K(+) and lower Na(+) levels were found in young, as compared with old leaves, for all salinity treatments. The shoot sap K(+) progressively increased with increased salinity in old leaves; this is interpreted as evidence for the important role of free K(+) in leaf osmotic adjustment under saline conditions. A 5-fold increase in salinity level (from 100 mM to 500 mM) resulted in only a 50% increase in the sap Na(+) content, suggesting either a very strict control of xylem Na(+) loading or an efficient Na(+) removal from leaves. A very strong correlation between NaCl-induced K(+) and H(+) fluxes was observed in quinoa root, suggesting that a rapid NaCl-induced activation of H(+)-ATPase is needed to restore otherwise depolarized membrane potential and prevent further K(+) leak from the cytosol. Taken together, this work emphasizes the role of inorganic ions for osmotic adjustment in halophytes and calls for more in-depth studies of the mechanisms of vacuolar Na(+) sequestration, control of Na(+) and K(+) xylem loading, and their transport to the shoot.

Hydro-osmotic Instabilities in Active Membrane Tubes

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Izzi, Sami C.; Rowlands, George; Sens, Pierre; Turner, Matthew S.

2018-03-01

We study a membrane tube with unidirectional ion pumps driving an osmotic pressure difference. A pressure-driven peristaltic instability is identified, qualitatively distinct from similar tension-driven Rayleigh-type instabilities on membrane tubes. We discuss how this instability could be related to the function and biogenesis of membrane bound organelles, in particular, the contractile vacuole complex. The unusually long natural wavelength of this instability is in agreement with that observed in cells.

SO-FDTD method and its application to the calculation of electromagnetic wave reflection coefficients of plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Hongwei; Nanjing Agricultural Univ., Nanjing; Chen Rushan; Zhang Yun

2006-01-01

The dielectric property of dispersive media is written as rational polynomial function, the relation between D and E is derived in time domain. It is named shift operator FDTD (SO-FDTD) method. The high accuracy and efficiency of this method is confirmed by computing the reflection coefficients of electromagnetic waves by a collisional plasma slab. The reflection coefficients between plasma and the atmosphere or vacuum can be calculated by using the SO-FDTD method. The result is that the reflection coefficients are affected by plasma thickness, electron numerical density, the distributing orderliness of electron density, and incidence wave frequency. (authors)

Development and evaluation of microporous osmotic tablets of diltiazem hydrochloride

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Afifa Bathool

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Microporous osmotic tablet of diltiazem hydrochloride was developed for colon targeting. These prepared microporous osmotic pump tablet did not require laser drilling to deliver the drug to the specific site of action. The tablets were prepared by wet granulation method. The prepared tablets were coated with microporous semipermeable membrane and enteric polymer using conventional pan coating process. The incorporation of sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS, a leachable pore-forming agent, could form in situ delivery pores while coming in contact with gastrointestinal medium. The effect of formulation variables was studied by changing the amounts of sodium alginate and NaCMC in the tablet core, osmogen, and that of pore-forming agent (SLS used in the semipermeable coating. As the amount of hydrophilic polymers increased, drug release rate prolonged. It was found that drug release was increased as the concentration of osmogen and pore-former was increased. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Differential scanning calorimetry results showed that there was no interaction between drug and polymers. Scanning electron microscopic studies showed the formation of pores after predetermined time of coming in contact with dissolution medium. The formation of pores was dependent on the amount of pore former used in the semipermeable membrane. in vitro results showed acid-resistant, timed release at an almost zero order up to 24 hours. The developed osmotic tablets could be effectively used for prolonged delivery of Diltiazem HCl.

PEG-induced osmotic stress in Mentha x piperita L.: Structural features and metabolic responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Búfalo, Jennifer; Rodrigues, Tatiane Maria; de Almeida, Luiz Fernando Rolim; Tozin, Luiz Ricardo Dos Santos; Marques, Marcia Ortiz Mayo; Boaro, Carmen Silvia Fernandes

2016-08-01

The present study investigated whether osmotic stress induced by the exposure of peppermint (Mentha x piperita L.) to moderate and severe stress for short periods of time changes the plant's physiological parameters, leaf anatomy and ultrastructure and essential oil. Plants were exposed to two levels of polyethyleneglycol (50 g L(-1) and 100 g L(-1) of PEG) in a hydroponic experiment. The plants exposed to 50 g L(-1) maintained metabolic functions similar to those of the control group (0 g L(-1)) without changes in gas exchange or structural characteristics. The increase in antioxidant enzyme activity reduced the presence of free radicals and protected membranes, including chloroplasts and mitochondria. In contrast, the osmotic stress caused by 100 g L(-1) of PEG inhibited leaf gas exchange, reduced the essential oil content and changed the oil composition, including a decrease in menthone and an increase in menthofuran. These plants also showed an increase in peroxidase activity, but this increase was not sufficient to decrease the lipid peroxidation level responsible for damaging the membranes of organelles. Morphological changes were correlated with the evaluated physiological features: plants exposed to 100 g L(-1) of PEG showed areas with collapsed cells, increases in mesophyll thickness and the area of the intercellular space, cuticle shrinkage, morphological changes in plastids, and lysis of mitochondria. In summary, our results revealed that PEG-induced osmotic stress in M. x piperita depends on the intensity level of the osmotic stress applied; severe osmotic stress changed the structural characteristics, caused damage at the cellular level, and reduced the essential oil content and quality. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Root water extraction under combined water and osmotic stress

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jong van Lier, de Q.; Dam, van J.C.; Metselaar, K.

2009-01-01

Using a numerical implicit model for root water extraction by a single root in a symmetric radial flow problem, based on the Richards equation and the combined convection-dispersion equation, we investigated some aspects of the response of root water uptake to combined water and osmotic stress. The

Adolescent rationality.

Science.gov (United States)

Moshman, David

2013-01-01

Adolescents are commonly seen as irrational, a position supported to varying degrees by many developmentalists, who often appeal to recent research on adolescent brains. Careful review of relevant evidence, however, shows that (1) adults are less rational than is generally assumed, (2) adolescents (and adults) are categorically different from children with respect to the attainment of advanced levels of rationality and psychological functioning, and (3) adolescents and adults do not differ categorically from each other with respect to any rational competencies, irrational tendencies, brain structures, or neurological functioning. Development often continues in adolescence and beyond but categorical claims about adolescents as distinct from adults cannot be justified. A review of U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning intellectual freedom, reproductive freedom, and criminal responsibility shows ongoing ambivalence and confusion about the rationality of adolescents. Developmental theory and research suggest that adolescents should be conceptualized as young adults, not immature brains, with important implications for their roles, rights, and responsibilities.

Osmotic actuation for microfluidic components in point-of-care applications

KAUST Repository

Chen, Yu-Chih; Ingram, Patrick; Lou, Xia; Yoon, Euisik

2013-01-01

at low cost. In this work, we report two key active components actuated by osmotic mechanism for total integrated microfluidic system. For the proof of concept, we have demonstrated valve actuation, which can maintain stable ON/OFF switching operations

Love and rationality: on some possible rational effects of love

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gustavo Ortiz-Millán

Full Text Available In this paper I defend the idea that rather than disrupting rationality, as the common-sense conception has done it, love may actually help us to develop rational ways of thinking and acting. I make the case for romantic or erotic love, since this is the kind of love that is more frequently associated with irrationality in acting and thinking. I argue that this kind of love may make us develop epistemic and practical forms of rationality. Based on an analysis of its characteristic action tendencies, I argue that love may help us to develop an instrumental form of rationality in determining the best means to achieve the object of love. It may also narrow down the number of practical considerations that may help us to achieve our goals. Finally, love may generate rational ways of belief-formation by framing the parameters taken into account in perception and attention, and by bringing into light only a small portion of the epistemic information available. Love may make us perceive reality more acutely.

A transformed rational function method and exact solutions to the 3+1 dimensional Jimbo-Miwa equation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma Wenxiu; Lee, J.-H.

2009-01-01

A direct approach to exact solutions of nonlinear partial differential equations is proposed, by using rational function transformations. The new method provides a more systematical and convenient handling of the solution process of nonlinear equations, unifying the tanh-function type methods, the homogeneous balance method, the exp-function method, the mapping method, and the F-expansion type methods. Its key point is to search for rational solutions to variable-coefficient ordinary differential equations transformed from given partial differential equations. As an application, the construction problem of exact solutions to the 3+1 dimensional Jimbo-Miwa equation is treated, together with a Baecklund transformation.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO RATIONAL APPROXIMATION,

Science.gov (United States)

Some of the key results of linear Chebyshev approximation theory are extended to generalized rational functions. Prominent among these is Haar’s...linear theorem which yields necessary and sufficient conditions for uniqueness. Some new results in the classic field of rational function Chebyshev...Furthermore a Weierstrass type theorem is proven for rational Chebyshev approximation. A characterization theorem for rational trigonometric Chebyshev approximation in terms of sign alternation is developed. (Author)

Rational points, rational curves, and entire holomorphic curves on projective varieties

CERN Document Server

Gasbarri, Carlo; Roth, Mike; Tschinkel, Yuri

2015-01-01

This volume contains papers from the Short Thematic Program on Rational Points, Rational Curves, and Entire Holomorphic Curves and Algebraic Varieties, held from June 3-28, 2013, at the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada. The program was dedicated to the study of subtle interconnections between geometric and arithmetic properties of higher-dimensional algebraic varieties. The main areas of the program were, among others, proving density of rational points in Zariski or analytic topology on special varieties, understanding global geometric properties of rationally connected varieties, as well as connections between geometry and algebraic dynamics exploring new geometric techniques in Diophantine approximation.

Ionic and osmotic relations in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) plants grown at various salinity level

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hariadi, Yuda; Marandon, Karl; Tian, Yu

2011-01-01

or by the gradual increase of NaCl levels in the irrigation water. For both methods, the optimal plant growth and biomass was achieved between 100 mM and 200 mM NaCl, suggesting that quinoa possess a very efficient system to adjust osmotically for abrupt increases in NaCl stress. Up to 95% of osmotic adjustment......Cl-induced activation of H+-ATPase is needed to restore otherwise depolarized membrane potential and prevent further K+ leak from the cytosol. Taken together, this work emphasizes the role of inorganic ions for osmotic adjustment in halophytes and calls for more in-depth studies of the mechanisms of vacuolar Na...

Rational Multiparty Computation

OpenAIRE

Wallrabenstein, John Ross

2014-01-01

The field of rational cryptography considers the design of cryptographic protocols in the presence of rational agents seeking to maximize local utility functions. This departs from the standard secure multiparty computation setting, where players are assumed to be either honest or malicious. ^ We detail the construction of both a two-party and a multiparty game theoretic framework for constructing rational cryptographic protocols. Our framework specifies the utility function assumptions neces...

Augmentation of peristaltic microflows through electro-osmotic mechanisms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chakraborty, Suman

2006-01-01

The present work aims to theoretically establish that the employment of an axial electric field can substantially augment the rate of microfluidic transport occurring in peristaltic microtubes. For theoretical analysis, shape evolution of the tube is taken to be arbitrary, except for the fact that the characteristic wavelength is assumed to be significantly greater than the average radius of cross section. First, expressions for the velocity profile within the tube are derived and are subsequently utilized to obtain variations in the net flow rate across the same, as a function of the pertinent system parameters. Subsequently, the modes of interaction between the electro-osmotic and peristaltic mechanisms are established through the variations in the time-averaged flow rates for zero pressure rise and the pressure rise for zero time-averaged flow rates, as expressed in terms of the occlusion number, characteristic electro-osmotic velocity and the peristaltic wave speed. From the simulation predictions, it is suggested that a judicious combination of peristalsis and an axial electrokinetic body force can drastically enhance the time-averaged flow rate, provided that the occlusion number is relatively small

Alleviation of osmotic stress of water and salt in germination and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

STORAGESEVER

2008-07-04

Jul 4, 2008 ... ening, osmoconditioning, osmohardening, and hormonal priming have ... germination, emergence and plant growth of wheat (Das and Choudhury .... In the present study, a significant three way interaction. (osmotic agents ...

A REVIEW ON OSMOTIC DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

OpenAIRE

Harnish Patel; Upendra Patel; Hiren Kadikar; Bhavin Bhimani; Dhiren Daslaniya; Ghanshyam Patel

2012-01-01

Conventional oral drug delivery systems supply an instantaneous release of drug, which cannot control the release of the drug and effective concentration at the target site. This kind of dosing pattern may result in constantly changing, unpredictable plasma concentrations. Drugs can be delivered in a controlled pattern over a long period of time by the process of osmosis. Osmotic devices are the most promising strategy based systems for controlled drug delivery. They are the most reliable con...

Optimisation of ultrasound-assisted osmotic dehydration of sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) using response surface methodology.

Science.gov (United States)

Oladejo, Ayobami Olayemi; Ma, Haile

2016-08-01

Sweet potato is a highly nutritious tuber crop that is rich in β-carotene. Osmotic dehydration is a pretreatment method for drying of fruit and vegetables. Recently, ultrasound technology has been applied in food processing because of its numerous advantages which include time saving, little damage to the quality of the food. Thus, there is need to investigate and optimise the process parameters [frequency (20-50 kHz), time (10-30 min) and sucrose concentration (20-60% w/v)] for ultrasound-assisted osmotic dehydration of sweet potato using response surface methodology. The optimised values obtained were frequency of 33.93 kHz, time of 30 min and sucrose concentration of 35.69% (w/v) to give predicted values of 21.62, 4.40 and 17.23% for water loss, solid gain and weight reduction, respectively. The water loss and weight reduction increased when the ultrasound frequency increased from 20 to 35 kHz and then decreased as the frequency increased from 35 to 50 kHz. The results from this work show that low ultrasound frequency favours the osmotic dehydration of sweet potato and also reduces the use of raw material (sucrose) needed for the osmotic dehydration of sweet potato. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Comparison of the compressive yield response of aggregated suspensions: Pressure filtration, centrifugation, and osmotic consolidation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, K.T.; Melant, R.M.; Zukoski, C.F.

1996-01-01

The compressive rheological responses of suspensions containing flocculated kaolin, alumina (average particle sizes of 0.2 and 0.5 microm), and hydrous zirconia (average particle sizes of 8, 57, and 139 nm) particles have been measured using three different techniques: pressure filtration, volume fraction profile during centrifugation, and sediment height during centrifugation at multiple spinning speeds. While the volume fraction profile technique appears to be experimentally most robust, equivalent responses are found using the different techniques, indicating that the compressive yield stress is a material property of a given suspension. The compressive yield stress of each suspension increases rapidly with volume fraction but cannot be generally described using simple power-law or exponential fits. The compressive yield stress also increases with the inverse square of particle size. The packing behavior of the suspensions undergoing osmotic consolidation is compared with the mechanical compressive yield response. Some suspensions exhibited the same packing behavior as in the mechanical techniques, while others consistently packed to higher densities during osmotic consolidation. Although equivalent osmotic and mechanical loads do not always result in the same volume fractions, the similar increases in volume fraction with applied driving force suggest that both the osmotic and mechanical techniques are controlled by the force needed to rearrange the particle network

Colloid osmotic pressure during and after surgical interventions in adult and geriatric dogs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mario A.F. Rego

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: The objective this study is to evaluate colloid osmotic pressure (COP fluctuations in adult and senile dogs during surgical interventions. Thirty-six healthy dogs to surgical interventions, distributed in two groups, A and B, according to their age, and were all subjected to the same anesthetic protocol. Values of albumin, total plasmatic protein and COP were evaluated from samples collected before pre-anesthetic medication, fifteen minutes after pre-anesthetic medication, and shortly after the end of the intervention. Results were tested using t-test to compare among groups and ANOVA for repeated measures followed by Tukey’s test to compare different moments within the same group. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. In both groups, significant decreases were observed in colloid osmotic pressure, as well as albumin and total proteins (p<0.001. Despite slightly lower COP values for the group of adult animals, this difference was not significant as there was a high individual variation within groups. The results therefore indicate no difference in colloid osmotic pressure values or fluctuation patterns among adult and senile dogs (p=0.124. The observed results indicate that colloid osmotic pressure decreases significantly during surgical procedures, due to hypotension caused by the anesthetic drugs and to hemodilution caused by the fluid administration but there is no difference between groups. However, in both adult and senile dogs, these variables recover gradually after the animals awaken, through increased urine production and recovery of vascular tonus, indicating the successful reestablishment of homeostasis.

Cross tolerance of osmotically and ionically adapted cell lines of rice ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

saad

2012-01-10

Jan 10, 2012 ... The phenomenon of cross tolerance in osmotically and ionically adapted rice .... the mean values of 5 replicates ± standard error. variance showed .... Education Commission of Pakistan and Pakistan Science. Foundation.

Compression and reswelling of microgel particles after an osmotic shock

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sleeboom, J.F.; Voudouris, P.; Punter, M.T.J.J.M.; Aangenendt, F.J.; Florea, D.; van der Schoot, P.P.A.M.; Wyss, H.M.

2016-01-01

We use dedicated microfluidic devices to expose soft hydrogel particles to a rapid change in the externally applied osmotic pressure and observe a non-monotonic response: After an initial rapid compression the particle slowly reswells to approximately its original size. Using a simple

Linking patient satisfaction with nursing care: the case of care rationing - a correlational study

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Implicit rationing of nursing care is the withholding of or failure to carry out all necessary nursing measures due to lack of resources. There is evidence supporting a link between rationing of nursing care, nurses’ perceptions of their professional environment, negative patient outcomes, and placing patient safety at risk. The aims of the study were: a) To explore whether patient satisfaction is linked to nurse-reported rationing of nursing care and to nurses’ perceptions of their practice environment while adjusting for patient and nurse characteristics. b) To identify the threshold score of rationing by comparing the level of patient satisfaction factors across rationing levels. Methods A descriptive, correlational design was employed. Participants in this study included 352 patients and 318 nurses from ten medical and surgical units of five general hospitals. Three measurement instruments were used: the BERNCA scale for rationing of care, the RPPE scale to explore nurses’ perceptions of their work environment and the Patient Satisfaction scale to assess the level of patient satisfaction with nursing care. The statistical analysis included the use of Kendall’s correlation coefficient to explore a possible relationship between the variables and multiple regression analysis to assess the effects of implicit rationing of nursing care together with organizational characteristics on patient satisfaction. Results The mean score of implicit rationing of nursing care was 0.83 (SD = 0.52, range = 0–3), the overall mean of RPPE was 2.76 (SD = 0.32, range = 1.28 – 3.69) and the two scales were significantly correlated (τ = −0.234, p patient satisfaction, even after controlling for nurse and patient characteristics. The results from the adjusted regression models showed that even at the lowest level of rationing (i.e. 0.5) patients indicated low satisfaction. Conclusions The results support the relationships between

Transformation of oats and its application to improving osmotic stress tolerance.

Science.gov (United States)

Maqbool, Shahina B; Zhong, Heng; Oraby, Hesham F; Sticklen, Mariam B

2009-01-01

Oat (Avena sativa L.), a worldwide temperate cereal crop, is deficient in tolerance to osmotic stress due to drought and/or salinity. To genetically transform the available commercial oat cultivars, a genotype-independent and efficient regeneration system from shoot apical meristems was developed using four oat cultivars: Prairie, Porter, Ogle, and Pacer. All these oat cultivars generated a genotype-independent in vitro differentiated multiple shoots from shoot apical meristems at a high frequency. Using this system, three oat cultivars were genetically co-transformed with pBY520 (containing hva1 and bar) and pAct1-D (containing gus) using biolistic trade mark bombardment. Transgenic plants were selected and regenerated using herbicide resistance and GUS as a marker. Molecular and biochemical analyses of putative transgenic plants confirmed the co-integration of hva1 and bar genes with a frequency of 100%, and 61.6% of the transgenic plants carried all three genes (hva1, bar and gus). Further analyses of R0, R1, and R2 progenies confirmed stable integration, expression, and Mendalian inheritance for all transgenes. Histochemical analysis of GUS protein in transgenic plants showed a high level of GUS expression in vascular tissues and in the pollen grains of mature flowers. Immunochemical analysis of transgenic plants indicated a constitutive expression of hva1 at all developmental stages. However, the level of HVA1 was higher during the early seedling stages. The characteristic of HVA1 expression for osmotic tolerance in transgenic oat progeny was analyzed in vitro as well as in vivo. Transgenic plants exhibited significantly (Pplants. The symptoms of wilting or death of leaves as observed in 80% of non-transgenic plants due to osmotic stress was delayed and detected only in less than 10% of trans-genic plants. These observations confirmed the characteristic of HVA1 protein as providing or enhancing the osmotic tolerance in transgenic plants against salinity and

Osmotic properties of sulfobutylether and hydroxypropyl cyclodextrins.

Science.gov (United States)

Zannou, E A; Streng, W H; Stella, V J

2001-08-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the osmolality of sulfobutylether (SBE) and hydroxypropyl (HP) derivatives of cyclodextrins (CDs) via vapor pressure osmometry (VPO) and freezing point depression (FPD). (SBE) and HP-CDs are efficient excipients capable of solubilizing and stabilizing poorly water-soluble drugs in parenteral formulations. (SBE)-CDs have also been used as solubility enhancers and osmotic agents for the sustained release of poorly water-soluble drugs from osmotic pump tablets. The knowledge of the CD's osmolality in solution or inside such tablets would allow one to further characterize the release mechanisms. Experiments were conducted at 37 degrees C with eight types of HP and (SBE)-CDs. The aqueous solutions ranged from 0.005-0.350 mol(-1). Methods were developed to allow the measurement of high osmolalities using a vapor pressure osmometer or a differential scanning calorimeter. The osmolality calculations from the VPO and FPD measurements correlated well. The osmolality of (SBE)-CDs was significantly higher than the osmolality of HP-CDs and increased with the total degree of substitution (TDS). All CDs showed deviations from ideality at high concentrations. Empirical correlations of osmolality with concentration and TDS allowed the prediction of osmolality over a wide concentration range. This study also gave some useful insights into the behavior of CD derivatives in solution.

Equilibrium and Dynamic Osmotic Behaviour of Aqueous Solutions with Varied Concentration at Constant and Variable Volume

Science.gov (United States)

Minkov, Ivan L.; Manev, Emil D.; Sazdanova, Svetla V.; Kolikov, Kiril H.

2013-01-01

Osmosis is essential for the living organisms. In biological systems the process usually occurs in confined volumes and may express specific features. The osmotic pressure in aqueous solutions was studied here experimentally as a function of solute concentration (0.05–0.5 M) in two different regimes: of constant and variable solution volume. Sucrose, a biologically active substance, was chosen as a reference solute for the complex tests. A custom made osmotic cell was used. A novel operative experimental approach, employing limited variation of the solution volume, was developed and applied for the purpose. The established equilibrium values of the osmotic pressure are in agreement with the theoretical expectations and do not exhibit any evident differences for both regimes. In contrast, the obtained kinetic dependences reveal striking divergence in the rates of the process at constant and varied solution volume for the respective solute concentrations. The rise of pressure is much faster at constant solution volume, while the solvent influx is many times greater in the regime of variable volume. The results obtained suggest a feasible mechanism for the way in which the living cells rapidly achieve osmotic equilibrium upon changes in the environment. PMID:24459448

Active osmotic exchanger for advanced filtration at the nano scale

Science.gov (United States)

Marbach, Sophie; Bocquet, Lyderic

2015-11-01

One of the main functions of the kidney is to remove the waste products of an organism, mostly by excreting concentrated urea while reabsorbing water and other molecules. The human kidney is capable of recycling about 200 liters of water per day, at the relatively low cost of 0.5 kJ/L (standard dialysis requiring at least 150 kJ/L). Kidneys are constituted of millions of parallel filtration networks called nephrons. The nephrons of all mammalian kidneys present a specific loop geometry, the Loop of Henle, that is believed to play a key role in the urinary concentrating mechanism. One limb of the loop is permeable to water and the other contains sodium pumps that exchange with a common interstitium. In this work, we take inspiration from this osmotic exchanger design to propose new nanofiltration principles. We first establish simple analytical results to derive general operating principles, based on coupled water permeable pores and osmotic pumps. The best filtration geometry, in terms of power required for a given water recycling ratio, is comparable in many ways to the mammalian nephron. It is not only more efficient than traditional reverse osmosis systems, but can also work at much smaller pressures (of the order of the blood pressure, 0.13 bar, as compared to more than 30 bars for pressure-retarded osmosis systems). We anticipate that our proof of principle will be a starting point for the development of new filtration systems relying on the active osmotic exchanger principle.

Ion and solvent Transport in Polypyrrole: Experimental Test of Osmotic Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Velmurugu, Yogambigai; Skaarup, Steen

2005-01-01

Ion and solvent transport in the conjugated polymer actuator material, polypyrrole, doped with the immobile anion dodecyl benzene sulphonate, has been investigated by simultaneous cyclic voltammetry and Electrochemical Quartz Crystal Microbalance measurements. The purpose was to elucidate the pre...... from almost pure cation transport to ca. equal amount of anion transport; exchanging Br- for Cl- ions has only negligible effect at lower concentrations at equal osmotic pressures. Ca. 4 H2O molecules are tightly bound to each Na+ ion at concentrations ... the precise nature of the mobile species during redox cycling, and to seek confirmation for the osmotic mechanism of actuation. Three testable aspects of the model were confirmed: The number of inserted H2O molecules decreases with electrolyte concentration; at the same time the mechanism gradually changes...

Irrational Rationality of Terrorism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Nalbandov

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The present article deals with the ontological problem of applying the rational choice frameworks to the study of terrorism. It testing the application of the rational choice to the “old” (before the end of the Cold War and the “new” (after the end of the Cold War terrorisms. It starts with analyzing the fundamentals of rationality and applies it at two levels: the individual (actors and group (collective via two outlooks: tactical (short-term and strategic (long-term. The main argument of the article is that while the “old” terrorism can be explained by the rational choice theory its “new” version represents a substantial departure from rationality.

Osmotic membrane bioreactor for phenol biodegradation under continuous operation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Praveen, Prashant; Loh, Kai-Chee, E-mail: chelohkc@nus.edu.sg

2016-03-15

Highlights: • Osmotic membrane bioreactor was used for phenol biodegradation in continuous mode. • Extractant impregnated membranes were used to alleviate substrate inhibition. • Phenol removal was achieved through both biodegradation and membrane rejection. • Phenol concentrations up to 2500 mg/L were treated at HRT varying in 2.8–14 h. • A biofilm removal strategy was formulated to improve bioreactor sustainability. - Abstract: Continuous phenol biodegradation was accomplished in a two-phase partitioning osmotic membrane bioreactor (TPPOMBR) system, using extractant impregnated membranes (EIM) as the partitioning phase. The EIMs alleviated substrate inhibition during prolonged operation at influent phenol concentrations of 600–2000 mg/L, and also at spiked concentrations of 2500 mg/L phenol restricted to 2 days. Filtration of the effluent through forward osmosis maintained high biomass concentration in the bioreactor and improved effluent quality. Steady state was reached in 5–6 days at removal rates varying between 2000 and 5500 mg/L-day under various conditions. Due to biofouling and salt accumulation, the permeate flux varied from 1.2–7.2 LMH during 54 days of operation, while maintaining an average hydraulic retention time of 7.4 h. A washing cycle, comprising 1 h osmotic backwashing using 0.5 M NaCl and 2 h washing with water, facilitated biofilm removal from the membranes. Characterization of the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) through FTIR showed peaks between 1700 and 1500 cm{sup −1}, 1450–1450 cm{sup −1} and 1200–1000 cm{sup −1}, indicating the presence of proteins, phenols and polysaccharides, respectively. The carbohydrate to protein ratio in the EPS was estimated to be 0.3. These results indicate that TPPOMBR can be promising in continuous treatment of phenolic wastewater.

Effect of pore structure on chemico-osmotic, diffusion and hydraulic properties of mud-stones

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeda, M.; Manaka, M.; Ito, K.; Miyoshi, S.; Tokunaga, T.

2012-01-01

Document available in extended abstract form only. An in-situ experiment by Neuzil (2000) has obtained the substantial proof of chemical osmosis in natural clayey formation. Chemical osmosis in clayey formations has thus received attention in recent years in the context of geological disposal of radioactive waste. Chemical osmosis is the diffusion of water through a semi-permeable membrane driven by the difference of chemical potentials between solutions to compensate the difference of water potentials, increasing the other potential differences, such as the pressure difference. Accordingly, the chemical osmosis could generate localized, abnormal fluid pressures in geological formations where formation media act as semi-permeable membranes and groundwater salinity is not uniform. Without taking account of the chemical osmosis, groundwater flow modeling may mislead the prediction of the groundwater flow direction. Therefore the possibility of chemical osmosis needs to be identified for potential host formations for radioactive waste repositories. The chemico-osmotic property of formation media is an essential parameter to identify the possibility of chemical osmosis in the formation; however, the diffusion and hydraulic properties are also fundamental parameters to estimate the duration of chemical osmosis since they control the spatial variation of salinity and the dissipation of osmotically induced pressures. In order to obtain the chemico-osmotic, diffusion and hydraulic parameters from a rock sample, this study developed a laboratory experimental system capable of performing chemical osmosis and permeability experiments. A series of experiments were performed on mud-stones. The chemico-osmotic parameter of each rock sample was further interpreted by the osmotic efficiency model proposed by Bresler (1973) to examine the pore structure inherent in rocks. Diatomaceous and siliceous mud-stone samples were obtained from drill cores taken from the Koetoi and Wakkanai

Investigation of the Effects of Extracellular Osmotic Pressure on Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Individual Chondrocyte.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Trung Dung; Oloyede, Adekunle; Singh, Sanjleena; Gu, YuanTong

2016-06-01

It has been demonstrated that most cells of the body respond to osmotic pressure in a systematic manner. The disruption of the collagen network in the early stages of osteoarthritis causes an increase in water content of cartilage which leads to a reduction of pericellular osmolality in chondrocytes distributed within the extracellular environment. It is therefore arguable that an insight into the mechanical properties of chondrocytes under varying osmotic pressure would provide a better understanding of chondrocyte mechanotransduction and potentially contribute to knowledge on cartilage degeneration. In this present study, the chondrocyte cells were exposed to solutions with different osmolality. Changes in their dimensions and mechanical properties were measured over time. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to apply load at various strain-rates and the force-time curves were logged. The thin-layer elastic model was used to extract the elastic stiffness of chondrocytes at different strain-rates and at different solution osmolality. In addition, the porohyperelastic (PHE) model was used to investigate the strain-rate-dependent responses under the loading and osmotic pressure conditions. The results revealed that the hypo-osmotic external environment increased chondrocyte dimensions and reduced Young's modulus of the cells at all strain-rates tested. In contrast, the hyper-osmotic external environment reduced dimensions and increased Young's modulus. Moreover, using the PHE model coupled with inverse FEA simulation, we established that the hydraulic permeability of chondrocytes increased with decreasing extracellular osmolality which is consistent with previous work in the literature. This could be due to a higher intracellular fluid volume fraction with lower osmolality.

Field effect control of electro-osmotic flow in microfluidic networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Wouden, E.J.

2006-01-01

This thesis describes the development of a Field Effect Flow Control (FEFC) system for the control of Electro Osmotic Flow (EOF) in microfluidic networks. For this several aspects of FEFC have been reviewed and a process to fabricate microfluidic channels with integrated electrodes has been

Lying for Strategic Advantage: Rational and Boundedly Rational Misrepresentation of Intentions

OpenAIRE

Crawford, Vincent P.

2001-01-01

Starting from Hendricks and McAfee's (2000) example of the Allies' decision to feint at Calais and attack at Normandy on D-Day, this paper models misrepresentation of intentions to competitors or enemies. Allowing for the possibility of bounded strategic rationality and rational players' responses to it yields a sensible account of lying via costless, noiseless messages. In many cases the model has generically unique pure-strategy sequential equilibria, in which rational players exploit bound...

Alleviation of Osmotic Stress Effects by Exogenous Application of Salicylic or Abscisic Acid on Wheat Seedlings

Science.gov (United States)

Marcińska, Izabela; Czyczyło-Mysza, Ilona; Skrzypek, Edyta; Grzesiak, Maciej T.; Janowiak, Franciszek; Filek, Maria; Dziurka, Michał; Dziurka, Kinga; Waligórski, Piotr; Juzoń, Katarzyna; Cyganek, Katarzyna; Grzesiak, Stanisław

2013-01-01

The aim of the study was to assess the role of salicylic acid (SA) and abscisic acid (ABA) in osmotic stress tolerance of wheat seedlings. This was accomplished by determining the impact of the acids applied exogenously on seedlings grown under osmotic stress in hydroponics. The investigation was unique in its comprehensiveness, examining changes under osmotic stress and other conditions, and testing a number of parameters simultaneously. In both drought susceptible (SQ1) and drought resistant (CS) wheat cultivars, significant physiological and biochemical changes were observed upon the addition of SA (0.05 mM) or ABA (0.1 μM) to solutions containing half-strength Hoagland medium and PEG 6000 (−0.75 MPa). The most noticeable result of supplementing SA or ABA to the medium (PEG + SA and PEG + ABA) was a decrease in the length of leaves and roots in both cultivars. While PEG treatment reduced gas exchange parameters, chlorophyll content in CS, and osmotic potential, and conversely, increased lipid peroxidation, soluble carbohydrates in SQ1, proline content in both cultivars and total antioxidants activity in SQ1, PEG + SA or PEG + ABA did not change the values of these parameters. Furthermore, PEG caused a two-fold increase of endogenous ABA content in SQ1 and a four-fold increase in CS. PEG + ABA increased endogenous ABA only in SQ1, whereas PEG + SA caused a greater increase of ABA content in both cultivars compared to PEG. In PEG-treated plants growing until the harvest, a greater decrease of yield components was observed in SQ1 than in CS. PEG + SA, and particularly PEG + ABA, caused a greater increase of these yield parameters in CS compared to SQ1. In conclusion, SA and ABA ameliorate, particularly in the tolerant wheat cultivar, the harmful effects and after effects of osmotic stress induced by PEG in hydroponics through better osmotic adjustment achieved by an increase in proline and carbohydrate content as well as by an increase in antioxidant activity

Alleviation of Osmotic Stress Effects by Exogenous Application of Salicylic or Abscisic Acid on Wheat Seedlings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katarzyna Cyganek

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study was to assess the role of salicylic acid (SA and abscisic acid (ABA in osmotic stress tolerance of wheat seedlings. This was accomplished by determining the impact of the acids applied exogenously on seedlings grown under osmotic stress in hydroponics. The investigation was unique in its comprehensiveness, examining changes under osmotic stress and other conditions, and testing a number of parameters simultaneously. In both drought susceptible (SQ1 and drought resistant (CS wheat cultivars, significant physiological and biochemical changes were observed upon the addition of SA (0.05 mM or ABA (0.1 μM to solutions containing half-strength Hoagland medium and PEG 6000 (−0.75 MPa. The most noticeable result of supplementing SA or ABA to the medium (PEG + SA and PEG + ABA was a decrease in the length of leaves and roots in both cultivars. While PEG treatment reduced gas exchange parameters, chlorophyll content in CS, and osmotic potential, and conversely, increased lipid peroxidation, soluble carbohydrates in SQ1, proline content in both cultivars and total antioxidants activity in SQ1, PEG + SA or PEG + ABA did not change the values of these parameters. Furthermore, PEG caused a two-fold increase of endogenous ABA content in SQ1 and a four-fold increase in CS. PEG + ABA increased endogenous ABA only in SQ1, whereas PEG + SA caused a greater increase of ABA content in both cultivars compared to PEG. In PEG-treated plants growing until the harvest, a greater decrease of yield components was observed in SQ1 than in CS. PEG + SA, and particularly PEG + ABA, caused a greater increase of these yield parameters in CS compared to SQ1. In conclusion, SA and ABA ameliorate, particularly in the tolerant wheat cultivar, the harmful effects and after effects of osmotic stress induced by PEG in hydroponics through better osmotic adjustment achieved by an increase in proline and carbohydrate content as well as by an increase in antioxidant

Inefficacy of osmotic backwash induced by sodium chloride salt solution in controlling SWRO membrane fouling

Science.gov (United States)

Farooque, A. Mohammed; Al-Jeshi, Subhi; Saeed, Mohamed O.; Alreweli, Ali

2014-12-01

A study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of osmotic backwash induced by high salt (NaCl) concentration solution on feed side of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) membranes, online and offline, in controlling membrane fouling and therefore minimizing/eliminating the need for chemical cleaning. SWRO membranes were deliberately fouled by feeding seawater from an open intake located on the Arabian Gulf Coast without dosing chemicals. The fouled membranes were subjected to offline cleaning with the salt solution of up to 25 % concentration. Despite the partial removal of foulants from the membrane surface, SWRO membrane performance could not be restored, indicating the ineffectiveness of osmotic backwash in aiding offline salt cleaning. Similarly, online osmotic backwash was found to be not only ineffective in removing foulants from membrane surfaces but actually increased the fouling rate, as indicated by faster fouling rates compared to other cases. Although the driving force required for the osmotic backwash existed, the generated back flow proved to be insufficient to detach foulants from membrane surfaces. During the study period, the average SWRO membrane flux was maintained between 19 and 23 LMH, whereas the average generated back flow flux by high salt concentration solution was only 11 LMH, which was not adequate to remove foulants from membrane surfaces. Moreover, it seems that the membrane configuration as well as inherent microstructure of SWRO membrane places certain constraints on the osmotic backwash process and renders osmotic backwash ineffective in tackling SWRO membrane fouling. Hence, chemical cleaning is essential to restore SWRO membrane performance whenever fouling occurs, and the use of highly concentrated salt solution does not have any significant benefit. Membrane autopsy revealed only an insignificant accumulation of biofouling layer despite the absence of disinfection. However, it was shown that culturable biofilm bacteria species

Reciprocal relations of transport coefficients in simple materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lam, L.

1977-01-01

The cross effects of viscosity and heat conduction in anisotropic simple materials (solids or liquids) are given in the linear regime, using our dissipation function theory introduced recently. Depending on whether the temperature gradient or the heat flux is used in the dissipation function, we show that two different but unambiguous reciprocal relations between the transport coefficients follow. These are compared and contrasted with the confusing predictions from the Onsager theory, and to the results of rational thermodynamics. The uncertain experimental situation in regard to these reciprocal relations is discussed. Experimental tests are strongly urged. (orig.) [de

Studies of osmotic diarrhea induced in normal subjects by ingestion of polyethylene glycol and lactulose.

OpenAIRE

Hammer, H F; Santa Ana, C A; Schiller, L R; Fordtran, J S

1989-01-01

The purpose of these studies was to gain insight into the pathophysiology of pure osmotic diarrhea and the osmotic diarrhea caused by carbohydrate malabsorption. Diarrhea was induced in normal volunteers by ingestion of polyethylene glycol (PEG), which is nonabsorbable, not metabolized by colonic bacteria, and carries no electrical charge. In PEG-induced diarrhea, (a) stool weight was directly correlated with the total mass of PEG ingested; (b) PEG contributed 40-60% of the osmolality of the ...

Osmotic stress confers enhanced cell integrity to hydrostatic pressure but impairs growth in Alcanivorax borkumensis SK2

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alberto eScoma

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Alcanivorax is a hydrocarbonoclastic genus dominating oil spills worldwide. While its presence has been detected in oil-polluted seawaters, marine sediment and salt marshes under ambient pressure, its presence in deep-sea contaminated environments is negligible. Recent laboratory evidences highlighted the piezosensitive nature of some Alcanivorax species, whose growth yields are highly impacted by mild hydrostatic pressures (HPs. In the present study, osmotic stress was used as a tool to increase HP resistance in the type strain A. borkumensis SK2. Control cultures grown under standard conditions of salinity and osmotic pressure with respect to seawater (35.6 ppt or 1136 mOsm kg-1, respectively were compared with cultures subjected to hypo- and hyperosmosis (330 and 1720 mOsm kg-1, or 18 and 62 ppt in salinity, equivalent to brackish and brine waters, respectively, under atmospheric or increased HP (0.1 and 10MPa. Osmotic stress had a remarkably positive impact on cell metabolic activity in terms of CO2 production (thus, oil bioremediation and O2 respiration under hyperosmosis, as acclimation to high salinity enhanced cell activity under 10MPa by a factor of 10. Both osmotic shocks significantly enhanced cell protection by reducing membrane damage under HP, with cell integrities close to 100% under hyposmosis. The latter was likely due to intracellular water-reclamation as no trace of the piezolyte ectoine was found, contrary to hyperosmosis. Notably, ectoine production was equivalent at 0.1MPa in hyperosmosis-acclimated cells and at 10MPa under isosmotic conditions, supporting the hypothesis that ectoine synthesis may be primarily triggered by HP rather than osmotic stress. While stimulating cell metabolism and enhancing cell integrity, osmotic stress had always a negative impact on culture growth and performance. No net growth was observed during 4-day incubation tests, and CO2:O2 ratios and pH values indicated that culture performance in

Studies of osmotic diarrhea induced in normal subjects by ingestion of polyethylene glycol and lactulose.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammer, H F; Santa Ana, C A; Schiller, L R; Fordtran, J S

1989-10-01

The purpose of these studies was to gain insight into the pathophysiology of pure osmotic diarrhea and the osmotic diarrhea caused by carbohydrate malabsorption. Diarrhea was induced in normal volunteers by ingestion of polyethylene glycol (PEG), which is nonabsorbable, not metabolized by colonic bacteria, and carries no electrical charge. In PEG-induced diarrhea, (a) stool weight was directly correlated with the total mass of PEG ingested; (b) PEG contributed 40-60% of the osmolality of the fecal fluid, the remainder being contributed by other solutes either of dietary, endogenous, or bacterial origin; and (c) fecal sodium, potassium, and chloride were avidly conserved by the intestine, in spite of stool water losses exceeding 1,200 g/d. Diarrhea was also induced in normal subjects by ingestion of lactulose, a disaccharide that is not absorbed by the small intestine but is metabolized by colonic bacteria. In lactulose-induced diarrhea, (a) a maximum of approximate 80 g/d of lactulose was metabolized by colonic bacteria to noncarbohydrate moieties such as organic acids; (b) the organic acids were partially absorbed in the colon; (c) unabsorbed organic acids obligated the accumulation of inorganic cations (Na greater than Ca greater than K greater than Mg) in the diarrheal fluid; (d) diarrhea associated with low doses of lactulose was mainly due to unabsorbed organic acids and associated cations, whereas with larger doses of lactulose unmetabolized carbohydrates also played a major role; and (e) the net effect of bacterial metabolism of lactulose and partial absorption of organic acids on stool water output was done dependent. With low or moderate doses of lactulose, stool water losses were reduced by as much as 600 g/d (compared with equimolar osmotic loads of PEG); with large dose, the increment in osmotically active solutes within the lumen exceeded the increment of the ingested osmotic load, and the severity of diarrhea was augmented.

Determinants of Actor Rationality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ellegaard, Chris

Industrial companies must exercise influence on their suppliers (or supplier actors). Actor rationality is a central theme connected to this management task. In this article, relevant literature is studied with the purpose of shedding light on determinants of actor rationality. Two buyer-supplier...... relations are investigated in a multiple case study, leading to the proposal of various additional factors that determine and shape actor rationality. Moreover a conceptual model of rationality determinants in the buyer-supplier relation is proposed, a model that may help supply managers analyse...

Two Concepts of Rationality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danny Frederick

2010-02-01

Full Text Available The dominant tradition in Western philosophy sees rationality as dictating. Thus rationality may require that we believe the best explanation and simple conceptual truths and that we infer in accordance with evident rules of inference. I argue that, given what we know about the growth of knowledge, this authoritarian concept of rationality leads to absurdities and should be abandoned. I then outline a libertarian concept of rationality, derived from Popper, which eschews the dictates and which sees a rational agent as one who questions, criticises, conjectures and experiments. I argue that, while the libertarian approach escapes the absurdities of the authoritarian, it requires two significant developments and an important clarification to be made fully consistent with itself.

Rationality and institutions : an inquiry into the normative implications of rational choice theory

OpenAIRE

Engelen, Bart

2007-01-01

I aim to analyze in this dissertation what a desirable basic institutional structure looks like from the perspective of rationality. While the main topic is thus normative in nature, I start by clarifying in the first part what the notion of rationality exactly entails. I do so by focusing explicitly on the economic conception of rationality, according to which a rational individual is motivated to serve his self-interest on the basis of cost-benefit calculations. Such a Homo Economicus is ch...

Osmotic pressure of ring polymer solutions : A Monte Carlo study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Flikkema, Edwin; Brinke, Gerrit ten

2000-01-01

Using the wall theorem, the osmotic pressure of ring polymers in solution has been determined using an off-lattice topology conserving Monte Carlo algorithm. The ring polymers are modeled as freely-jointed chains with point-like beads, i.e., under conditions corresponding to θ-conditions for the

Osmotic pressure of the cutaneous surface fluid of Rana esculenta

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hviid Larsen, Erik; Ramløv, Hans

2012-01-01

The osmotic pressure of the cutaneous surface fluid (CSF) in vivo was measured for investigating whether evaporative water loss (EWL) derives from water diffusing through the skin or fluid secreted by exocrine subepidermal mucous glands. EWL was stimulated by subjecting R. esculenta to 30–34 °C....../Kg, n = 16. Osmolality of lymph was, 239 ± 4 mosmol/Kg, n = 8. Thus the flow of water across the epidermis would be in the direction from CSF to the interstitial fluid driven by the above osmotic gradients and/or coupled to the inward active Na+ flux via the slightly hyperosmotic paracellular...... compartment [EH Larsen et al. (2009) Acta Physiologica 195: 171–186]. It is concluded that the source of EWL of the frog on land is the fluid secreted by the mucous glands and not water diffusing through the skin. The study supports the hypothesis [EH Larsen (2011) Acta Physiologica 202: 435–464] that volume...

Quorum sensing regulates the osmotic stress response in Vibrio harveyi.

Science.gov (United States)

van Kessel, Julia C; Rutherford, Steven T; Cong, Jian-Ping; Quinodoz, Sofia; Healy, James; Bassler, Bonnie L

2015-01-01

Bacteria use a chemical communication process called quorum sensing to monitor cell density and to alter behavior in response to fluctuations in population numbers. Previous studies with Vibrio harveyi have shown that LuxR, the master quorum-sensing regulator, activates and represses >600 genes. These include six genes that encode homologs of the Escherichia coli Bet and ProU systems for synthesis and transport, respectively, of glycine betaine, an osmoprotectant used during osmotic stress. Here we show that LuxR activates expression of the glycine betaine operon betIBA-proXWV, which enhances growth recovery under osmotic stress conditions. BetI, an autorepressor of the V. harveyi betIBA-proXWV operon, activates the expression of genes encoding regulatory small RNAs that control quorum-sensing transitions. Connecting quorum-sensing and glycine betaine pathways presumably enables V. harveyi to tune its execution of collective behaviors to its tolerance to stress. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Theoretical and Experimental Investigations of the Potential of Osmotic Energy for Power Production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adel O. Sharif

2014-08-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a study on the potential of osmotic energy for power production. The study includes both pilot plant testing and theoretical modelling as well as cost estimation. A projected cost of £30/MWh of clean electricity could be achieved by using a Hydro-Osmotic Power (HOP plant if a suitable membrane is used and the osmotic potential difference between the two solutions is greater than 25 bar; a condition that can be readily found in many sites around the world. Results have shown that the membrane system accounts for 50%–80% of the HOP plant cost depending on the salinity difference level. Thus, further development in membrane technology and identifying suitable membranes would have a significant impact on the feasibility of the process and the route to market. As the membrane permeability determines the HOP process feasibility, this paper also describes the effect of the interaction between the fluid and the membrane on the system permeability. It has been shown that both the fluid physical properties as well as the membrane micro-structural parameters need to be considered if further development of the HOP process is to be achieved.

Theoretical and experimental investigations of the potential of osmotic energy for power production.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharif, Adel O; Merdaw, Ali A; Aryafar, Maryam; Nicoll, Peter

2014-08-08

This paper presents a study on the potential of osmotic energy for power production. The study includes both pilot plant testing and theoretical modelling as well as cost estimation. A projected cost of £30/MWh of clean electricity could be achieved by using a Hydro-Osmotic Power (HOP) plant if a suitable membrane is used and the osmotic potential difference between the two solutions is greater than 25 bar; a condition that can be readily found in many sites around the world. Results have shown that the membrane system accounts for 50%-80% of the HOP plant cost depending on the salinity difference level. Thus, further development in membrane technology and identifying suitable membranes would have a significant impact on the feasibility of the process and the route to market. As the membrane permeability determines the HOP process feasibility, this paper also describes the effect of the interaction between the fluid and the membrane on the system permeability. It has been shown that both the fluid physical properties as well as the membrane micro-structural parameters need to be considered if further development of the HOP process is to be achieved.

Rationing medical education.

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper discussed the pros and cons of the application of rationing to medical education and the different ... Different types of rationing exist in healthcare professional education. ... state-of-the-art resources, technology and tutors con-.

Recovery of leaf elongation during short term osmotic stress correlates with osmotic adjustment and cell turgor restoration in different durum wheat cultivars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mahdid, M.

2014-01-01

In order to investigate the responses of leaf elongation rate (LER), turgor and osmotic adjustment (OA) during a short-term stress (7 hours) imposed by PEG6000 and a recovery phase, three durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) varieties (Inrat; MBB; and OZ ) were grown in aerated nutrient solutions. Leaf elongation kinetics of leaf 3 was estimated using LVDT. Turgor was estimated using a cell pressure probe; osmotic potential as well as total sugars and potassium (K+) concentrations were estimated from expressed sap of elongation zone. Growth recovered rapidly and then stabilised at a lower value. A significant difference was found in % recovery of LER between the varieties. The cessation of growth after stress coincided with a decrease in turgor followed by a recovery period reaching control values in MBB and Inrat. A strong correlation (R2 = 0.83) between the reduction in turgor (turgor) and % recovery of LER was found at 7 hours after stress. The difference in the partial recovery of LER between varieties was thus related to the capacity of partial turgor recovery. Partial turgor recovery is associated with sugar or K+ based OA which indicates its importance in maintaining high LER values under water deficit. (author)

Nano-funnels as electro-osmotic ``tweezers and pistons''

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yanqian; Panyukov, Sergey; Zhou, Jinsheng; Menard, Laurent D.; Ramsey, J. Michael; Rubinstien, Michael

2014-03-01

An electric field is used to force a DNA molecule into a nano-channel by compensating the free energy penalty that results from the reduced conformational entropy of the confined macromolecule. Narrow nano-channels require high critical electric fields to achieve DNA translocation, leading to short dwell times of DNA in these channels. We demonstrate that nano-funnels integrated with nano-channels reduce the free energy barrier and lower the critical electric field required for DNA translocation. A focused electric field within the funnel increases the electric force on the DNA, compresses the molecule, and increases the osmotic pressure at the nano-channel entrance. This ``electro-osmotic piston'' forces the molecule into the nano-channel at lower electric fields than those observed without the funnel. Appropirately designed nano-funnels can also function as tweezers that allow manipulation of the position of the DNA molecule. The predictions of our theory describing double-stranded DNA behavior in nano-funnel - nano-channel devices are consistent with experimental results. Thanks for the financial support from NSF (DMR-1309892, DMR-1121107, DMR-1122483), NIH (1-P50-HL107168, 1-P01-HL108808-01A1, R01HG02647), NHGRI and CF Foundation.

Osmotic stress alters the balance between organic and inorganic solutes in flax (Linum usitatissimum).

Science.gov (United States)

Quéro, Anthony; Molinié, Roland; Elboutachfaiti, Redouan; Petit, Emmanuel; Pau-Roblot, Corinne; Guillot, Xavier; Mesnard, François; Courtois, Josiane

2014-01-01

Flax (Linum usitatissimum) is grown for its oil and its fiber. This crop, cultivated in temperate regions, has seen a renewed interest due to the presence of abundant molecules of interest for many applications. Little information is available about the behavior of flax during osmotic stress; yet this is considered a major stress that causes significant yield losses in most crops. To control the presence of this stress better, flax behavior was investigated following the application of osmotic stress and the response was examined by applying increasing concentrations of PEG 8000. This resulted in the reorganization of 32 metabolites and 6 mineral ions in the leaves. The analysis of these two types of solute highlighted the contrasting behavior between a higher metabolite content (particularly fructose, glucose and proline) and a decrease in mineral ions (especially nitrate and potassium) following PEG treatment. However, this reorganization did not lead to a greater accumulation of solutes, with the total amount remaining unchanged in leaves during osmotic stress. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Separation of ions in nanofluidic channels with combined pressure-driven and electro-osmotic flow.

Science.gov (United States)

Gillespie, Dirk; Pennathur, Sumita

2013-03-05

Separation of ionic species with the same electrophoretic mobility but different valence in electrolyte systems can occur within nanometer-scale channels with finite electrical double layers (EDLs). This is because EDL thicknesses are a significant fraction of slit height in such channels and can create transverse analyte concentration profiles that allow for unique separation modalities when combined with axial fluid flow. Previous work has shown such separation to occur using either pressure-driven flow or electro-osmotic flow separately. Here, we develop a Poisson-Boltzmann model to compare the separation of such ions using the combination of both pressure-driven and electro-osmotic flow. Applying a pressure gradient in the opposite direction of electro-osmotic flow can allow for zero or infinite retention of analyte species, which we investigate using three different wall boundary conditions. Furthermore, we determine conditions in fused silica nanochannels with which to generate optimal separation between two analytes of different charge but the same mobility. We also give simple rules of thumb to achieve the best separation efficacy in nanochannel systems.

Rationality problem for algebraic tori

CERN Document Server

Hoshi, Akinari

2017-01-01

The authors give the complete stably rational classification of algebraic tori of dimensions 4 and 5 over a field k. In particular, the stably rational classification of norm one tori whose Chevalley modules are of rank 4 and 5 is given. The authors show that there exist exactly 487 (resp. 7, resp. 216) stably rational (resp. not stably but retract rational, resp. not retract rational) algebraic tori of dimension 4, and there exist exactly 3051 (resp. 25, resp. 3003) stably rational (resp. not stably but retract rational, resp. not retract rational) algebraic tori of dimension 5. The authors make a procedure to compute a flabby resolution of a G-lattice effectively by using the computer algebra system GAP. Some algorithms may determine whether the flabby class of a G-lattice is invertible (resp. zero) or not. Using the algorithms, the suthors determine all the flabby and coflabby G-lattices of rank up to 6 and verify that they are stably permutation. The authors also show that the Krull-Schmidt theorem for G-...

The effect of step height on the performance of three-dimensional ac electro-osmotic microfluidic pumps.

Science.gov (United States)

Urbanski, John Paul; Levitan, Jeremy A; Burch, Damian N; Thorsen, Todd; Bazant, Martin Z

2007-05-15

Recent numerical and experimental studies have investigated the increase in efficiency of microfluidic ac electro-osmotic pumps by introducing nonplanar geometries with raised steps on the electrodes. In this study, we analyze the effect of the step height on ac electro-osmotic pump performance. AC electro-osmotic pumps with three-dimensional electroplated steps are fabricated on glass substrates and pumping velocities of low ionic strength electrolyte solutions are measured systematically using a custom microfluidic device. Numerical simulations predict an improvement in pump performance with increasing step height, at a given frequency and voltage, up to an optimal step height, which qualitatively matches the trend observed in experiment. For a broad range of step heights near the optimum, the observed flow is much faster than with existing planar pumps (at the same voltage and minimum feature size) and in the theoretically predicted direction of the "fluid conveyor belt" mechanism. For small step heights, the experiments also exhibit significant flow reversal at the optimal frequency, which cannot be explained by the theory, although the simulations predict weak flow reversal at higher frequencies due to incomplete charging. These results provide insight to an important parameter for the design of nonplanar electro-osmotic pumps and clues to improve the fundamental theory of ACEO.

Rational Approximations to Rational Models: Alternative Algorithms for Category Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Sanborn, Adam N.; Griffiths, Thomas L.; Navarro, Daniel J.

2010-01-01

Rational models of cognition typically consider the abstract computational problems posed by the environment, assuming that people are capable of optimally solving those problems. This differs from more traditional formal models of cognition, which focus on the psychological processes responsible for behavior. A basic challenge for rational models…

Comparative study of the energy potential of cyanide waters using two osmotic membrane modules under dead-end flow

Science.gov (United States)

García-Díaz, Y.; Quiñones-Bolaños, E.; Bustos-Blanco, C.; Vives-Pérez, L.; Bustillo-Lecompte, C.; Saba, M.

2017-12-01

The energy potential of the osmotic pressure gradient of cyanide waters is evaluated using two membrane modules, horizontal and vertical, operated under dead-end flow. The membrane was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). The membrane is mainly composed of carbon, oxygen, and sulphur. The properties of the membrane were unchanged and had no pore clogging after exposure to the cyanide waters. Potentials of 1.78×10-4 and 6.36×10-5Wm-2 were found for the horizontal and vertical modules, respectively, using the Van’t Hoff equation. Likewise, the permeability coefficient of the membrane was higher in the vertical module. Although the energy potential is low under the studied conditions the vertical configuration has a greater potential due to the action of gravity and the homogenous contact of the fluid with the membrane.

Phenotypic variations in osmotic lysis of Sahel goat erythrocytes in non-ionic glucose media.

Science.gov (United States)

Igbokwe, Nanacha Afifi; Igbokwe, Ikechukwu Onyebuchi

2016-03-01

Erythrocyte osmotic lysis in deionised glucose media is regulated by glucose influx, cation efflux, and changes in cell volume after water diffusion. Transmembrane fluxes may be affected by varied expression of glucose transporter protein and susceptibility of membrane proteins to glucose-induced glycosylation and oxidation in various physiologic states. Variations in haemolysis of Sahel goat erythrocytes after incubation in hyposmotic non-ionic glucose media, associated with sex, age, late pregnancy, and lactation, were investigated. The osmotic fragility curve in glucose media was sigmoidal with erythrocytes from goats in late pregnancy (PRE) or lactation (LAC) or from kid (KGT) or middle-aged (MGT) goats. Non-sigmoidal phenotype occurred in yearlings (YGT) and old (OGT) goats. The composite fragility phenotype for males and non-pregnant dry (NPD) females was non-sigmoidal. Erythrocytes with non-sigmoidal curves were more stable than those with sigmoidal curves because of inflectional shift of the curve to the left. Erythrocytes tended to be more fragile with male than female sex, KGT and MGT than YGT and OGT, and LAC and PRE than NPD. Thus, sex, age, pregnancy, and lactation affected the haemolytic pattern of goat erythrocytes in glucose media. The physiologic state of the goat affected the in vitro interaction of glucose with erythrocytes, causing variations in osmotic stability with variants of fragility phenotype. Variations in the effect of high extracellular glucose concentrations on the functions of membrane-associated glucose transporter, aquaporins, and the cation cotransporter were presumed to be relevant in regulating the physical properties of goat erythrocytes under osmotic stress.

Relationship between osmotic pressure of the blood and secretion of sweat

Science.gov (United States)

Montuori, A.

1978-01-01

Experiments with cats show that the thermic secretion of sweat represents a specific case of a general law: The central nervous apparatus that controls the secretion of sweat begins to function when the osmotic pressure of the blood drops below normal.

Improving protein mass and cumulative body weight gain of local chicken fed ration fortified with a combination of Lactobacillus sp. and dahlia inulin

Science.gov (United States)

Wahyuni, H. I.; Suthama, N.; Mangisah, I.; Krismiyanto, L.

2018-01-01

The research aimed to evaluate meat calcium and protein content of local chicken fed diet fortified with a combination of Lactobacillus sp and Dahlia Inulin. One hundred and twenty birds of 4 months old local chicken with average body weight of 1001 g were assigned in a completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 5 replications. The treatments were the farmer formulated ration (FF) and the improved ration (IR), fortified with 1.2% inulin and 1.2 ml Lactobacillus sp. (FFIL and IRIL). Parameters were calcium retention, protein coefficient digestibility, meat calcium and protein mass, and cumulative body weight gain. The results showed that all parameters were significantly affected by dietary treatments. The improved ration resulted in higher calcium retention and protein coefficient digestibility than the farmer formulated ration when fed by both with and without fortification of dahlia inulin and Lactobacillus sp. Meat protein mass of chicken fed by both FR and IR fortified with dahlia inulin and Lactobacillus sp. showed higher value than chicken fed by unfortified FR and IR. Cumulative body weight gain of chicken fed by both FR and IR fortified with dahlia inulin and Lactobacillus sp. also showed higher value than chicken fed by without fortification. In conclusion, both FR and IR fortified with dahlia inulin and Lactobacillus sp. improved meat protein mass and cumulative body weight gain, especially the farmer formulated ration was pronouncedly improved by fortification of Lactobacillus sp. and dahlia inulin.

Flow cytometric osmotic fragility test and eosin-5'-maleimide dye-binding tests are better than conventional osmotic fragility tests for the diagnosis of hereditary spherocytosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Arora, R D; Dass, J; Maydeo, S; Arya, V; Radhakrishnan, N; Sachdeva, A; Kotwal, J; Bhargava, M

2018-03-24

Hereditary spherocytosis (HS) is the most common inherited hemolytic anemia with heterogeneous clinico-laboratory manifestations. We evaluated the flow-cytometric tests: eosin-5'-maleimide (EMA) and flow-cytometric osmotic fragility test (FOFT) and the conventional osmotic fragility tests (OFT) for the diagnosis of hereditary spherocytosis (HS). One hundred two suspected HS patients underwent EMA, FOFT, incubated OFT (IOFT), and room temperature OFT (RT-OFT). In addition, 10 cases of immune hemolytic anemia (IHA) were included, and performance of the above 4 tests was evaluated. For EMA and FOFT, 5 normal controls were assessed together with the patients and cutoffs were calculated using receiver-operator-characteristics curve (ROC) analysis. The best cutoff for %EMA decrease was 12.5%, and for FOFT, %residual red cells (%RRC) was 25.6%. The sensitivity and specificity of RT-OFT was 62.06% and 86.3%, respectively, while that of IOFT was 79.31% and 87.67%, respectively. Both flow cytometric tests performed better. Sensitivity and specificity of EMA was 86.2% and 93.9% respectively, and that of FOFT was 96.6% and 98.63%, respectively. The combination of the FOFT with IOFT or EMA dye-binding test yields a sensitivity of 100%, but with EMA, it had a higher specificity. Hb/MCHC was a predictor of the severity of the disease while %EMA decrease and %RRC did not correlate with severity of the disease. Flow-cytometric osmotic fragility test is the best possible single test followed by EMA for diagnosis of HS. A combination of FOFT and EMA can correctly diagnose 100% patients. These tests are likely to replace conventional OFTs in future. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Abscisic acid-regulated protein degradation causes osmotic stress-induced accumulation of branched-chain amino acids in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Tengfang; Jander, Georg

2017-10-01

Whereas proline accumulates through de novo biosynthesis in plants subjected to osmotic stress, leucine, isoleucine, and valine accumulation in drought-stressed Arabidopsis thaliana is caused by abscisic acid-regulated protein degradation. In response to several kinds of abiotic stress, plants greatly increase their accumulation of free amino acids. Although stress-induced proline increases have been studied the most extensively, the fold-increase of other amino acids, in particular branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs; leucine, isoleucine, and valine), is often higher than that of proline. In Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis), BCAAs accumulate in response to drought, salt, mannitol, polyethylene glycol, herbicide treatment, and nitrogen starvation. Plants that are deficient in abscisic acid signaling accumulate lower amounts of BCAAs, but not proline and most other amino acids. Previous bioinformatic studies had suggested that amino acid synthesis, rather than protein degradation, is responsible for the observed BCAA increase in osmotically stressed Arabidopsis. However, whereas treatment with the protease inhibitor MG132 decreased drought-induced BCAA accumulation, inhibition of BCAA biosynthesis with the acetolactate synthase inhibitors chlorsulfuron and imazapyr did not. Additionally, overexpression of BRANCHED-CHAIN AMINO ACID TRANSFERASE2 (BCAT2), which is upregulated in response to osmotic stress and functions in BCAA degradation, decreased drought-induced BCAA accumulation. Together, these results demonstrate that BCAA accumulation in osmotically stressed Arabidopsis is primarily the result of protein degradation. After relief of the osmotic stress, BCAA homeostasis is restored over time by amino acid degradation involving BCAT2. Thus, drought-induced BCAA accumulation is different from that of proline, which is accumulated due to de novo synthesis in an abscisic acid-independent manner and remains elevated for a more prolonged period of time after removal of

Assessment of Osmotic Pre-Drying Treatment on Drying Rates of Fresh Tomato Fruits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. A. Idah

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of osmotic pre-drying treatments on drying rates of tomato (Lycopersiconesculentum at various drying temperatures. Fresh Roma tomato fruit samples were sliced to a thickness of 5 mm and the seeds were removed. Weight of 300 g was measured for each of the three replicates and immersed in a hypertonic solution of sucrose of different concentrations 40 and 60 oBrix each held for osmotic duration of 1 and 2 hours, drained for 10 min and then dried at 50, 60, and 70 oC in a mechanical dryer. Control samples were also weighed 300 g per replicate and dried at 50, 60, and 70 oC without pre-drying treatment. The initial moisture content of fresh tomato used was 94.5% (wb. Moisture loss of each sample was monitored and recorded hourly until the product has reached the desired final moisture content (≤ 7%.The data collected were subjected to statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA and Duncan New Multiple range tests (DNMRT to ascertain the level of significance differences between the individual treatments and their interaction at p ≤ 0.05.The results show that at all the drying temperatures used, the control tomato samples exhibited the fastest drying rate with an average of 35.2 g/hr, samples pre-treated at 40 oBrix has an average drying rate of 26.6 g/hr, while samples pre-treated at 60 oBrix has the slowest drying rate of 25.2 g/hr. It was also revealed that samples subjected to 1 hour osmotic time have faster drying rates than those treated for 2 hours osmotic time.

Optimal public rationing and price response.

Science.gov (United States)

Grassi, Simona; Ma, Ching-To Albert

2011-12-01

We study optimal public health care rationing and private sector price responses. Consumers differ in their wealth and illness severity (defined as treatment cost). Due to a limited budget, some consumers must be rationed. Rationed consumers may purchase from a monopolistic private market. We consider two information regimes. In the first, the public supplier rations consumers according to their wealth information (means testing). In equilibrium, the public supplier must ration both rich and poor consumers. Rationing some poor consumers implements price reduction in the private market. In the second information regime, the public supplier rations consumers according to consumers' wealth and cost information. In equilibrium, consumers are allocated the good if and only if their costs are below a threshold (cost effectiveness). Rationing based on cost results in higher equilibrium consumer surplus than rationing based on wealth. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Isopiestic studies of aqueous solutions at elevated temperatures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holmes, H.F.; Mesmer, R.E.

1981-01-01

Isopiestic measurements have been made on SrCl 2 (aq) and BaCl 2 (aq) over the temperature range 382.96 to 473.61 K with NaCl(aq) as the reference solution for the calculation of osmotic coefficients. The molalities corresponded to NaCl(aq) molalities ranging from 0.6 to 6.5 mol kg -1 . An ion-interaction model was fitted to the osmotic coefficients of SrCl 2 (aq) and BaCl 2 (aq) with a standard deviation of fit (in the osmotic coefficient) ranging from 0.0007 to 0.0048. Parameters derived from the fit were used to calculate the activity coefficients. The osmotic and activity coefficients decrease with increasing temperature and become less dependent on molality. Previous isopiestic results between 318 and 394 K agree with the present study. Activity coefficients from electrochemical measurements between 283.15 and 343.15 K are not consistent with the isopiestic results. (author)

Effects of osmotic stress on predation behaviour of Asterias rubens L.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aguera Garcia, Antonio; Schellekens, Tim; Jansen, J.M.; Smaal, A.C.

2015-01-01

Environmental stress plays an important role in determining ecosystem functioning and structure. In estuarine areas both tidal and seasonal salinity changes may cause osmotic stress on predators, affecting their behaviour and survival. The interaction between these predators and their prey may

Exploring rationality in schizophrenia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Revsbech, Rasmus; Mortensen, Erik Lykke; Owen, Gareth

2015-01-01

Background Empirical studies of rationality (syllogisms) in patients with schizophrenia have obtained different results. One study found that patients reason more logically if the syllogism is presented through an unusual content. Aims To explore syllogism-based rationality in schizophrenia. Meth...... differences became non-significant. Conclusions When taking intelligence and neuropsychological performance into account, patients with schizophrenia and controls perform similarly on syllogism tests of rationality.......Background Empirical studies of rationality (syllogisms) in patients with schizophrenia have obtained different results. One study found that patients reason more logically if the syllogism is presented through an unusual content. Aims To explore syllogism-based rationality in schizophrenia. Method...... Thirty-eight first-admitted patients with schizophrenia and 38 healthy controls solved 29 syllogisms that varied in presentation content (ordinary v. unusual) and validity (valid v. invalid). Statistical tests were made of unadjusted and adjusted group differences in models adjusting for intelligence...

Respect for rational autonomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Rebecca L

2009-12-01

The standard notion of autonomy in medical ethics does not require that autonomous choices not be irrational. The paper gives three examples of seemingly irrational patient choices and discusses how a rational autonomy analysis differs from the standard view. It then considers whether a switch to the rational autonomy view would lead to overriding more patient decisions but concludes that this should not be the case. Rather, a determination of whether individual patient decisions are autonomous is much less relevant than usually considered in determining whether health care providers must abide by these decisions. Furthermore, respect for rational autonomy entails strong positive requirements of respect for the autonomy of the person as a rational decision maker. The rationality view of autonomy is conceptually stronger than the standard view, allows for a more nuanced understanding of the practical moral calculus involved in respecting patient autonomy, and promotes positive respect for patient autonomy.

Osmotic pressure-dependent release profiles of payloads from nanocontainers by co-encapsulation of simple salts

Science.gov (United States)

Behzadi, Shahed; Rosenauer, Christine; Kappl, Michael; Mohr, Kristin; Landfester, Katharina; Crespy, Daniel

2016-06-01

The encapsulation of payloads in micro- to nano-scale capsules allows protection of the payload from the surrounding environment and control of its release profile. Herein, we program the release of hydrophilic payloads from nanocontainers by co-encapsulating simple inorganic salts for adjusting the osmotic pressure. The latter either leads to a burst release at high concentrations of co-encapsulated salts or a sustained release at lower concentrations. Osmotic pressure causes swelling of the nanocapsule's shell and therefore sustained release profiles can be adjusted by crosslinking it. The approach presented allows for programing the release of payloads by co-encapsulating inexpensive salts inside nanocontainers without the help of stimuli-responsive materials.The encapsulation of payloads in micro- to nano-scale capsules allows protection of the payload from the surrounding environment and control of its release profile. Herein, we program the release of hydrophilic payloads from nanocontainers by co-encapsulating simple inorganic salts for adjusting the osmotic pressure. The latter either leads to a burst release at high concentrations of co-encapsulated salts or a sustained release at lower concentrations. Osmotic pressure causes swelling of the nanocapsule's shell and therefore sustained release profiles can be adjusted by crosslinking it. The approach presented allows for programing the release of payloads by co-encapsulating inexpensive salts inside nanocontainers without the help of stimuli-responsive materials. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c6nr01882c

Embodying rationality

OpenAIRE

Mastrogiorgio, Antonio; Petracca, Enrico

2016-01-01

The current notions of bounded rationality in economics share distinctive features with Simon’s original notion, which still influences the theoretical and experimental research in the fields of choice, judgment, decision making, problem solving, and social cognition. All these notions of bounded rationality are in fact equally rooted in the information-processing approach to human cognition, expressing the view that reasoning is disembodied and that it can be reduced to the processing of abs...

Effect of road transport stress on Erthrocyte Osmotic Fragility (EOF ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

After an overnight fast, venous blood was collected from each subject for the determination of serum cortisol, glucose concentration and erythrocyte osmotic fragility. The subjects were then transported at a speed of 65 – 75Km/h covering a distance of 180km. Thereafter venous blood was again collected (within 10 minutes) ...

A model of strategic marketing alliances for hospices: vertical, internal, osmotic alliances and the complete model.

Science.gov (United States)

Starnes, B J; Self, D R

1999-01-01

This article develops two previous research efforts. William J. Winston (1994, 1995) has proposed a set of strategies by which health care organizations can benefit from forging strategic alliances. Raadt and Self (1997) have proposed a classification model of alliances including horizontal, vertical, internal, and osmotic. In the second of two articles, this paper presents a model of vertical, internal, and osmotic alliances. Advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed. Finally, the complete alliance system model is presented.

Physiological adaptations to osmotic stress and characterization of a polyethylene glycol-responsive gene in Braya humilis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Lirong

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Braya humilis (Brassicaceae is a widely distributed plant in arid and semi-arid regions of northern Asia. This plant is well adapted to extremely arid conditions and is a promising candidate species to discover novel drought tolerance strategies. However, not much information about the mechanism(s mediating drought resistance in this species is currently available. Therefore, the present study aimed to characterize the physiological traits and expression patterns of a polyethylene glycol (PEG-responsive gene in B. humilis responding to different levels of osmotic stress induced by PEG-6000. Several important physiological parameters were examined, including the levels of relative water content, soluble protein, malondialdehyde, and antioxidant enzyme activity. A tolerance threshold between 20 and 30% PEG-6000 was identified for B. humilis. The water status and oxidative damage below this threshold were maintained at a relatively constant level during the 12 h of treatment. However, once the threshold was exceeded, the water status and oxidative damage were obviously affected after treatment for 4 h. The soluble protein results suggest that B. humilis maintains a vigorous resistance to osmotic stress and that it may play a greater role in osmotic regulation at late stages of stress. Moreover, superoxide dismutase and catalase may be important at preventing oxidative damage in plants at early stages of stress, while peroxidase may be more involved in some biological processes that resist osmotic stress at the late stage, especially in severely damaged plants. Furthermore, a PEG-responsive gene, BhCIPK12, was identified by differential display reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR, cloned, and characterized by quantitative real-time PCR. We hypothesized that this gene may play an important role in mediating osmotic stress or drought resistance in plants. Altogether, these results provide valuable insights into the mechanism

Desidratação osmótica de fatias de jaca Osmotic dehydration of jack fruit slices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Elita Martins Duarte

2012-09-01

Full Text Available O presente trabalho foi realizado com o objetivo de estudar a cinética e modelagem do processo de desidratação osmótica de fatias de jaca em geometria plana. O tratamento osmótico foi conduzido a 43 ºC, com agitação, utilizando-se de soluções de sacarose, nas concentrações de 40 e 50 ºBrix. O estudo da cinética de desidratação osmótica mostrou que na solução de sacarose a 50 ºBrix o valor da perda de água (WL foi maior ao final de 28,5 horas de processo (68,5% b.u para 40,2% b.u., ligeiramente superior ao encontrado para a solução de sacarose a 40 ºBrix, (68,5% b.u para 43% b.u.. Comportamento contrário ocorreu para o ganho de sólidos (SG. O ajuste dos dados experimentais foi realizado através dos modelos de Page e Fick. Pela análise da equação de Fick, verificou-se que os coeficientes de difusividade efetiva foram 0,5837 e 0,6677 mm² min-1 para 40 e 50 ºBrix, respectivamente.The present work was undertaken with the objective of studying the kinetics and the osmotic-dehydration modeling of slices of jack-fruit in a flat layout. The osmotic treatment was carried out at 43ºC, employing agitation, and using sucrose solutions at concentrations of 40º and 50º Brix. The study of the kinetics of osmotic dehydration showed that in the sucrose solution at 50º Brix, the value of the water-loss (WL was higher after 28.5 hours of processing (68.5% wb to 40.2% wb , slightly higher than that found for the sucrose solution at 40º Brix (68.5% wb to 43% wb. The opposite behavior was observed for the gain in solids (SG. Adjustment of the experimental data was done using the Page and Fick models. From the analysis of the Fick equation, it was found that the effective diffusivity coefficients were 0.5837 and 0.6677 mm² min-1 for 40º and 50º Brix, respectively.

Capital Requirements and Credit Rationing

OpenAIRE

Itai Agur

2010-01-01

This paper analyzes the trade-off between financial stability and credit rationing that arises when increasing capital requirements. It extends the Stiglitz-Weiss model of credit rationing to allow for bank default. Bank capital structure then matters for lending incentives. With default and rationing endogenous, optimal capital requirements can be analyzed. Introducing bank financiers, the paper also shows that uninsured funding raises the sensitivity of rationing to capital requirements. In...

Osmotic dehydration of fruits and vegetables: a review

OpenAIRE

Yadav, Ashok Kumar; Singh, Satya Vir

2012-01-01

The main cause of perishability of fruits and vegetables are their high water content. To increase the shelf life of these fruits and vegetables many methods or combination of methods had been tried. Osmotic dehydration is one of the best and suitable method to increase the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. This process is preferred over others due to their vitamin and minerals, color, flavor and taste retention property. In this review different methods, treatments, optimization and effec...

Combined osmotic dehydration and drying process of pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) fillets.

Science.gov (United States)

Martins, Mayara Galvão; da Silva Pena, Rosinelson

2017-09-01

The osmotic dehydration (OD) and complementary drying of pirarucu ( Arapaima gigas ) fillets were studied. Pieces of the dorsal portion of pirarucu (60 mm × 20 mm × 10 mm) underwent OD in a binary solution (NaCl-water) with the application of vacuum pulse following a central rotatable composite design. The effect of the following process variables was assessed: temperature (20-40 °C), osmotic solution concentration (15-25% NaCl), and vacuum pulse pressure (7-101 kPa) on water loss (WL), solid gain (SG), and water activity (a w ). OD kinetics was obtained and the Peleg model was fitted to WL and SG data. The osmotically dehydrated pirarucu was dried (40-70 °C) in a fixed-bed dryer and mathematical models were fitted to the drying data. The optimal operational condition for the OD process was 35 °C, solution with 25% NaCl, and atmospheric pressure, which yielded WL of 14.87 ± 1.46%, SG of 8.56 ± 0.45%, and a w of 0.87 ± 0.02. The Peleg model efficiently predicted the WL and SG kinetics. The increase in the water loss in drying was more evident at low temperatures (40-50 °C) with effective diffusivity ranging from 10.85 × 10 -9 to 12.30 × 10 -9 m 2 /s. The Midilli and Page models efficiently predicted the drying kinetics.

Modelling the Thin-Layer Drying Kinetics of Untreated and Blanch-Osmotic Pre-treated Tomato Slices

OpenAIRE

Samuel Enahoro Agarry

2016-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of pre-treatment and drying temperature on the drying kinetics and nutritional quality of tomato (Lycopersicon esculantum L.) under hot air drying. Tomato samples were blanched at 80oC and osmotically dehydrated using 20% w/w sodium chloride solutions at 30oC for 20 min. The blanch-osmotic pre-treated and untreated tomato slices were dried at temperature of 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80oC, respectively in a hot air-dryer. The results showed th...

[Rationalization and rationing at the bedside. A normative and empirical status quo analysis].

Science.gov (United States)

Strech, D

2014-02-01

The topic of bedside rationing is increasingly discussed in Germany. Further need for clarification exists for the question how bedside rationing (e.g., in the area of overcare) can be justified despite coexistent inefficiencies. This paper outlines and analyses the relationship of waste avoidance and rationing from an ethical perspective. Empirical findings regarding the status quo of bedside rationing and rationalization are presented. These normative and empirical explorations will then be further specified regarding opportunities for future physician-driven activities to tackle overuse. The self-government partners in Germany should communicate more explicitly within their communities and to the public how and with which benchmarks they aim to reduce inefficient health care (overuse) in an appropriate manner. Physician-driven activities such as the "Choosing Wisely®" initiative in the USA could provide a first step to raise the awareness for overuse among physicians as well as in the public.

Feasibility of electro-osmotic belt filter dewatering technology at pilot scale

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Snyman, HG

2000-01-01

Full Text Available -air. The technology was found as sensitive to polyelectrolyte dosages as belt presses. The performance of the electro-osmotic belt filter was sensitive to feed rate, but performed well with non-thickened waste activated sludge (0.61% solids), resulting in cake solids...

Upregulations of Clcn3 and P-Gp Provoked by Lens Osmotic Expansion in Rat Galactosemic Cataract

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lixia Ji

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Objective. Lens osmotic expansion, provoked by overactivated aldose reductase (AR, is the most essential event of sugar cataract. Chloride channel 3 (Clcn3 is a volume-sensitive channel, mainly participating in the regulation of cell fundamental volume, and P-glycoprotein (P-gp acts as its modulator. We aim to study whether P-gp and Clcn3 are involved in lens osmotic expansion of galactosemic cataract. Methods and Results. In vitro, lens epithelial cells (LECs were primarily cultured in gradient galactose medium (10–60 mM, more and more vacuoles appeared in LEC cytoplasm, and mRNA and protein levels of AR, P-gp, and Clcn3 were synchronously upregulated along with the increase of galactose concentration. In vivo, we focused on the early stage of rat galactosemic cataract, amount of vacuoles arose from equatorial area and scattered to the whole anterior capsule of lenses from the 3rd day to the 9th day, and mRNA and protein levels of P-gp and Clcn3 reached the peak around the 9th or 12th day. Conclusion. Galactosemia caused the osmotic stress in lenses; it also markedly leads to the upregulations of AR, P-gp, and Clcn3 in LECs, together resulting in obvious osmotic expansion in vitro and in vivo.

Hybrid Pressure Retarded Osmosis−Membrane Distillation (PRO−MD) Process for Osmotic Power and Clean Water Generation

KAUST Repository

Han, Gang

2015-05-20

A novel pressure retarded osmosis−membrane distillation (PRO−MD) hybrid process has been experimentally conceived for sustainable production of renewable osmotic power and clean water from various waters. The proposed PRO−MD system may possess unique advantages of high water recovery rate, huge osmotic power generation, well controlled membrane fouling, and minimal environmental impacts. Experimental results show that the PRO−MD hybrid process is promising that not only can harvest osmotic energy from freshwater but also from wastewater. When employing a 2 M NaCl MD concentrate as the draw solution, ultrahigh power densities of 31.0 W/m2 and 9.3 W/m2 have been demonstrated by the PRO subsystem using deionized water and real wastewater brine as the feeds, respectively. Simultaneously, high purity potable water with a flux of 32.5−63.1 L/(m2.h) can be produced by the MD subsystem at 40−60 °C without any detrimental effects of fouling. The energy consumption in the MD subsystem might be further reduced by applying a heat exchanger in the hybrid system and using low-grade heat or solar energy to heat up the feed solution. The newly developed PRO−MD hybrid process would provide insightful guidelines for the exploration of alternative green technologies for renewable osmotic energy and clean water production.

Rational BRDF.

Science.gov (United States)

Pacanowski, Romain; Salazar Celis, Oliver; Schlick, Christophe; Granier, Xavier; Poulin, Pierre; Cuyt, Annie

2012-11-01

Over the last two decades, much effort has been devoted to accurately measuring Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Functions (BRDFs) of real-world materials and to use efficiently the resulting data for rendering. Because of their large size, it is difficult to use directly measured BRDFs for real-time applications, and fitting the most sophisticated analytical BRDF models is still a complex task. In this paper, we introduce Rational BRDF, a general-purpose and efficient representation for arbitrary BRDFs, based on Rational Functions (RFs). Using an adapted parametrization, we demonstrate how Rational BRDFs offer 1) a more compact and efficient representation using low-degree RFs, 2) an accurate fitting of measured materials with guaranteed control of the residual error, and 3) efficient importance sampling by applying the same fitting process to determine the inverse of the Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) generated from the BRDF for use in Monte-Carlo rendering.

Protozoa inhibition by different salts: Osmotic stress or ionic stress?

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Changhao; Li, Jingya; Lan, Christopher Q; Liao, Dankui

2017-09-01

Cell density and morphology changes were tested to examine the effects of salts including NaHCO 3 , NaCl, KHCO 3 , and KCl at 160 mM on protozoa. It was demonstrated that ionic stress rather than osmotic stress led to protozoa cell death and NaHCO 3 was shown to be the most effective inhibitor. Deformation of cells and cell shrinkage were observed when protozoan cells were exposed to polyethylene glycol (PEG) or any of the salts. However, while PEG treated cells could fully recover in both number and size, only a small portion of the salt-treated cells survive and cell size was 36-58% smaller than the regular. The disappearance of salt-treated protozoa cells was hypothetically attributed to disruption of the cytoplasmic membrane of these cells. It is further hypothesized that the PEG-treated protozoan cells carried out regulatory volume increase (RVI) after the osmotic shock but the RVI of salt-treated protozoa was hurdled to varied extents. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:1418-1424, 2017. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Theoretical and Experimental Investigations of the Potential of Osmotic Energy for Power Production †

Science.gov (United States)

Sharif, Adel O.; Merdaw, Ali A.; Aryafar, Maryam; Nicoll, Peter

2014-01-01

This paper presents a study on the potential of osmotic energy for power production. The study includes both pilot plant testing and theoretical modelling as well as cost estimation. A projected cost of £30/MWh of clean electricity could be achieved by using a Hydro-Osmotic Power (HOP) plant if a suitable membrane is used and the osmotic potential difference between the two solutions is greater than 25 bar; a condition that can be readily found in many sites around the world. Results have shown that the membrane system accounts for 50%–80% of the HOP plant cost depending on the salinity difference level. Thus, further development in membrane technology and identifying suitable membranes would have a significant impact on the feasibility of the process and the route to market. As the membrane permeability determines the HOP process feasibility, this paper also describes the effect of the interaction between the fluid and the membrane on the system permeability. It has been shown that both the fluid physical properties as well as the membrane micro-structural parameters need to be considered if further development of the HOP process is to be achieved. PMID:25110959

Is It Rational to Assume that Infants Imitate Rationally? A Theoretical Analysis and Critique

Science.gov (United States)

Paulus, Markus

2012-01-01

It has been suggested that preverbal infants evaluate the efficiency of others' actions (by applying a "principle of rational action") and that they imitate others' actions rationally. The present contribution presents a conceptual analysis of the claim that preverbal infants imitate rationally. It shows that this ability rests on at least three…

Model Dependency of TMAO's Counteracting Effect Against Action of Urea: Kast Model versus Osmotic Model of TMAO.

Science.gov (United States)

Borgohain, Gargi; Paul, Sandip

2016-03-10

Classical molecular dynamics simulation of GB1 peptide (a 16-residue β-hairpin) in different osmotic environments is studied. Urea is used for denaturation of the peptide, and trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) is used to offset the effect of urea. Protein-urea electrostatic interactions are found to play a major role in protein-denaturation. To emphasize on protein protecting action of TMAO against urea, two different models of TMAO are used, viz., the Kast model and the Osmotic model. We observe that the Osmotic model of TMAO gives the best protection to counteract urea's action when used in ratio 1:2 of urea:TMAO (i.e., reverse ratio). This is because the presence of TMAO makes urea-protein electrostatic interactions more unfavorable. Preferential solvation of TMAO molecules by urea (and water) molecules is also observed, which causes depletion in the number of urea molecules in the vicinity of the protein. The calculations of intraprotein hydrogen bonds between different residues of protein further reveal the breaking of backbone hydrogen bonds of residues 2 and 15 in the presence of urea, and the same is preserved in the presence of TMAO. Free energy landscapes show that the narrowest distribution is obtained for the osmotic TMAO model when used in reverse ratio.

Bounded Rationality and Budgeting

OpenAIRE

Ibrahim, Mukdad

2016-01-01

This article discusses the theory of bounded rationality which had been introduced by Herbert Simon in the 1950s. Simon introduced the notion of bounded rationality stating that while decision-makers strive for rationality, they are limited by the effect of the environment, their information process capacity and by the constraints on their information storage and retrieval capabilities. Moreover, this article tries to specifically blend this notion into budgeting, using the foundations of inc...

Toward an injectable continuous osmotic glucose sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Johannessen, Erik; Krushinitskaya, Olga; Sokolov, Andrey; Philipp, Häfliger; Hoogerwerf, Arno; Hinderling, Christian; Kautio, Kari; Lenkkeri, Jaakko; Strömmer, Esko; Kondratyev, Vasily; Tønnessen, Tor Inge; Mollnes, Tom Eirik; Jakobsen, Henrik; Zimmer, Even; Akselsen, Bengt

2010-07-01

The growing pandemic of diabetes mellitus places a stringent social and economic burden on the society. A tight glycemic control circumvents the detrimental effects, but the prerogative is the development of new more effective tools capable of longterm tracking of blood glucose (BG) in vivo. Such discontinuous sensor technologies will benefit from an unprecedented marked potential as well as reducing the current life expectancy gap of eight years as part of a therapeutic regime. A sensor technology based on osmotic pressure incorporates a reversible competitive affinity assay performing glucose-specific recognition. An absolute change in particles generates a pressure that is proportional to the glucose concentration. An integrated pressure transducer and components developed from the silicon micro- and nanofabrication industry translate this pressure into BG data. An in vitro model based on a 3.6 x 8.7 mm large pill-shaped implant is equipped with a nanoporous membrane holding 4-6 nm large pores. The affinity assay offers a dynamic range of 36-720 mg/dl with a resolution of +/-16 mg/dl. An integrated 1 x 1 mm(2) large control chip samples the sensor signals for data processing and transmission back to the reader at a total power consumption of 76 microW. Current studies have demonstrated the design, layout, and performance of a prototype osmotic sensor in vitro using an affinity assay solution for up to four weeks. The small physical size conforms to an injectable device, forming the basis of a conceptual monitor that offers a tight glycemic control of BG. 2010 Diabetes Technology Society.

Flux limitation in ultrafiltration: Osmotic pressure model and gel layer model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wijmans, J.G.; Nakao, S.; Smolders, C.A.

1984-01-01

The characteristic permeate flux behaviour in ultrafiltration, i.e., the existence of a limiting flux which is independent of applied pressure and membrane resistance and a linear plot of the limiting flux versus the logarithm of the feed concentration, is explained by the osmotic pressure model. In

Free water transport, small pore transport and the osmotic pressure gradient

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Parikova, Alena; Smit, Watske; Zweers, Machteld M.; Struijk, Dirk G.; Krediet, Raymond T.

2008-01-01

BACKGROUND: Water transport in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients occurs through the small pores and water channels, the latter allowing free water transport (FWT). The osmotic gradient is known to be one of the major determinants of water transport. The objective of the study was to analyse the

Influence of power ultrasound on the main quality properties and cell viability of osmotic dehydrated cranberries.

Science.gov (United States)

Nowacka, Malgorzata; Fijalkowska, Aleksandra; Wiktor, Artur; Dadan, Magdalena; Tylewicz, Urszula; Dalla Rosa, Marco; Witrowa-Rajchert, Dorota

2018-02-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of ultrasound treatment in two osmotic solutions, carried out at different time, on some physical properties, antioxidant activity and cell survival of cranberries. Ultrasound treatment was conducted at 21kHz for 30 and 60min in liquid medium: 61.5% sucrose solution and 30% sucrose solution with 0.1% steviol glycosides addition. Some samples before the ultrasound treatment were subjected to cutting or blanching. The results showed that dry matter content and concentration of the dissolved substances increased during ultrasound treatment in osmotic solution, however higher value was observed for treatment in 61.5% sucrose solution and for longer time. Water activity and volume of cranberries did not change after the ultrasonic treatment. Combined treatment led to colour and antioxidant activity alterations as well. A cell viability of whole and cut samples decreased after 60min of osmotic treatment and completely lost in the blanched samples. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fabrication of a novel cascade high-pressure electro-osmotic pump.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Feifang; Wang, Rong; Han, Tingting; Yang, Bingcheng; Liang, Xinmiao

2011-07-07

A novel cascade electro-osmotic pump (EOP) has been fabricated by alternately connecting a cation monolithic column and anion monolithic column in series. In this manner, the change of electric polarity between each stage of the cascade EOP is easily achieved and the pressure output of the EOP could be greatly enhanced without increase of the applied voltage.

Rational valuations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Georg Spielthenner

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Valuations are ubiquitous. We may be for or against genetically modified food; we find some politicians irresponsible; we prefer Beethoven to rock ‘n’ roll or vice versa; some enjoy bird-watching while others find it boring; and we may think that we have to tighten up on green-house gas emissions. Valuing is pervasive and often we are not even aware that we are valuing. However, many of ourvaluations are ill grounded and rationally defective. They are frequently based on misinformation, sloppy thinking, prejudice, and are biased in many ways as psychological research shows. For this reason there is widespread agreement among phi-losophers that we need an account of substantive valuational rationality, both for the theory of practical reasoning and for ethics as well. My main objectin this paper is to outline such an account and to present a principle that allows a non-technical rational criticism of valuations

Rational emotions.

Science.gov (United States)

Meshulam, Meir; Winter, Eyal; Ben-Shakhar, Gershon; Aharon, Itzhak

2012-01-01

We present here the concept of rational emotions: Emotions may be directly controlled and utilized in a conscious, analytic fashion, enabling an individual to size up a situation, to determine that a certain "mental state" is strategically advantageous and adjust accordingly. Building on the growing body of literature recognizing the vital role of emotions in determining decisions, we explore the complementary role of rational choice in choosing emotional states. Participants played the role of "recipient" in the dictator game, in which an anonymous "dictator" decides how to split an amount of money between himself and the recipient. A subset of recipients was given a monetary incentive to be angry at low-split offers. That subset demonstrated increased physiological arousal at low offers relative to high offers as well as more anger than other participants. These results provide a fresh outlook on human decision-making and contribute to the continuing effort to build more complete models of rational behavior.

Models for Rational Number Bases

Science.gov (United States)

Pedersen, Jean J.; Armbruster, Frank O.

1975-01-01

This article extends number bases to negative integers, then to positive rationals and finally to negative rationals. Methods and rules for operations in positive and negative rational bases greater than one or less than negative one are summarized in tables. Sample problems are explained and illustrated. (KM)

Are security analysts rational? a literature review

OpenAIRE

Peixinho, Rúben; Coelho, Luís; Taffler, Richard J.

2005-01-01

Rational choice theory and bounded rationality constitute the basis for the discussion in several areas regarding human rationality. In finance, this discussion has been made between traditional finance and behavioural finance approach, which have different perspectives concerning market agents’ rationality. This paper reviews several studies addressing rationality among security analysts. The analysis shows that analysts’systematic optimism seems to be inconsistent with rationality....

Alternative oxidase pathway optimizes photosynthesis during osmotic and temperature stress by regulating cellular ROS, malate valve and antioxidative systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DINAKAR eCHALLABATHULA

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The present study reveals the importance of alternative oxidase (AOX pathway in optimizing photosynthesis under osmotic and temperature stress conditions in the mesophyll protoplasts of Pisum sativum. The responses of photosynthesis and respiration were monitored at saturating light intensity of 1000 µmoles m-2 s-1 at 25 oC under a range of sorbitol concentrations from 0.4 M to 1.0M to induce hyper-osmotic stress and by varying the temperature of the thermo-jacketed pre-incubation chamber from 25 oC to 10 oC to impose sub-optimal temperature stress. Compared to controls (0.4 M sorbitol and 25 OC, the mesophyll protoplasts showed remarkable decrease in NaHCO3-dependent O2 evolution (indicator of photosynthetic carbon assimilation, under both hyper-osmotic (1.0 M sorbitol and sub-optimal temperature stress conditions (10 OC, while the decrease in rates of respiratory O2 uptake were marginal. The capacity of AOX pathway increased significantly in parallel to increase in intracellular pyruvate and reactive oxygen species (ROS levels under both hyper-osmotic stress and sub-optimal temperature stress under the background of saturating light. The ratio of redox couple (Malate/OAA related to malate valve increased in contrast to the ratio of redox couple (GSH/GSSG related to antioxidative system during hyper-osmotic stress. Nevertheless, the ratio of GSH/GSSG decreased in the presence of sub-optimal temperature, while the ratio of Malate/OAA showed no visible changes. Also, the redox ratios of pyridine nucleotides increased under hyper-osmotic (NADH/NAD and sub-optimal temperature (NADPH/NADP stresses, respectively. However, upon restriction of AOX pathway by using salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM, the observed changes in NaHCO3 dependent O2 evolution, cellular ROS, redox ratios of Malate/OAA, NAD(PH/NAD(P and GSH/GSSG were further aggravated under stress conditions with concomitant modulations in NADP-MDH and antioxidant enzymes. Taken together, the

Does osmotic distillation change the isotopic relation of wines?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schmitt Matthias

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Currently partial alcohol reduction of wine is in the focus of research worldwide. There are several technologies available to achieve this target. These techniques are either based on distilling or membrane processes. Osmotic distillation, one of the possibilities, is a quite modern membrane process that can be used. During that process, wine is pumped in counter flow to water along a micro porous, hydrophobic membrane. The volatile components of the wine can permeate that membrane and are dissolved in water. The driving force of that process is the vapor pressure difference between the volatiles on the wine and water side of the membrane. The aim of this work was to determine if the alcohol reduction by osmotic distillation can change the isotopic relation in a wine. Can this enological practice change the composition of a wine in a way that an illegal water addition is simulated? Different wines were reduced by 2% alcohol v/v with varying process parameters. The isotopic analysis of the O 16/18 ratio in the wine were performed according to the OIV methods (353/2009 These analyses showed that the isotopic ratio is modified by an alcohol reduction of 2% v/v in a way that corresponds to an addition of 4–5% of external water.

From microgravity to osmotic conditions: mechanical integration of plant cells in response to stress

Science.gov (United States)

Wojtaszek, Przemyslaw; Kasprowicz, Anna; Michalak, Michal; Janczara, Renata; Volkmann, Dieter; Baluska, Frantisek

Chemical reactions and interactions between molecules are commonly thought of as being at the basis of Life. Research of recent years, however, is more and more evidently indicating that physical forces are profoundly affecting the functioning of life at all levels of its organiza-tion. To detect and to respond to such forces, plant cells need to be integrated mechanically. Cell walls are the outermost functional zone of plant cells. They surround the individual cells, and also form a part of the apoplast. In cell suspensions, cell walls are embedded in the cul-ture medium which can be considered as a superapoplast. Through physical and chemical interactions they provide a basis for the structural and functional cell wall-plasma membrane-cytoskeleton (WMC) continuum spanning the whole cell. Here, the working of WMC contin-uum, and the participation of signalling molecules, like NO, would be presented in the context of plant responses to stress. In addition, the effects of the changing composition of WMC continuum will be considered, with particular attention paid to the modifications of the WMC components. Plant cells are normally adapted to changing osmotic conditions, resulting from variable wa-ter availability. The appearance of the osmotic stress activates adaptory mechanisms. If the strength of osmotic stress grows relatively slowly over longer period of time, the cells are able to adapt to conditions that are lethal to non-adapted cells. During stepwise adaptation of tobacco BY-2 suspension cells to the presence of various osmotically active agents, cells diverged into independent, osmoticum type-specific lines. In response to ionic agents (NaCl, KCl), the adhe-sive properties were increased and randomly dividing cells formed clumps, while cells adapted to nonionic osmotica (mannitol, sorbitol, PEG) revealed ordered pattern of precisely positioned cell divisions, resulting in the formation of long cell files. Changes in the growth patterns were accompanied by

Limited rationality and strategic interaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fehr, Ernst; Tyran, Jean-Robert

2008-01-01

Much evidence suggests that people are heterogeneous with regard to their abilities to make rational, forward-looking decisions. This raises the question as to when the rational types are decisive for aggregate outcomes and when the boundedly rational types shape aggregate results. We examine...... this question in the context of a long-standing and important economic problem: the adjustment of nominal prices after an anticipated monetary shock. Our experiments suggest that two types of bounded rationality-money illusion and anchoring-are important behavioral forces behind nominal inertia. However......, depending on the strategic environment, bounded rationality has vastly different effects on aggregate price adjustment. If agents' actions are strategic substitutes, adjustment to the new equilibrium is extremely quick, whereas under strategic complementarity, adjustment is both very slow and associated...

Interpolation of rational matrix functions

CERN Document Server

Ball, Joseph A; Rodman, Leiba

1990-01-01

This book aims to present the theory of interpolation for rational matrix functions as a recently matured independent mathematical subject with its own problems, methods and applications. The authors decided to start working on this book during the regional CBMS conference in Lincoln, Nebraska organized by F. Gilfeather and D. Larson. The principal lecturer, J. William Helton, presented ten lectures on operator and systems theory and the interplay between them. The conference was very stimulating and helped us to decide that the time was ripe for a book on interpolation for matrix valued functions (both rational and non-rational). When the work started and the first partial draft of the book was ready it became clear that the topic is vast and that the rational case by itself with its applications is already enough material for an interesting book. In the process of writing the book, methods for the rational case were developed and refined. As a result we are now able to present the rational case as an indepe...

Cell Wall Remodeling Enzymes Modulate Fungal Cell Wall Elasticity and Osmotic Stress Resistance.

Science.gov (United States)

Ene, Iuliana V; Walker, Louise A; Schiavone, Marion; Lee, Keunsook K; Martin-Yken, Hélène; Dague, Etienne; Gow, Neil A R; Munro, Carol A; Brown, Alistair J P

2015-07-28

The fungal cell wall confers cell morphology and protection against environmental insults. For fungal pathogens, the cell wall is a key immunological modulator and an ideal therapeutic target. Yeast cell walls possess an inner matrix of interlinked β-glucan and chitin that is thought to provide tensile strength and rigidity. Yeast cells remodel their walls over time in response to environmental change, a process controlled by evolutionarily conserved stress (Hog1) and cell integrity (Mkc1, Cek1) signaling pathways. These mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways modulate cell wall gene expression, leading to the construction of a new, modified cell wall. We show that the cell wall is not rigid but elastic, displaying rapid structural realignments that impact survival following osmotic shock. Lactate-grown Candida albicans cells are more resistant to hyperosmotic shock than glucose-grown cells. We show that this elevated resistance is not dependent on Hog1 or Mkc1 signaling and that most cell death occurs within 10 min of osmotic shock. Sudden decreases in cell volume drive rapid increases in cell wall thickness. The elevated stress resistance of lactate-grown cells correlates with reduced cell wall elasticity, reflected in slower changes in cell volume following hyperosmotic shock. The cell wall elasticity of lactate-grown cells is increased by a triple mutation that inactivates the Crh family of cell wall cross-linking enzymes, leading to increased sensitivity to hyperosmotic shock. Overexpressing Crh family members in glucose-grown cells reduces cell wall elasticity, providing partial protection against hyperosmotic shock. These changes correlate with structural realignment of the cell wall and with the ability of cells to withstand osmotic shock. The C. albicans cell wall is the first line of defense against external insults, the site of immune recognition by the host, and an attractive target for antifungal therapy. Its tensile strength is conferred by

Piecewise linear approximations to model the dynamics of adaptation to osmotic stress by food-borne pathogens.

Science.gov (United States)

Métris, Aline; George, Susie M; Ropers, Delphine

2017-01-02

Addition of salt to food is one of the most ancient and most common methods of food preservation. However, little is known of how bacterial cells adapt to such conditions. We propose to use piecewise linear approximations to model the regulatory adaptation of Escherichiacoli to osmotic stress. We apply the method to eight selected genes representing the functions known to be at play during osmotic adaptation. The network is centred on the general stress response factor, sigma S, and also includes a module representing the catabolic repressor CRP-cAMP. Glutamate, potassium and supercoiling are combined to represent the intracellular regulatory signal during osmotic stress induced by salt. The output is a module where growth is represented by the concentration of stable RNAs and the transcription of the osmotic gene osmY. The time course of gene expression of transport of osmoprotectant represented by the symporter proP and of the osmY is successfully reproduced by the network. The behaviour of the rpoS mutant predicted by the model is in agreement with experimental data. We discuss the application of the model to food-borne pathogens such as Salmonella; although the genes considered have orthologs, it seems that supercoiling is not regulated in the same way. The model is limited to a few selected genes, but the regulatory interactions are numerous and span different time scales. In addition, they seem to be condition specific: the links that are important during the transition from exponential to stationary phase are not all needed during osmotic stress. This model is one of the first steps towards modelling adaptation to stress in food safety and has scope to be extended to other genes and pathways, other stresses relevant to the food industry, and food-borne pathogens. The method offers a good compromise between systems of ordinary differential equations, which would be unmanageable because of the size of the system and for which insufficient data are available

History of Economic Rationalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

This book concentrates upon how economic rationalities have been embedded into particular historical practices, cultures, and moral systems. Through multiple case-studies, situated in different historical contexts of the modern West, the book shows that the development of economic rationalities...... takes place in the meeting with other regimes of thought, values, and moral discourses. The book offers new and refreshing insights, ranging from the development of early economic thinking to economic aspects and concepts in the works of classical thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Karl Marx......, to the role of economic reasoning in contemporary policies of art and health care. With economic rationalities as the read thread, the reader is offered a unique chance of historical self-awareness and recollection of how economic rationality became the powerful ideological and moral force that it is today....

Thermal and Osmotic Tolerance of 'Irukandji' Polyps: Cubozoa; Carukia barnesi.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Courtney

Full Text Available This research explores the thermal and osmotic tolerance of the polyp stage of the Irukandji jellyfish Carukia barnesi, which provides new insights into potential polyp habitat suitability. The research also targets temperature, salinity, feeding frequency, and combinations thereof, as cues for synchronous medusae production. Primary findings revealed 100% survivorship in osmotic treatments between 19 and 46‰, with the highest proliferation at 26‰. As salinity levels of 26‰ do not occur within the waters of the Great Barrier Reef or Coral Sea, we conclude that the polyp stage of C. barnesi is probably found in estuarine environments, where these lower salinity conditions commonly occur, in comparison to the medusa stage, which is oceanic. Population stability was achieved at temperatures between 18 and 31°C, with an optimum temperature of 22.9°C. We surmise that C. barnesi polyps may be restricted to warmer estuarine areas where water temperatures do not drop below 18°C. Asexual reproduction was also positively correlated with feeding frequency. Temperature, salinity, feeding frequency, and combinations thereof did not induce medusae production, suggesting that this species may use a different cue, possibly photoperiod, to initiate medusae production.

Aquaporin-mediated increase in root hydraulic conductance is involved in silicon-induced improved root water uptake under osmotic stress in Sorghum bicolor L.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Peng; Yin, Lina; Deng, Xiping; Wang, Shiwen; Tanaka, Kiyoshi; Zhang, Suiqi

2014-09-01

The fact that silicon application alleviates water deficit stress has been widely reported, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here the effects of silicon on water uptake and transport of sorghum seedlings (Sorghum bicolor L.) growing under polyethylene glycol-simulated osmotic stress in hydroponic culture and water deficit stress in sand culture were investigated. Osmotic stress dramatically decreased dry weight, photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, and leaf water content, but silicon application reduced these stress-induced decreases. Although silicon application had no effect on stem water transport capacity, whole-plant hydraulic conductance (Kplant) and root hydraulic conductance (Lp) were higher in silicon-treated seedlings than in those without silicon treatment under osmotic stress. Furthermore, the extent of changes in transpiration rate was similar to the changes in Kplant and Lp. The contribution of aquaporin to Lp was characterized using the aquaporin inhibitor mercury. Under osmotic stress, the exogenous application of HgCl2 decreased the transpiration rates of seedlings with and without silicon to the same level; after recovery induced by dithiothreitol (DTT), however, the transpiration rate was higher in silicon-treated seedlings than in untreated seedlings. In addition, transcription levels of several root aquaporin genes were increased by silicon application under osmotic stress. These results indicate that the silicon-induced up-regulation of aquaporin, which was thought to increase Lp, was involved in improving root water uptake under osmotic stress. This study also suggests that silicon plays a modulating role in improving plant resistance to osmotic stress in addition to its role as a mere physical barrier. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

In silico identification of known osmotic stress responsive genes from Arabidopsis in soybean and Medicago

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nina M. Soares-Cavalcanti

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Plants experience various environmental stresses, but tolerance to these adverse conditions is a very complex phenomenon. The present research aimed to evaluate a set of genes involved in osmotic response, comparing soybean and medicago with the well-described Arabidopsis thaliana model plant. Based on 103 Arabidopsis proteins from 27 categories of osmotic stress response, comparative analyses against Genosoja and Medicago truncatula databases allowed the identification of 1,088 soybean and 1,210 Medicago sequences. The analysis showed a high number of sequences and high diversity, comprising genes from all categories in both organisms. Genes with unknown function were among the most representative, followed by transcription factors, ion transport proteins, water channel, plant defense, protein degradation, cellular structure, organization & biogenesis and senescence. An analysis of sequences with unknown function allowed the annotation of 174 soybean and 217 Medicago sequences, most of them concerning transcription factors. However, for about 30% of the sequences no function could be attributed using in silico procedures. The establishment of a gene set involved in osmotic stress responses in soybean and barrel medic will help to better understand the survival mechanisms for this type of stress condition in legumes.

Psychology and the Rationality of Emotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Clore, Gerald L

2011-04-01

Questions addressed by recent psychological research on emotion include questions about how thought shapes emotion and how emotion, in turn, shapes thought. Research on emotion and cognition paints a somewhat different picture than that seen in traditional discussions of passion and reason. This article reviews several aspects of this research, concentrating specifically on three views of rationality: Rationality as Process, Rationality as Product, and Rationality as Outcome.

Psychology and the Rationality of Emotion*

OpenAIRE

Clore, Gerald L.

2011-01-01

Questions addressed by recent psychological research on emotion include questions about how thought shapes emotion and how emotion, in turn, shapes thought. Research on emotion and cognition paints a somewhat different picture than that seen in traditional discussions of passion and reason. This article reviews several aspects of this research, concentrating specifically on three views of rationality: Rationality as Process, Rationality as Product, and Rationality as Outcome.

Microwave assisted air drying of osmotically treated pineapple with variable power programmes

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Botha, GE

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Variable power programmes for microwave assisted air drying of pineapple were studied. The pineapple pieces were pre-treated by osmotic dehydration in a 55º Brix sucrose solution at 40ºC for 90 minutes. Variable power output programmes were designed...

Biophysical characterization of the Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus membrane during cold and osmotic stress and its relevance for cryopreservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Meneghel, Julie; Passot, Stéphanie; Dupont, Sébastien; Fonseca, Fernanda

2017-02-01

Freezing lactic acid bacteria often leads to cell death and loss of technological properties. Our objective was to provide an in-depth characterization of the biophysical properties of the Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus membrane in relation to its freeze resistance. Freezing was represented as a combination of cold and osmotic stress. This work investigated the relative incidence of increasing sucrose concentrations coupled or not with subzero temperatures without ice nucleation on the biological and biophysical responses of two strains with different membrane fatty acid compositions and freeze resistances. Following exposure of bacterial cells to the highest sucrose concentration, the sensitive strain exhibited a survival rate of less than 10 % and 5 h of acidifying activity loss. Similar biological activity losses were observed upon freeze-thawing and after osmotic treatment for each strain thus highlighting osmotic stress as the main source of cryoinjury. The direct measurement of membrane fluidity by fluorescence anisotropy was linked to membrane lipid organization characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. Both approaches made it possible to investigate the specific contributions of the membrane core and the bilayer external surface to cell degradation caused by cold and osmotic stress. Cold-induced membrane rigidification had no significant implication on bacterial freeze-thaw resistance. Interactions between extracellular sucrose and membrane phospholipid headgroups under osmotic stress were also observed. Such interactions were more evident in the sensitive strain and when increasing sucrose concentration, thus suggesting membrane permeabilization. The relevance of biophysical properties for elucidating mechanisms of cryoinjury and cryoprotection is discussed.

Application of Peleg model to study mass transfer during osmotic dehydration of apple in sugar beet molasses

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Mišljenović Nevena M.

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The applicability of Peleg equation was examined for the description of mass transfer during osmotic dehydration (OD of apple in sugar beet molasses. Mass transfer was investigated in terms of water loss (WL and solid gain (SG, during OD in 40-80% sugar beet molasses solutions, at 45, 55 and 65ºC. High regression coefficients obtained for Peleg constants (R2>0.975 indicate good fit to the experimental data. The Peleg rate constant varied from 0.144 to 0.785 (g/g i.s.w. and from 2.006 to 4.436 (g/g i.s.w. for WL and SG, respectively. The Peleg capacity constant varied from 1.142 to 1.553 (h g/g i.s.w. and from 8.254 to 11.930 (h g/g i.s.w. for WL and SG, respectively. The equilibrium WL∞ and SG∞ were estimated using the Peleg model. In addition, the activation energy (Ea for WL and SG was determined from the relationship between the Peleg rate constant and Arrhenius equation.

Testing bounded rationality against full rationality in job changing behavior

OpenAIRE

Contini, Bruno; Morini, Matteo

2007-01-01

In this paper we question the hypothesis of full rationality in the context of job changing behaviour, via simple econometric explorations on microdata drawn from WHIP (Worker Histories Italian Panel). Workers' performance is compared at the end of a three-year time window that starts when choices are expressed, under the accepted notion that the main driving forces of job change are future real wages and expected job quality. Bounded rationality suggests that individuals will search for new ...

Testing Bounded Rationality Against Full Rationality in Job Changing Behavior

OpenAIRE

Bruno Contini

2008-01-01

In this paper I question the hypothesis of full rationality in the context of job changing behaviour, via simple econometric explorations on microdata drawn from WHIP (Worker Histories Italian Panel). Workers’ performance is compared at the end of a three-year time window that starts when choices are expressed, under the accepted notion that the main driving forces of job change are future real wages and expected job quality. Bounded rationality suggests that individuals will search for new o...

Osmotic Control of opuA Expression in Bacillus subtilis and Its Modulation in Response to Intracellular Glycine Betaine and Proline Pools

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffmann, Tamara; Wensing, Annette; Brosius, Margot; Steil, Leif; Völker, Uwe

2013-01-01

Glycine betaine is an effective osmoprotectant for Bacillus subtilis. Its import into osmotically stressed cells led to the buildup of large pools, whose size was sensitively determined by the degree of the osmotic stress imposed. The amassing of glycine betaine caused repression of the formation of an osmostress-adaptive pool of proline, the only osmoprotectant that B. subtilis can synthesize de novo. The ABC transporter OpuA is the main glycine betaine uptake system of B. subtilis. Expression of opuA was upregulated in response to both sudden and sustained increases in the external osmolarity. Nonionic osmolytes exerted a stronger inducing effect on transcription than ionic osmolytes, and this was reflected in the development of corresponding OpuA-mediated glycine betaine pools. Primer extension analysis and site-directed mutagenesis pinpointed the osmotically controlled opuA promoter. Deviations from the consensus sequence of SigA-type promoters serve to keep the transcriptional activity of the opuA promoter low in the absence of osmotic stress. opuA expression was downregulated in a finely tuned manner in response to increases in the intracellular glycine betaine pool, regardless of whether this osmoprotectant was imported or was newly synthesized from choline. Such an effect was also exerted by carnitine, an effective osmoprotectant for B. subtilis that is not a substrate for the OpuA transporter. opuA expression was upregulated in a B. subtilis mutant that was unable to synthesize proline in response to osmotic stress. Collectively, our data suggest that the intracellular solute pool is a key determinant for the osmotic control of opuA expression. PMID:23175650

Psychology and the Rationality of Emotion*

Science.gov (United States)

Clore, Gerald L.

2014-01-01

Questions addressed by recent psychological research on emotion include questions about how thought shapes emotion and how emotion, in turn, shapes thought. Research on emotion and cognition paints a somewhat different picture than that seen in traditional discussions of passion and reason. This article reviews several aspects of this research, concentrating specifically on three views of rationality: Rationality as Process, Rationality as Product, and Rationality as Outcome. PMID:25125770

Hydration induced material transfer in membranes of osmotic pump tablets measured by synchrotron radiation based FTIR.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Li; Yin, Xianzhen; Guo, Zhen; Tong, Yajun; Feng, Jing; York, Peter; Xiao, Tiqiao; Chen, Min; Gu, Jingkai; Zhang, Jiwen

2016-03-10

Osmotic pump tablets are reliable oral controlled drug delivery systems based on their semipermeable membrane coating. This research used synchrotron radiation-based Fourier transform infrared (SR-FTIR) microspectroscopy and imaging to investigate the hydration induced material transfer in the membranes of osmotic pump tablets. SR-FTIR was applied to record and map the chemical information of a micro-region of the membranes, composed of cellulose acetate (CA, as the water insoluble matrix) and polyethylene glycol (PEG, as the soluble pore forming agent and plasticizing agent). The microstructure and chemical change of membranes hydrated for 0, 5, 10 and 30min were measured using SR-FTIR, combined with scanning electronic microscopy and atom force microscopy. The SR-FTIR microspectroscopy results indicated that there was a major change at the absorption range of 2700-3100cm(-1) in the membranes after different periods of hydration time. The absorption bands at 2870-2880cm(-1) and 2950-2960cm(-1) were assigned to represent CA and PEG, respectively. The chemical group signal distribution illustrated by the ratio of PEG to CA demonstrated that the trigger of drug release in the preliminary stage was due to the rapid transfer of PEG into liquid medium with a sharp decrease of PEG in the membranes. The SR-FTIR mapping results have demonstrated the hydration induced material transfer in the membranes of osmotic pump tablets and enabled reassessment of the drug release mechanism of membrane controlled osmotic pump systems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development and Evaluation of High Bioavailable Sustained-Release Nimodipine Tablets Prepared with Monolithic Osmotic Pump Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Hua; Yu, Fanglin; Liu, Yan; Yang, Yang; Li, Mingyuan; Cheng, Xiaohui; Hu, Xiaoqin; Tang, Xuemei; Li, Zhiping; Mei, Xingguo

2018-01-01

Frequent administration caused by short half-life and low bioavailability due to poor solubility and low dissolution rate limit the further application of poorly water-soluble nimodipine, although several new indications have been developed. To overcome these shortcomings, sophisticated technologies had to be used since the dose of nimodipine was not too low and the addition of solubilizers could not resolve the problem of poor release. The purpose of this study was to obtain sustained and complete release of nimodipine with a simple and easily industrialized technology. The expandable monolithic osmotic pump tablets containing nimodipine combined with poloxamer 188 and carboxymethylcellulose sodium were prepared. The factors affecting drug release including the amount of solubilizing agent, expanding agent, retarding agent in core tablet and porogenic agent in semipermeable film were optimized. The release behavior was investigated both in vitro and in beagle dogs. It was proved that the anticipant release of nimodipine could be realized in vitro. The sustained and complete release of nimodipine was also realized in beagles because the mean residence time of nimodipine from the osmotic pump system was longer and Cmax was lower than those from the sustained-release tablets in market while there was no difference in AUC(0-t) of the monolithic osmotic pump tablets and the sustained release tablets in market. It was reasonable to believe that the sustained and complete release of poorly watersoluble nimodipine could be realized by using simple expandable monolithic osmotic pump technology combined with surfactant. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Comparing of organic nutrients digestibility in the feed rations containing lupin and peas in horses

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Pavel Šajdler

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to find out and compare organic nutrients digestibility in feed rations containing different forage legumes in balance trials on horses. The trials were always performed on a group of six sports horses (weight of 495 to 742 kg. Six feed rations were tested, which contained different proportion of certain forage legume in empirical feed mixtures. Three feed mixtures contained white lupine seeds (WLS – Lu 0 (0.01% WLS, Lu 7 (7% WLS, Lu 14 (14% WLS and surplus three feed mixtures contained field pea seeds (FPS – Hr 0 (0.01% FPS, Hr 10 (10% FPS, Hr 20 (20% FPS. Amount of WLS in feed mixtures Lu 0 and Lu 7 was completed with starch to value 14% and amount of FPS in feed mixtures Hr 0 and Hr 10 was completed with starch to value 20%. Indicator method was used to predict dietary nutrients digestibility. Apparent digestibility values of all organic nutrients were higher at the feed rations with the content of FPS. Average values of apparent digestibility coefficient of those feed rations were: dry matter (77.79%; SD = 2.91, organic matter (78.43%; SD = 2.78, crude protein (79.89%; SD = 3.43, fat (66.57%; SD = 2.40, crude fiber (68.97%; SD = 3.21 and nitrogen-free extract (83.30%; SD = 2.71.

Transfer coefficients of 137Cs via the forage-cow-milk pathway in Aomori Prefecture of Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ito, Nobuhiko; Kunugiyama, Iwao; Kiguchi, Shinji; Kubo, Moriyoshi; Kameta, Masanori; Furukawa, Yoshinori

1994-01-01

The transfer of radiocesium to foodstuff of cattle is very serious, because it contributes significantly to internal exposure resulting from the intake of 137 Cs through the feed-cow-milk pathway. The transfer coefficient from feed to milk (F m ) is widely used to predict the dose to man from the radioactivity released to the biosphere. A commercial fuel reprocessing plant is under construction in Rokkasho-mura/Aomori Prefecture, the northeastern district of Japan. To figure out F m under conventional farming conditions, therefore, transfer of 137 Cs deposited in the environment in cooperation with two daily farms in this region. Transfer factors for 137 Cs from feed to cow's milk have been obtained from data acquired from biweekly routine monitoring program under the two dissimilar farming conditions. The one dairy farm condition is mainly composed of high hay ration and the other is high concentrate ration. As a result of the experiments, 137 Cs activity of milk correlated significantly with that of feed. The mean transfer coefficients of 137 Cs to milk were calculated to be 0.0037 and 0.0063 (d/l), respectively. (author)

DISTRIBUTED RC NETWORKS WITH RATIONAL TRANSFER FUNCTIONS,

Science.gov (United States)

A distributed RC circuit analogous to a continuously tapped transmission line can be made to have a rational short-circuit transfer admittance and...one rational shortcircuit driving-point admittance. A subcircuit of the same structure has a rational open circuit transfer impedance and one rational ...open circuit driving-point impedance. Hence, rational transfer functions may be obtained while considering either generator impedance or load

Oscillatory phase separation in giant lipid vesicles induced by transmembrane osmotic differentials

Science.gov (United States)

Oglęcka, Kamila; Rangamani, Padmini; Liedberg, Bo; Kraut, Rachel S; Parikh, Atul N

2014-01-01

Giant lipid vesicles are closed compartments consisting of semi-permeable shells, which isolate femto- to pico-liter quantities of aqueous core from the bulk. Although water permeates readily across vesicular walls, passive permeation of solutes is hindered. In this study, we show that, when subject to a hypotonic bath, giant vesicles consisting of phase separating lipid mixtures undergo osmotic relaxation exhibiting damped oscillations in phase behavior, which is synchronized with swell–burst lytic cycles: in the swelled state, osmotic pressure and elevated membrane tension due to the influx of water promote domain formation. During bursting, solute leakage through transient pores relaxes the pressure and tension, replacing the domain texture by a uniform one. This isothermal phase transition—resulting from a well-coordinated sequence of mechanochemical events—suggests a complex emergent behavior allowing synthetic vesicles produced from simple components, namely, water, osmolytes, and lipids to sense and regulate their micro-environment. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03695.001 PMID:25318069

Microwave-Osmotic/Microwave-Vacuum Drying of Whole Cranberries: Comparison with Other Methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Wray, Derek; Ramaswamy, Hosahalli S

2015-12-01

A novel drying method for frozen-thawed whole cranberries was developed by combining microwave osmotic dehydration under continuous flow medium spray (MWODS) conditions with microwave vacuum finish-drying. A central composite rotatable design was used to vary temperature (33 to 67 °C), osmotic solution concentration (33 to 67 °B), contact time (5 to 55 min), and flow rate (2.1 to 4.1 L/min) in order to the determine the effects of MWODS input parameters on quality of the dried berry. Quality indices monitored included colorimetric and textural data in addition to anthocyanin retention and cellular structure. Overall it was found that the MWODS-MWV process was able to produce dried cranberries with quality comparable to freeze dried samples in much shorter time. Additionally, cranberries dried via the novel process exhibited much higher quality than those dried via either vacuum or convective air drying in terms of color, anthocyanin content, and cellular structure. © 2015 Institute of Food Technologists®

ThNAC13, a NAC Transcription Factor from Tamarix hispida, Confers Salt and Osmotic Stress Tolerance to Transgenic Tamarix and Arabidopsis

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Liuqiang; Li, Zhen; Lu, Mengzhu; Wang, Yucheng

2017-01-01

NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) proteins play critical roles in many plant biological processes and environmental stress. However, NAC proteins from Tamarix hispida have not been functionally characterized. Here, we studied a NAC gene from T. hispida, ThNAC13, in response to salt and osmotic stresses. ThNAC13 is a nuclear protein with a C-terminal transactivation domain. ThNAC13 can bind to NAC recognized sites and calmodulin-binding NAC (CBNAC) binding element. Overexpression of ThNAC13 in Arabidopsis improved seed germination rate and increased root growth and fresh weight gain under salt or osmotic stress. Transgenic T. hispida plants transiently overexpressing ThNAC13 and with RNAi-silenced ThNAC13 were generated for gain- and loss-of-function experiments. Following exposure to salt or osmotic stress, overexpression of ThNAC13 induced superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) activities, chlorophyll and proline contents; decreased the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde levels; and reduced electrolyte leakage rates in both transgenic Tamarix and Arabidopsis plants. In contrast, RNAi-silenced ThNAC13 showed the opposite results in transgenic Tamarix. Furthermore, ThNAC13 induced the expression of SODs and PODs in transgenic Arabidopsis. These results suggest that ThNAC13 improves salt and osmotic tolerance by enhancing the ROS-scavenging capability and adjusting osmotic potential. PMID:28491072

ThNAC13, a NAC Transcription Factor from Tamarix hispida, Confers Salt and Osmotic Stress Tolerance to Transgenic Tamarix and Arabidopsis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mengzhu Lu

2017-04-01

Full Text Available NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2 proteins play critical roles in many plant biological processes and environmental stress. However, NAC proteins from Tamarix hispida have not been functionally characterized. Here, we studied a NAC gene from T. hispida, ThNAC13, in response to salt and osmotic stresses. ThNAC13 is a nuclear protein with a C-terminal transactivation domain. ThNAC13 can bind to NAC recognized sites and calmodulin-binding NAC (CBNAC binding element. Overexpression of ThNAC13 in Arabidopsis improved seed germination rate and increased root growth and fresh weight gain under salt or osmotic stress. Transgenic T. hispida plants transiently overexpressing ThNAC13 and with RNAi-silenced ThNAC13 were generated for gain- and loss-of-function experiments. Following exposure to salt or osmotic stress, overexpression of ThNAC13 induced superoxide dismutase (SOD and peroxidase (POD activities, chlorophyll and proline contents; decreased the reactive oxygen species (ROS and malondialdehyde levels; and reduced electrolyte leakage rates in both transgenic Tamarix and Arabidopsis plants. In contrast, RNAi-silenced ThNAC13 showed the opposite results in transgenic Tamarix. Furthermore, ThNAC13 induced the expression of SODs and PODs in transgenic Arabidopsis. These results suggest that ThNAC13 improves salt and osmotic tolerance by enhancing the ROS-scavenging capability and adjusting osmotic potential.

Max Weber's Types of Rationality: Cornerstones for the Analysis of Rationalization Processes in History.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalberg, Stephen

1980-01-01

Explores rationality in Max Weber's works and identifies four types of rationality which play major roles in his writing--practical, theoretical, substantive, and formal. Implications for society and education are discussed. (DB)

Role of Arabidopsis ABF1/3/4 during det1 germination in salt and osmotic stress conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernando, V C Dilukshi; Al Khateeb, Wesam; Belmonte, Mark F; Schroeder, Dana F

2018-05-01

Arabidopsis det1 mutants exhibit salt and osmotic stress resistant germination. This phenotype requires HY5, ABF1, ABF3, and ABF4. While DE-ETIOLATED 1 (DET1) is well known as a negative regulator of light development, here we describe how det1 mutants also exhibit altered responses to salt and osmotic stress, specifically salt and mannitol resistant germination. LONG HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5) positively regulates both light and abscisic acid (ABA) signalling. We found that hy5 suppressed the det1 salt and mannitol resistant germination phenotype, thus, det1 stress resistant germination requires HY5. We then queried publically available microarray datasets to identify genes downstream of HY5 that were differentially expressed in det1 mutants. Our analysis revealed that ABA regulated genes, including ABA RESPONSIVE ELEMENT BINDING FACTOR 3 (ABF3), are downregulated in det1 seedlings. We found that ABF3 is induced by salt in wildtype seeds, while homologues ABF4 and ABF1 are repressed, and all three genes are underexpressed in det1 seeds. We then investigated the role of ABF3, ABF4, and ABF1 in det1 phenotypes. Double mutant analysis showed that abf3, abf4, and abf1 all suppress the det1 salt/osmotic stress resistant germination phenotype. In addition, abf1 suppressed det1 rapid water loss and open stomata phenotypes. Thus interactions between ABF genes contribute to det1 salt/osmotic stress response phenotypes.

The Effect of Antioxidant Polysaccharide Based Coatings on Optimum Immersion Time, Vitamin C Content and Salt Adsorption of Quince Cylinders during Osmotic Dehydration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Akbarian

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In this study, the effects of carboxymethyl cellulose-low methyl pectin based edible coatings containing ascorbic acid antioxidant were investigated on optimum immersion time during osmotic dehydration of quince sheets. The selection of coating type was based on natural composition of fruits peel, (i.e cellulose and pectin and the osmotic solutions were formulated on the basis of natural ingredients in fruits (fructose, citric acid and calcium ions. The results showed that solid gain trends have been incremental until 240 min in both coating types however, the coated samples showed lower solid gain in all testing times. The optimum immersion time was found to be 180 min based on the water loss (W.L, solids gain (S.G, process efficiency index and weight reduction (W. R. In next stage, the absorption of salt and citric acid from osmotic solution and loss of vitamin C from quince cylinders (dried by hot air were measured. Absorption of salt and citric acid in the coated samples was smaller than the non-coated samples and coated and osmotic quince cylinders indicated smaller vitamin C losses than the uncoated and non-osmotic samples.

The concept of rational suicide.

Science.gov (United States)

Mayo, D J

1986-05-01

Suicide has been condemned in our culture in one way or another since Augustine offered theological arguments against it in the sixth century. More recently, theological condemnation has given way to the view that suicidal behavior must always be symptomatic of emotional disturbance and mental illness. However, suicide has not always been viewed so negatively. In other times and cultures, it has been held that circumstances might befall a person in which suicide would be a perfectly rational course of action, in the same sense that any other course of action could be rational: that it could be sensible, i.e., defensible by good reasons, or that it could be in keeping with the agent's fundamental interests. Indiscriminate use of modern life-sustaining technologies has renewed interest in the possibility of rational suicide. Today proponents of rational suicide tend to equate the rationality of suicide with the competence of the decision to commit suicide.

RATGRAPH: Computer Graphing of Rational Functions.

Science.gov (United States)

Minch, Bradley A.

1987-01-01

Presents an easy-to-use Applesoft BASIC program that graphs rational functions and any asymptotes that the functions might have. Discusses the nature of rational functions, graphing them manually, employing a computer to graph rational functions, and describes how the program works. (TW)

F-theory and all things rational: surveying U(1) symmetries with rational sections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lawrie, Craig; Schäfer-Nameki, Sakura; Wong, Jin-Mann

2015-01-01

We study elliptic fibrations for F-theory compactifications realizing 4d and 6d supersymmetric gauge theories with abelian gauge factors. In the fibration these U(1) symmetries are realized in terms of additional rational section. We obtain a universal characterization of all the possible U(1) charges of matter fields by determining the corresponding codimension two fibers with rational sections. In view of modelling supersymmetric Grand Unified Theories, one of the main examples that we analyze are U(1) symmetries for SU(5) gauge theories with 5̄ and 10 matter. We use a combination of constraints on the normal bundle of rational curves in Calabi-Yau three- and four-folds, as well as the splitting of rational curves in the fibers in codimension two, to determine the possible configurations of smooth rational sections. This analysis straightforwardly generalizes to multiple U(1)s. We study the flops of such fibers, as well as some of the Yukawa couplings in codimension three. Furthermore, we carry out a universal study of the U(1)-charged GUT singlets, including their KK-charges, and determine all realizations of singlet fibers. By giving vacuum expectation values to these singlets, we propose a systematic way to analyze the Higgsing of U(1)s to discrete gauge symmetries in F-theory.

"Leaky" Rationality: How Research on Behavioral Decision Making Challenges Normative Standards of Rationality.

Science.gov (United States)

Keys, Daniel J; Schwartz, Barry

2007-06-01

For more than 30 years, decision-making research has documented that people often violate various principles of rationality, some of which are so fundamental that theorists of rationality rarely bother to state them. We take these characteristics of decision making as a given but argue that it is problematic to conclude that they typically represent departures from rationality. The very psychological processes that lead to "irrational" decisions (e.g., framing, mental accounting) continue to exert their influence when one experiences the results of the decisions. That is, psychological processes that affect decisions may be said also to "leak" into one's experience. The implication is that formal principles of rationality do not provide a good enough normative standard against which to assess decision making. Instead, what is needed is a substantive theory of rationality-one that takes subjective experience seriously, considers both direct and indirect consequences of particular decisions, considers how particular decisions fit into life as a whole, and considers the effects of decisions on others. Formal principles may play a role as approximations of the substantive theory that can be used by theorists and decision makers in cases in which the formal principles can capture most of the relevant considerations and leakage into experience is negligible. © 2007 Association for Psychological Science.

Popper, Rationality and the Possibility of Social Science

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Danny Frederick

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Social science employs teleological explanations which depend upon the rationality principle, according to which people exhibit instrumental rationality. Popper points out that people also exhibit critical rationality, the tendency to stand back from, and to question or criticise, their views. I explain how our critical rationality impugns the explanatory value of the rationality principle and thereby threatens the very possibility of social science. I discuss the relationship between instrumental and critical rationality and show how we can reconcile our critical rationality with the possibility of social science if we invoke Popper’s conception of limited rationality and his indeterminism.

Ethics of rationing of nursing care.

Science.gov (United States)

Rooddehghan, Zahra; Yekta, Zohreh Parsa; Nasrabadi, Alireza N

2016-09-21

Rationing of various needed services, for example, nursing care, is inevitable due to unlimited needs and limited resources. Rationing of nursing care is considered an ethical issue since it requires judgment about potential conflicts between personal and professional values. The present research sought to explore aspects of rationing nursing care in Iran. This study applied qualitative content analysis, a method to explore people's perceptions of everyday life phenomena and interpret the subjective content of text data. Data collection was performed through in-depth, unstructured, face-to-face interviews with open-ended questions. The study population included Iranian nurses of all nursing positions, from clinical nurses to nurse managers. Purposive sampling was employed to select 15 female and 3 male nurses (11 clinical nurses, 3 supervisors, 1 matron, 1 nurse, and 2 members of the Nursing Council) working in hospitals of three cities in Iran. The study protocol was approved by Tehran University of Medical Sciences (91D1302870). Written informed consent was also obtained from all participants. According to the participants, rationing of nursing care consisted of two categories, that is, causes of rationing and consequences of rationing. The first category comprised three subcategories, namely, patient needs and demands, routinism, and VIP patients. The three subcategories forming the second category were missed nursing care, patient dissatisfaction, and nurses' feeling of guilt. Levels at which healthcare practices are rationed and clarity of the rationing are important structural considerations in the development of an equal, appropriate, and ethical healthcare system. Moreover, the procedure of rationing is critical as it not only influences people's lives but also reflects the values that dominate in the society. Therefore, in order to minimize the negative consequences of rationing of nursing care, further studies on the ethical dimensions of this phenomenon

Osmotic relations of the coelomic fluid and body wall tissues in Arenicola marina subjected to salinity change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Weber, Roy E.; Spaargaren, D.H.

1979-01-01

nitrogenous organic molecules (ninhydrin-positive substances, NPS) in the body wall tissues and in the coelomic fluid of specimens of Arenicola in response to sudden changes in salinity. The coelomic solutes consist almost entirely of electrolytes and the osmotic contribution of NPS is essentially negligible....... In the body wall extracts, however, NPS accounts for at least one third of the osmotic concentration and for most of the substantial non-electrolyte fraction. There is no evidence from coelomic NPS measurements for extrusion of cellular amino acids during adaptation to lowered salinity. In diluted sea water...

Osmotic Pressure in the Physics Course for Students of the Life Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Hobbie, Russell K.

1974-01-01

Discusses the use of an ideal gas model to explain osmotic equilibrium and nonequilibrium flows through an ideal semipermeable membrane. Included are a justification of the relationship between an ideal gas and a dilute solution, a review of the irreversible thermodynamic flow, and some sample applications to physiology. (CC)

Casebook on rationalization of power use

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1986-06-01

This book introduces the cases on rationalization of power use, which is divided into four parts. The first part refers the goal of rational use of energy and the result. The second part deals with the excellent cases on rationalization of domestic power use, which list the name of the company, hotel and factory according to the field such as building, textile and food. The third part contains the outstanding cases on rationalization of foreign power use, which were listed by the specific way to reduce electricity use each section. The fourth part is comprised of two chapters, which deals with the cases of domestic technical data and foreign technical data for rational use of energy.

Effect of osmotic stress and post-stress recovery on the content of phenolics and properties of antioxidants in germinating seeds of grapevine Vitis californica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stanisław Weidner

2011-05-01

Full Text Available The tested material consisted of grapevine Vitis californica stratified seeds germinated under optimum conditions (+25°C in water, under osmotic stress (-0.2 MPa in PEG solution and submitted to recovery after stress (+25°C in water. The germinating seeds were determined to contain tannins, catechins and the following phenolic acids: gallic, caffeic, p-coumaric and ferulic. The acids occurred in free, ester- and glycoside-bound forms. The dominant form of phenolic acids was the ester-bound fraction. Gallic acid was the most abundant phenolic acid in germinating seeds, while ferulic acid appeared in the smallest amounts. Our analysis of tannins demonstrated that osmotic stress depressed their concentration. Presence of catechin group compounds such as catechin and epicatechin was also determined. In each sample epicatechin was dominant. The total concentration of catechin increased under stress conditions and declined during post-stress recovery. Catechins are a constituent of tannins and their increase under osmotic stress is most probably caused by the breakdown of some tannins in seeds germinating under stress conditions. Samples submitted to osmotic stress were also found to contain less of total phenolic compounds, whereas in samples which underwent post-stress recovery the total level of phenolic compounds increased. Compared to extracts from seeds germinating under optimum conditions, osmotic stress depressed the capacity of extract to scavenge DPPH● (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and ABTS●+ – 2,2-Azino-bis (3-etylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid free radicals, but the antioxidant activity rose in seeds submitted to recovery after stress. Positive correlation was therefore demonstrated between the total content of phenolic acids in germinating grapevine seeds and the reducing power of extracts obtained from these seeds and their free radical scavenging activity. The results suggest that osmotic stress inhibits the activity of

[Effects of secretory and osmotic diarrhea on rats intestinal function and morphology].

Science.gov (United States)

de Lima de Mon, Margarita; Cioccia, Anna M; González, Eduardo; Hevia, Patricio

2002-03-01

In order to compare intestinal morphology and function, diarrhea was produced in rats using laxatives in the diet. The 14 day study included two groups of rats with diarrhea (osmotic or secretory), two groups without diarrhea but with a degree of malnutrition which was similar to that seen in the rats with diarrhea (malnourished without diarrhea) and a well-nourished group (control). The inclusion of laxatives(lactose or bisoxatin acetate) cause a reduction in food intake, diarrhea an malnutrition. It also caused a reduction in dietary protein and fat digestibility which was proportional to the severity of diarrhea and more pronounced in secretory diarrhea. In the malnourished rats without diarrhea, malnutrition did not affect their absorptive function. Both in the rats with secretory and osmotic diarrhea an intestinal hypertrophy was observed. This hypertrophy was proportional to the severity of diarrhea and independent of its aetiology. In the intestines of the rats with both types of diarrhea there was inflammation, a greater number of mitotic figures but the flattening of the villi seen in the malnourished rats without diarrhea was not seen. In osmotic diarrhea there was, in addition, a patchy damage of the surface of the jejunal mucosa and an increment in the number of goblet cells, indicating a more severe intestinal deterioration. Since despite this greater deterioration, these rats absorbed more protein and fat we concluded that the alterations in intestinal morphology seen in this study was not predictive of intestinal function. The study also showed that diarrhea had a trophic effect on the intestine which did not occur in malnourished rats without diarrhea.

Effect of storage temperature and osmotic pre-treatment with alternative solutes on the shelf-life of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata fillets

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Theofania N. Tsironi

2017-01-01

Osmotic pre-treatment led to significant shelf-life extension of fillets, in terms of microbial growth, chemical changes and organoleptic deterioration. The pre-treatment with the alternative solutes led to depression of the freezing point (−1.8, −2.6, −3.2 and −3.5 °C for the untreated samples and the osmotically pre-treated with HDM, HDM + treh and HDM + gluc, respectively. TVB-N values were higher in untreated samples, followed by osmotically treated fillets, mainly at higher storage temperatures (i.e. 10 and 15 °C. Based on the mathematical models for sensory evaluation scoring, the shelf-life was 12, 19, 22 and 22 days at 0 °C for untreated and osmotically pre-treated with HDM, HDM + treh and HDM + gluc fish slices, respectively, while the respective values at −3 °C were 21, 35, 38 and 38 days. The alternative solutes had no significant effect on the quality and shelf-life of pre-treated fish fillet during storage at refrigerated conditions.

The use of laminarias for osmotic dilation of the cervix in gynecological brachytherapy applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mayr, Nina A.; Sorosky, Joel I.; Zhen Weining; Weidner, Geoffrey J.; Hussey, David H.; Anderson, Barrie; Buller, Richard E.

1998-01-01

Purpose: Osmotic dilators (laminarias) have been used for gradual nontraumatic dilation of the cervical canal for various intrauterine procedures; however, this technique has not been well accepted in gynecological brachytherapy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of osmotic cervical dilation for brachytherapy in gynecologic cancer patients, without the use of general/regional anesthesia, and to assess patient tolerance, complications, and outcome. Methods and Materials: Thirteen brachytherapy procedures were performed in 6 patients with clinical Stages I and II endometrial (5) and Stage IB cervical cancer (1), who were unable to tolerate general/regional anesthesia because of severe medical problems. An osmotic dilator (synthetic laminaria) was inserted into the cervical os 10-12 h before each brachytherapy procedure and removed just before the procedure. Standard Fletcher-Suit-Delclos tandem insertions with vaginal colpostats or cylinders were then performed. Degree of cervical dilation, patient discomfort, procedure time, intra- and postoperative complications were recorded, and local control and survival were assessed. Median follow-up was 31 months (range: 8-35 months). Results: The diameter of the dilated cervical os after laminaria removal was adequate (≥ 5 mm) for tandem insertion, and no additional mechanical dilation was required in all but one procedure (1 of 13). All procedures were performed without general/regional anesthesia. The mean duration of the procedures was 44 min (range, 20-60 min). Discomfort was minimal in all cases. There were no intra- or postoperative complications. All patients maintained local control until death (1 of metastatic disease, 2 of intercurrent disease) or last follow-up (2 with no evidence of disease, 1 alive with metastatic disease). Conclusion: This preliminary study suggests that osmotic cervical dilation with a synthetic laminaria is a useful technique to facilitate intrauterine tandem insertion

From rational creatures to the rational Creator: ancient and patristic analogies of the “fine-tuning” argument

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Alexey Fokin

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In this article the author deals with the proofs of the existence of God, based on the fact of the presence of rational beings in the world. These proofs can be found in Greek and Roman Classical philosophy and early Patristics, and can be viewed as an analogue of the modern “fine-tuning argument”. The author considers the origins and development of this argument in the Greek and Roman philosophy: in Socrates, Plato, Cicero, Sextus Empiricus, and especially the Stoics, who gave to the argument a logical form, based on the relationship between “the parts and the whole”: if the world as a whole produces and contains rational beings as its parts, it should also be rational or contain a rational principle that generates all its parts and governs them, just as human soul governs human body. The correction of this argument was proposed by Sextus Empiricus, who introduced the concept of "spermatic logoi", or rational principles, to explain the generation of the rational beings by the world, so that if the world contains the spermatic logoi of rational and living beings, then the world as a whole is also rational. The author also investigates the reception of the argument based on the existence of rational beings in the world in Latin Patristics: in Minucius Felix, Tertullian and especially Lactantius, in whom this argument has reached the climax of its development. At the same time it was shown, that the ancient argument has undergone a transformation from the postulation of the rationality of the world as a whole or its equation with God himself to a genuine proof of the existence of the one God who is the Creator both of the world and human beings, superior to the both as the all-powerful and transcendent Mind.

Rationing medical education | Walsh | African Health Sciences

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Even though some stakeholders in medical education might be taken aback at the prospect of rationing, the truth is that rationing has always occurred in one form or another in medical education and in healthcare more broadly. Different types of rationing exist in healthcare professional education. For example rationing may ...

Effect of drought and abscisic acid application on the osmotic adjustment of four wheat cultivars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iqbal, S.; Bano, A.

2010-01-01

The accumulation of osmolytes in leaf tissues and the abscisic acid-induced stomatal closure are well-recognized mechanisms associated with drought tolerance in crop plants. We determine the response in terms of osmotic potential and the contents of leaf proline, glycine betaine and soluble sugar at booting and grain filling stages of four wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars to drought and exogenously applied abscisic acid (ABA) in a pot study. Leaf sample were collected 3, 6 and 9 days after drought induction and at 48 and 72 h of re-watering (recovery). Marked decreases in osmotic potential associated with the accumulation of proline, glycine betaine and soluble sugars occurred under conditions of drought stress Accession 011320 was most sensitive to drought and showed the largest decrease in osmotic potential and least accumulation of proline, sugar and glycine betaine The inhibitory effects of drought stress were ameliorated by exogenous application of ABA. This ameliorating effect was more pronounced at the booting than at grain filling stage particularly in the sensitive accession 011320. Upon rewatering the recovery from drought stress was found to be greater in case of abscisic acid application. The leaf praline content is seen to be a suitable indicator for selecting drought-tolerant genotypes. (author)

Second sound, osmotic pressure, and Fermi-liquid parameters in 3He-4He solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corruccini, L.R.

1984-01-01

Second-sound velocities and osmotic pressures are analyzed to obtain the first experimental values for the Landau compressibility parameter F 0 /sup s/ in 3 He- 4 He solutions. Data are presented as a function of pressure and 3 He concentration, and are compared to theoretical predictions. The square of the second-sound velocity at finite temperature is found to be accurately proportional to the internal energy of a perfect Fermi gas. Using inertial effective masses given by the Landau-Pomeranchuk theory, the square of the velocity is found to separate into two parts: a temperature-dependent part characterized completely by ideal Fermi-gas behavior and a temperature-independent part containing all the Fermi-liquid corrections. This is related to a similar separation found in the osmotic pressure

Analytical Solution of Electro-Osmotic Peristalsis of Fractional Jeffreys Fluid in a Micro-Channel

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Xiaoyi Guo

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The electro-osmotic peristaltic flow of a viscoelastic fluid through a cylindrical micro-channel is studied in this paper. The fractional Jeffreys constitutive model, including the relaxation time and retardation time, is utilized to describe the viscoelasticity of the fluid. Under the assumptions of long wavelength, low Reynolds number, and Debye-Hückel linearization, the analytical solutions of pressure gradient, stream function and axial velocity are explored in terms of Mittag-Leffler function by Laplace transform method. The corresponding solutions of fractional Maxwell fluid and generalized second grade fluid are also obtained as special cases. The numerical analysis of the results are depicted graphically, and the effects of electro-osmotic parameter, external electric field, fractional parameters and viscoelastic parameters on the peristaltic flow are discussed.

Effects of Rational-Emotive Therapy, Rational Role Reversal, and Rational-Emotive Imagery on the Emotional Adjustment of Community Mental Health Center Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Lipsky, Marc J.; And Others

1980-01-01

Results showed that rational-emotive therapy (RET), with the addition of rational role reversal, produced significantly better results than did relaxation training and support or no contact. This was the first study to demonstrate the efficacy of RET with multisymptomatic applicants to a community mental health center. (Author/BEF)

Argumentation, rationality, and psychology of reasoning

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David Godden

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This paper explicates an account of argumentative rationality by articulating the common, basic idea of its nature, and then identifying a collection of assumptions inherent in it. Argumentative rationality is then contrasted with dual-process theories of reasoning and rationality prevalent in the psychology of reasoning. It is argued that argumentative rationality properly corresponds only with system-2 reasoning in dual-process theories. This result challenges the prescriptive force of argumentative norms derives if they derive at all from their descriptive accuracy of our cognitive capacities. In response, I propose an activity-based account of reasoning which retains the assumptions of argumentative rationality while recontextualizing the relationship between reasoning as a justificatory activity and the psychological states and processes underlying that activity.

Assessment of effects of a formula used in the traditional Chinese medicine (Buzhong Yi Qi Wan on the morphologic and osmotic fragility of red blood cells

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Tania S. Giani

Full Text Available Buzhong Yi Qi Wan (BYQW is a combination of some medicinal herbs widely used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat blood, spleen and stomach disorders. Morphometric analysis and osmotic fragility assay have been used to evaluate changes on membrane integrity of red blood cells. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of an aqueous BYQW extract on the morphology and osmotic fragility of red blood cells. Blood samples were treated with BYQW extract, quantitative/qualitative morphological analysis and osmotic fragility assay were carried out against control groups treated with saline. The data obtained indicated no modification on morphology but osmotic fragility assay suggested a significant (p<0.05 increasing of hemolysis in red blood cells isolated from blood treated with aqueous BYQW extract. In conclusion, the aqueous BYQW extract could affect the membrane integrity decreasing the osmotic resistance but without altering the shape of red blood cells.

Pade approximants for entire functions with regularly decreasing Taylor coefficients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rusak, V N; Starovoitov, A P

2002-01-01

For a class of entire functions the asymptotic behaviour of the Hadamard determinants D n,m as 0≤m≤m(n)→∞ and n→∞ is described. This enables one to study the behaviour of parabolic sequences from Pade and Chebyshev tables for many individual entire functions. The central result of the paper is as follows: for some sequences {(n,m(n))} in certain classes of entire functions (with regular Taylor coefficients) the Pade approximants {π n,m(n) }, which provide the locally best possible rational approximations, converge to the given function uniformly on the compact set D={z:|z|≤1} with asymptotically best rate

Laboratory Characterization of Chemico-osmotic, Hydraulic and Diffusion Properties of Rocks: Apparatus Development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeda, M.; Hiratsuka, T.; Ito, K.

2009-01-01

Excess fluid pressures induced by chemical osmosis in natural formations may have a significant influence on groundwater systems in a geological time scale. Examinations of the possibility and duration times require characterization of the chemico-osmotic, hydraulic and diffusion properties of representative formation media under field conditions. To develop a laboratory apparatus for chemical osmosis experiments that simulates in-situ conditions, typical litho-static and background pore pressures, a fundamental concept of the chemical osmosis experiment using a closed fluid circuit system (referred to as a closed system hereafter) was revisited. Coupled processes in the experiment were examined numerically. In preliminary experiments at atmospheric pressure a chemical osmosis experiment using the closed system was demonstrated. An approximation method for determining the chemico-osmotic property was attempted. Based on preliminary examinations, an experimental system capable of loading the confining and pore pressures on the sample was thus developed. (authors)

Numerical simulation of electro-osmotic consolidation coupling non-linear variation of soil parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Hui; Hu, Liming; Wen, Qingbo

2017-06-01

Electro-osmotic consolidation is an effective method for soft ground improvement. A main limitation of previous numerical models on this technique is the ignorance of the non-linear variation of soil parameters. In the present study, a multi-field numerical model is developed with the consideration of the non-linear variation of soil parameters during electro-osmotic consolidation process. The numerical simulations on an axisymmetric model indicated that the non-linear variation of soil parameters showed remarkable impact on the development of the excess pore water pressure and degree of consolidation. A field experiment with complex geometry, boundary conditions, electrode configuration and voltage application was further simulated with the developed numerical model. The comparison between field and numerical data indicated that the numerical model coupling of the non-linear variation of soil parameters gave more reasonable results. The developed numerical model is capable to analyze engineering cases with complex operating conditions.

Rational Thinking in School-Based Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Mary Kristen; Flynn, Perry

2011-01-01

Purpose: We reflect on Alan Kamhi's (2011) prologue on balancing certainty and uncertainty as it pertains to school-based practice. Method: In schools, rational thinking depends on effective team processes, much like professional learning communities. We consider the conditions that are required for rational thinking and how rational team dialogue…

Comparison of Two-Block Decomposition Method and Chebyshev Rational Approximation Method for Depletion Calculation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Yoon Hee; Cho, Nam Zin

2016-01-01

The code gives inaccurate results of nuclides for evaluation of source term analysis, e.g., Sr- 90, Ba-137m, Cs-137, etc. A Krylov Subspace method was suggested by Yamamoto et al. The method is based on the projection of solution space of Bateman equation to a lower dimension of Krylov subspace. It showed good accuracy in the detailed burnup chain calculation if dimension of the Krylov subspace is high enough. In this paper, we will compare the two methods in terms of accuracy and computing time. In this paper, two-block decomposition (TBD) method and Chebyshev rational approximation method (CRAM) are compared in the depletion calculations. In the two-block decomposition method, according to the magnitude of effective decay constant, the system of Bateman equation is decomposed into short- and longlived blocks. The short-lived block is calculated by the general Bateman solution and the importance concept. Matrix exponential with smaller norm is used in the long-lived block. In the Chebyshev rational approximation, there is no decomposition of the Bateman equation system, and the accuracy of the calculation is determined by the order of expansion in the partial fraction decomposition of the rational form. The coefficients in the partial fraction decomposition are determined by a Remez-type algorithm.

Comparison of Two-Block Decomposition Method and Chebyshev Rational Approximation Method for Depletion Calculation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Yoon Hee; Cho, Nam Zin [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

The code gives inaccurate results of nuclides for evaluation of source term analysis, e.g., Sr- 90, Ba-137m, Cs-137, etc. A Krylov Subspace method was suggested by Yamamoto et al. The method is based on the projection of solution space of Bateman equation to a lower dimension of Krylov subspace. It showed good accuracy in the detailed burnup chain calculation if dimension of the Krylov subspace is high enough. In this paper, we will compare the two methods in terms of accuracy and computing time. In this paper, two-block decomposition (TBD) method and Chebyshev rational approximation method (CRAM) are compared in the depletion calculations. In the two-block decomposition method, according to the magnitude of effective decay constant, the system of Bateman equation is decomposed into short- and longlived blocks. The short-lived block is calculated by the general Bateman solution and the importance concept. Matrix exponential with smaller norm is used in the long-lived block. In the Chebyshev rational approximation, there is no decomposition of the Bateman equation system, and the accuracy of the calculation is determined by the order of expansion in the partial fraction decomposition of the rational form. The coefficients in the partial fraction decomposition are determined by a Remez-type algorithm.

Negatively Charged Hyperbranched Polyglycerol Grafted Membranes for Osmotic Power Generation from Municipal Wastewater

KAUST Repository

Li, Xue; Cai, Tao; Chen, Chunyan; Chung, Neal Tai-Shung

2015-01-01

Osmotic power holds great promise as a clean, sustainable and largely unexploited energy resource. Recent membrane development for pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) is making the osmotic power generation more and more realistic. However, severe performance declines have been observed because the porous layer of PRO membranes is fouled by the feed stream. To overcome it, a negatively charged antifouling PRO hollow fiber membrane has been designed and studied in this work. An antifouling polymer, derived from hyperbranched polyglycerol and functionalized by α-lipoic acid and succinic anhydride, was synthesized and grafted onto the polydopamine (PDA) modified poly(ether sulfone) (PES) hollow fiber membranes. In comparison to unmodified membranes, the charged hyperbranched polyglycerol (CHPG) grafted membrane is much less affected by organic deposition, such as bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption, and highly resistant to microbial growths, demonstrated by E. coli adhesion and S. aureus attachment. CHPG-g-TFC was also examined in PRO tests using a concentrated wastewater as the feed. Comparing to the plain PES-TFC and non-charged HPG-g-TFC, the newly developed membrane exhibits not only the smallest decline in water flux but also the highest recovery rate. When using 0.81 M NaCl and wastewater as the feed pair in PRO tests at 15 bar, the average power density remains at 5.6 W/m2 in comparison to an average value of 3.6 W/m2 for unmodified membranes after four PRO runs. In summary, osmotic power generation may be sustained by properly designing and anchoring the functional polymers to PRO membranes.

Negatively Charged Hyperbranched Polyglycerol Grafted Membranes for Osmotic Power Generation from Municipal Wastewater

KAUST Repository

Li, Xue

2015-11-18

Osmotic power holds great promise as a clean, sustainable and largely unexploited energy resource. Recent membrane development for pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) is making the osmotic power generation more and more realistic. However, severe performance declines have been observed because the porous layer of PRO membranes is fouled by the feed stream. To overcome it, a negatively charged antifouling PRO hollow fiber membrane has been designed and studied in this work. An antifouling polymer, derived from hyperbranched polyglycerol and functionalized by α-lipoic acid and succinic anhydride, was synthesized and grafted onto the polydopamine (PDA) modified poly(ether sulfone) (PES) hollow fiber membranes. In comparison to unmodified membranes, the charged hyperbranched polyglycerol (CHPG) grafted membrane is much less affected by organic deposition, such as bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption, and highly resistant to microbial growths, demonstrated by E. coli adhesion and S. aureus attachment. CHPG-g-TFC was also examined in PRO tests using a concentrated wastewater as the feed. Comparing to the plain PES-TFC and non-charged HPG-g-TFC, the newly developed membrane exhibits not only the smallest decline in water flux but also the highest recovery rate. When using 0.81 M NaCl and wastewater as the feed pair in PRO tests at 15 bar, the average power density remains at 5.6 W/m2 in comparison to an average value of 3.6 W/m2 for unmodified membranes after four PRO runs. In summary, osmotic power generation may be sustained by properly designing and anchoring the functional polymers to PRO membranes.

Rationality in Machiavelli and in Kant

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Vadim Chaly

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The paper contains interpretation and comparative analysis of Machiavelli’s and Kant’s conceptions on rationality as two prime examples of “realist” and “idealist” modes of agency. Kantian model of rationality is viewed as an augmentation of the Machiavellian one, not an opposition to it. To elaborate the point, Robert Aumann’s model of act-rationality and rulerationality is applied to the two philosophical models. Kantian practical reason is interpreted as an addition to Aumann’s instrumental rationality, providing rules for rules, or “rule-rule-rationality”.

The Balance of Fluid and Osmotic Pressures across Active Biological Membranes with Application to the Corneal Endothelium.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xi Cheng

Full Text Available The movement of fluid and solutes across biological membranes facilitates the transport of nutrients for living organisms and maintains the fluid and osmotic pressures in biological systems. Understanding the pressure balances across membranes is crucial for studying fluid and electrolyte homeostasis in living systems, and is an area of active research. In this study, a set of enhanced Kedem-Katchalsky (KK equations is proposed to describe fluxes of water and solutes across biological membranes, and is applied to analyze the relationship between fluid and osmotic pressures, accounting for active transport mechanisms that propel substances against their concentration gradients and for fixed charges that alter ionic distributions in separated environments. The equilibrium analysis demonstrates that the proposed theory recovers the Donnan osmotic pressure and can predict the correct fluid pressure difference across membranes, a result which cannot be achieved by existing KK theories due to the neglect of fixed charges. The steady-state analysis on active membranes suggests a new pressure mechanism which balances the fluid pressure together with the osmotic pressure. The source of this pressure arises from active ionic fluxes and from interactions between solvent and solutes in membrane transport. We apply the proposed theory to study the transendothelial fluid pressure in the in vivo cornea, which is a crucial factor maintaining the hydration and transparency of the tissue. The results show the importance of the proposed pressure mechanism in mediating stromal fluid pressure and provide a new interpretation of the pressure modulation mechanism in the in vivo cornea.

Effective Entrepreneurial Choice: The Role of Rationality and Non-Rationality in Three Entrepreneurs Success Stories

OpenAIRE

Chong, Anne Michele, Siang Yoon

2007-01-01

Good entrepreneurship is important for economic growth and productivity in any modern economy. The purpose of this dissertation is to research how good entrepreneurial decisions are made. In theory, optimal or rational decision making means choosing the best alternative in response to the problem. However, in reality, people do not act rationally because they often cannot make rational choices. The reason is that people do not have enough brain power, time or resources to process the compl...

Identification of Proteins Using iTRAQ and Virus-Induced Gene Silencing Reveals Three Bread Wheat Proteins Involved in the Response to Combined Osmotic-Cold Stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ning; Zhang, Lingran; Shi, Chaonan; Zhao, Lei; Cui, Dangqun; Chen, Feng

2018-05-25

Crops are often subjected to a combination of stresses in the field. To date, studies on the physiological and molecular responses of common wheat to a combination of osmotic and cold stresses, however, remain unknown. In this study, wheat seedlings exposed to osmotic-cold stress for 24 h showed inhibited growth, as well as increased lipid peroxidation, relative electrolyte leakage, and soluble sugar contents. iTRAQ-based quantitative proteome method was employed to determine the proteomic profiles of the roots and leaves of wheat seedlings exposed to osmotic-cold stress conditions. A total of 250 and 258 proteins with significantly altered abundance in the roots and leaves were identified, respectively, and the majority of these proteins displayed differential abundance, thereby revealing organ-specific differences in adaptation to osmotic-cold stress. Yeast two hybrid assay examined five pairs of stress/defense-related protein-protein interactions in the predicted protein interaction network. Furthermore, quantitative real-time PCR analysis indicated that abiotic stresses increased the expression of three candidate protein genes, i.e., TaGRP2, CDCP, and Wcor410c in wheat leaves. Virus-induced gene silencing indicated that three genes TaGRP2, CDCP, and Wcor410c were involved in modulating osmotic-cold stress in common wheat. Our study provides useful information for the elucidation of molecular and genetics bases of osmotic-cold combined stress in bread wheat.

INFLUENCE OF ROLLING STOCK VIBROACOUSTICAL PARAMETERS ON THE CHOICE OF RATIONAL VALUES OF LOCOMOTIVE RUNNING GEAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu. V. Zelenko

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose.The success of the traffic on the railways of Ukraine depends on the number and the operational fleet of electric locomotives. Today, the locomotive depot exploit physically and morally outdated locomotives that have low reliability. Modernization of electric locomotives is not economically justified. The aim of this study is to improve the safety of the traction rolling stock by the frequency analysis of dynamical systems, which allows conducting the calculation of the natural (of resonant frequencies of the design and related forms of vibrations.Methodology.The study was conducted by methods of analytical mechanics and mathematical modeling of operating loads of freight locomotive when driving at different speeds on the straight and curved track sections. The theoretical value of the work is the technique of choice of constructive schemes and rational parameters of perspective electric locomotive taking into account the electric inertia ratios and stiffness coefficients of Lagrange second-order equations.Findings. The problems of theoretical research and the development of a mathematical model of the spatial electric vibrations are solved. The theoretical studies of the effect of inertia ratios and stiffness coefficients on the dynamic values and the parameter values of electric locomotive undercarriages are presented.Originality.The set of developed regulations and obtained results is a practical solution to selecting rational parameters of bogies of the freight mainline locomotive for railways of Ukraine. A concept of choice of constructive scheme and rational parameters of perspective locomotive is formulated. It is developed the method of calculation of spatial electric locomotive oscillations to determine its dynamic performance. The software complex for processing the data of experimental studies of dynamic parameters of electric locomotive and comparing the results of the theoretical calculations with the data of full

Isopiestic investigation of the osmotic coefficients of MgBr{sub 2}(aq) and study of bromide salts solubility in the (m{sub 1}KBr + m{sub 2}MgBr{sub 2})(aq) system at T = 323.15 K. Thermodynamic model of solution behaviour and (solid + liquid) equilibria in the MgBr{sub 2}(aq), and (m{sub 1}KBr + m{sub 2}MgBr{sub 2})(aq) systems to high concentration and temperature

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Christov, Christomir, E-mail: christov@svr.igic.bas.b [Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, ul. ' Acad. G. Bonchev' , bl. 11, 1113 Sofia (Bulgaria)

2011-03-15

The isopiestic method has been used to determine the osmotic coefficients of the binary solutions MgBr{sub 2}(aq) (from 0.4950 to 2.5197 mol {center_dot} kg{sup -1}) at the temperature T = 323.15 K. Sodium chloride solutions have been used as isopiestic reference standards. The solubility of the bromide minerals in the mixed system (m{sub 1}KBr + m{sub 2}MgBr{sub 2})(aq) has been investigated at T = 323.15 K by the physico-chemical analysis method. In addition to simple salts {l_brace}KBr(cr) and MgBr{sub 2} . 6H{sub 2}O(cr){r_brace}, equilibrium crystallization of the highly incongruent double salt with stoichiometric composition 1:1:6 {l_brace}bromcarnallite: KBr . MgBr{sub 2} . 6H{sub 2}O(cr){r_brace} was also established. The results obtained from the isopiestic and solubility measurements have been combined with all other experimental thermodynamic quantities available in the literature (osmotic coefficients, and solubility of the bromide mineral) to construct a chemical model that calculates solute and solvent activities and (solid + liquid) equilibria in the MgBr{sub 2}(aq) binary, and (m{sub 1}KBr + m{sub 2}MgBr{sub 2})(aq) mixed systems from dilute to high solution concentration within the (273.15 to 438.15) K temperature range. The solubility modelling approach based on fundamental Pitzer specific interaction equations is employed. It was found, that the standard for 2-1 type of electrolytes approach with three ({beta}{sup (0)}, {beta}{sup (1)}, and C{sup {phi}}) single electrolyte ion interaction parameters gives excellent agreement with osmotic coefficients from T = (298.15 to 373.45) K; up to saturation at 298.15 K, and up to m(MgBr{sub 2}) = 5.83 mol {center_dot} kg{sup -1} at 373.45 K, and with MgBr{sub 2} {center_dot} 6H{sub 2}O(cr) equilibrium pure water solubility data within the (273.15 to 438.15) K temperature range and up to {approx}8.5 mol {center_dot} kg{sup -1} used in parameterization. The model for the ternary system gives very good

Induction of labor in patients with an unfavorable cervix after a cesarean using an osmotic dilator versus vaginal prostaglandin.

Science.gov (United States)

Maier, Josefine T; Metz, Melanie; Watermann, Nina; Li, Linna; Schalinski, Elisabeth; Gauger, Ulrich; Rath, Werner; Hellmeyer, Lars

2018-04-25

Trial of labor after cesarean (TOLAC) is a viable option for safe delivery. In some cases cervical ripening and subsequent labor induction is necessary. However, the commonly used prostaglandins are not licensed in this subgroup of patients and are associated with an increased risk of uterine rupture. This cohort study compares maternal and neonatal outcomes of TOLAC in women (n=82) requiring cervical ripening agents (osmotic dilator vs. prostaglandins). The initial Bishop scores (BSs) were 2 (0-5) and 3 (0-5) (osmotic dilator and prostaglandin group, respectively). In this retrospective analysis, Fisher's exact test, the Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test and Pearson's chi-squared test were utilized. Vaginal birth rate (including operative delivery) was 55% (18/33) in the osmotic dilator group vs. 51% (25/49) in the dinoprostone group (P 0.886). Between 97% and 92% (32/33 and 45/49) (100%, 100%) of neonates had an Apgar score of >8 after 1 min (5, 10 min, respectively). The time between administration of the agent and onset of labor was 36 and 17.1 h (mean, Dilapan-S® group, dinoprostone group, respectively). Time from onset of labor to delivery was similar in both groups with 4.4 and 4.9 h (mean, Dilapan-S® group, dinoprostone group, respectively). Patients receiving cervical ripening with Dilapan-S® required oxytocin in 97% (32/33) of cases. Some patients presented with spontaneous onset of labor, mostly in the dinoprostone group (24/49, 49%). Amniotomy was performed in 64% and 49% (21/33 and 24/49) of cases (Dilapan-S® group and dinoprostone group, respectively). This pilot study examines the application of an osmotic dilator for cervical ripening to promote vaginal delivery in women who previously delivered via cesarean section. In our experience, the osmotic dilator gives obstetricians a chance to perform induction of labor in these women.

RBC deformability and amino acid concentrations after hypo-osmotic challenge may reflect chronic cell hydration status in healthy young men

OpenAIRE

Stookey, Jodi D; Klein, Alexis; Hamer, Janice; Chi, Christine; Higa, Annie; Ng, Vivian; Arieff, Allen; Kuypers, Frans A; Larkin, Sandra; Perrier, Erica; Lang, Florian

2013-01-01

Biomarkers of chronic cell hydration status are needed to determine whether chronic hyperosmotic stress increases chronic disease risk in population-representative samples. In vitro, cells adapt to chronic hyperosmotic stress by upregulating protein breakdown to counter the osmotic gradient with higher intracellular amino acid concentrations. If cells are subsequently exposed to hypo-osmotic conditions, the adaptation results in excess cell swelling and/or efflux of free amino acids. This stu...

Octanol-water partition coefficients for predicting the effects of tannins in ruminant nutrition.

Science.gov (United States)

Mueller-Harvey, Irene; Mlambo, Victor; Sikosana, Joe L N; Smith, Tim; Owen, Emyr; Brown, Ron H

2007-07-11

Tannins can cause beneficial or harmful nutritional effects, but their great diversity has until now prevented a rational distinction between tannin structures and their nutritional responses. An attempt has been made to study this problem by examining the octanol-water solubilities of tannins. A relatively simple HPLC method has been developed for screening mixtures of plant tannins for their octanol-water partition coefficients (Kow coefficients). Tannins were isolated from the fruits and leaves of different Acacia, Calliandra, Dichrostachys, and Piliostigma species, which are known to produce beneficial or harmful effects. The Kow coefficients of these tannins ranged from 0.061 to 13.9, average coefficients of variation were 9.2% and recoveries were 107%. Acacia nilotica fruits and leaves had the highest Kow coefficients, that is, 2.0 and 13.9, respectively. These A. nilotica products also have high concentrations of tannins. The combined effects of high octanol solubilities and high tannin concentrations may explain their negative effects on animal nutrition and health. It is known that compounds with high octanol solubilities are more easily absorbed into tissues, and it is, therefore, proposed that such compounds are more likely to cause toxicity problems especially if consumed in large quantities. According to the literature, tannins in human foods tend to have low Kow coefficients, and this was confirmed for the tannins in Piliostigma thonningii fruits. Therefore, unconventional feeds or browse products should be screened not only for their tannin concentrations but also for low octanol-water partition coefficients in order to identify nutritionally safe feeds and to avoid potentially toxic feeds.

Discrete Choice and Rational Inattention

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fosgerau, Mogens; Melo, Emerson; de Palma, André

2017-01-01

This paper establishes a general equivalence between discrete choice and rational inattention models. Matejka and McKay (2015, AER) showed that when information costs are modelled using the Shannon entropy, the result- ing choice probabilities in the rational inattention model take the multinomial...... logit form. We show that when information costs are modelled using a class of generalized entropies, then the choice probabilities in any rational inattention model are observationally equivalent to some additive random utility discrete choice model and vice versa. This equivalence arises from convex...

Rational top and its classical r-matrix

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aminov, G; Arthamonov, S; Smirnov, A; Zotov, A

2014-01-01

We construct a rational integrable system (the rational top) on a co-adjoint orbit of SL N Lie group. It is described by the Lax operator with spectral parameter and classical non-dynamical skew-symmetric r-matrix. In the case of the orbit of minimal dimension the model is gauge equivalent to the rational Calogero–Moser (CM) system. To obtain the results we represent the Lax operator of the CM model in two different factorized forms—without spectral parameter (related to the spinless case) and another one with the spectral parameter. The latter gives rise to the rational top while the first one is related to generalized Cremmer–Gervais r-matrices. The gauge transformation relating the rational top and CM model provides the classical rational version of the IRF-Vertex correspondence. From the geometrical point of view it describes the modification of SL(N,C)-bundles over degenerated elliptic curve. In view of the Symplectic Hecke Correspondence the rational top is related to the rational spin CM model. Possible applications and generalizations of the suggested construction are discussed. In particular, the obtained r-matrix defines a class of KZB equations. (paper)