In vitro availability of minerals of some tropical and citrus fruits as influenced by antinutritional factors

Four tropical fruits and three citrus fruits were analyzed for moisture, ash, antinutritional factors (phytate, oxalate, and polyphenols) contents, and total and available minerals. Moisture contents ranged from 6.0 to 83.17% for tropical fruits while that of citrus fruits ranged from 88.20 to 89.50%. Ash contents ranged from 2.56 to 4.50% and from 3.83 to 4.83%, for tropical and citrus fruits, respectively. All fruits contained no oxalate while phytate and polyphenols ranged from 48.1 to 134.1 mg/ 100 g and from 0.115 to 0.34%, respectively. For all fruits major minerals contents ranged from 7.7 to 433.3 while trace ones ranged from 0.116 to 1.91 mg/100 g. In vitro availabilities of major minerals (% of total) varied from 11.1 to 86.2% while for minor ones it ranged from 13 to 72.5%.     

Effect of temperature and sanitizers on the survival of feline calicivirus, Escherichia coli, and F-specific coliphage MS2 on leafy salad vegetables

We conducted a series of experiments to compare the survival of Escherichia coli, feline calicivirus, and F-specific coliphage MS2 on lettuce and cabbage with and without disinfection. Inoculated produce was held at 4, 25, or 37 degrees C for 21 days or was treated with different concentrations of sodium bicarbonate, chlorine bleach, peroxyacetic acid, or hydrogen peroxide. Survival was measured by the decimal reduction value (time to 90% reduction in titer) and the change in log titers of the test organisms. A stronger correlation of survival measures was observed between feline calicivirus and MS2 than between E. coli and either of the viral agents at 25 and 37 degrees C. The maximum time to detection limit for MS2 at all temperatures was 9 days, whereas feline calicivirus was detected for a maximum of 14 days at 4 degrees C. In contrast, E. coli was detectable for 21 days at 4 and 25 degrees C and for 14 days at 37 degrees C. Significant increases in E. coli titer occurred within the first 5 days, but virus titers decreased steadily throughout the experiments. E. coli was also highly susceptible to all disinfectants except 1% sodium bicarbonate and 50 ppm chlorine bleach, whereas the viruses were resistant to all four disinfectants.     

On Performance Characteristics of Three-Lobe Porous Hydrodynamic Journal Bearings

This paper presents an analysis of a three-lobe porous hydrodynamic journal bearing for its static and dynamic performance characteristics. The performance characteristics of the bearing have been computed and presented in graphical form for a wide range of permeability parameter to investigate the effect of porosity on bearing performance. The stability margin of the three-lobe journal bearing system, in terms of crtical mass of journal, has been established using Routh's criteria. The nature of transient motion of the journal has been analyzed using the complex eigen values of characteristic equation and motion trajectories obtained by numerical integration of equations of motion.     

An airy function to rapidly predict stresses in wound metal strip having asymmetric thickness profile

With increased demand for thin gage flat metals, control of strip flatness or shape in cold rolling processes has become very important. To improve the flatness quality of cold rolled metal strip and sheet, this work provides a rapid method to predict the transient strains (or stresses) occurring during the rewinding of flat-rolled steels having problematic asymmetric strip thickness profile (or wedge). Flatness control systems, used to monitor and correct the distribution of stress across the width of rolled sheet, are unable to distinguish between stresses induced during rolling, and those caused when rewinding strip containing asymmetric thickness profile. The winding stresses, unless large enough to plastically deform the strip, vanish upon unwinding during subsequent operations such as stamping. Therefore, to help avoid strip flatness defects in thin strip containing wedge, a method is developed to separate the winding stress contribution from the overall stresses that are measured indirectly by flatness control systems. A fourth-order polynomial Airy function is developed to rapidly predict the in-plane stresses based on mandrel wrap number and spatial location on the strip. The Airy function is obtained by applying two-dimensional finite element analysis to study the transient in-plane stresses during rewinding at various numbers of mandrel wraps for a strip containing wedge profile. Three-dimensional finite element analysis is first employed, however, to show justification to a simplified two-dimensional problem described by the plane-stress Airy function. The two-dimensional finite element analysis provides insight as to how the in-plane stresses evolve, and allows determination of coefficients for the Airy function based upon model geometry and displacement boundary conditions. This approach differs from other methods that employ Fourier series to solve the biharmonic equations for an assumed two-dimensional problem. Finally, filtering of the winding stresses from flatness control system input signals is also discussed based on data taken from a rolling mill different to that used for model development.     

Spectroscopic and magnetic investigation of NiCo nanoferrites

Spectroscopic and magnetic characterization of Ni_1−xCo_xFe₂O₄ (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) nanoparticles is presented. The infrared spectra are measured in the frequency range 700-350 cm⁻¹. Two prominent bands are observed, low frequency band at about 400 cm⁻¹ and high frequency band at about 600 cm⁻¹ assigned to octahedral and tetrahedral sites, respectively. The force constants K_o and K_t corresponding to octahedral and tetrahedral sites, respectively are also calculated from FTIR spectra. The effect of co-concentration on the magnetic properties has been investigated using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). After appropriate treatments, it is found that both magnetic saturation (M_s) and coercivities (H_c) increase with co-concentration.     

A sol-gel route to nanocrystalline TiN coated cubic boron nitride particles

For the purpose of increasing microstructural homogeneity and enhancing the reinforcement-matrix interfacial area, cubic Boron Nitride, cBN particles were coated by nanocrystalline TiN by a sol-gel route that required neither the need for pH adjustment nor the use of surfactants or additives. Uniform shells of amorphous titania having thicknesses in the nanometers scale were formed on the surface of the cBN particles by hydrolysis and condensation reactions of titanium (IV) isopropoxide. The amorphous coated cBN powder was nitrided to crystalline TiN coated cBN by treating in NH₃ gas at 900 °C. After nitridation the amorphous layer was completely converted to nanocrystalline TiN particles that uniformly covered the surface of cBN. Changes in the TiO_x coated layer thickness and the size of the TiN particles were investigated as a function of alkoxide content. TiO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized using the same reaction conditions, but without the presence of cBN. These nanoparticles were calcined in air at different temperatures (250-700 °C) and then nitrided at 900 °C. The nitridation behavior of TiO₂ nanoparticles was studied as a function of calcination temperature.     

Cooperative Multiuser Relay Communications Employing Hierarchical Modulation

Relay-assisted cooperative communications are a promising solution for error-performance improvement and cell coverage extension. However, additional resources such as time slots or frequency bands are required for the relay, which reduce the overall throughput. This paper proposes two cooperative relay schemes that employ hierarchical modulation to overcome this limitation. One scheme is for symmetric downlink communications and the other is for asymmetric downlink communications. These schemes exploit the hierarchical modulation symbols for users in the network and allow the system to transmit two or more independent data streams simultaneously. The proposed schemes reduce the number of transmission phases to the same as conventional schemes without diversity gain. The symbol-error rates of the proposed systems are a function of the distance parameter of hierarchical modulation. By flexibly controlling the distance parameter based on specific scenarios, it allows an extra degree of freedom to guarantee error performance of receivers whose signals undergo different losses.     

Evaluating the Effect of Hardness on Erosion Characteristics of Aluminum and Steels

In this paper, the erosion behavior of commonly used stainless steels (AISI 310S, AISI 316), carbon steel (AISI 1020), and Aluminum 6060 were experimentally investigated. The effect of hardness on erosion rates and on the morphologies of eroded surfaces has been evaluated. The experiments were carried out using an air jet erosion tester and utilizing angular alumina as erodent with 50 µm particle size. The samples were tested at six different impact angles (15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90°) using three different impact velocities (30, 60, and 100 m/s). The eroded surfaces were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) for the evaluation of material degradation. The erosion rates were found to increase with the increase of the alloy bulk hardness and Aluminum 6060 showed maximum erosion resistance. For all specimens, the erosion rates were found to increase with the increase of impact velocity and the maximum erosion rate was found to occur between 15° and 30° impact angles. The obtained results were found to correlate very well with Oka et al. (Wear, 259:95–101, 2005) erosion model.     

ANALYTIC SOLUTIONS FOR MHD FLOWS OF AN OLDROYD-B FLUID BETWEEN TWO SIDEWALLS PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLATE

This study is concerned with analytic solutions of some magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows of an Oldroyd-B fluid. The fluid is assumed to be electrically conducting in the presence of a uniform magnetic field and occupies the space over a flat plate between two sidewalls perpendicular to the plate. The governing equation of motion is treated analytically, yielding the derivation of exact solutions under integral and series form. By assigning numerical values to various parameters, the integrals encountered are evaluated numerically. In the absence of sidewalls, all solutions that have been obtained reduce to those corresponding to the motion over an infinite plate. The impacts of several quantities are investigated on the resulting velocity field and the tangential stress at the bottom wall.