Inhibition of microbial growth in ready‐to‐eat food stored at ambient temperature by modified atmosphere packaging

This study was undertaken to develop a modified atmosphere package to control microbial growth in ready‐to‐eat (RTE) products stored at ambient temperature. Ethanol and/or limonene associated with modified atmosphere (CO₂ : O₂ : N₂ = 30% : 5% : 65%) was used to inhibit the growth of total air‐borne microorganisms and Escherichia coli in RTE products stored at 25°C. The results indicated that 0.05% ethanol vapour in the headspace was effective to inhibit the growth of air‐borne microorganisms and E. coli at 25°C for 72 h in a model study, and the effectiveness was related to ethanol content. Both 73 ppm limonene and 0.05% ethanol vapour enhanced the bacteriostatic effect of modified atmosphere in RTE sushi roll products, and no off‐flavour was detected using this formulated gas; however, no significant inhibitory effect was observed for RTE cold noodle products. This study concludes that combinations of carbon dioxide, ethanol or limonene vapours are effective to inhibit microbial growth in RTE food at ambient temperature, and the outcome may be due to the hurdle effect. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis of amphiphilic magnetic microspheres by dispersion copolymerization of styrene and poly(ethylene oxide) macromonomer

Amphiphilic magnetic microspheres ranging in diameter from 5 to 100 µm were prepared by dispersion copolymerization of styrene and poly(ethylene oxide) vinylbenzyl (PEO‐VB) macromonomer (MPEO) in the presence of Fe₃O₄ magnetic fluid. The effects of various polymerization parameters on the average particle size were systematically investigated. The average particle size was found to increase with increasing styrene concentration and initiator concentration. It also increased with decreasing stabilizer concentration and molecular weight of MPEO. The content of the hydroxyl groups localized in the microspheres ranged from 0.01 to 0.2 mmol g^?1. © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

产出水处理设备的腐蚀和机械磨损

提供了能够延长与产出水举升、加工、处置和注入有关的油气生产设备使用寿命的成功经验和技术,并按照产出水的处理程序进行介绍,即从油藏中的液体进入井筒到举升到地面(井筒管理),地面生产/加工设备和处理/注入设备的整个处理过程.由于井筒是最主要的设备,多数作业成本都与将液体举升到地面有直接关系,因此要重点强调井筒的管理.通过减少井的事故(抽油杆、油管和泵)可以大大降低操作成本,延长边缘井的生产时间.地面处理成本包括如何使泄漏、漏出物清洗及原油携带量降到最低的费用.上述经验来源于2002年8月对Permian盆地上成功优化水处理成本的作业商进行的采访;已发表的油气技术文献;本文作者在油气作业领域的个人经验(31年以上).     

炼油厂全流程优化建模方法研究

为了克服使用线性规划和单处理单元非线性规划进行生产优化的内在缺点，在建立原油单元、催化裂化、催化重整和汽油调合等4个重要处理单元详细模型的基础上，将单处理单元非线性过程模型集成到一个全流程优化非线性模型中。优化的目标函数是使炼油厂全厂利润最大。决策变量是那些显著影响全厂效益的变量，约束条件是单个处理单元约束条件的集合。对某炼油厂进行实例研究，结果表明该全流程模型能有效处理全厂优化问题，所得利润在线性规划的基础上提高4．5％。     

相关条件下基于N-P准则的分布式检测理论研究

本文针对并行网络、二元局部判决的情况,研究了在相关条件下基于N-P准则的分布式检测融合算法,给出了在联合概率密度已知和未知两种情况下的最优融合规则的理论推导及相应的解决方案,并在实验仿真的基础上,得到了部分有益的结论。     

Finite element analysis of advanced multilayer capacitors

We establish a systematic methodology to design and analyse electromagnetic components such as advanced multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) using the finite element (FE) method. We employ a coupled formulation to compute the interaction between the electric and magnetic fields. Unlike a linear distribution of current assumed in the circuit model, an accurate electrostatic solution to model the entire advanced MLCCs (4 × 4 × 27 = 432 cells) is presented. The FE solution is used to compute the lumped parameters for a range of frequencies. These lumped parameters are then used to compute the parasitic elements of the MLCCs. We introduce two algorithms to efficiently analyse the behaviour of a capacitor with changing frequency. The lower frequency (much below the self‐resonant frequency of the capacitor) algorithm separates the effect of the electric and magnetic fields and reduces the computational effort required to solve the FE problem, whereas, the high‐frequency algorithm couples the effect between the electric and the magnetic fields. We use these algorithms in conjunction with a new multiple scale technique to effectively determine the small values of R, L and C in MLCCs. The formulation, the implementation, and the numerical results demonstrate the efficacy of the present FE formulation and establish a systematic methodology to design and analyse advanced electromagnetic components. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mass Transfer in a Flat Gas/Liquid Interface using non‐Newtonian Media

Gas/liquid mass transfer has been investigated using a stirred vessel gas/liquid contactor using non‐Newtonian media and carbon dioxide as absorbent and gas phase, respectively. The volumetric mass transfer coefficients at different operational variables have been determined. Non‐Newtonian media (liquid phase) were prepared as aqueous solutions of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose salt. The influence of the rheological properties, polymer concentration, stirring rate, and gas flow rate on mass transfer was studied for these liquid phases. Kinematic viscosity and density experimental data were used to calculate the average molecular weight corresponding to the polymer employed. The Ostwald model has been used to fit the rheological behavior of aqueous solutions of the polymer employed as absorbent phase. Reasonably good agreement was found between the predictions of the proposed models and the experimental data of mass transfer coefficients.     

Flammenpyrolytische Silikatbeschichtung bei Normaldruck als Alternative zu Vakuumverfahren. Combustion CVD of silica as an alternative method to vakuum treatment

In advancement of Pyrosil®‐technology a new kind of precursor delivery was developed, build and tested on real substrates. A Lab‐demonstrator was build to demonstrate the resources of the technology.     

Kinetic Characteristics of Amino Acid Salt Crystallization in Methanol‐Water System

Nucleation and growth mechanisms and kinetics of crystals of an amino acid salt were investigated in a methanol‐water system by measuring and evaluating the induction time as a function of the supersaturation ratio and temperature in batch salting out crystallization experiments. Discrimination between the possible crystallization mechanisms, and estimation of the kinetic parameters were carried out using nonlinear parameter identification. The results concerning the growth mechanism obtained were checked additionally by measuring the induction time as a function of number density of seed crystals.     

Synthesis and characterization of conducting copolymers from aniline and o‐anisidine in HCl solutions

Conducting poly(aniline‐co‐o‐anisidine) (PAS) films with different ratios of aniline units in the polymer chain were prepared by oxidative polymerization of different molar ratios of aniline and o‐anisidine in 1 M HCl using cyclic voltammetry. Due to the much higher reactivity of o‐anisidine, the structure and properties of PASs were found to be dominated by the o‐anisidine units. The polymerization of poly‐o‐anisidine and PASs followed zero‐order kinetics with respect to formation of the polymer (film thickness) and the autocatalytic polymerization of aniline was completely inhibited. In contrast to polyaniline, a decrease in the polymerization temperature was found to increase the amount of copolymer formed and its redox charge. The presence of aniline units in PASs led to a pronounced increase in the molecular weight and conductivity, and a decrease in the solubility in organic solvents. Repetitive charging/discharging cycles showed that PASs resist degradation more than polyaniline. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry