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2021

Exploiting Small-Angle Neutron Scattering to Reveal the Structure of Food Materials

Webinar Monday 31 May at 14.00

Prof Elliot Paul Gilbert
Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering,
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation,
Lucas Heights, NSW 2234, Australia

When designing food products for the market-place, it is important to understand and predict structure-function-property relationships within food constituents. This includes knowledge of not only the structure of native materials but also their structural changes across a wide range of length scales brought about by food processing. The inherent complexity of modern food systems calls for interdisciplinary scientific approaches to be applied.
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) commenced the ‘Food Materials Science Programme’ to explore opportunities for the utilisation of the nuclear based methods, including small angle neutron scattering (SANS), in a quest to extend this understanding. This presentation will highlight the role of SANS in the context of broader materials characterisation methods, illustrating this approach using several examples [1-9].

[1] Elliot Paul Gilbert, Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science 42 (2019) 55.
[2] Amparo Lopez-Rubio, Elliot Paul Gilbert, Trends in Food Science and Technology 20 (2009) 576.
[3] James Doutch, Mark Bason, Ferdi Franceshcini, Kevin James, Douglas Clowes, Elliot P. Gilbert, Carbohydrate Polymers 88 (2012) 1061.
[4] Zhi Yang, Xu Xu, Yacine Hemar, Guang Mo, Liliana de Campo, Elliot P. Gilbert, Food Hydrocolloids 109 (2020) 106092.
[5] Arjen Bot, Elliot P. Gilbert, Wim G. Bouwman, Hassan Sawalha, Ruud den Adel, Vasyl M. Garamus, Paul Venema, Erik van der Linden, and Eckhard Flöter, Faraday Discussions 158 (2012) 223
[6] Constantinos V. Nikiforidis, Elliot Paul Gilbert, Elke Scholten, RSC Advances 5 (2015) 47466
[7] Steven Cornet, Liliana de Campo, Marta Martinez-Sanz, Elke Scholten and Elliot Paul Gilbert*, in preparation.
[8] Lirong Cheng, Aiqian Ye, Yacine Hemar, Elliot Paul Gilbert, Liliana De Campo, Andrew E. Whitten, Harjinder Singh, Langmuir 35 (2019) 12017-12027

[9] www.ansto.gov.au/research/programs/other/food-science


Evolution and Growth of Neutron Sciences at Oak Ridge

Thursday, 18 March 2021, at 2:00 p.m.

Prof. Paul Langan,
Associate Laboratory Director - Oak Ridge National Laboratory - USA

Delivering scientific discoveries and major scientific tools to transform our understanding of nature and advance the energy, economic, and national security of the US is a major part of the mission of the Department of Energy (DOE). To carry out this mission, DOE has developed powerful sources of x-rays and neutrons and provides additional capabilities at nanoscale science research centers. The DOE neutron sources - the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) and the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) - are located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The neutron beam characteristics at the SNS and HFIR are highly complementary and best matched to provide different types of scientific information. Both are needed to provide researchers with the broadest range of experimental capabilities for science. Visiting researchers from across the globe use these neutron beams to extend the frontiers of science and support the development of new materials and technologies with real-world applications. In this colloquium, the recent evolution and growth of neutron science research at ORNL will be discussed.  Further, new avenues of research will be described that could be enabled by major upgrades to the SNS and HFIR facilities, the collaborative use of complementary user facilities and techniques, and advances in instrumentation, sample environments, neutron optics and detectors, and new computational methods.


Human droplets and aerosols

Friday 5 March 2021, at 14.00 webinar

Prof. Dr. Eberhard Bodenschatz
Director Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization,Goettingen

SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted by human aerosols and droplets. I will give  an overview of their formation, their propagation modalities and their deposition in the respiratory tract. I shall present measurements of 127 volunteers  totaling more than 67 hours of measurements.  We measured all age groups  with 53 female and 74 male. We conducted 1362 experiments on breathing, singing, shouting, humming and coughing. We analyzed 9000 holograms and 2Mio images for 3D particle tracking. With this data we now have a very good data base that allows us to predict the risk of infection in a room.  For this propose we wrote the webapp HEADS (aerosol.ds.mpg.de) and developed a theory for the infection risk, if more than one virus are within one aerosol. I will show why face masks give excellent protection , why playing wind instruments and singing is possible again.  I shall also discuss ventilation strategies and simple solutions for it.

UPDATE  (December 2021):  Publication on the propagation distance of SARS-CoV virus and effectiveness of face masks :

https://www.mpg.de/17916867/coronavirus-masks-risk-protection

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/49/e2110117118