Structural performance of alkali/acid-ultrasound modified Agave fibers during the melt mixing process with polyvinyl alcohol

This study aims to investigate changes in the structural properties of alkali/acid-ultrasound modified Agave fibers and their performance immersed on a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix with plasticizer during melt mixing processing. Structural analysis revealed that ultrasound enhances the effectiveness of the conventional alkaline/acid treatments to modify fibers since the simultaneous treatment increased the partial removal of lignocellulosic components, water molecules, and amorphous regions which improved their processability on a PVA matrix. Specific energy consumption values indicated that during melt mixing the modified fibers required more energy to expose the chains of cellulose fraction to function as an interaction site for PVA chains. Once the mixture was homogenized, the fiber-matrix interactions promoted high viscosity, friction, and mechanical stress in the chamber. Therefore, the modified fibers restricted the interaction between plasticizer and PVA in the obtained films, resulting in a highly structured, and reinforced network, increasing the storage modulus as dynamic mechanical analysis indicated. These findings highlight a feasible way to valorize Agave fibers and allow the understanding of the matrix-fiber interactions during melt mixing processing, useful to predict the structural and mechanical properties of the films.     

Effect of calcium chloride on the volatile pattern and sensory acceptance of dry-fermented sausages

The effect of calcium chloride addition used in combination with starter cultures (lactic acid bacteria and staphylococci) was studied in the development of dry-fermented sausage aroma and final sensory acceptance. Volatile compounds were extracted by solid-phase micro extraction and analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A paired comparison test was done to determine which sausage was preferred. The addition of calcium chloride 0.05% showed an important effect on volatile generation during ripening by inhibiting the generation of lipid oxidation products and promoting the generation of methyl branched alcohols and ethyl esters that contribute to proper sausage aroma. However, other compounds such as 3-methyl-butanoic acid and acetic acid, detected in high quantities in the 0.05% calcium added batch, may impart rancid and cheese-like notes that can negatively affect the final aroma. Moreover, the amount of calcium chloride used is important because larger amounts (0.5%) favoured the lipid oxidation producing a rejection from consumers.     

Electrochemical oxidation of hydroquinone, resorcinol, and catechol on boron-doped diamond anodes

The electrochemical oxidation of aqueous wastes polluted with hydroquinone, resorcinol, or catechol on boron-doped diamond electrodes has been studied. The complete mineralization of the organic waste has been obtained independently of the nature of each isomer. No aromatic intermediates were found during the treatment, and solely aliphatic intermediates (carboxylic acids C4 and C2, mainly) were detected in the three cases. Although as from the bulk electrolyses study no differences in the electrochemical oxidation of dihydroxybenzenes seem to exist, different voltammetric behavior between resorcinol and the other two isomers was obtained in the voltammetric study. Catechol and hydroquinone have a reversible quinonic form, and a cathodic reduction peak appears in their voltammograms. The characterization of the first steps in the electrochemical oxidation of the three dihydroxybenzenes showed the formation of a larger number of intermediates in the oxidation of catechol, although no carbon dioxide was detected in its oxidation. Conversely, the oxidation of resorcinol and hydroquinone lead to the formation of important concentrations of carbon dioxide. The nondetection of aromatic intermediates, even if small quantities of charge are passed, confirms that the oxidation must be carried out directly on the electrode surface or by hydroxyl radicals generated by decomposition of water.     

Improving voltage harmonic compensation of a single phase inverted-based PEM fuel cell for stand-alone applications

Fuel cell (FC) is an efficient energy conversion technology that is growing rapidly and will have a significant role to play in a number of energy end-use sectors, from small-scale applications to large-scale power plants. In this paper, two new methods for voltage harmonic compensation of a stand-alone single phase inverted-based FC are presented and evaluated. The stand-alone power system under study consists of: 1) Proton-Exchange-Membrane (PEM) FC with unidirectional DC/DC converter, which converts the DC voltage delivered by the FC to the DC bus voltage; 2) single-phase pulse width modulated (PWM) inverter; 3) transformer; 4) passive filter; and 5) linear and non-linear loads. The dynamic model of this system and the non-sinusoidal output-based controls applied to the PWM inverter for voltage regulation and harmonic compensation are detailed in this paper, and evaluated by simulation under different linear and non-linear loads. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the two purposed methods for voltage harmonic compensation to acceptable levels defined in grid codes.     

Screening of lactic acid bacteria for fermentation of minced wastes of Argentinean hake (Merluccius hubbsi)

Sixteen strains of lactic acid bacteria were evaluated for their capacity of acidification of Merluccius hubbsi fish wastes obtained from a processing factory. Only three lactobacilli (Lactobacillus buchneri B-1837, Lactobacillus arizonensis B-14768 and Lactobacillus plantarum B-4496) were able to reduce the pH value to 4.0 or below when using glucose or sucrose as carbon source. Either with only 25 g l^?1 of glucose or sucrose, L. arizonensis B-14768 reduced the pH to 3.8 ± 0.2 within 24 h of fermentation. The acid tolerance test (pH 3.0 at 37 °C) for the strains presented D_pH3-values of 192, 383 and 767 min for L. buchneri, L. plantarum and L. arizonensis, respectively. However, at a lower pH value (pH 2.0) only L. arizonensis was significantly recovered after 45 min of exposure (D_pH2 68 min). Considering together the acidification capacity, the tolerance to other stresses (heat and bile salts) and the lower optimum temperature for the process, L. arizonensis is described as a suitable strain for M. hubbsi silage; constituting a promissory alternative for fish fermentation at location with temperate or cold climes.     

A vortex model for Darrieus turbine using finite element techniques

Since 1970 several aerodynamic prediction models have been formulated for the Darrieus turbine. We can identify two families of models: stream-tube and vortex. The former needs much less computation time but the latter is more accurate. The purpose of this paper is to show a new option for modelling the aerodynamic behaviour of Darrieus turbines. The idea is to combine a classic free vortex model with a finite element analysis of the flow in the surroundings of the blades. This avoids some of the remaining deficiencies in classic vortex models. The agreement between analysis and experiment when predicting instantaneous blade forces and near wake flow behind the rotor is better than the one obtained in previous models.     

A viral system algorithm to optimize the car dispatching in elevator group control systems of tall buildings

Nowadays is very common the presence of tall buildings in the business centres of the main cities of the world. Such buildings require the installation of numerous lifts that are coordinated and managed under a unique control system. Population working in the buildings follows a similar traffic pattern generating situations of traffic congestion. The problem arises when a passenger makes a hall call wishing to travel to another floor of the building. The dispatching of the most suitable car is the optimization problem we are tackling in this paper. We develop a viral system algorithm which is based on a bio-inspired virus infection analogy to deal with it. The viral system algorithm is compared to genetic algorithms, and tabu search approaches that have proven efficiency in the vertical transportation literature. The experiments undertaken in tall buildings from 10 to 24 floors, and several car configurations from 2 to 6 cars, provide valuable results and show how viral system outperforms such soft computing algorithms.     

Criterion for signal extraction in underdetermined mixtures of bounded support

This work studies the problem of recovering a complex signal (source) from an underdetermined linear mixture of bounded sources. We assume some a priori information of the desired signal in the form of a training sequence and complete absence of knowledge from the other sources, except for their bounded character. The main contribution of this letter is the proposal of a bounded component analysis of the training error that tries to condense the relevant information of the observations in a linear estimate of the desired signal. This subspace can be later used for subsequent refined estimation of the signal of interest. Simulations corroborate the good performance of the proposed method in high SNR scenarios.     

Effective thermal conductivity of functionally graded random micro-heterogeneous materials using representative volume element and BEM

This work introduces a numerical methodology for the computation of the effective thermal conductivity (ETC) of random micro-heterogeneous materials using representative volume elements and the Fast Multipole Boundary Element Method (FMBEM). The methodology is applied to solve two-dimensional foam-like materials consisting of random distributions of circular isolated holes. The computed ETC values are successfully used to predict the temperature fields of two materials with functionally graded ETCs. Numerical and analytical results are experimentally validated. The proposed methodology is flexible and versatile, as it is capable to account for both, the geometrical and topological details of the material microstructure.