Study of change in the efficiency of CR-39 after storage for different product companies by using TRACK_TEST program

The main relation between efficiency of CR-39 nuclear track detector from different produced companies, critical angle for track revelation (θ_C) and bulk etch rate (V_B) have been stayed.Computer program TRACK_TEST was used for calculating track parameters and plotting profiles for etch pits in nuclear track materials.The results showed that for any application of CR-39 detector should be calibrated before used it. The detectors older than 3 years seemed to show odd behaviors of V_B with detector efficiency and the critical angle (θ_C).For age = 3 years the efficiency decreases exponentially for different alpha particle energy, and the bulk etch rate increases with decreasing age.This behavior may be important in applications of this detector; for example, the calibration factor for radon measurements should be established by taking into account the age of the detector.     

A New Soft‐Fusion Approach for Multiple‐Receiver Wireless Communication Systems

In this paper, a new soft‐fusion approach for multiple‐receiver wireless communication systems is proposed. In the proposed approach, each individual receiver provides the central receiver with a confidence level rather than a binary decision. The confidence levels associated with the local receiver are modeled by means of soft‐membership functions. The proposed approach can be applied to wireless digital communication systems, such as amplitude shift keying, frequency shift keying, phase shift keying, multi‐carrier code division multiple access, and multiple inputs multiple outputs sensor networks. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated and compared to the performance of the optimal diversity, majority voting, optimal partial decision, and selection diversity in case of binary noncoherent frequency shift keying on a Rayleigh faded additive white Gaussian noise channel. It is shown that the proposed approach achieves considerable performance improvement over optimal partial decision, majority voting, and selection diversity. It is also shown that the proposed approach achieves a performance comparable to the optimal diversity scheme.     

Optimization of equilibrium headspace analysis of volatile flavor compounds of malaysian soursop (Annona muricata): Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS)

Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled to comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS) was applied for equilibrium headspace analysis of Malaysian soursop (Annona muricata) volatile flavor compounds. A two-level fractional factorial design (2^5-1) was used to determine the effect of SPME variables, namely, SPME fibers, adsorption temperature, extraction time, amount of salt, sample amount and sample concentration on the extraction efficiency of volatile flavor compounds. A total of 37 volatile compounds were identified, comprising 21 esters, 6 alcohols, 3 terpenes, 2 acids, 2 ketones, 2 aldehydes and an aromatic with different hydrophobicities (log P) ranging between −0.14 and 4.83. Extraction using 10 g of diluted (5% w/w) blended soursop pulp with CAR/PDMS fiber at 25 °C for 30 min and 30% (w/w) of NaCl under stirring mode resulted in the highest extraction efficiency of volatile flavor compounds. The principal component analysis score discriminated the influence of SPME variables on the equilibrium headspace concentration of target volatile compounds.     

Process optimisation of encapsulated pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius) powder using spray‐drying method

A study on the production of spray‐dried pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius) powder was conducted and optimised using response surface methodology (RSM). Parameters investigated include inlet temperature (170–200 °C) and feed rate (6–12 rpm), with a preset outlet temperature of 90 °C. The estimated regression coefficients (R²) for the physicochemical characteristic and sensory responses of pandan powder were ≥0.800, except for overall acceptability. Some mathematical models could be developed with confidence based on the results from all responses. An optimum drying process for spray drying represents conditions that would yield acceptably high colour index (such as L value, a value and b value), low moisture content, low water activity (a_w), high solubility and high colour, flavour, odour and overall acceptability for sensory responses. Optimum conditions of 170 °C inlet temperature and 6 rpm feed rate, with a constant outlet temperature of 90 °C, were established for producing spray‐dried pandan powder as an edible colouring and flavouring powder. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Physical and sensory characteristics of processed Ras cheese spreads with formulated emulsifying salt mixtures

Processed cheese spreads were produced using Ras cheese and various emulsifying salt mixtures. Acidified Ras cheese (2 months old) was used as the cheese base and blended with following emulsifying salt mixtures: (i) Na‐pyrophosphate + Na‐polyphosphate, (ii) Na‐pyrophosphate + Na‐polyphosphate + Na‐tripolyphosphate, and (iii) Na‐pyrophosphate + Na‐polyphosphate + Na‐orthophosphate + Na‐tripolyphosphate. The control cheese spreads were also made with commercial emulsifying salts, Joha S10, S9s, and NO. Water activity, oil index, meltability, flow behavior, color parameters and sensory evaluations for the resultant processed cheese were studied. Cheeses showed slight differences in water activity while the differences were significant in oil index and meltability values. Shear stress of the processed cheese samples measured at 60°C was different from that of the control. It was dependent upon the individual salts in emulsifying mixture. Spreadable Ras cheese was shinier in treatment (iii) and exhibited darker color in samples stored at room temperature (20°C). Sensory evaluation showed that all cheeses were acceptable but the mixtures (i) 70:30, (ii) 60:30:10, and (iii) 50:20:20:10 produced the most acceptable processed cheese.     

URANS simulations for a free-running container ship:Part 2.Added power

Part 2 reports the validation,local force and local flow study results for the free-running added power simulations whose conditions are the same as the self-pr...     

Characterization of the influence of main emulsion components on the physicochemical properties of orange beverage emulsion using response surface methodology

The present work was conducted to investigate the influence of main emulsion components, namely Arabic gum (7–13% w/w), xanthan gum (0.1–0.3% w/w) and orange oil (6–10% w/w) contents on physical stability, viscosity, cloudiness and conductivity of orange beverage emulsion. In this study, 20 orange beverage emulsions were established based on a three-factor central composite design (CCD) involving 8 factorial points, 6 axial points and 6 center points. The main objective of the present study was to determine an optimal concentration level of main emulsion components leading to an optimum orange beverage emulsion with desirable physicochemical properties. In general, all response surface models were significantly (p<0.05) fitted for describing the variability of physical stability, viscosity, conductivity and cloudiness as a nonlinear function of the content of main emulsion components. More than 84% of the variation of physicochemical properties of orange beverage emulsion could be explained as a function of the content of the main beverage emulsion components. In general, the orange oil content appeared to be the most significant (p<0.05) factor influencing all emulsion characteristics studied except for conductivity. From the optimization procedure, the overall optimal region leading to the desirable orange beverage emulsion was predicted to be achieved by the combined level of 13% (w/w) Arabic gum, 0.22% (w/w) xanthan gum and 10% (w/w) orange oil.     

DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE HEAVY OIL HYDROCRACK1NG CATALYSTS: CHARACTERIZATION OF ATMOSPHERIC RESIDUE FEED

ABSTRACT

The characterization results of the atmospheric residue obtained from Saudi Arabian Light crude oil show the complex nature and composition of this material. The distillation results showed that about 50 percent of Arab Light crude is the atmospheric residue. The elemental analysis of the residue showed that high amount of carbon, sulfur and nitrogen is present along with heavy metals such as nickel and vanadium. The determination of hydrocarbon types by HPLC exhibited that 12% polars and 27% aromatics are present along with 6% asphaltenes. Nuclear magnetic resonance study conducted on the residue and its fraction provides a detailed composition in terms of aliphatic and aromatic nature of the residue and its fractions. The results showed that the residue contains 21% aromatic and 79% aliphatic carbon. The aliphatic carbon is present in saturates and as side chains of aromatic and polar molecules whereas the aromatic carbons are those in the ring structure. Asphaltenes separated from the residue were characterized for their different properties to understand its complexity. The use of electron spin resonance spectroscopy provides determination of the free radicals present in the residue. Asphaltenes were analyzed using the state-of-the-art high temperature high pressure electron spin resonance (ESR) technique in the temperature range 20 to 625 °C and at 30 and 50 bar hydrogen pressure. The ESR determination at 30 bar shows that me pressure was not enough to prevent the boiling of the asphaltene and thus a decrease in the spin concentration was observed beyond 350 °C temperature. The data at 50 bar pressure showed the adequacy of this pressure for ESR measurement. The PMRTA analysis of asphaltene showed a decrease in residual hydrogen with increasing temperature.     

An image registration algorithm based on phase correlation and the classical Lucas–Kanade technique

Image registration is defined as an important process in image processing in order to align two or more images. A new image registration algorithm for translated and rotated pairs of 2D images is presented in order to achieve subpixel accuracy and spend a small fraction of computation time. To achieve the accurate rotation estimation, we propose a two-step method. The first step uses the Fourier Mellin Transform and phase correlation technique to get the large rotation, then the second one uses the Fourier Mellin Transform combined with an enhance Lucas–Kanade technique to estimate the accurate rotation. For the subpixel translation estimation, the proposed algorithm suggests an improved Hanning window as a preprocessing task to reduce the noise in images then achieves a subpixel registration in two steps. The first step uses the spatial domain approach which consists of locating the peak of the cross-correlation surface, while the second uses the frequency domain approach, based on low-frequency (aliasing-free part) of aliased images. Experimental results presented in this work show that the proposed algorithm reduces the computational complexities with a better accuracy compared to other subpixel registration algorithms.