Computer Image Analysis as a Method of Evaluating the Quality of Selected Fine-Grained Food Mixtures

This work presents the possibility of using computer image analysis to assess the quality of fine-grained food mixtures. The research was carried out using a mixture of wheat flour and algae. These types of ingredients are used, among others, to produce pasta, which is a functional food due to its enrichment with algae. The tests were carried out for mixtures with different shares of algae: 2%, 3% and 4% w/w. Mixing was carried out in a 3D mixer (Turbula® mixer), in which 20, 40 and 60 mL mixing vessels were placed. At the end of the process, samples were taken from four parts (sectors) of the mixing vessels, and then photos were taken with a digital camera. For this purpose, a specially prepared chamber was used, ensuring stable conditions for taking photos. The obtained images were analyzed in the Patan® program, determining the color on the RGB-256 scale. The obtained values were compared with the previously prepared reference specimen (simple linear regression formula). Based on this, it was possible to determine the share of algae in the samples taken and thus to estimate the homogeneity of the tested mixtures. The obtained results indicate the high reliability of the proposed solution.

Influence of Parameters in Coal Water Slurry Mixing used for Gasification in Power Plant

This research analyses, updates and extends the concept of agitation used in mixing energy efficient systems. It also focuses on stirring processes that specifically affect solid-liquid particulate phases that are permitted in automated mechanical mixing vessels which is jacketed The major principle points of agitation utilizing mixed vessels is to keep up adjusted amounts of substances in various stages dependent on concentration. In situations where dissolvable solids are blended, stirrers are utilized to expand communication between the solid crystals and continue a strategic distance from lopsided gathering at a certain point. Therefore, this evaluate article is to fundamentally examine the various parts of past research works revealed in the field of solid-fluid strong blending.

Swine ANP32A Supports Avian Influenza Virus Polymerase

ABSTRACT Avian influenza viruses occasionally infect and adapt to mammals, including humans. Swine are often described as “mixing vessels,” being susceptible to both avian- and human-origin viruses, which allows the emergence of novel reassortants, such as the precursor to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. ANP32 proteins are host factors that act as influenza virus polymerase cofactors. In this study, we describe how swine ANP32A, uniquely among the mammalian ANP32 proteins tested, supports the activity of avian-origin influenza virus polymerases and avian influenza virus replication. We further show that after the swine-origin influenza virus emerged in humans and caused the 2009 pandemic, it evolved polymerase gene mutations that enabled it to more efficiently use human ANP32 proteins. We map the enhanced proviral activity of swine ANP32A to a pair of amino acids, 106 and 156, in the leucine-rich repeat and central domains and show these mutations enhance binding to influenza virus trimeric polymerase. These findings help elucidate the molecular basis for the mixing vessel trait of swine and further our understanding of the evolution and ecology of viruses in this host. IMPORTANCE Avian influenza viruses can jump from wild birds and poultry into mammalian species such as humans or swine, but they only continue to transmit if they accumulate mammalian adapting mutations. Pigs appear uniquely susceptible to both avian and human strains of influenza and are often described as virus “mixing vessels.” In this study, we describe how a host factor responsible for regulating virus replication, ANP32A, is different between swine and humans. Swine ANP32A allows a greater range of influenza viruses, specifically those from birds, to replicate. It does this by binding the virus polymerase more tightly than the human version of the protein. This work helps to explain the unique properties of swine as mixing vessels.

Erosion Front Patterns in Pulse Jet Mixed Vessels

Here we observe the spatial and temporal patterns that erosion fronts driven by pulsed radial wall jets develop in double ring arrays of pulse tubes within slurry mixing vessels with curved bottoms. Although erosion of unbounded particle beds driven by individual steady jets has been studied for decades, the patterns developed within mixing vessels as neighboring transient erosion fronts collide and the subsequent relaxation of the particle bed towards the vessel center when the jets stop (i.e., as the pulse tubes refill within mixing vessels) remain incompletely understood. Relaxation here refers to motion of fluidized particle beds that were driven toward the vessel seam by radial wall jets that subsequently return or relax from the seam toward the center of the vessel when the jets turn off. Relaxation does not refer to downward individual or hindered particle settling. Spatial variations in the particle bed due to these relaxing particle beds comprise an important “initial” condition to the mathematical description of the evolution of the jet driven erosion front, and erosion fronts other than the one that expands radially from the pulse tube axis have only recently been described. For example, Bamberger, et al. (2017) [9], recently evaluated five selected cases of erosion patterns found in vessels 15 and 70 inches in diameter with 2:1 semi-elliptical bottoms. A highlight of that study was the discovery of a second type of erosion front that forms at the plane of symmetry between two adjacent pulse tubes. As neighboring radial wall jets collide they form an upwelling sheet of fluid; this second type of erosion front forms immediately beneath this upwelling flow. However, variations in this type of planar erosion front have not been cataloged previously. In this study, we systematically probe the erosion fronts driven by these upwelling sheets in greater detail and evaluate the relaxation of the particle bed to its “initial” condition after the pulse ceases. Variations in the erosion patterns and particle bed relaxation are evaluated as a function of particle concentration, density, and size. This study specifically focusses on video images collected from the 15 inch vessel because it provides distinctive visualization of erosion pattern behavior. We find the upwelling sheets to be more influential on the erosion patterns at lower particle concentrations, making these findings particularly important to low solids concentration vessels. At lower particle concentrations, flow at the base of the plane of symmetry readily erodes particle beds. At higher particle concentrations, piles of unmobilized solids accumulate beneath colliding jets either because the erosion mechanism vanishes or because erosion at the plane of symmetry is slow compared to radial erosion. We also find that the upwelling sheets introduce a flow that drives erosion patterns from outer ring jets toward the vessel center along the curved vessel floor along the plane of symmetry between nozzles. We further find that the rate of particle bed relaxation back toward the vessel center after the pulse ceases may correlate with concentration, particle density, and size. Higher concentrations and particle densities relax faster. The rate at which the entire bed relaxes toward the vessel center is faster near the vessel seam but slows as the relaxing front approaches the vessel center. This paper discusses competing mechanisms to explain these observations, including particle rolling, bed avalanches, gravity driven fluidized bed motion, and suspended particle sedimentation.

Instrumentation to Monitor Transient Developing Periodic Flow in Newtonian Slurries

This paper describes measurement techniques developed and applied to assess solids mobilization and mixing of Newtonian slurries that are subjected to transient, periodic, developing flows. Metrics to characterize mobilization and mixing are the just suspended velocity (UJS) and the cloud height (HC). Two ultrasonic instruments to characterize intermittent mixing of slurries were developed and deployed to measure related metrics: the thickness of the settled bed (used to determine mobilization) and the concentration within the cloud as a function of elevation [C(Z)]. A second method measured average density and monitored the concentration within the cloud using a continuous, circulating sample line with an inline Coriolis meter to measure bulk density. Testing focused on mixing vessels using intermittent jet mixers oriented vertically downward. Descriptions of the instruments and instrument performance are presented. These techniques were an effective approach to characterize mixing phenomena, determine mixing energy required to fully mobilize vessel contents, and to determine mixing times for process evaluation.