A Mass Transport Model for Drying Wood under Isothermal Conditions

Mass transport in wood during drying can have different mechanisms at different periods of drying. Depending on the current moisture content (MC) and the structure of the wood, the driving forces for the mass transport are essentially different. Above the fiber saturation point (FSP), the lumens are partially saturated and the transport of liquid (free) water occurs as a consequence of capillary action. On the other hand, below the FSP, bound water within the cell walls is conveyed by diffusion, and water vapor in the lumens moves under influence of pressures gradient. Based on these considerations, a unified model is presented that takes into account the transport of the different moisture phases. Simulation of the drying of a Norway spruce sample at 50°C from about 135 to 7% MC is carried out using the finite element method (FEM). Comparison between the simulated average MC and the experimental observations obtained from X-ray computed tomography (CT) shows reasonable agreement. Possible simplifications in the model are briefly discussed as well as some aspects of the numerical implementation. Finally, the influence of absolute permeability on the average MC is studied.     

A NOTE: POLYVALENT RADIOVACCINE AGAINST SALMONELLA

Salmonella strains exposed to lethal doses of gamma radiation are detoxified but retain their antigenic properties. Using eight Salmonella strains representative of each of the Salmonella serogroups A to G, a polyvalent radiovaccine has been developed which effectively immunizes mice to several Salmonella serotypes.     

Possibility of sewage and combined sewer overflow reuse with biological aerated filters.

The secondary effluent from municipal plants in Korea generally represents higher BOD with lower SS. Therefore, more soluble forms of organics and NH4-N need to be removed to improve its effluent for reuse. In this study reuse possibility of secondary effluent and CSO (combined sewer overflow) using BAF (biological aerated filter) was evaluated. The tertiary application with 1.2 h EBCT, SS, BOD and COD showed stable concentrations less than 1.3, 1.3 and 6.2 mg/L, respectively. Nitrogen could be nitrified even at 7 degrees suggesting BAF can be used for a water reuse method as well as an effective add-on facility in cold regions. However, BAF was not stable with CSO application at increased flow rates suggesting CSO must be equalised prior to application. Disinfection was necessary even during normal weather conditions.     

Characterization of Tomato Pulp Stickiness during Spray Drying using a Contact Probe Method

A contact probe test was developed to characterize the surface stickiness of a tomato pulp droplet at various moisture contents and temperatures. To provide tomato pulp samples with different moisture contents, tomato powder produced by a laboratory spray dryer was wetted to seven different moisture levels. The instantaneous tensile force curve was recorded during the probe withdrawal from which the maximum tensile force and other useful information were obtained and cross-examined against images of bonding, debonding, and failure of the material. Generally, at higher moisture contents tomato pulp exhibited cohesive failure followed by semi-adhesive failure, but when moisture content decreased to a certain level, a peak tensile pressure was observed and the failure was adhesive. In addition, higher temperatures shifted the points of adhesive failure toward lower moisture content.     

Deconvolution of infrared spectra using various milk proteins as an example

The theory of deconvolution of infra-red spectra is presented and illustrated using milk protein spectra. The advantage of this method is impressively demonstrated and its relevance for dairy farming shown using a simple example, the cooling of milk.     

Isolation and Partial Characterization of Phytic Acid-Rich Particles from Great Northern Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Phytic acid-rich particles were isolated from a combined density fraction (CDF) of Great Northern beans. CDF contained more than 80% of the total phytic acid, and 70% of the total crude protein and substantial amounts of certain minerals. CDF had phytic acid in both water soluble and water insoluble forms. An isolate containing phytic acid-rich particles was prepared from CDF using a Tris-base solution. The phytic acid-rich isolate contained 26.6% phytic acid, 34.3% protein, 30.0% total carbohydrates, 0.6% calcium, 2.1% magnesium, and 0.3% potassium. Chemical analysis and fractionation of CDF indicated that the water insoluble form of phytic acid in Great Northern beans was present as a salt of calcium-magnesium-potassium in association with proteins.     

QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF FLAVANOIDS IN BARLEY,HOPS AND BEER BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY (HPLC)

This work describes a method for the quantitative analysis of flavanoids of barley, hops and beer by HPLC. This method requires only about 4 h and it gives representative and reproducible results. A few results obtained by this method are given for barley and hops.     

Concurrent Cholesky factorization of positive definite banded Hermitian-matrices

First the Cholesky factorization is extended to cover uniformly partitioned banded positive definite matrices of rank n which may be real symmetric or Hermitian. Then two stratagems are given for the use of the algorithm in concurrent machines where the number of processing elements is less than required to factor the matrix in as few serial steps as possible, and where uniformly high efficiency is expected from all processing elements. Expressions are given for the efficiency factor e appearing in the speed-up expression g = eN, and these are specialized for the N node hypercube machine as a function of partition size s, the number N of processing elements of the hypercube machine, and the cost μ of interelement transmission relative to computation. It is shown that efficiency factor e is inversely proportional to μ/s, and that e is almost independent of N when N is large and μ/s = 0. The task is completed in n/s serial steps with no limit on n. The half bandwidth b of the matrix is 2Ns.