The effects of low salt concentrations on the mechanism of adhesion between two pieces of pork semimembranosus muscle following tumbling and cooking

The aim of this research was to gain deeper insight into the effect of salt content on the adhesion between pieces of semimembranosus pork muscle bound by a tumbling exudate gel. Hydrophobic site number, free thiol and carbonyl content were measured in tumbling exudate and meat protein to evaluate the protein–protein interactions involved in the adhesion process. Proteins were far more oxidized in exudate than in meat, and under our experimental conditions, salt content increased protein bonding in the exudate but not in the meat. Breaking stress increased between non-salted meat and 0.8%-salted meat but did not depend on the protein physicochemical properties of the tumbling exudate. Modifying the meat surface by tumbling alone, tumbling and salting, or scarification had no effect on breaking stress. It is suggested that the break between the meat pieces occurred between the tumbling exudate and the meat surface due to weaker chemical bonds at this location.     

Nucleation and growth of the γ′(AlAg2) precipitate in Al–Ag(–Cu) alloys

Precipitation of the γ′(AlAg₂) phase was investigated in Al–Ag(–Cu) alloys using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy. Precipitation commenced with segregation of Ag to stacking faults, followed by thickening in steps corresponding to single unit cell height ledges. In conjunction with gradual segregation of Ag and Al into ordered layers, this yielded γ′ phase platelets with a thickness of either 2 or 3 × the AlAg₂c-lattice parameter. Plates with a thickness of 2c(AlAg₂) could not achieve self-accommodation of the shape strain for transformation. Further thickening of the precipitates was slow, despite considerable Ag segregation around the precipitates. Growth by the addition of single unit cell height ledges is expected to lead to an additional shear strain energy barrier to ledge nucleation and this may contribute to a process of nucleation-limited growth.     

Variable neighborhood search for a planning problem with resource constraints in a health simulation center

Applied Intelligence - In this paper we propose the Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) algorithm SimULS to solve a planning problem in the Health Simulation Center SimUSanté. This center...     

Use of scanning capacitance microscopy for controlling wafer processing

Scanning capacitance microscopy and electrostatic force microscopy have been used to characterize commercial semiconductor devices at various stages of the fabrication process. These methods, combined with conventional atomic force microscopy, allow to visualize qualitatively the oxide thickness, the nature of dopants and the exact position of implanted areas.     

High Performance Computing in the Optimization of Software Test Plans

Statistical software testing is an increasingly popular method in the software development cycle. An exact modeling of the usage profiles of a software system is an indispensable prerequisite for statistical testing. Recently, new techniques for obtaining optimal usage profiles even the presence of rarely used critical functions have been introduced. Although these techniques deliver unbiased dependability estimates with a single model (instead of using multiple models as it is the current practice) their applicability is hampered by their prohibitive computational complexity.In this paper we demonstrate that these techniques can be effectively employed even for large software systems by exploiting high performance computing. We discuss the parallelism potential within these techniques and present a parallel implementation based on a high level parallel language—High Performance Fortran. Our techniques are general enough to allow an efficient optimization of medium to large scale test plans on high-end parallel machines as well as on more cost effective PC-clusters. A real world software system is studied in detail to prove our claims.     

Les fondements géométriques et algébriques de la fractalité 1

Major features of fractality are scale invariance and tree growing. Both features relate fractal as phenomena of boundary behavior. A mathematical analysis leads to the fact that all properties can be fitted using a universal algebraic property of nilpotence. It appears that the actual corpus of mathematical tools could be used to describe the fractality even if several tools require additional développements such as differential calculus on folded manifolds, parabolic and hyperbolic operators for contact structures,?). In addition, the mathematical analysis support the conjectures concerning the fine structure of the space time which must be applied in microphysics but also in macrophysics. Key words: Fractal system, Mathematics, Mathematical physics, Tree structure, Mathematical analysis, Conformal transformation, Analytical function.     

The association of hydrogel and biphasic calcium phosphate in the treatment of dehiscence-type peri-implant defects: an experimental study in dogs

Hydrogel polymers have many applications in regenerative medicine. The aim of this study in dogs was to investigate bone regeneration in dehiscence-type peri-implant defects created surgically and treated with (i) biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) granules alone; (ii) a composite putty hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC)/BCP (MBCP/putty); and (iii) a polymer crosslinked membrane of silanized-HPMC (Si-HPMC/BCP) compared with empty controls. At 3 months, new bone formation was significantly more important in defects filled with HPMC/BCP or Si-HPMC/BCP compared with spontaneous healing in control (P = 0.032 and P = 0.046 respectively) and more substantial compared with BCP alone. Furthermore, new bone formation in direct contact with the implant surface was observed in all three groups treated with BCP. The addition of HPMC to the BCP granules may have enhanced the initial stability of the material within the blood clot in these large and complex osseous defects. The Si-HPMC hydrogel may also act as an occlusive membrane covering the BCP, which could improve the stability of the granules in the defect area. However, the crosslinking time of the Si-HPMC is too long for easy handling and the mechanical properties remain to be improved. The composite MBCP/putty appears to be a valuable bone-graft material in complex defects in periodontology and implantology. These encouraging results should now be confirmed in clinical studies.     

Decorated carbon nanotubes by silicon deposition in fluidized bed for Li-ion battery anodes

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes Graphistrength^® were decorated with silicon by Fluidized Bed Chemical Vapor Deposition. The ability to fluidize of these nanotubes forming ball-shaped jumbles of several hundreds of microns in diameter and that of the final CNT-Si balls was first studied. These balls reveal to fluidize with characteristics of Geldart's group A particles, i.e. without bubbles and with high bed expansion. Coating experiments from silane SiH₄ were performed at 500 °C in the 30–60 wt.% range of silicon deposited. SEM and TEM imaging reveals that the nanotubes are coated by silicon nanoparticles uniformly distributed from the periphery to the center of the balls for the whole conditions tested. On-line acquisition of key process parameters evolution shows that the material remains fluidizable, even for large proportions of silicon deposited. The Sauter diameter and the tapped, untapped and skeleton densities of balls increase with the percentage of silicon deposited, whereas their specific surface area decreases due to the progressive filling of the pores by the deposit. This composite material is a promising candidate as anode to replace graphite in lithium-ion batteries.