Microbial Decontamination by Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) in Winemaking

Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) is a non-thermal technique that causes electroporation of cell membranes by applying very short pulses (μs) of a high-intensity electric field (kV/cm). Irreversible electroporation leads to the formation of permanent conductive channels in the cytoplasmic membrane of cells, resulting in the loss of cell viability. This effect is achieved with low energy requirements and minimal deterioration of quality. This chapter reviews the studies hitherto conducted to evaluate the potential of PEF as a technology for microbial decontamination in the winemaking process for reducing or replacing the use of SO2, for guaranteeing reproducible fermentations or for wine stabilization.

Influence of Heat Source/Sink on Free Convection in Annular Porous Region

The significant interpretation of this model is to explore the influence of temperature-dependent heat source/sink on laminar free-convective flow in an annular porous region such as petroleum engineering, thermal technique and groundwater hydrology. For a unified solution of the Brinkman-Darcy model, the regulatory equations solved analytically by applying the variation of parameter technique in terms of Bessel's functions for the heat source and sink. Moreover, we have investigated the Variations of Darcy number, Heat source/sink and viscosity ratio in the presence of isothermal and constant heat flux sequentially. As a result, we received the critical value of the velocity for the radii ratio (R = 2.05 and 2.92) in both the cases of source and sink (S = 1.0 and Si = 0.1) respectively which is exhibited through the graphs. Further, the numerical outcomes present of the skin friction including volume flow with annular gap by the graphs as well as tables.

Co-Amorphization of Kanamycin with Amino Acids Improves Aerosolization

Different formulation techniques have been investigated to prepare highly aerosolizable dry powders to deliver a high dose of antibiotics to the lung for treating local infections. In this study, we investigated the influence of the co-amorphization of a model drug, kanamycin, with selected amino acids (valine, methionine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan) by co-spray drying on its aerosolization. The co-amorphicity was confirmed by thermal technique. The physical stability was monitored using low-frequency Raman spectroscopy coupled with principal component analysis. Except for the kanamycin-valine formulation, all the formulations offered improved fine particle fraction (FPF) with the highest FPF of 84% achieved for the kanamycin-methionine formulation. All the co-amorphous formulations were physically stable for 28 days at low relative humidity (25 °C/<15% RH) and exhibited stable aerosolization. At higher RH (53%), even though methionine transformed into its crystalline counterpart, the kanamycin-methionine formulation offered the best aerosolization stability without any decrease in FPF. While further studies are warranted to reveal the underlying mechanism, this study reports that the co-amorphization of kanamycin with amino acids, especially with methionine, has the potential to be developed as a high dose kanamycin dry powder formulation.

Characterization of Thermal and Electrical Transport in 6.4 nm Au Films on Polyimide Film and Fiber Substrates

The surface and grain boundary scattering impact on the electrical and thermal conduction in the thin metallic films coated on organic substrates has not been studied thoroughly. In this work, we study heat and electron transport in the 6.4 nm thin Au films supported by polyimide (PI) substrate using the transient electro-thermal technique. Thermal and electrical conductivities of 6.4 nm thin Au film are much smaller than bulk value. The thermal and electrical conductivities of 6.4 nm Au film deposited on the PI fiber are reduced by 59.3% and 76.8% in the comparison with the value of bulk Au. For PI film, the reduction of thermal and electrical conductivities is 47.9% and 46.3%. Lorenz numbers of 6.4 nm Au film supported by PI fiber and PI film are 4.51 × 10−8 WΩK−2 and 2.12 × 10−8 WΩK−2, respectively. The thermal conductivities of PI fiber and PI film are 0.87 Wm−1K−1 and 0.44 Wm−1K−1. The results reveal that PI is a suitable substrate material in the flexible electronic devices field.

Compatibility Study of 1,1-Diamino-2,2-Dinitroethene (FOX-7) with Some Energetic Materials

1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethene (FOX-7) is a novel explosive with low sensitivity and high performance. The compatibility of FOX-7 with nine common energetic materials including hexanitrohexazaisowurtzitane (CL-20), cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine (HMX), cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX), 3,4-dinitrofurazanfuroxan (DNTF), 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO), hexanitrostilbene (HNS-II), 2,6-diamino-3,5-dinitropyrazine-1-oxide (LLM-105), 2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TATB), and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) were tested by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the vacuum stability test (VST) as the thermal technique and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) as a nonthermal technique. DSC measurements showed that the binary systems of FOX-7/CL-20, FOX-7/HMX, FOX-7/NTO, and FOX-7/TNT were compatible in grade of A, the systems of FOX-7 with heat-resistant explosives including HNS-II, LLM-105, and TATB were compatible as well in grade of A-B, and the binary systems of FOX-7/DNTF and FOX-7/RDX had poor compatibility. VST results indicated that FOX-7 was compatible with nine energetic materials. Besides, the compatibility results of the thermal analysis were confirmed by the XRD technique.

An Atom-economic Efficient Synthesis of 1-Amidoalkyl-2-naphthols Mediated By Hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene (HCCP) as a Novel Catalyst

A multicomponent one-pot atom-economic reaction is performed for an efficient synthesis of 1-amidoalkyl-2-naphthol from aromatic aldehydes, &#946;-naphthol and amide/urea promoted by hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene (HCCP). Various techniques such as stirring, microwave irradiation and thermal technique (hot plate and oil bath) were used in different solvents for the synthesis of 1- amidoalkyl-2-naphthol derivatives with moderate to excellent yield. Among the four methods, microwave irradiation and oil bath heating provide high yield as compared to the hot plate heating and stirring method. The low yield may be due to the formation of undesired side-products due to non-uniform heating.