Biological variation in the colour development of Golden Delicious apples in the orchard

BACKGROUND: In managing apple orchards, crop load and rate of nitrogen (N) fertilisation are two factors with a significant influence on fruit quantity and quality, because they affect all physiological processes in the tree. Both factors are strongly related to external and internal fruit quality, especially to skin colour, sugar and acid contents and mineral composition, and consequently to the keeping quality of fruits. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of both factors (three crop load levels and two N fertilisation levels) on the colour development of Golden Delicious apples during the last month on the tree in two consecutive seasons. Data on skin colour (L*, a*, b* values) were analysed using nonlinear mixed effects modelling to extract information on the variation in biological shift factor for colour and to link this variation to the different strategies used concerning N fertilisation and crop load. RESULTS: The major source of information is contained in the a* value. The behaviour of the a* value could be described by a logistic or an exponential model depending on the season and the experimental set‐up. Nonlinear mixed effects analysis estimating the biological shift factor (maturity) for each individual fruit (random effect) while estimating the rate constant of the decolouration process in common (fixed effect) resulted in explained parts well over 95%. CONCLUSION: The variation in maturity stage between individual fruits is large. Season has the most profound effect on the estimated values, far more important than that of crop load or fertilisation level. The magnitude of variation in colour due to crop load and N fertilisation is not too large. Its effect on the maturity stage of fruits is more profound: the higher the crop load, the higher the variation. The effect of fertilisation seems to be opposite: the higher the fertilisation level, the lower the variation. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Mechanochemical synthesis of NaNbO3

The mechanochemical synthesis of NaNbO₃ is studied. It is shown that NaNbO₃ can be prepared by milling the constituents, i.e. Na₂CO₃ and Nb₂O₅ in the planetary mill. After 40 h of mechanochemical treatment NaNbO₃ nanoparticles in the range of 10-20 nm are obtained. Furthermore, the high-energy milling leads to the mechanochemically-triggered carbonate decomposition, which has been observed for a few cases in the open literature.     

Evaluation of compatibility of thick-film PTC thermistors and LTCC structures

The electrical and microstructural characteristics of 1 kΩ/sq. thick-film thermistors with high positive temperature coefficients of resistivity, i.e. PTC 5093 (Du Pont) fired either on “green” LTCC (low temperature cofired ceramics) substrates or buried within LTCC structures, were evaluated. The active phase (ruthenium oxide) in the PTC thermistors is not present in the dried films but is formed during firing due to the decomposition of the ruthenate phase. Because of interactions between a glassy LTCC material and thermistors electrical characteristic, i.e. sheet resistivities and noise indices of thermistors fired on the surface LTCC substrates, changed from values obtained on alumina substrates. The differences in the measured electrical parameters were attributed to the interactions between the thermistor layers and the glassy LTCC substrates. The inter-diffusion of oxides, mainly PbO and Al₂O₃, was confirmed by microanalysis. In the case of buried thermistors, presumably due to the incompatibility of both materials, the structure de-laminated during firing. Cracks between the buried PTC films and the LTCC substrates as well as cracks in PTC films resulted in high sheet resistivities and high noise indices.     

Modeling of machined surface characteristics in cryogenic orthogonal turning of inconel 718

The determination of the optimal machining conditions for assuring desired machined surface characteristics of a part is one of the main goals in a machining process. In this article, the impact of a cooling lubrication fluid, its delivery phase and location, as well as machining parameters, on residual stresses have been investigated. The workpiece material under observation is Inconel 718. For measuring residual stress profiles, X-ray diffraction technique has been used. Additionally, besides the experimental work, modeling with the finite element method model was implemented and correlated with experimental results. The results show that residual stresses are influenced by the cooling lubrication scenario, even though the machining parameters are kept constant. However, flood and cryogenic machining show more compressive residual stresses than a dry machining case. On the other hand, the results have shown also that machining parameters influence residual stresses, where stresses increase with their increase (v_c and f).     

Volume Determination of Vacuum Vessels by Gas Expansion Method

This paper presents a practical procedure for the determination and precision calibration of the volume ratio and absolute value of the volume of vacuum chamber by using static expansion method. Such systems for calculations of volume ratio consist from two vessels connected via a valve called the expansion valve. For determination of absolute value of the volume we added another volume with simple shape (determined by dimensional measurements). In such systems, under the isothermal conditions, the gas pressure is reduced by the ratio of the small volume to the sum of the first volume (small volume) and second volume. The uncertainty of measurement of the volume ratio and absolute volume is calculated as well. Relative volume calibration is performed with uncertainties below 0.75 %.     

Influence of the sintering conditions on the properties of 0.57PSN–0.43PT ceramics prepared from mechanochemically activated powder

The present work is a systematic study of the influence of the sintering conditions on the structural and electrical properties of 0.57Pb(Sc_1/2Nb_1/2)O₃–0.43PbTiO₃ ceramics prepared from mechanochemically activated powder. The ceramics were sintered at various temperatures and for a range of times. Three or even more contributions competed for influence on the functional properties of the ceramics, i.e., the density, the grain size and the phase composition. However, all these contributions combined in such a way that the best functional properties were obtained for the ceramics sintered at 1000 °C for 8 h.