Constitutive equation of peroxide cross‐linking of thermoplastic polyolefin rubbers

A nonlinear constitutive equation has been proposed to describe the dependence of the cross‐link density vs. peroxide and coagent concentrations, following the dynamic vulcanization of ethene‐propene copolymers (EPM) rubbers. This was obtained by integrating the rate equations of the fundamental reactions of the cross‐linking processes (β‐scission, chemical coupling, coagent grafting). The compression set test ASTM D 395 was then modeled and put in correlation with the cross‐linking density. The model was then validated with compression set experimental data, obtained from a series of EPM rubbers dynamically cross‐linked under various conditions of peroxide/coagent content. The two most meaningful model parameters (N₁ and N₂, which are linked to the order of the rate equations) have been correlated with the elastomer microstructure, particularly with the ethene intramolecular chain distribution and content. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 45:333–342, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers     

An association analysis between OXT genotype and milk yield and flow in Italian Mediterranean river buffalo

The aim of this study was to evaluate possible associations between three SNPs at the oxytocin locus (AM234538: g.28C>T; g.204A>G and g.1627G>T) and two productive traits, milk yield and milkability, in Italian Mediterranean river buffaloes. Effects of parity, calving season and month of production were also evaluated. A total of 41 980 test-day records belonging to 219 lactations of 163 buffalo cows were investigated. The allele call rate was 98·8% and the major allele frequency for all the investigated loci was 0·76. The OXT genotype was significantly associated with milk yield (P=0·029). The TT genotype showed an average daily milk yield approximately 1·7 kg higher than GT buffaloes. Such a difference represents about 23% more milk/d. A large dominance effect (-1·17±0·43 kg) was estimated, whereas the contribution of OXT genotype (r(2)(OXT)) to the total phenotypic variance in milk yield was equal to 0·06. The TT genotype showed higher values also for the milk flow, even though the estimated difference did not reach a level of statistical significance (P=0·07). Such an association, among the first reported for the oxytocin locus in ruminants, should be tested on a population scale and possible effects on milk composition traits should be evaluated in order to supply useful indications for the application of marker-assisted selection programmes in river buffaloes.     

Effect of Fermentation and Drying on Procyanidins, Antiradical Activity and Reducing Properties of Cocoa Beans

This work was aimed to determine the effect of fermentation and drying on the content and profile of procyanidins (from monomers P1 to polymers P10) as well as on the antiradical and scavenging properties of cocoa beans. To this purpose, three experiments were carried out: a traditional fermentation process followed by air drying and two pilot-scale fermentation processes by either natural microbiota or starter followed by sun drying. Procyanidins were evaluated by HPLC analysis, while the total polyphenol index (TPI), the antiradical activity as well as the reducing power were determined by means of the reaction with the Folin–Ciocalteu reagent, the decolorization assays of the ABTS radical (TEAC) and the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) methods, respectively. Both the traditional and pilot-scale processes resulted to affect the profile and content of the procyanidins fractions as well as the antiradical and reducing power functionality. Drying caused a severe reduction of compounds and thus resulted to be the critical step for the loss of procyanidins and monomers in particular. The indices of functionality generally showed a decreasing trend as a consequence of processing, and their evolution was similar to that observed in procyanidins content. To study the relationship between the individual procyanidins and the antioxidant activity expressed as TEAC, FRAP and TPI, the data set were processed by modified partial least squares regression. The obtained models presented a good predictive ability. Normalised regression coefficients showed that the relative contribution of each single class of compounds to total antioxidant activity resulted as follows: P1?>?P2?>?P3?>?P4?>?P6?>?P8?>?P5?>?P7?>?P9?>>?P10.     

Inertial manipulation and transfer of microparticles across laminar fluid streams

A general strategy for controlling particle movement across streams would enable new capabilities in single-cell analysis, solid-phase reaction control, and biophysics research. Transferring cells across streams is difficult to achieve in a well-controlled manner, since it requires precise control of fluid flow along with external force fields or precisely manufactured mechanical structures. Herein a strategy is introduced for particle transfer based on passive inertial lift forces and shifts in the distribution of these forces for channels with shifting aspect ratios. Uniquely, use of the dominant wall-effect lift parallel to the particle rotation direction is explored and utilized to achieve controllable cross-stream motion. In this way, particles are positioned to migrate across laminar streams and enter a new solution without significant disturbance of the interface at rates exceeding 1000 particles per second and sub-millisecond transfer times. The capabilities of rapid inertial solution exchange (RInSE) for preparation of hematological samples and other cellular assays are demonstrated. Lastly, improvements to inline flow cytometry after RInSE of excess fluorescent dye and focusing for downstream analysis are characterized. The described approach is simply applied to manipulating cells and particles and quickly exposing them to or removing them from a reacting solution, with broader applications in control and analysis of low affinity interactions on cells or particles.     

Influence of processing and storage on the antioxidant activity of apple derivatives

The antioxidant activity of seven apple varieties was determined on fresh fruits and processed products (dried fruits and purees) and during storage. The antioxidant activity of apples correlated with the total phenol concentration but not with ascorbic acid concentration. Apple derivatives showed a lower antioxidant activity than the counterparts of the fresh fruits and the occurrence of browning phenomena during processing resulted in lower antioxidant activity. Dried fruits showed higher antioxidant activity per gram of dried matter than fruit purees probably because of the lower total thermal effect of processing. The antioxidant activity of all products increased within the first month of storage, and then declined. The extent of early increase was related to the polyphenol content of the fruit. Packaging conditions further influenced the antioxidant activity increase during storage possibly by affecting the oxygen availability.     

Peroxide crosslinking of Ziegler‐Natta thermoplastic polyolefins

A range of reactor grade TPO alloys (PP/EPM alloys from Ziegler‐Natta catalysis) were studied in order to evaluate their dynamic cross‐linkability, using a peroxide system. The amount of ethylene content in EPM rubber ranged from 28 to 77 wt%, to investigate the competition between vis‐breaking and cross‐linking during the peroxide reaction. Processing temperature and different peroxide/coagent ratios were the parameters varied in the present work. Cross‐linking degree was evaluated with Compression Set measurements and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis. It was therefore possible to find a correlation between the two analytical techniques. Feasibility of TPV rubbers with Compression Set at about 50% (22 h, 70°C) was demonstrated.     

Computing the electromagnetic field of the system of arbitrarily positioned conductors in horizontally stratified multilayer medium

This paper presents a novel computational methodology, based on the finite element technique, for the analysis of electromagnetic field due to system of arbitrarily positioned current‐carrying conductors in horizontally stratified multilayer medium, having arbitrary number of layers with different characteristics (including air). Each soil layer is horizontally unbounded, homogenous and isotropic, whereas conductors can penetrate different layers and extend into the air. The effect of the stratified multilayer medium is taken into account by using the originally developed fixed image method. Complete electromagnetic coupling between grounding system conductors (satisfying thin‐wire approximation) is taken into account, whereas attenuation and phase shift effects are approximated. The electric and magnetic field in stratified multilayer medium are computed from the scalar electric and vector magnetic potentials, using the said fixed image method and approximations to the attenuation and phase shift effects. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamic image data compression in spatial and temporal domains:theory and algorithm

Advanced medical imaging requires storage of large quantities of digitized clinical data. These data must be stored in such a way that their retrieval does not impair the clinician's ability to make a diagnosis. We propose a theory and algorithm for near lossless dynamic image data compression. Taking advantage of domain-specific knowledge related to medical imaging, medical practice and the dynamic imaging modality, a compression ratio greater than 80:1 is achieved. The high compression ratios are achieved by the proposed algorithm through three stages: (1) addressing temporal redundancies in the data through application of image optimal sampling, (2) addressing spatial redundancies in the data through cluster analysis, and (3) efficient coding of image data using standard still-image compression techniques. To illustrate the practicality of the algorithm, a simulated positron emission tomography (PET) study using the fluoro-deoxy-glucose (FDG) tracer is presented. Realistic dynamic image data are generated by virtual scanning of a simulated brain phantom as a real PET scanner. These data are processed using the conventional and proposed algorithms as well as the techniques for storage and analysis. The resulting parametric images obtained from the conventional and proposed approaches are subsequently compared to evaluate the proposed compression algorithm. The storage space for dynamic image data reduced by more than 95%, without loss in diagnostic quality. Therefore, the proposed theory and algorithm are expected to be very useful in medical image database management and telecommunication