Deconvolution of infrared spectra using various milk proteins as an example

The theory of deconvolution of infra-red spectra is presented and illustrated using milk protein spectra. The advantage of this method is impressively demonstrated and its relevance for dairy farming shown using a simple example, the cooling of milk.     

Estrogenic personal care products in a greywater reuse system.

The occurrence and fate of parabens in a greywater system was assessed. The potential for removal of residual paraben concentrations in effluent greywater with chlorine dioxide was also investigated. The influent to the greywater plant was characterised by considerable variation, with concentrations from below the detection limit to 40 microg/L and the five commonly used parabens in consumer products were frequently detected. After the biological treatment only two paraben were detected with concentration from 65-120 ng/L. Chlorine dioxide treatment of the biologically treated effluent with dosages down to 0.75 mg/L resulted in more than 97% reduction of all parabens. Formation of the by-product chloroform was insignificant from the chlorine dioxide treatment.     

Relative Protein Efficiency Ratios for Wheat-Based Breakfast Cereals

Male weanling rats were subjected to standard 28-day PER trials following the outline by the AOAC (1984) except that the diets contained 8.5% protein (N × 6.25) as one of six wheat-based breakfast cereals, white flour, whole wheat flour or casein. One of the cereals was an extrusion puffed product, three were flaked and toasted cereals and two were extruded cereals. Of the two extruded cereals, one was lightly toasted and the other was more heavily toasted. Relative PER (R-PER) was lowest for the puffed cereal (- 15.3) and highest for the extruded-lightly toasted cereal (69.9). R-PER for the flaked cereals ranged from 1.7 to 16.3; the other extruded cereal had a R-PER of 2.8 and each of the two flours had a R-PER of 42.9.     

Responses of Dairy Cows to Exogenous Bovine Growth Hormone Administered During Early Lactation

Bovine growth hormone was administered to eight Holstein cows during two 10-d periods (commencing 20 and 60 d postpartum). Treatments involved daily subcutaneous injection of excipient (control) or of 50 IU growth hormone. Feed intake and yields of milk and milk components were measured during the last 5 d of treatment. In the first injection period, milk yield of treated cows was 6% greater than that of controls (36.2 kg/d). Fat content of milk was increased by treatment with the result that fat yield was elevated by 25%. Protein content was not altered. In the second period, milk yield increased by 12%, but composition of milk was not changed. As a result, milk energy secretion was increased by a similar amount in each treatment period (4.4 versus 4.5 Mcal/d). Feed intake was not changed in either period. During early lactation the ability of cows to increase milk yield in response to exogenous growth hormone may be limited by the supply of glucose for lactose synthesis rather than by ability to mobilize body reserves in support of lactation.     

On the loading criteria in the theory of plasticity

The conventional loading criterion in the theory of plasticity becomes ambiguous when it is applied to materials that exhibit straining softening. For instance, it can not differentiate the softening behavior from the unloading process. On the other hand, the loading criterion proposed recently by Qu and Yin is free from such problems, and is more suitable for a general elasto-plastic analysis by finite element method. In the first part of this paper the proposed loading criterion is first reviewed and discussed to highlight the difficulties associated with the inequality conditions used in the conventional as well as the proposed loading criteria. This paper then proceeds to discuss the proposed criterion and reveals its implications. Although the proposed inequality conditions are not generally known in the field, it is found that they are essential and significant in the theory of plasticity.     

Phase separation studies in RIM polyurethanes catalyst and hard segment crystallinity effects

Polyurethanes were prepared from pure 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), 1,4-butane diol (BDO) or 1,2-ethane diol (EDO) and α,ω-hydroxyl poly(propylene oxide) (PPO) by reaction injection moulding (RIM). Hard segment (MDI + BDO or EDO) level was 45–50 wt%. The PPO had about 20% ethylene oxide copolymerized in at the chain ends to provide 80% primary OH end groups. M_n was varied from 2000 to 4000. Dibutyl tin dilaurate catalyst and mould temperature were varied. Dynamic mechanical, wide-angle X-ray, differential scanning calorimeter, molecular weight and tensile elongation measurements were made on the RIM polyurethanes. At low reaction rates (low catalyst or temperature) highly crystalline, well phase separated but low molecular weight polymers were produced. At high catalyst or temperature levels more poorly phase separated but high molecular weight, tough polymers resulted. Higher M_n PPO gave better phase separation and EDO gave higher melting temperatures. Preventing hard segment crystallinity by substituting asymmetric MDI or glycols resulted in phase compatibility.