Drying of Chestnuts (Castanea sativa Mill.) after Osmotic Dehydration with Sucrose and Glucose Solutions

Chestnuts were dehydrated by using a combined method of osmotic dehydration followed by air drying. Samples were osmotically pretreated with sucrose (60% w/w) and glucose (56% w/w) for 8 h, air-dried at temperatures of 45, 55, and 65°C, at a relative humidity of 30% and at a velocity of 2.7 m·s^-1 and the experimental data of the drying kinetics were obtained. Whole samples were dried with different peelings: (a) removal of endocarp and pericarp (peeled) and (b) additionally the internal rough surface (cut). In all cases, cut chestnuts show greater drying rates than peeled samples, indicating that a significant mass transfer resistance in the layer nearest to the surface takes place. Peeled samples pretreated with sucrose solutions behave in a similar way to untreated samples. For the rest of the samples, the cut samples osmotically treated with sucrose solutions and all the samples treated with the glucose solution, the drying rates decrease during drying. Drying kinetics are successfully modeled by employing a diffusional model that takes the shrinkage into account. The effective coefficient of water diffusion was evaluated and correlated with temperature. The quality of the final product was monitored by color change. In spite of the fact that the total color difference is not modified by the osmotic treatment, the L*, a*, and b* color coordinates of cut samples treated with sucrose and glucose solutions do undergo changes; the L* and a* coordinates change less than the b*.     

A stability classification method and its application to pipelined solution of linear recurrences

A new method of classification for numerical stability of parallel algorithms is proposed based on the theoretical foundation of forward error analysis. It partitions the algorithms according to their asymptotic stability—a measure introduced to relate the limiting behavior of the stability to the size of the problem. Using this method, the stability aspect of the pipelined solution technique for first-order and second-order linear recurrences—the core of a tridiagonal linear equation solver—is studied. In particular, it shows that the pipelined solution method of the first-order linear recurrences has the same degree of stability as the commonly used sequential evaluation algorithms. The stability problems of sequential and pipelined solution methods of the second-order linear recurrences are also studied.     

钢筋混凝土防撞护栏早期裂缝成因分析及预防

从设计方面、施工方面及混凝土原材料的质量及配合比设计三方面分析了钢筋混凝土防撞护栏表面早期裂缝出现的成因,并提出了相应的预防措施,以有效防止护栏表面裂缝的产生。     

引滦入唐工程某渡槽裂缝成因及对策分析

针对引滦入唐工程中某渡槽的开裂情况，从渡槽的两个使用状态入手进行分析，考虑按旧规范计算对设计造成的误差，采用大型有限元分析程序分析了渡槽各种工况的运行情况，并根据使用情况分析了开裂原因，提出了加固意见和同类渡槽设计的建议。     

Distribution of diethylstilboestrol in pigs

The synthetic growth promoter diethylstilboestrol (DES) administered orally to pigs can be detected by radioimmunoassay (RIA) analysis of kidney, liver, faeces, bile and urine from animals fed continuously to slaughter, but not in muscle, fat or plasma. If treated animals are fed on material not containing DES for 72 h prior to slaughter, then the levels of parent compound and metabolite in all products decrease to become not significantly greater than those in control animals. The gross metabolism of DES in pigs and bovines appears to be similar.     

Methodology for evaluating a novel education technology: a case study of handheld video games in Chile

Many school systems, in both the developed and developing world, are implementing educational technology to assist in student learning. However, there is no clear consensus on how to evaluate these new technologies. This paper proposes a comprehensive methodology for estimating the value of a new educational technology in three steps: benefit analysis, through the administration of a well-designed experiment; cost analysis, which incorporates costs to weigh against the benefits; and feasibility analysis, which introduces real-world concerns that may affect the ability to actually implement the technology. To illustrate the methodology, a case study from Chile is used where portable educational video games were introduced into first and second grade classrooms with the aim of improving learning in mathematics and language. This paper demonstrates the importance of all three steps in the evaluation process and provides a framework for future analyses.     

Fault diagnosis as an aid to process machine reliability

Identification of the reasons for failures of process plant machines is the first step in obtaining increased reliability. Weibull analysis of the service life obtained from maintenance records requires a minimum of only five incidents and provides an insight into the failure mechanism. Two examples are given where Weibull analysis of maintenance records helped identify the cause of failure and was instrumental in achieving enhanced reliability of process plant machines.     

试验模态分析技术的进展

本文对试验模态分析技术的进展,特别是80年代发展起来的有关新技术进行了综合评述。主要内容有:试验激振技术、频响函数估计方法、试验测试设备、以及各种模态识别方法,包括单输入/多输出和多输入/多输出识别的时域和频域方法。文中强调了试验模态分析技术各环节之间的相互联系、相互影响,对于80年代已成为模态识别主流的多输入/多输出各种方法(包括作者发展的几种方法),用统一方法作了描述。最后提出了若干值得进一步研究的方向。     

基于微机的X射线分析自动测量系统

本文介绍了一个基于微机的X射线分析自动测量系统。该系统有三个基本功能:自动获取数据、自动换样和处理谱数据。