Effect of bacterial cellulose nanofibers incorporation on acid-induced casein gels: microstructures and rheological properties

In this study, the effect of bacterial cellulose nanofibers (BCNF) incorporation on the structural and rheological properties of casein gels was investigated, where the mixed BCNF and casein gels were prepared by adding gluconic acid δ-lactone (GDL) to acidify the mixed polymer solutions at 3.0% casein concentration (w/v) and varying BCNF concentrations (0–0.5%, w/v). By changing the addition amount of GDL, the mechanical and structural properties of the mixed gels were studied at above, near and below the electric point (pI) of the casein. At pH above the pI of the casein, the introduction of BCNF initially increased the gel strength, but further addition of BCNF weakened the mixed gels. At near and below the pI of the casein, the incorporation of BCNF continuously increased the gel strength. Besides, all gels showed good structural homogeneity, without macroscopic phase separation occurring, which indicated good compatibility of BCNF with the casein gels.

Patterns of dispersal and diversification in Island Southeast Asia and Oceania

This chapter presents some background considerations relevant to the patterns of language dispersal and diversification in Island Southeast Asia and Oceania. First an overview of languages and language families is given, including three large families—the widely dispersed Austronesian family, the Trans New Guinea (TNG) family in New Guinea, and the Pama-Nyungan family in Australia—as well as many smaller families and isolates. Then the main distinctive typological features of Austronesian languages, New Guinea and Australia are presented. Australia shows surprising structural homogeneity when compared to New Guinea and even to Austronesian. Subsequent sections cover the history of the study of the languages in the region, the history of the region itself, and issues for further research, including the mechanisms in the spread of Austronesian and the language development of New Guinea. The chapter concludes with a brief summary of the chapters in the book regarding the region.

Problematic Issues Regarding the Quantity and Properties of Vitrified High-Level Waste Returning to Ukraine

Safety justification of long-term storage and further disposal of vitrified high-level waste returning to Ukraine shall be based on reliable information about their physical and chemical characteristics, which include not only the radionuclide composition, but also the estimated evolution of Na-Al-P glass properties in the conditions of potential longterm effect of unfavorable factors. The paper indicates an inconsistency of dose coefficients, which according to the Energoatom standards shall be used to calculate the amount of high-level waste returning to Ukraine after storage and processing of VVER-440 spent nuclear fuel, with the regulatory requirements of the country supplying vitrified high-level waste. The quantitative assessment of transuranium radionuclides and technetium 99 entering the glass matrix also requires a critical review. The research considered the possibility of uncertainty related to the structural homogeneity of a glass matrix due to the underestimation of cracking and crystallization processes that occur in the package in sodium-aluminophosphate glass cooling. The presence of a large number of rare-earth oxides in sodium-aluminophosphate glass contributes to its crystallization in slow cooling with monazite formation. These phenomena can lead to a partial conversion of amorphous glass into a crystalline phase accompanied by 1-2 order increase in the velocity of leaching of elements. When developing technical requirements for vitrified high-level waste returning to Ukraine, it is necessary to insist on the provision of experimentally determined parameters of the structural homogeneity of glass blocks. There is a need for obtaining experimentally defined parameters of radiation resistance of a sodium-aluminophosphate matrix under the influence of a dose that can be accumulated over a period of 100 years using accelerated self-radiation methods.

Functional Categories: Complementizers and Adpositions

The standard observation is that complementizers corresponding to English that involve the illocutionary force of the clause, but the situation is not that simple, as factivity and modality may come into play, too. Complementizers are cross-linguistically systematically morpho-phonologically identical to other categories like nouns, verbs, and adpositions (that is, prepositions and post-positions). Recently there have been attempts to account for the formal identity of complementizers with other categories by decomposing the complementizer morpheme into smaller pieces. New ways of thinking about function words like complementizers and (some) prepositions involve digging into their internal structure(s) through determining the presence or absence of structural homogeneity within and across languages or by taking a nanosyntactic approach to cross-category syncretism.