Effects of Different Drying Methods on Drying Characteristics, Microstructure, Quality, and Energy Consumption of Apricot Slices.

An appropriate drying method is crucial for producing high-quality dried apricots. In this study, the effects of four drying methods, hot air drying (HAD), infrared drying (IRD), pulse vacuum drying (PVD), and vacuum freeze-drying (VFD), on the drying kinetics and physical and nutritional characteristics of apricot slices were evaluated. PVD required the shortest time (16.

Influence of In-Situ Stress on Cut Blasting of One-Step Raise Excavation Using Numerical Analysis Based on a Modified Holmquist-Johnson-Cook Model.

Due to different tensile and compressive properties of rock material, the corresponding tensile and compressive damage evolution show major differences. To investigate the tensile and compressive damage evolution in deep cut blasting with different in-situ stresses, an improved Holmquist-Johnson-Cook (HJC) material model considers the tensile and compressive damage separately is developed. The improved HJC model is implemented into LS-DYNA via a user-defined subroutine in this study.

Study on the Evolution of Physical Parameters and Dynamic Compression Mechanical Properties of Granite after Different Heating and Cooling Cycles.

The study of the evolution law of basic physical parameters and dynamic compression performance of deep granite under the environment of the heating-cooling cycle is of great significance for the stability evaluation of deep underground engineering and the development of deep resources. In this study, heating-cooling cycle tests and dynamic compression tests were conducted on a large number of fine-grained granite specimens with heating temperatures from 200 to 600 °C and times from one to twenty times using a box-type high-temperature muffle furnace and Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) test system, and the evolution law of basic physical parameters and dynamic compression mechanical properties of fine-grained granite were studied using theoretical and fitting analysis. The test results showed that: the changes of the basic physical parameters of granite have obvious temperature effect; 600 °C is a threshold value for the changes of each physical parameter of granite; the sensitivity of each physical parameter to the number of heating and cooling cycles is small before 600 °C; and the sensitivity of each physical parameter to the number of heating and cooling cycles significantly increases at 600 °C.

Fluoride immobilization and release in cemented PG backfill and its influence on the environment.

Waste recycling must consider secondary pollution, which is affected by recycling methods. Cemented phosphogypsum (PG) backfill is a cost-effective method for PG recycling. However, due to dynamic environmental conditions, the impurity fluoride is challenging to stabilize.

Reuse of phosphogypsum pretreated with water washing as aggregate for cemented backfill.

Phosphogypsum (PG) is reused as aggregate in the cemented backfill, which effectively improves the PG reutilization efficiency. However, the massive impurities contained in aggregate PG would adversely affect the hydration of binder, and therefore deteriorate the strength development of backfill. This research starts with the feasibility study on pretreating PG with the water washing method.

Wave Dissipation and Energy-Absorption Characteristics of Wave-Absorbing Metal Plates with Different Aperture Sizes and Thicknesses under True-Triaxial Static-Dynamic-Coupling Loading.

Deep rock masses exist in a complex environment with multi-field coupling; therefore, it is necessary to develop a true-triaxial static-dynamic-coupling loading test machine to explore their characteristics and mechanical response mechanism. To meet the test requirements of true-triaxial loading and strong disturbance, a wave-absorbing metal plate was selected as the boundary material between the granite and transmission end, and the modified SHPB was used to perform static-dynamic-coupling loading tests. In this study, two series of experiments on wave- absorbing metal plates were conducted, which were fixed aperture sizes with different thicknesses and fixed thicknesses with different aperture sizes.

Effect of phosphorus on the properties of phosphogypsum-based cemented backfill.

When phosphogypsum (PG) is used as an aggregate for backfill, phosphate in the PG might influence the hydration process and escape into the environment. The current study aimed to understand phosphate dynamics during the PG-based backfilling process by adding different amounts and types of phosphates (HPO, KHPO, KPO and Ca(PO)). The results indicate that the majority of the phosphate was first immobilized by PG depending on the types, and the residual dissolved phosphate (RDP) could be further stabilized/solidified (S/S) in the backfill via the hydration process.

The role of gangue on the mitigation of mining-induced hazards and environmental pollution: An experimental investigation.

Gangue, produced from coal mining and washing process, is a serious threat to the ground environment. Gangue backfilling mining method can solve this problem and reduce mining-induced hazards, e.g.

Dynamics of metals in backfill of a phosphate mine of guiyang, China using a three-step sequential extraction technique.

Phosphate rock in Guiyang (Southwest of China) is used for the phosphate production, and hence generating a by-product phosphogypsum (PG). From 2007, part of the PG was used as main raw material for cemented backfill. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the geochemical evolution of metals before and after the PG inclusion into the backfill matrix.

Locating single-point sources from arrival times containing large picking errors (LPEs): the virtual field optimization method (VFOM).

Microseismic monitoring systems using local location techniques tend to be timely, automatic and stable. One basic requirement of these systems is the automatic picking of arrival times. However, arrival times generated by automated techniques always contain large picking errors (LPEs), which may make the location solution unreliable and cause the integrated system to be unstable.

The chitin catabolic cascade in the marine bacterium Vibrio cholerae: characterization of a unique chitin oligosaccharide deacetylase.

Chitin, one of the most abundant organic substances in nature, is consumed by marine bacteria, such as Vibrio cholerae, via a multitude of tightly regulated genes (Li and Roseman 2004, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 101:627-631). One such gene, cod, is reported here.

Subcellular distribution of enzyme I of the Escherichia coli phosphoenolpyruvate:glycose phosphotransferase system depends on growth conditions.

The phosphoenolpyruvate:glycose phosphotransferase system (PTS) participates in important functions in the bacterial cell, including the phosphorylation/uptake of PTS sugars. Enzyme I (EI), the first protein of the PTS complex, accepts the phosphoryl group from phosphoenolpyruvate, which is then transferred through a chain of proteins to the sugar. In these studies, a mutant GFP, enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (YFP), was linked to the N terminus of EI, giving Y-EI.

The Vibrio cholerae chitin utilization program.

Chitin, an insoluble polymer of GlcNAc, is an abundant source of carbon, nitrogen, and energy for marine microorganisms. Microarray expression profiling and mutational studies of Vibrio cholerae growing on a natural chitin surface, or with the soluble chitin oligosaccharides (GlcNAc)(2-6), GlcNAc, or the glucosamine dimer (GlcN)2 identified three sets of differentially regulated genes. We show that (i) ChiS, a sensor histidine kinase, regulates expression of the (GlcNAc)(2-6) gene set, including a (GlcNAc)2 catabolic operon, two extracellular chitinases, a chitoporin, and a PilA-containing type IV pilus, designated ChiRP (chitin-regulated pilus) that confers a significant growth advantage to V.

The chitinolytic cascade in Vibrios is regulated by chitin oligosaccharides and a two-component chitin catabolic sensor/kinase.

Chitin, a highly insoluble polymer of GlcNAc, is produced in massive quantities in the marine environment. Fortunately for survival of aquatic ecosystems, chitin is rapidly catabolized by marine bacteria. Here we describe a bacterial two-component hybrid sensor/kinase (of the ArcB type) that rigorously controls expression of approximately 50 genes, many involved in chitin degradation.

Studies on the Method for the Determination of beta1-4 Galactosyltransferase and Its Kinetics.

A fluorescence assay method for beta1-4galactosyltransferase (beta1-4GT) has been developed involving a pyridylaminated sugar as an acceptor substrate, a fluorescent sugar chain, with the reducing end of the Gnbeta1 - 2Malpha1 - 6(Gnbeta1-2Malpha1-3)Mbeta1 - 4Gnbeta1 - 4Gn - PA aminated with 2-aminopyridine. Microsome was prepared from the liver of normal male rats as an enzyme sample. Then the fluorescent reaction product was separated by reverse-phase HPLC.

Regulatory Effect of All-trans Retinoic Acid (ATRA) on the Activities of N-acetylglucosaminyl Transferase (GnT) III, IV in HL-60 Cells.

The regulatory effect of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) on the activities of N-acetylglucosaminyl transferase (GnT) III and IV in HL-60 Cells were studied. It was found that the activities of GnT-III and GnT-IV were significantly decreased by 0.1 &mgr;M ATRA, but not further decreased with the increase in concentration of ATRA to 1.