Beer is one of the most consumed beverages in the world. The culture of brewing beer is one that continues to attract the attention of people... Show moreBeer is one of the most consumed beverages in the world. The culture of brewing beer is one that continues to attract the attention of people from all walks of life. Beer can be differentiated one from another in terms of their color, alcohol content, smoothness, bitterness, type of ingredients used as well as the recipe used. In a very broad sense, however, beer can be broken up into lagers and ales. The main difference between lagers and ales is the kind of yeast used and the conditions under which the fermentation is carried out. In this project, an attempt will be made to produce a beer that is on the continuum between lagers and ales: the German Altbier. The Altbier has a unique combination of flavor, aroma, bitterness and smoothness. The central objective of this project is to take on the challenge of creating the Altbier. This will be accomplished by bringing together students from a broad range of academic backgrounds whose different skills sets will be applied to the task at hand. Deliverables Show less
Injury at the vessel wall leads to exposure of collagen to which platelets initially adhere, grow into aggregates and eventually thrombotic... Show moreInjury at the vessel wall leads to exposure of collagen to which platelets initially adhere, grow into aggregates and eventually thrombotic masses which can occlude the vessel lumen. This process underlies the disorders of heart attack and stroke. The initial phase of platelet aggregation governs the extent of thrombus formation. We have investigated initial platelet attachment to collagen-coated surfaces under mechanical and biochemical conditions in a parallel plate flow reactor. A simple algorithm has been developed to simulate the effects of platelet sliding/rolling on the surface with respect to the development of surface aggregate formation. Platelets are hypothesized to stop such movement once they collide with a neighboring platelet in their pathway (due to platelet coherence that strengthens the overall adhesive forces due to platelet-platelet bonding). We and others have observed microscopically that platelets will either attach firmly onto the surface, roll and slide or detach completely from the surface. Platelet behavior was investigated for overall adhesion and the translocation dynamics on overall adhesion on temperature, flow conditions, C-reactive protein (CRP), and coffee consumption. Our findings indicate that temperature, shear force, and CRP promote platelet adhesion and the intake of coffee impedes platelet adhesion. M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, May 2015 Show less
