Fog harvesting is a useful technique for obtaining fresh water in arid climates. The wire meshes currently utilized for fog harvesting suffer from dual constraints: coarse meshes cannot efficiently capture microscopic fog droplets, whereas fine meshes suffer from clogging issues. Here, we design and fabricate fog harvesters comprising an array of vertical wires, which we call "fog harps". Under controlled laboratory conditions, the fog-harvesting rates for fog harps with three different wire diameters were compared to conventional meshes of equivalent dimensions. As expected for the mesh structures, the mid-sized wires exhibited the largest fog collection rate, with a drop-off in performance for the fine or coarse meshes. In contrast, the fog-harvesting rate continually increased with decreasing wire diameter for the fog harps due to efficient droplet shedding that prevented clogging. This resulted in a 3-fold enhancement in the fog-harvesting rate for the harp design compared to an equivalent mesh.

Cereal Chem. 79(1):64-71Several reduction grinding conditions were used on a Canadian Western Red Spring (CWRS) farina to yield flours of comparable protein content within three specific particle size ranges (132-193, 110-132, 85-110 µm) at three starch damage levels (3.0, 3.9, 7.0 Megazyme units). White salted noodles (1% w/w NaCl) were initially processed at a fixed absorption (32%). Dynamic oscillatory and large deformation creep measurements indicated that doughs with lower starch damage, thick or thin, exhibited lower G′ (storage modulus), higher tan δ (G′′ [loss modulus]/G′) values, and greater maximum strain during creep than doughs with higher starch damage. There were no clear trends between work input during sheeting and either starch damage or particle size. Instrumental texture analysis of raw noodles showed no significant differences due to either starch damage or flour particle size. Flours with fine particle size gave cooked noodles with the best textural attributes, whereas starch damage exhibited no consistent relationship with cooked noodle texture. Cooking loss was greatest Analytical MethodsProtein content (%N × 5.7) was determined by combustion nitrogen analysis (CNA) using a CNA analyzer (model FP-248 Dumas, Leco Corp., St. Joseph, MI) calibrated with EDTA. Ash content, starch damage, and farinograph absorption were determined by Approved Methods 08-01, 76-31, and 54-20, respectively (AACC 2000). Mixograph tests were conducted using a 2-g direct drive mixo-

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The influence of four water absorption levels at 28–34% was examined on the processing and quality attributes of alkaline and white salted noodles prepared from Canadian Western Red Spring (CWRS), Canadian Western Red Winter (CWRW), and Canadian Western Soft White Spring, (CWSWS) flours. A significant decline (>50%) in the work required to produce the noodles was observed over this absorption range for both types of noodles. Significant differences were detected at 2 hr in the alkaline noodle brightness (L*) on the basis of water absorption level between the classes. Within a class, only CWSWS differentiated L* each absorption level, while CWRS differed only at the 28% level. The L* values of the alkaline noodles decreased by 24 hr but maintained their significant differences due to absorption levels. Significant increases in alkaline noodle yellowness (b*) were observed in each class at 2 hr with increasing water absorption. Yellowness values increased over 24 hr with only minor loss in discrimination due to absorption level. Water absorption levels had only a marginal effect on alkaline noodle redness (a*) values at 2 or 24 hr. Although the cooking time within each class was significantly shortened with each increase in water absorption, minimal influence was detected in the textural attributes of cooked alkaline noodles. White salted noodle L* values were significantly higher at 28% absorption for all classes at 2 and 24 hr, but only CWSWS displayed any further influence due to absorption level. Textural characteristics, recovery, resistance to compression, and maximum cutting stress of the white salted noodles significantly declined with increasing absorption levels in all classes.

Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) platforms are now considered a powerful tool for synthesizing a variety of proteins at scales from pL to 100 L with accelerated process development pipelines. We previously reported the advancement of a novel yeast-based CFPS platform. Here, we studied factors that cause termination of yeast CFPS batch reactions. Specifically, we characterized the substrate and byproduct concentrations in batch, fed-batch, and semi-continuous reaction formats through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and chemical assays. We discovered that creatine phosphate, the secondary energy substrate, and nucleoside triphosphates were rapidly degraded during batch CFPS, causing a significant drop in the reaction's energy charge (E.C.) and eventual termination of protein synthesis. As a consequence of consuming creatine phosphate, inorganic phosphate accumulated as a toxic byproduct. Additionally, we measured amino acid concentrations and found that aspartic acid was rapidly consumed. By adopting a semi-continuous reaction format, where passive diffusion enables substrate replenishment and byproduct removal, we achieved over a 70% increase in active superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) as compared with the batch system. This study identifies targets for the future improvement of the batch yeast CFPS reaction. Moreover, it outlines a detailed, generalized method to characterize and improve other CFPS platforms.