High‐pressure processing effects on the mechanical,barrier and mass transfer properties of food packaging flexible structures: a critical review

Food products can be high‐pressure processed (HPP) either in bulk or prepackaged in flexible or semi‐rigid packaging materials. In the latter case the packaging material is subjected, together with the food, to high‐pressure treatment. A number of studies have been performed to quantify the effects of high‐pressure processing on the physical and barrier properties of the packaging material, since the integrity of the package during and after processing is of paramount importance to the safety and quality of the food product. This article reviews the results of published research concerning the effect of HPP on packaging materials. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High spatial order finite element method to solve Maxwell's equations in time domain

This paper presents a finite element method with high spatial order for solving the Maxwell equations in the time domain. In the first part, we provide the mathematical background of the method. Then, we discuss the advantages of the new scheme compared to a classical finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Several examples show the advantages of using the new method for different kinds of problems. Comparisons in terms of accuracy and CPU time between this method, the FDTD and the finite-volume time-domain methods are given as well.     

Improved coupled-mode theory for nonlinear directional couplers

An improved coupled-mode equation for nonlinear directional couplers (NLDC) with Kerr-like nonlinear media is proposed. The method is based on the generalized reciprocity relation in which two sets of field solutions satisfying Maxwell's equations are for the NLDC and for the isolated nonlinear waveguide. That leads to a reasonable result that all the coefficients in the coupled-mode equations, including the coupling coefficient, become power dependent. For the NLDC with a self-focusing or self-defocusing nonlinear material, the authors examine how the coupling coefficient, the coupling length, and the guided power depend on the input power in the range of coupling stronger than in previous reports. It is found that the critical power at which the coupling length becomes infinity does not increase as much with the two guides for the case of self-focusing media     

Fabrication of optical fibre nanowires and their optical and mechanical characterisation

It is demonstrated for the first time that long nanowires with radii as small as 30 nm can be manufactured with a conventional coupler fabrication rig. The temporal deterioration of nanowire optical properties has been studied and correlated with its mechanical behaviour. The original transmission properties have been restored by a post-fabrication treatment.     

Transformations in machining. Part 1. enhancement of wavelet transformation neural network (WT-NN) combination with a preprocessor

Properly selected transformation methods obtain the most significant characteristics of metal cutting data efficiently and simplify the classification. Wavelet Transformation (WT) and Neural Networks (NN) combination was used to classify the experimental cutting force data of milling operations previously. Preprocessing (PreP) of the approximation coefficients of the WT is proposed just before the classification by using the Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART2) type NNs. Genetic Algorithm (GA) was used to estimate the weights of each coefficient of the PreP. The WT-PreP-NN (ART2) combination worked at lower vigilances by creating only a few meaningful categories without any errors. The WT-NN (ART2) combination could obtain the same error rate only if very high vigilances are used and many categories are allowed.     

Magnetic Resonance Visualisation of Flow and Pore Structure in Packed Beds with Low Aspect Ratio

Different NMR techniques were combined to obtain the structure and velocity information for a systematic investigation of fixed beds with low aspect ratio (tube diameter to particle diamter, d_t/d_p) in the range 1.4 to 32. The structure of the void space was determined for a variety of packed beds of glass beads or regular and irregular porous pellets by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Based on the images the radial distribution of the voids within the bed was obtained. Ordering effects were found even for non‐spherical and polydisperse particles, and a maximum of the fluid density near the tube wall was confirmed for all pellet geometries and sizes. By combining MRI with velocity encoding, velocity profiles and distributions of flow velocity components of a single fluid phase through packed beds have been acquired. The radial velocity distribution follows an oscillatory pattern which largely reflects the ordering of the particles, which can be accessed from the density distribution of the interparticle fluid. Maximum velocities of up to four times the average value were found to occur near the tube wall. This wall effect was observed for all but the smallest particles, where the aspect ratio was d_t/d_p = 32. Moreover, a visualisation of flow pattern in the presence of packed particles was achieved by using a tagging technique, and the stationary flow field could be identified for an experimental time of several hours.