Effects of breed and age at slaughter on degradation of muscle lipids during processing of dry‐cured hams

Hams from Landrace, Duroc and Hampshire pigs slaughtered at ages 6, 7.5 and 9 months were processed to generate Norwegian Parma‐style hams. Lipid contents and the compositions of fatty acid classes (ΣSFA, ΣMUFA, ΣPUFA) within neutral lipids, phospholipids and free fatty acids were determined. Small differences in lipid degradation and composition of the classes were revealed. However, significant sensory differences related to lipids were observed. Breed was more important than age. Dry‐cured Hampshire hams gave a more intense mature odour that may be associated with higher overall lipid degradation. Unexpectedly, these hams also demonstrated high juiciness and tenderness, which could be related to the melting characteristics of the fat. Dry‐cured Duroc hams showed a higher susceptibility towards rancidity, presumably associated with preferential oxidation of n‐6 fatty acids relative to C18:1 n‐9. Dry‐cured Landrace hams showed the lowest juiciness and tenderness, likely due to their lower fat content (marbling).     

Space-time finite elements for a simplified thermo-metallurgical problem relevant to casting

The non-linear thermo-metallurgical problem, relevant for the cooling of a molten metal including the macro-segregation that occurs during the cooling process, is studied here. Due to the strong non-linearities involved in phase transformations, it is necessary to use a fine resolution in space-time in a finite element approximation in order to meet accuracy requirements. We derive space-time FE-methods based on the discontinuous and continuous Galerkin method in time for the energy equation. This formulation integrates the stored energy exactly for a given heat flux. When macro-segregation is incorporated into the model, the problem can be formulated in such a way that the phase-transition drives a flow of species. In addition, diffusion is possible throughout the domain. The model can be further rewritten using a potential approach. By this approach for modelling macro-segregation, we are able to obtain discretizations that guarantee that the balance equations are satisfied, and it is possible to solve the phase-transition problem either as a field problem or as a local problem (defined by a local evolution rule).     

Parameter extraction for bipolar transistors

Different methods of extracting the DC Gummel-Poon bipolar transistor model parameters are reviewed. First the shortcomings of the classical extraction schemes for the intrinsic model are presented together with some improved procedures. Finally the extraction of the series resistances is addressed.     

Influence of wettability on the properties of thin porous platinum films as gates of metal-oxide-semiconductor devices in electrolytes

Thin discontinuous (4 and 35 nm thick) platinum films were used as the gate metal of metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors. It was observed that the metal film acts as a gas permeable structure in electrolyte solutions when the surface was hydrophobic and sufficiently rough. The probable explanation to this is that the electrolyte does not penetrate into the voids of the metal film. The geometry of the surface was investigated by transsion electron microscopy and profilometer measurements. Surfaces with different contact angles were studied in order to determine whether the electrolyte penetrates into the voids in the platinum film when the surface is sufficiently hydrophilic.     

Boundary Procedures for Summation-by-Parts Operators

Four different methods of imposing boundary conditions for the linear advection-diffusion equation and a linear hyperbolic system are considered. The methods are analyzed using the energy method and the Laplace transform technique. Numerical calculations are done, considering in particular the case when the initial data and boundary data are inconsistent.     

Design and evaluation of an active electromechanical wheel suspension system

This paper presents an electromechanical wheel suspension, where the upper arm of the suspension has been provided with an electric levelling and a damper actuator, both are allowed to work in a fully active mode. A control structure for the proposed suspension is described. The complex design task involving the control of the electric damper and its machine parameters is tackled by genetic optimisation. During this process, these parameters are optimised to keep the power dissipation of the electric damper as low as possible, while maintaining acceptable comfort and road-holding capabilities. The results of the evaluations carried out demonstrate that the proposed suspension can easily adopt its control parameters to obtain a better compromise of performance than that offered by passive suspensions. If the vehicle is to maintain acceptable performance during severe driving conditions, the damper has to be unrealistically large. However, if the electric damper is combined with a hydraulic damper, the size of the electric damper is significantly reduced. In addition, the design of the electric damper with the suggested control structure, including how it regenerates energy, is discussed.     

Intrauterine or oral administration of levonorgestrel in combination with estradiol to perimenopausal women--effects on lipid metabolism during 12 months of treatment

Electrical stimulation of the basal temporal region of the dominant hemisphere before partial temporal lobectomy for epilepsy sometimes produces temporary interruption of language function, but the significance of removal of this area is unknown. We evaluated the correlation between resection of the basal temporal language areas (BTLA) and certain types of postoperative language deficits. In a population of 25 patients, we mapped the inferolateral temporal lobe with cortical electrical stimulation, verifying the positions of the stimulating electrodes with three-dimensional computed tomography (CT). Eighty percent of the patients developed transient language deficits with stimulation, particularly with tests of confrontation naming and comprehension. BTLA was primarily located in the fusiform gyrus, from 1 to 9 cm from the temporal tip. At testing 6-12 months after operation, patients with BTLA resection performed worse (mean 9% decrease) than those with no BTLA resection (mean 4% improvement) on tests of confrontation naming (p = 0.03). Resection size accounted for less of the variance in decrease in confrontation naming than did resection of the BTLA. Tests of performance I.Q. (PIQ), verbal I.Q. (VIQ), or recognition memory for word and verbal learning showed no significant difference between these groups. Most patients do not have language decrease with removal of basal temporal lobe 5-6 cm from the tip, even with removal of BTLA. Some patients, however, have persistent decrease in naming.     

Performance and cost trade-off in Tracking Area reconfiguration: A Pareto-optimization approach

Tracking Area (TA) design is one of the key tasks in location management of Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks. TA enables to trace and page User Equipments (UEs). As UEs distribution and mobility patterns change over time, TA design may have to undergo revisions. For revising the TA design, the cells to be reconfigured typically have to be temporary torn down. Consequently, this will result in service interruption and “cost”. There is always a trade-off between the performance in terms of the overall signaling overhead of the network and the reconfiguration cost. In this paper, we model this trade-off as a bi-objective optimization problem to which the solutions are characterized by Pareto-optimality. Solving the problem delivers a host of potential trade-offs among which the selection can be based on the preferences of a decision maker. An integer programming model has been developed and applied to the problem. Solving the integer programming model for various cost budget levels leads to an exact scheme for Pareto-optimization. In order to deliver Pareto-optimal solutions for large networks in one single run, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) embedded with Local Search (LS) is applied. Unlike many commonly adopted approaches in multi-objective optimization, our algorithm does not consider any weighted combination of the objectives. Comprehensive numerical results are presented in this study, using large-scale realistic or real-life network scenarios. The experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.