Rheological properties of wheat flour and quality characteristics of pan bread as modified by partial additions of wheat bran or whole grain wheat flour

The use of bran and whole grain flour changes dough rheology and causes difficulties in manufacturing bakery products. The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of substituting refined wheat flour (WF) by wheat bran (WB; 5%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%) or whole grain wheat flour (WGWF; 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%) on dough rheological properties and pan bread quality characteristics. The addition of WB and WGWF increased water absorption and resistance to extension and decreased stability, extensibility and peak viscosity. Effects with WB were more pronounced. The presence of WB or WGWF increased crumb moisture content, firmness and hardness and decreased specific volume of pan bread. It is important to set new farinographic and extensographic standards when using WB and WGWF, allowing for a correct correlation between rheology and quality characteristics of bakery products, as the same standards used for WF are not valid.     

Validation of a Method for Analysis of Aroma Compounds in Red Wine using Liquid–Liquid Extraction and GC–MS

An analytical method for determination of volatile composition of wines using sample preparation by liquid–liquid extraction and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry for separation and detection has been developed and validated. Extraction of volatile compounds was performed in dichloromethane, and 1-octanol was added as an internal standard. Kékfrankos red wine produced in Villány wine region in Hungary was used as a model wine for testing and validation of the method. The developed method allowed satisfactory determination of 33 volatile compounds in the wines. Compounds analyzed include alcohols, esters, lactones, fatty acids, furans, and nitrogen compounds. The calibration curves of the four reference compounds used (2-phenyl ethanol, ethyl nonanoate, butyrolactone, and tyrosol) were linear in all cases with correlation coefficients (R ²) ranging from 0.9951 to 0.9992. The accuracy of the method was checked with a standard addition method (recovery 92.2–103 %), showing good repeatability and reproducibility (RSD?<?10 %).     

A study of tailored blank welding between mild steel sheet and zn-coated steel sheet by CO2 laser beam

Research was conducted on tailored blank welding between mild steel sheet and Zn-coated steel sheet using CO₂ laser beam. The materials used in this study were low carbon steel sheets with a thickness of 1.2 mm and Zn-coated steel sheet with the same thickness and 6.3 μm Zn coating. Experiments were conducted by applying the Taguchi method to obtain optimum conditions for the application of this tailored blank laser welding method in practical manufacturing processes. Optical microscopy, XRD, SEM and TEM analysis were performed to observe the microstructures and to determine the structures of welded zone. In addition, mechanical properties were measured by the microhardness test, tensile test and Erichsen test to evaluate the formability of the welded specimen. There was no trapped Zn in the fusion zone, and the phases of this region consisted of polygonal ferrite, quasi-polygonal ferrite, banitic ferrite and martensite. The elongation value of welded specimen was more than 80% of the value in substrate metal, and the LDH value was more than 90% of the value in substrate metal.     

Sorption of copper ions by granulated chitosan

The features of sorption of Cu²⁺ ions from aqueous solutions of CuSO₄ by granulated chitosan sorbent in static conditions and the different contribution of surface and bulk amino groups in the sorbent to complexation are discussed. Sorption with freshly formed swollen and maximally amorphized granules with accessible bulk amino groups can be described by Langmuir’s equation; it attains 5.6 mmole/g of dry sorbent, which is close to the sorption calculated from the equimolar composition of the amino-copper complex. Sorption of initially dry granules with less accessible bulk amino groups does not obey Langmuir’s equation due to precipitation of copper hydroxide and hydrosulfate on the surface of the sorbent. __________ Translated from Khimicheskie Volokna, No. 2, pp. 11–14, March–April, 2006.     

Microstructure and high temperature properties of the dissimilar weld between ferritic stainless steel and carbon steel

Dissimilar joints between STS441, a ferritic stainless steel, and SS400, a carbon steel, were welded by GMAW (Gas Metal Arc Welding) using STS430LNb as a welding wire. The fracture behavior of the dissimilar weld was analyzed by a microstructural observation and thermo-mechanical tests. Martensite was formed at the region between SS400 and the weld metal because the Cr and Nb content in this region decreased due to the dilution of SS400 carbon steel during welding. According to results from a high temperature tensile test with a specimen aged at 900 °C, it was found that the tensile strength of the dissimilar weld at high temperature was equal to that of STS441 base metal and the formation of martensite had little influence on tensile strength of the dissimilar weld at high temperature. However, in the case of thermal fatigue resistance, the dissimilar weld had an inferior thermal fatigue life to STS441 because of the presence of martensite and the softened region around the interface between the dissimilar weld metal and SS400.     

Neural network based expert system for induction motor faults detection

Early detection and diagnosis of incipient induction machine faults increases machinery availability, reduces consequential damage, and improves operational efficiency. However, fault detection using analytical methods is not always possible because it requires perfect knowledge of a process model. This paper proposes a neural network based expert system for diagnosing problems with induction motors using vibration analysis. The short-time Fourier transform (STFT) is used to process the quasi-steady vibration signals, and the neural network is trained and tested using the vibration spectra. The efficiency of the developed neural network expert system is evaluated. The results show that a neural network expert system can be developed based on vibration measurements acquired on-line from the machine.     

Variable parameter sliding controller design for vehicle brake with wheel slip

In this paper, a 4-wheel vehicle model including the effects of tire slip was considered, along with variable parameter sliding control, pushrod force as the end control parameter, and an antilock sliding control, in order to improve the performance of the vehicle longitudinal response. The variable sliding parameter is made to be proportional to the square root of the pressure derivative at the wheel, in order to compensate for large pressure changes in the brake cylinder. A typical tire force-relative slip curve for dry road conditions was used to generate an analytical tire force-relative slip function, and an antilock sliding control process based on the analytical tire force-relative slip function was used. A retrofitted brake system, with the pushrod force as the end control parameter, was employed, and an average decay function was used to suppress the simulation oscillations. Simulation results indicate that the velocity and spacing errors were slightly larger than the results that without considering wheel slip effect, the spacing errors of the lead and follower were insensitive to the adhesion coefficient up to the critical wheel slip value, and the limit for the antilock control on non-constant adhesion road condition was determined by the minimum of the equivalent adhesion coefficient.     

Effect of processing conditions on some functional characteristics of extrusion‐cooked cassava starch/wheat gluten blends

Extrusion‐cooked blends of cassava starch (CS) and wheat gluten (WG) were studied. The data were analysed using response surface methodology. The results showed the formation of new structures characterised by lower radial expansion (RE) and specific volume (SV) when gluten was added to CS. WG content was the most important variable affecting RE, water absorption index (WAI), water solubility index (WSI), SV and difference in colour (ΔE) of the extruded products, but feed moisture content and barrel temperature also influenced RE. WAI was affected by a significant interaction between WG content and barrel temperature. The extruded products had lower WAI values and higher WSI values than WG‐free products. Heat, high shear rate and high pressure during extrusion cooking caused mechanical destruction or denaturation of the WG and gelatinisation and dextrinisation of the starch components. The extruded blends could have diverse applications. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry